Our IHAF mission to Ghana was a great success!  The news of our work at the 37th Military Hospital even made the front page of the Ghana Times Newspaper!

http://www.modernghana.com/news2/207856/1/surgeons-save-tumour-patients-life.html

I would like to thank everyone who made this humanitarian effort not only possible, but also a great success.

First we need to thank all those who supported us financially- without them, much of this would not be possible.  The lives of many, who have been suffering for years, have been changed for the better because of your generosity!

I would like to thank all of our Doctors and nurses who made such a significant difference in the lives of those who received surgery.  It is unbelievable that Dr. Markowitz was able to successfully remove some of those tumors and still rebuild the face/jaw of those people to look reasonably normal!  Not only did each of the doctors help those individuals, but they also helped their family members and quite possibly, their communities as well.  The impact of giving to people in this way, often goes on to be passed on to others in turn- in many ways, and so your gift is often one that keeps on giving!

I would also like to thank all those who worked on our humanitarian efforts.
The work at Budaburam refugee camp, was, at times, intense. When some of us arrived the first Sunday afternoon to screen potential patients for surgery, and there were over 150 people there hoping to be seen, it was a bit intimidating!  Thank goodness we had 4 doctors there then, along with a few of our nurses and other volunteers along with Kraig and Steve from Point Hope.  Before long we had an organized system set up and were able to screen through and identify most of the surgical patients for the week by 5:30pm.  On Monday, we had almost as many dental patients show up hoping to be seen and thanks to Chris and Antoine, we were able to keep them calm and organized while our dentists did their work.
Meanwhile, Jane, Suzanne and others were busy working with women doing sewing work, visiting the schools of the camp, giving out books, setting up an innovative “pen-pal” type program,  delivering 2 badly needed wheelchairs and working out the details of the feeding program!  IHAF shipped 140,000 highly nutritous meals to feed up to 400 malnourished children for one year.  We spent time helping to prepare and serve the first meals to a group of about 45 children–they really enjoyed it, saying it tastes good!

The girls who worked with the women’s groups on teaching and discussing women’s rights and issues, did a wonderful job as well, both in Budaburam and in the two village areas where they met with teenage girls.  Many difficult issues came up and I think many went home encouraged and strengthened to make the best choices possible.

I am also very happy with the way things worked out with the visits to the orphanage at Osu and the two villages, Kiwasi and Okotum.  Not only were the teeth of all examined and treated as necessary,  but in each place, a responsible adult was taught how to identify dental problems, and they were taught how to teach others to brush their teeth properly to avoid future problems.  We also distributed much needed clothing, in each of the villages, it appeared that most children have only two sets of clothes, one for school and one to wear everywhere else.  Many had no shoes at all and so we identified those and were fortunate to have just about enough shoes that had been donated to give out to all that needed them.  Of course we also distributed a good number of soccer balls, IHAF t-shirts, necklaces, balloon animals, etc which made everyone happy!

An unexpected issue that came up, that I will plan for, from now on, was the treatment of numerous infected wounds.  One mother brought her 4 year old daughter to me to see if I could help with an infected wound on her foot, of course I always have a fair amount of first aid supplies with me, so cleaning and dressing was simple enough.  Dr. Harry Harcsztark suggested also giving antibiotics for a few days.  Once that girl was treated, other children were then brought to me, 6 in all, some with serious infections that if left untreated, could become very bad.  Several had their wounds covered with tree bark or torn pieces of cloth!   Again, we spent a fair amount of time teaching one of the responsible women in Kiwasi, how to clean, debreed, and properly bandage these wounds so she could continue to help others, once we left.

Our military van driver, Alihajih (sp.?) even commented as we left, that he had never been to remote villages like the two we worked in.  He was surprised how poor those people are and thought they probably needed our help more than anyone.

Many of you know I met with numerous people, including a cardiologist in Kumasi, another cardiologist from Korlebu Hospital, a pediatrician, Rotarians and a few others,  trying to work out the details necessary to save the lives of children born with congenital heart defects.  I think we now have everything worked out, including funding for visas, passports, and airfare for any children that might be approved for corrective surgery in the US.  Our ultimate goal should be the training of more cardio-thoracic surgeons in Ghana and the equipping of a heart center to do more surgery there–but of course that would be down the road a few years.

All in all, I believe this mission worked out as well as it possibly could have!  I have heard many positive comments and many have already expressed an interest in signing up for next year.  Of course there are always some things we can improve on, we will discuss those at our next board meeting- just keep in mind all the positive things that were accomplished and all the more still to be done!
Yours in service,
Andy