Ray of Hope

On Saturday November 4 th I left Ghana for the United States after an emotional goodbye event at the airport with family and friends.  After almost 24 hours of flying through 3 continents and multiple time zones, I arrived in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday November 6 th around 6:30pm and was picked up from the airport by my American grandparents, Richard and Marjorie Wilson. I was so eager to see and hug them that I walked right past them as I trekked to the baggage claim area. They had to shout to get my attention. Fun times. It’s been over 2 months since I arrived, and I’ve had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends. It’s such a blessing to have a home here in the States and in Ghana. I found it comforting when loved ones here will hug and tell me “welcome home”. In Ghana they said “akwaaba”. Time and space wouldn’t allow me to document all that has happened since I arrived, so I have highlighted some special moments below. Marjorie masterminded the pur...

END OF ONE CHAPTER On Friday September 1, 2017 the hospital held a send-off ceremony in my honor. It was a surprising and humbling occasion for me. August was my last month in Ankaase. Since the beginning of September, I have been spending time with my parents and siblings and preparing to head back to the States. The last 18 months have been amazing, educative, insightful and at times challenging. But through it all, the Lord provided me with the strength to carry on and to keep trusting Him always. With some of the hospital staff and family during the send-off ceremony I am humbled by my experiences over the last 18 months especially, those memories formed because of my time in Ankaase. I have been very fortunate to live and learn in an area which lacked basic amenities. But, I was saddened by the vestiges of poverty and more saddened that I couldn’t do more to help those in need.  There is a great need, especially in the hospital. My first thought during my ...

The eye clinic at the Methodist Faith Healing Hospital is a well-functioning unit headed by an optometrist and aided by an ophthalmic nurse, optician and five nurses. The clinic operates four days out of the working week with Tuesdays reserved for community outreaches. Exercises conducted during these outreaches include free screening of elementary and junior high students, health education and promotion. Optometrist Dr. Prempeh (in light purple shirt) speaks to a patient while a nurse looks on. During the screening program, those identified as having eye problems are advised to come to the clinic for further assessment. Usually the solution to most of these eye problems is providing a pair of eye glasses. Unfortunately, most people in our catchment area are often too poor to afford a pair of glasses.  The national health insurance covers for most eye exams but does not cover prescription eye glasses. This means that those needing glasses either have to find t...

I have written a few stories about Regina and her triplets. During her 30th week of pregnancy, she delivered these girls at our hospital. Needless to say, they’ve had a miraculous journey. The girls will be 8 months old on the 17 th day of this month.  Due to the financial difficulties being faced by their parents, we decided to create an education fund that will be used to help them once they reach school-age. As we were planning this, I asked my very good friend Morgan, a high school teacher in Kentucky, if she was interested in helping. She answered in the affirmative and came out with a brilliant idea to raise funds. Morgan has been following my mission via this blog and sharing some of my stories with her students. So, when she shared the triplets story, they were eager and excited to help. I asked Morgan to write about her students and the fundraising. Below is her story…..   It is known that our God works in amazing and mysterious ways. About 8 years ago...

Work at our hospital continues even though the government owes the facility 11 months of insurance reimbursement. The total amount owed to the hospital by the insurance system is approximately $750,000. I am amazed that we can still care for patients and keep the doors open. On Sunday June 11, 2017, the hospital welcomed 7 students and their mentors from the United States in addition to 5 medical students from Ireland. These students and mentors will be spending a month at our facility. Those from the States are part of the Greenlight Medical program created by TMS Global. The main purpose of this program is to provide a cross-cultural learning experience for students interested in using healthcare to serve in cross cultural ministry. These students have varied interests such as nursing, medicine, social work etc. Students at the entrance of the town's library. The "reading town library" was built by Anne Gongwer, wife of Dr. Cameron Gongwer (man in white po...

