Return to Africa

It has been a long time since we posted on our blog. This is because we returned home to Utah in August, after a life-changing experience of 7 months in Ghana. We thought we had pretty much accomplished what we were sent to do. John returned to Utah State University to begin another semester. Ann quickly readjusted to being home and spoiling grandchildren. But, in the words of Paul Harvey, "here is the rest of the story."

To understand what happened next, we have to go back in time. While we were in Ghana John attended a conference in Anaheim, California where he met Anita Chambers and Patricio De Silva, who were from Odulair, the company that built 8 mobile medical vans for Ghana. A team of trainers came to Ghana in May to train the operators of the vans, however, the local doctors were on strike. After three weeks of waiting, the Odulair team had to return home, having trained no one in Ghana. The vans remained in a secured parking lot with no one to operate them.

We now move the clock forward to November, 2013. This was the month that the first students in audiology in Ghana were supposed to graduate. The problem was, no date was had been set for the ceremony. John wanted somehow to return to Ghana with some equipment he had obtained from a generous grant from the Demant/Oticon Foundation in Denmark and from other sources. He did not know how he was going to do this and be present for the graduation. John wanted to surprise the students. One day he was contacted by Anita, President of Odulair. She had been invited back to Ghana by the Minister of Health to provide the necessary training for the vans. The original trainers for could not come, so she extended an invitation to John to come as the audiology trainer. The problem was that the date had not been set for the actual training. With one day's notice, once a date was firmed up, John rearranged his teaching schedule at the university, bought a ticket, packed his bags to the brim with medical equipment for Ghana and headed to the airport. He met up with Anita and Patricio in Frankfurt, Germany, then flew to Accra.

The team was to be in Ghana for a week. John spent time getting acquainted with the equipment, then spent two days training the students he had taught earlier in the year, as well as hospital staff. The next day the Odulair team and all those who had been trained went to what is now known as the most toxic place on earth, affectionately called Sodom and Gomorrah by the Ghanaians. It is a toxic dump that is home to over 4000 people (men, women and children) who have immigrated from the north of Ghana. They live in squalor. We will spare you the details, needless to say, the people in this neighborhood up to this time had not had access to healthcare.                                    

On the day of the event all 8 vans (F-550 Ford trucks) with medical equipment and self-contained 20 kilowatt generators were parked in a circle in the middle of the dump. Tents were erected. One tent was for free medications that were distributed throughout the day to needy patients. There was an opening ceremony where several dignitaries spoke to the local residents.  After the festivities, all the vans became active clinics, seeing hundreds of patients. The day was exhausting, but extremely successful.

The following day, John went to the University of Ghana School of Health Sciences and presented audiological equipment for the students to use. He then spent time training students and faculty on how to use the equipment.

One of the 8 vans that will be used throughout Ghana to provide initial medical service to remote areas and to people who cannot access healthcare. There were 2 ENT/Audiology, 2 General Medecine, 2 Dentistry and 2 Ophthalmology vans.

Make shift pharmacy during the day of outreach at the toxic dump.

Awkward pose while John demonstrates new equipment to faculty and students at the University of Ghana.

John demonstrating equipment in one of the vans.

Patients attending ceremonies, waiting to be seen.

It was good to see so many of our Ghanaian friends. John was also able to link up with some Ghanaian saints and senior missionaries during his stay.

There is still work to do, but there is also hope that a new day is dawning in Ghana and that with an indomitable will and determination, audiological services will be available to more and more West Africans.  Who knows what lies ahead?

Post script: Note from Anita after John returned home.

"You would be very proud of your students at the clinic. On one day when we were seeing school children they did 478 hearing tests in 6 hours, and yes they even did a hearing test on me."

The work continues...

Just received great news from Ghana.  The Allied Health Professions Council of Ghana recently inducted our 6 graduate students as interns and they are now working across the country for their internship year.  We are so proud of them and what they are doing to improve the healthcare in Ghana.


