GRID and NEA News

After a few short hours of sleep, our journey to Carpenter continued Sunday morning on domestic flights to Kumasi, followed by a rather toasty coach ride to Carpenter. Kim kept trying to communicate how hot the bus was, hoping for a bit more A/C, only to have the driver advise her “Ma’am … it is because of the weather.” Point taken.

Apparently overbooked flights are a problem in Ghana, too, and so with hugs and high fives while shoving Cedis in their pockets, we left behind Dave our assistant logistics lead (sorry Heather) and Greg, our advanced care paramedic (who by the way had been travelling from Fort McMurray since Thursday) to figure out a plan B. Resilience is one of our team values, don’t you know!

So 66 minus 2 of us rolled into the compound of NEA around 2 pm to be greeted by our dear friends, brothers and sisters and of course the children at NEA. The circle we formed as we held hands and sang a Ghanaian song of thanksgiving to God was just such a massive circle. I was perhaps a tad emotional remembering it was exactly 10 years ago that my feet hit Carpenter soil and this beautiful partnership began. After an exchange of greetings, hugs and introductions in the 35 plus degree heat, we enjoyed mushroom soup from Frank’s mushroom farm and fresh bread from Kate’s bakery, and then we got to work.

The next 3 hours was a sight to behold as 200 hockey bags and cartons were unpacked. By 7 pm the training room was transformed into a massive pharmacy, medical, dental and nursing station as well as a logistics home base. Our eye team was so far ahead of schedule they bragged they were prepping for Wednesday’s clinic. And our surgical team … oh my. By 7 pm our first 15 hernia patients had been screened and prepped for Monday’s surgeries and those 60 boxes of equipment suddenly became 2 operating theatres and a recovery ward.

The best part about 7 pm was that Dave and Greg rolled in to a standing ovation after a nice air conditioned VIP coach ride to Kumasi where NEA staff liased with them. We were particularly happy to see them as we had all decided to go on a hunger strike (after lunch, of course) pending their arrival. A wonderful spaghetti dinner was had by all as eyelids began falling at a rapid rate.

Our first patients couldn’t wait until we were open for business, as two of the children booked for hernias were sick with malaria. Dr. Anne, our team Pediatrician, Dr. Lisa, and nurse Kathleen, who are all first time team members, jumped to action and the kids were cared for and treated by torch light under the surgical tree and the watchful mentorship eye of our veteran Dr. Sue. The kids will have their surgeries on Friday.

As Dr. Rob said to me, “It has been a sterling start to our fortnight.” What a choice of words. My favourite words today came from my dear friend Magdi … “I’m just so happy.”

What a day it has been as we begin our service to this incredible organization at NEA and as we lend a hand to our local Ghanaian health care colleagues who continue to leave their posts and journey towards our team headquarters.

My husband always teases me that I’m supposed to be writing blogs … not books, but it is as if a week’s worth of stories happens in one day here.

Load of love back home to our friends and families. Your blog comments are coming through and being read to the entire group at meal times and they make us laugh and cry because we miss you all!

The staff of KLM airlines, having met many of our 66 team members on today’s flight, presented our logistics manager Kim with a signed letter wishing us success on our mission along with a little bell that was inscribed “Together We Have A Great Story To Tell.”

How perfect. A great story is indeed about to be told.

Sixty-six of us are now together. Every bit of our baggage arrived safely. We have shared a meal. We are ready for our story to begin.

Our journey was amazing, by the way. Wearing our team shirts proved helpful yet again as some amazing connections were made en route!

I was praying we wouldn’t have a medical emergency on board so our team could rest. There was no medical emergency, but there was a child care emergency that involved 3 very unhappy small children who liked to scream — a lot. Nurse Leslie spent what seemed like hours walking them up and down the aisles, trying to keep them occupied. At one point I looked back only to see my dear friend Kyle (our lead dentist) with one of the kids finally sound asleep in his arms. One of our team values is service …

I feel so privileged to be part of this group who have prepared so wholeheartedly to serve in Ghana. I’m too excited to sleep anticipating the greeting we will receive from our friends at NEA in a few short hours.

I awoke this morning to an email from Rob, our surgical team leader in the UK, with the subject line “Changing Lives.”

These two simple words have been rolling around in my head all day. They are perfect words for today. They are a perfect rallying call as our ninth Ghana Health Team mission begins and as team members from around the world journey towards Carpenter.

The lives of patients will be changed. As individuals are healed in the context of sustainable development, communities will be strengthened and another “dent” will be made in the battle against poverty and hopelessness.

The lives of our Ghanaian health care colleagues will be changed. These heroes of our professions, so often alone and ill-equipped, will be surrounded by some of the best teachers that medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, surgery, anaesthesia and optometry have to offer.

The lives of our NEA colleagues will be changed. Can you imagine doing the difficult, patient work of development day in and day out and then having a team of 66 professionals show up to encourage you, to assist you, to equip your clinics and to bolster your efforts?

And our lives will be changed too. How they will change remains to be seen and remains up to us. It will depend on how we choose to embrace each day, face each challenge and engage with each patient. It will depend how open our eyes, ears and hearts are to what we shall witness there. One thing our veterans know for sure — we will not leave Ghana unchanged.

History is full of examples of men and women whose acts of service change lives and change history. Our poppies remind us of this even today. Ten years ago, none of us had any idea how many lives would change by this special partnership between NEA, GRID and the international health care community.

And so we set out for Carpenter with God’s help, and we could not be more ready.

I just spent two days in our nation’s capital for training in emergency department ultrasound. It is yet another incredible tool that Canadian physicians have available to save the lives of our patients.

During my course, I couldn’t help but think of about patients in Ghana and in many parts of our world who often lack access to even the most basic forms of health care. What a contrast.