On Friday May 19, 2017 I joined community health nurses (CHN) from the hospital and traveled 3 miles Northwest of Ankaase to Dumakyi, a small farming community, to conduct vaccination screening, also known locally as a health outreach program. Dumakyi lacks running water, electricity and basic public transportation. Residents, mostly cocoa farmers living in mud thatched houses, walk to the hospital, 3 miles away, when they are sick. The distance and lack of transportation discourages them from bringing their children for scheduled clinical review and obtaining the required vaccinations. To combat this problem, CHNs visit and vaccinate the children right in their backyard. CHNs setting up under the teak tree. Some students milling about the place before class. We arrived at 9:30 am on Friday morning and set up office under a teak tree in front of the local primary/middle school. Despite bringing the free vaccination exercise to the community, parents are still reluctant to...

Today is Mother’s Day .  I want to use this medium to wish all the wonderful women out there who have worked and are working tirelessly to bring up the next generation, a Happy Mother’s Day . God bless all the mothers in our lives for their sacrifices and the unconditional love they show us. As we celebrate our mothers, I am reminded of this wonderful news. A few weeks ago (March 25), I wrote about a young girl who was burned as a toddler and whose hand became deformed due to the post-burn wound management. Thanks to a generous donor, Melissa underwent a successful hand surgery on Tuesday May 9, 2017 to correct this deformity. The post-operative period was unremarkable and she was discharged on Saturday May 13. To God be the Glory. Right before the surgery. Rev Rodgers holding onto Melissa; her mother, wearing the brown jacket, When Melissa’s uncle heard about the kindness being shown to her niece by strangers, he decided to give his life to Christ. How am...

A 2010 publication by the Ghana health service reported the doctor to population ratio as 1: 11, 929    while a 2014 report showed a slight decrease (1: 9,043) 1,2 . These numbers indicate that Ghanaian doctors are burdened with a high patient load. As a result, patients may not receive the needed care and in some instances, a delay in receiving appropriate care even in emergencies. The above problem was highlighted a few weeks ago when we admitted a young adult male patient to the emergency department in our hospital. He presented with diffuse abdominal pain, vomiting, rigors and hyperthermia. A focused assessment revealed a strangulated inguinal hernia which warranted immediate surgical intervention. Since our facility lacks a surgeon, we contacted the tertiary facility about 45 minutes away to refer this patient for further management but were informed that they were at full capacity and lacked extra hospital beds to admit this patient. Our pleas that this was an emerg...

Warning: This is a very long post. Enjoy :) After our first week of activities in Harare, the team took a 540-mile journey to the Victoria falls area of the country, leaving on Monday, March 13. Thankfully, we had a good car and an experienced driver yet the number of police checkpoints (approximately 30) and toll booths made it an arduous journey, especially for our driver. We were stopped at a fourth of these police checkpoints. Victoria falls is an amazing site and experience, especially from the air, and I don’t think words are enough to describe this seventh wonder of the world. It is a sight to behold. Apart from the falls, there were tours on the Zambezi river and at the Chobe national park in Botswana. We also shared interesting culinary experiences testing our curious taste buds with Impala, Mopane worms, Guinea fowl, Kudu, Warthog, Crocodile tail and whitebait. The team at the Victoria falls  On Thursday March 16, we returned to Harare arriving ar...

On Tuesday March 7, my dad and I joined Brad and Jessica Johnson, Brian Keene and Tom Wilson on a mission to Harare, Zimbabwe. Brad, Jessica, Brian and Tom were on a South African airline flight from Washington DC to South Africa. This flight made a quick stop in Accra to drop and pick passengers in Ghana. This made it possible for my dad and I to join the team. The flight from Accra to South Africa was about 5.5 hours and another 1.5 hours from Johannesburg to Harare. We arrived in Harare around 9:30 pm local time. Harare is 2 hours ahead of Ghana and 7 hours ahead of central standard time in the US. We were met at the airport by our host, Rodgers and Emmah Kativu, church leaders and some family members. Rodgers is the head pastor for the Methodist Revival Church International (MRCI) in Zimbabwe. After the usual pleasantries and introductions, we departed the airport for the Coghlan Villa guest house, our residence during our stay in Harare. We rested the following day, v...