Looks like we got Sesi, Joyce (recently married), Graham (new baby girl), Ramatu and Daniel.  We were missing Elsie.  What a good looking group!  They will have their official graduation sometime in November.  Hopefully we will have photos of that also.

Article on Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Humanitarian website

KorleBu Teaching Hospital in Accra Establishes Academic Program to Prepare Ghanaians as Audiologists

Audiology is an allied healthcare profession that focuses on the evaluation and rehabilitation of individuals with hearing and balance disorders.  Currently, Ghana’s population is estimated to be 25 million, whereas the number of audiologists is eight -- all trained at institutions outside of Ghana.  Today there is a need for 1000 audiologists to provide hearing-related services from newborn to the geriatric populations throughout Ghana.

Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, Emmanuel Kitcher, M.D. at the KorleBu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana, had a vision of audiologists and specialists providing needed hearing and balance clinical services throughout Ghana.  In 2003, Dr. Kitcher met Dr. Isaac Ferguson, representative of LDS Charities, the humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Since that historic encounter, there has been an ongoing effort to establish an academic program to prepare Ghanaians in a post-graduate degree program as audiologists.

The third organization to partner with LDS Charities and KorleBu Teaching Hospital was the University of Ghana, School of Allied Health Sciences.  Dean of the school, Dr. Patrick Ayeh-Kumi, exhibited the necessary leadership to ensure that the curriculum was developed in order for students to earn the newly-formed Masters of Science degree.  Dr. Samuel Anim-Sampong was appointed Program Advisor, a position he currently holds.

Help was sought for senior or retired audiologists who might be willing to volunteer their time and expertise in developing the needed program.  There were many who answered the call, mostly from the western United States.  All were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  LDS Charities provided the means necessary to support the efforts of these volunteers, who came to provide important face-to-face training of students.  Medical equipment and supplies have all been donated, in part by LDS Charities as well as other donors.

As of this date six students are completing their second year of study and four are completing their first year.  The second-year students are scheduled to graduate in November 2013.  These graduates will then spend a year in various internships throughout Ghana prior to being certified as professionals. 

There are plans in place for satellite clinics throughout Ghana that will provide a place for audiologists and ENTs to work side-by-side providing desperately needed services.  The Ministry of Health has just acquired two mobile medical vans especially equipped for audiologists and ENT physicians to conduct clinical services by traveling to remote areas.  Within the past few months a new program has been initiated where all babies born in the KorleBu Teaching Hospital undergo a hearing screening test.  This is the only testing of this type in all of Ghana.  Ghana is positioned to become the center of excellence in hearing evaluation and training of audiologists in all of West Africa!

Figure 1. Ghana’s first graduates in audiology

Back row: Graham Amponsah, Elder John Ribera (USU visiting professor), Sesi Akotey

Front row: Dr. Samuel Anim-Sampong (MSc Academic Coordinator), Joyce Anomaob, Elsie Nyarko, Daniel Tumpi and Ramatu Alhassan

Left: Dr. Patrick Ayeh-Kumi, Dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences,

University of Ghana

Right: Dr. Emmanuel Kitcher, Head of ENT Unit and Consultant ENT Surgeon

 at KorleBu Teaching Hospital

Home sweet home!

Part of the problem with finishing a project is that  then...it is done!  The problem with leaving a place to come home is that you are then leaving a place you now think of as "home", and you must leave people you have grown to love..

Our dear, sweet students gave us a delightful "going away" party, our last night in Ghana.  Wonderful food, gifts, games, a delightful song and even dancing.  We already miss them terribly.

Sierra and Katrina arrived safely and stayed with us for a day while we prepared and packed to return to the US.   They had their hair all braided and it was beautiful.  Fortunately, they also had an empty suitcase or we would have never made it home!

The students presented us with an awesome woven picture of an African woman with a trumpet.  It is beautiful!