As I was pondering this inequality, I found myself at the foot of Canada’s Human Rights Monument. This Canadian monument issues the bold proclamation of the United Nations that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. When Nelson Mandela visited this monument in 1998 he issued a challenge, “May this monument inspire all who see it to join hands in a partnership for world peace, prosperity and equality.”

Standing there was a symbolic moment for me as I considered our ninth team of health professionals and volunteers who will travel with me to Ghana this November. We are doing exactly what this monument was designed to inspire. As we Canadians celebrate our country’s 150th birthday, 67 of us from Canada, UK, Germany and USA will join hands once again in a partnership with our colleagues at Northern Empowerment Association towards peace, prosperity and equality in Ghana.

While my teammates and I enjoy the benefits of the generations of struggle that came before us in our home countries, we will now turn to support our health care colleagues and the people of Ghana in their struggle as they seek to obtain and preserve the fundamental human rights that they too deserve. I am so thankful and so proud to be Canadian and part of this international team.

Friday morning was a morning to remember. As is the NEA tradition, we all gathered under the gazebo one last time for a final devotional led by Soale. Rachel led us in singing, the NEA staff prayed for our team and Soale gave message which he entitled “From Tears to Joy.”

The rest of the day was spent organizing any remaining supplies and medication for distribution to local hospitals and clinics, as well as packing away all our team equipment so that we would be ready to return when NEA sent out the call. We realized that the NEA pastors never took the time to bring their health issues to the medical team while we were in Ghana, so Dr. John, in his compassion, stepped up and ran one last African walk-in clinic all morning for anyone who needed care.

Friday evening was a night to remember. Our team was decked out in their new Ghanaian clothes and we had a wonderful celebration under the stars.

All NEA staff and their families, volunteers, translators and our entire team gathered for a feast. Every table had both Ghanaians and expats dining together and sharing memories of our fortnight. For the first time ever we had a DJ at the party. Prosper organized beautiful music that played out over loudspeakers while we feasted on a roast beef dinner.

Special guests included the Chairman and Secretary of the NEA board, Mr. Nantogma and Dr. Harunah, as well as Mr. Gyamfi from the NEA office in Tamale. Speeches were made, thank yous were given, and then each team member received a container of freshly shelled NEA peanuts.

Midway through the party, the power went out and we were treated to a stunning display of the night sky. Utterly amazing. After dinner the dancing began and I do believe we witnessed the first ever “congo line” on the NEA compound! We did not want the night to end but our alarms were set for 4:45 am, so off to bed we went for a great night’s rest. (Well … some of us had a good rest. It turns out that as our party was ending, a funeral in the village directly behind our surgical team’s residence was beginning. This traditional funeral involves very loud music and wailing that went on until daybreak!)

Saturday morning was a morning to remember. Whenever you try and move 61 people from the remote Northern Region of Ghana to the capital, you must anticipate some challenges. We had prepared our team to be ready for anything and called on them to approach challenges with flexibility and adaptability. We decided to adopt Dr. Francois’ motto that when something went wrong we would simply would say “super fun” with a french accent (su-pehr fun!) and deal with challenges together, as we have every day on this mission.

So when our coach did not arrive for the 5:45 departure we knew we were in for a super fun day. At 6:45 am we decided we needed to implement Plan B, which involved all 21 veterans remaining behind and sending on the rest of the team in our small church bus and every NEA vehicle. This seasoned group didn’t hesitate to wave goodbye, knowing we had 15 hours to find a way to Accra. At 7:00 am I proceeded behind the training centre to see whether Abraham and Stephen were ready to implement plan B, only to find them, together with all the NEA staff and pastors standing in a very large circle, holding hands, and praying about this decision. Miraculously, the coach rolled in and after a collective AMEN we tearfully said goodbye to our dear friends and hit the road for our 4 hour journey to Kumasi (where our flight was due to take off in 4.5 hours). A corn field pit stop and a super fun short cut got us to the airport with about 30 minutes to spare. The airport team was ready and waiting and willing to bypass a few protocols to get us all on the plane, which took off on time.

We were thrilled to reach the Accra airport with every team member and every bag accounted for, but the excitement wasn’t quite over: one team member misplaced their passport and another team member was refused boarding at the last minute due to suspicious items in her checked bag (which was eye equipment). With a super fun attitude and some intense prayers on my part (following the NEA staff’s lead from this morning), team members pitched in and together we overcame our final two obstacles. At the gate, sleeping pills were handed out like M&Ms and this very happy but very hot, sweaty, and haggard team settled in for the rest of our journey home.

In Ghana, messages or lessons of importance are often communicated by using a proverb. It seems fitting for me to sign off on our 2016 mission with the proverb associated with the dress I wore to the team party:

My dress shows single trees broken at the base alternating with healthy, vibrant groves of trees. “When a single tree receives a storm, it breaks,” is the proverb of my dress. It implies that alone, we will fall whenever we face the wind or storms of life. However, when we are part of a grove or community of trees we flourish. A grove allows protection and support from the storms of life. The intertwined roots of the grove provide life-giving nourishment to one another. This proverb captures the heartbeat of our mission and of the relationship between NEA and GRID in so many ways.

As a team of individuals from Ghana, Canada, UK, Germany and Spain, we have been able to accomplish more than we could have asked or imagined because we did it together. With God’s help, we supported each other, we protected each other and we gave nourishment and life to each other as we worked towards a common vision — providing health and hope to many thousands of men, women and children in Northern Ghana.

My prayer is that many more will be added to the beautiful grove of trees that has surrounded the people of Northern Ghana until such a time as every man, woman and child has the year-round health care that every human being deserves.