Some of our beautiful gifts...and certificates of appreciation

 The day after flying in, we went to Bear Lake to celebrate Hailey's birthday.  In the last couple of weeks, we have reported to the Stake High Council, spoken in Sacrament Meeting, rejoined friends in lunches and dinners out, re-organized John's office at USU, moved back into our home, and pretty much slipped back into our schedule.

This week, however was the passing of the family missionary baton.  On Aug. 21 we picked up Marisa at the airport as she flew in from Iowa and we took her to the Missionary Training Center in Provo.  If the Visa arrives, she will land in Fortaleza-east, Brazil in 6 weeks to begin her mission of 18 months.  Thus, the start of a new adventure!

Ananse Stories

After returning home, we began cleaning out files and came upon a paper of Ghanaian folk tales written years ago for us by a Ghanaian friend for our children while we lived in Germany.  We include them here.

"In Ghana, just as in the USA, we have stories retold and left to us by our great-great-grandfathers.  Such stories are mostly woven around an insect called the spider.  So we call all such stories, "Ananse Stories.  The name for spider is Ananse.
Why the spider?  Well, the spider is considered to be the wisest creature in the whole world.  Just look at the way it weaves it's next or catches it's prey.
Throughout these stories you'll hear or come across three names.  Ananse, the "he" spider, his wife, called Asor and his only son, Ntikuma.
There are still more stories that don't bear the name Ananse, but they are all considered as some wise moral lessons from "Mr. Ananse".  In fact, all Ananse stories have moral lessons.  He preaches against pride, greed, arrogance, complacency and many more.

                                                               The Tortoise

The tortoise is a small shell animal.  We have them mostly in forest areas.  We also have  bigger types in the sea.  Those in the forests are very slow.  When under pressure or attack, it recoils into it's shell.
It's only these days that we can find one animal eating another animal.  Lions catch and eat rats, antelope and other small animals.  But a long time ago, they were all friends.  The best friend of Mr. Tortoise was Mr. Leopard.
Unfortunately, just before Christmas, Mr. Leopard died.  All the animals were asked to be present at the funeral.  But the distance was over 40 kilometers and it would take Mr. Tortoise more than one week to make such a journey to Mr. Leopard's funeral.
One early morning, while Mr. Tortoise was busy thinking what to do, Mr Hawk came to him to discuss Mr. Leopard.  "Good morning, Mr. Tortoise", said Hawk.
"Hello, Good morning Mr. Hawk.  How are you and the family?"
"We are all fine except this unfortunate death of Mr. Leopard which has saddened our hearts.  Any way, I am attending the funeral together with my wife and all the children."
"Oh", said Mr. Tortoise, "How I envy you.  Even I cannot walk that distance - how much more my children.  But at least I will send a small parcel to the family of Mr. Leopard through you."
"That's good", replied Mr. Hawk.  "I will be glad to carry the parcel."
"I shall leave the parcel at the entrance of my home.  When you come, just take it to the family.  I shall not be in the house.  When you go, give it to Mr. Leopards wife as early as possible," said Mr. Tortoise.
So, the following morning at 7 am, Mr. Hawk went to the house of Mr. Tortoise.  Hawk saw a parcel, neatly wrapped.  He took it and flew very fast over mountains, thick forests, and valleys to the house of Mr. Leopard.  Everyone was glad Mr. Hawk arrived but regretted that Mr. Tortoise who is well known to Mr. Leopard's family, could not come.  The parcel was then given to the wife.  She wanted to know what was in it.  When she opened it, there was Mr. Tortoise.
"I have also come!", he said.

                                                    The Python & Mr. Ananse

(A Python is the longest, biggest and strongest snake today.  When angry, a python can fight and kill a man)
A long time ago, the Python was the king of all animals.  He was wicked and strong so that all animals feared him.  Even the lion, the tiger and the elephant all feared him.  If you offend your friend, the Python will quickly eat you up.  If you are too big to be eaten up, you have to offer your child.
This continued for many years until the animals could not bear it anymore.  So one day they all met secretly and promised to kill their king, the python.  But anybody sent to the house of King Python would quickly  be killed and a nice meal prepared for the family of King Python.
When all efforts had failed, Mr. Ananse also offered to try.  So he went to Mr. Python's house and knocked on the door.
"Hello King Python!  King of all kings!"  said Ananse
Python answered, "Who is there?"
Ananse said, "It's me, your tiny little Ananse.  I have come to report some people to you.
So the door was opened and Mr. Ananse entered.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Ananse?" asked the Python.
Mr. Ananse answered, "We met early this morning to construct a very expensive bed for you.  Everybody was saying that this pole is longer than you are.  I am the only one who still believes that my great King is longer than this pole.  So could you, my great King, lie along this pole so that I can measure.  This will put everybody to shame.  This way, please".
"I hope I am longer", says python.
"Can I tie your head and tail to the pole loosely so that I can measure?"
"Well, if that is easier", says Python.
Ananse responds, "My dear king can I show your true length by tying your whole body to show to those fools?"
"Ok, go ahead" says Python
So finally King Python was tied to the pole so that he could not move his body.
"Now I have got you!  You are too wicked to be a king.  I am taking you away.  You are finished!" cried Ananse.
Everybody was surprised when they saw the Great King Python tied to a pole.  Python wept bitterly and begged, but he was not forgiven.  He was burnt alive and Mr. Ananse was made the King-the Conqueror!

                                                      The Chameleon

(The chameleon is just like a lizard.  There are two things about the chameleon.  He is the slowest animal in the animal kingdom.  Secondly, it is the only animal in the world that is able to change it's colour to suit it's immediate environment.  It can change to green, red, yellow, brown according to the coloour of the place where it is.  Don't forget, it is the slowest animal ever.)

One day a long time ago, all the animals in this world decided to hold Olympic Games at their biggest stadium.  All record holders were invite.  The elephant for weight lifting, the cat for gymnastics, monkey for high jump, dog for cross country, horse for 100 yd. dash and many more.   But whenever it came to the 100 yard race, all the animals had to take part.  A very expensive throne is placed at a distance of 100 yes and the one who sits on it first is the fastest animal, the winner of the race and the king.  For a long time the race had always been won by Mr. Horse.
One day a wonderful thing happened.  Mr. Chameleon also decided to take part.  They all laughed at him, but he did not mind them because he knew what he was doing.  He took his stand next to Mr. Horse.  Then, "On your mark, get set!..."
As soon as the pistol blasted, Mr. Chameleon jumped and held the hairy tail end of Mr. Horse.
He kept very quiet there until Mr. Horse reached the throne.  When Mr. Horse put his tail on the throne and was going to sit down, Mr. Chameleon shouted, "Please, please!  Mr. Horse!  I am the first, don't sit on me.  Please standup Mr. Horse, you are killing me!"
When Mr. Horse stood up, there was Mr. Chameleon sitting comfortably on the throne.
So Mr. Chameleon, the slowest among all the animals, became the fastest runner of all animals because he won the 100 yd. race.

                                                         How Wisdom came to You and Me

A long long time ago, all animals were very very wise.  But one day Mr. Ananse decided to collect all wisdom in a pot and hang it on a very tall tree in a very thick forest.  Then he along will be the only wise man on this earth.
When he was satisfied that he had collected all the wisdom from all persons on the earth into the pot, he decided to take the pot to the top of a big tree and hang it there.  But he put the pot on his chest instead of at his back and it was therefore difficult to climb the tree.  So his son, Ntikuma, who was watching the father from the ground shouted.
"Daddy, what are you doing?"
"Shut up you naughty boy!" said Ananse
"But Daddy, it will be easier to climb the tree if you put the pot at your back, instead of in front!" said
Ntikuma.
"Goodness me!  I have collected all wisdom on tis earth, how come you still have some in your little head?"
So, Mr. Ananse became annoyed because he had failed.  He hit the pot on the ground and it broke into pieces.  So the wisdom went out, spread around the world.  And so every human being has some wisdom.

Graham with us above and Debbie to the right.

Ronald and Williams

Ramatu above

Graham and Elsie with Sesi, Ronald and Williams in back

"The Patient Must Not Die!"

We are finishing up our last week in Africa.  What an adventure this has been!  Last Monday we began our Audiology week celebration with a day of radio and TV talk show blitz on the Hearing Impaired in Africa.  Tuesday we did screening at the Tema Oil and Petroleum Company.  They are probably the foremost company in Ghana in their Hearing Conservation safety program.  The students were able to see 160 of their workers.  All except the night shift.  

On Tuesday we went to the Salvation Army School to screen school children.  That was quite a challenge to test in rooms open to the school and city noise outside and then deal with the electricity going on and off.  Fortunately we had one battery-operated audiometer.  110 students were screened.  Then the rain started...

John is contemplating "how to keep the patient from dying" while sitting on "too small" school desks moved outside to leave room for our audiologists.

Here Ronald is testing one of the students.  This school is actually in better shape than most we have been in.  Here they actually have walls.
On Thursday, Dr. Kitcher ( Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon) gave a symposium on The Challenges of Hearing Loss in Ghana.  It was well-attended and very interesting.
He and Dr. Ike Ferguson (who arrived from Salt Lake City on Thursday) were the two who were the original founders of this 10-year effort.  Dr. Kitcher's motto is "The Patient Must Not Die!"  So all week John has been in meetings with the leaders of the hospital and university to assure the sustainability of this great program...the "patient."

On Friday we had a special program (a Durbar) where speeches were made, awards were given, and the church, especially, was recognized for the 10 years of support they have given to keep this Audiology program running.

Our 4 first-year students made us a beautiful Thank-you plaque.

Some of our students with Dr. Kitcher and Brother Ferguson.

On Saturday we had a break so we could run some errands before we started packing.  Brother Ferguson also had to get ready to head north on Tuesday.
We stopped at the pit to pick up some wood carvings from Thomas, our talented carver.

This young man and his brother run a shop there also.  He paints and his brother sells.  We liked two of his paintings, but we are definitely out of room now in the suitcases!







On Sunday we all went to a special celebration service at the KorleBu chapel.  There was speaking, dancing, lots of singing and rejoicing for 3 hours!

Each of us from the KorleBuTeaching Hospital had dresses and shirts made from the same material.  It was so fun to see all the different styles everyone had the same material made into.On Monday evening, Dr. Kitcher hosted a dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  The staff presented us all with gifts.  Here John is holding up his new shirt.  On the back is an Akan symbol for "chief".  They are wonderful people.  Now, we really must pack!!

A roll of toilet paper

This week we have been celebrating 10 years that LDS Charities has been involved in this Audiology Program.  We are down to our last few days.  They say that just like a toilet paper roll, when you get to the end, it goes faster and faster.  We are discovering how true that is.                  We decided to take a photo of our Primary, but for some reason, only 12 of the 37 were here for our last Sunday.  We love them!  Yes, that is Alma, the Branch President's son with his tongue out.  They presented us with a beautiful Ghanaian dress and matching shirt.  

We were at the Accra Mall and saw this delightful little girl trying to decide which earrings she likes best.




When we went to the temple grounds on Saturday, they were having a wedding and this was the car the bride and groom were leaving in.

I have been taking some shots this last week of things we find interesting in Ghana.  One oddity is how people lay down anywhere...fences, walls, grass, or the middle of the sidewalk to take a nap. Everyone just walks around them.

Above is a dump truck full of workers going somewhere.  Just like tro tros, trucks are always loaded with people.  We are truly surprised they don't fall out.  John has decided that when he passes away, he wants a sign that says he has transitioned to Glory!  Often we will see Called to Glory, also.

The mosque (below) is coming right along. It is so large and will serve the people across the street who are so poor, like these two little boys standing in front of their very small home.

The children here are so precious.  We love the curly braids on the daughter of the Primary President.

We will post next about our last week of celebration here in this beautiful country.  We are hoping that when we leave this next Thursday, we can keep the co-operation between our Ghanaian and US programs alive.  We will truly miss Ghana.

"If you aren't in over your head...

We love this quote from TS Elliot, "If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?"

Since coming to Ghana to finish up a 10-year humanitarian (Audiology Master's Degree) program for the Church, we have felt in "over our heads" for the majority of the time.  With only a couple weeks left, we can now look back and see what has been accomplished.

1.  First Ghanaian student to attend a AAA conference in the U.S. (wish there could have been more!) and now our students are starting their own professional organization in Africa.
2.  Completed academic courses (John taught 6 while here) for the first graduating class of 6 Masters degree Audiologists.  The  first ever educated in Ghana.  Formal graduation in Nov. of 2013.
3.  4 more students ready to graduate next year and 7 new students have been invited to join the program this Fall semester.
4.  We have worked on this transition period to allow continuity as LDS Charities withdraws from the program and the KorleBu Teaching Hospital and the University of Ghana work on sustainability.
5.  We have identified off campus supervised sites for  the students to spend their 3rd year in a clinical situation.
6.  Initial clinical equipment that has been donated is in place with more on the way.
7.  We hosted a 2-week humanitarian effort that combined students from Utah State University and our Masters Degree students here working together to serve the people of this country.  Our students were so inspired that they have continued on to another deaf school and have completed another 600 screenings.
8.  We have laid a foundation with our students to write political legislation for a program in Hearing Conservation in Ghana.
9.  We have pioneered Telehealth in Ghana and are in the process of developing a model for Africa.  We have recommended the use of satellite equipment for the new Ministry of Health vans dedicated to  ENT/Audiology in order access the Internet for testing.
10.  Strengthened the new neonatal screening at the KorleBu Hospital
11.  We will participate in a week long celebration at the end of July which will commemorate the 10-year commitment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to this program.

Elder Ribera has worked tirelessly on this project the last 7 months in Ghana (and even before that).  We feel it has been a good use of his experience and knowledge and a great way to wind up a career.  We have grown to love the Ghanaian people and especially "our" students.

Above we are out to dinner with the new President of the Accra West Mission, President & Sister Hill.  They are on the left and Elder and Sister Wall are on the back right (Mission office couple) and Elder and Sister Nielson from Monroe, Utah who are north of us out in the "bush".  That is a tough mission with very intermittent electricity and Internet only at the church house and water delivered daily.  The new mission office is right next door to us.

Above is one of our wood carvers, Richard.  He stopped by the other night after having completed an order for us.  We were showing him how our i-Pad takes photos.

Then we were on our way to our little neighborhood store (Koala) and found two surprises!
 First...they had Cheetos!!  First time we had seen them in 6 months.  Whoohoo!!
Second....someone in Ghana was expressing their personality.  On the last turn, we found a newly painted house.  Wow!

Above is a bulletin board which shows one of the larger health issues in Africa.  In the US, the infant mortality rate is approx. 6.05 babies/1000 live births.  In Ghana, it is 40.9/1000 which is better than it was in the 1960's when it was 130/1000.  The death rate for mothers is 450/100,000, mainly due to poor staffing at outlying hospitals, no access to medicines, poor education, and self-induced abortions.
Unacceptable in our book.

We recently were able to attend the new Superman movie and we were 2 of very few in the theater.  Someone asked us what kind of movies the people in Ghana watch, so I took a photo of a poster for a Ghanaian movie that was showing this week.  Don't you just love the costumes?   Yep...think we'll stick with the US movies for now.  The TV is very much a soap opera format also.

Young boy with Grandma, waiting for Mom to finish shopping.  In her lap she is holding his breakfast. Cereal (similar to oatmeal) in a plastic bag

Only 2 weeks left...we are beginning to...