"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...

"...being a worker in Jerusalem"...

Our dear President and Sister John Dickson left last Sunday along with President Curtis who will return to be the new Area President.  The Collins' are also leaving a month early.  Elder Collins has been called to be the new MTC President in South Africa, so they are going home for a short break and then returning.  Elder Sitati will be here for July, then he heads for his new assignment in SLC.  Elder and Sister Taylor leave this week also so she can go home and have gall bladder surgery.  Hopefully they will be able to come back in Aug.  There are many changes here.

This week we found a 4-part film on the Humanitarian efforts of the church in the past.  Our program was included in it, along with an interview with Dr. Emmanuel Kitcher who started this dream with Dr. Ike Ferguson.

We really loved one of the quotes in the film.  Dr. Kitcher said, "It (this program) brings a joy of fulfillment because what brings us joy is to be of service to the suffering.  There's no (greater) joy than helping your own people in your own environment. You know, being a worker in Jerusalem, helping your own people.  That inner joy, nothing can satisfy that.  So it is a joy we are improving upon the lot of our own people."

http://www.byutv.org/watch/51f3557b-aa12-4f5f-bcce-93504e5c7f86/acts-of-god-a-time-of-need

Go to minute 16 in BYU-TV program entitled Acts of God. This episode is A time of need . Check it out to find out more about the humanitarian effort here.  We love being "workers in Jerusalem".

 John flew to Kumasi on Friday.  Almost an hour flight, but up to 5 hours by car to the North.  He went with Kofi Sampong, Dr. Kitcher, and Vice Dean Asare.  They were looking at the hospital in Kumasi and the clinic, pictured below, to see about the possibility of sending our students there after graduation for their third year internship, (or "housemanship" in Ghana).  The program continues to grow little by little, or "small by small" is how it is said here.

We thought this was an interesting fence.  Pieces of metal on their side.  Sharp, rusty and dangerous, but effective.

This little Mom had her hands full.  We often see African women carrying their children like this plus having something on their heads too.

They are a very tough people.

We recently received this photo from the Lions Club in Cape Coast.  They were presenting John with a thank-you gift for bringing the students down and seeing patients.  It was a lovely African shirt.

We had fun on Saturday.  We went to the Silverbird Cinema at the Accra Mall and saw the new Star Trek movie.  It was really good and we were with a very small group of people watching.  By the way, their popcorn is terrible.  Instead of the question being, "Butter or no butter", it is "salt or sugar"?

On Monday, Jessica, Megan and Phil (from World Joy) came back to spend the week in Accra.  They have been busy during the days but it has been so fun to visit with them in the evenings.  They are doing an amazing job up at Abomosu in the schools, training teachers.  They left today to go back up north.

 Jessica, Phil and Megan came with us and Elder and Sister Klein and Elder and Sister Elmer to a chinese restaurant to help celebrate the Klein's wedding anniversary.





Yesterday after a temple session, we came out to a group taking wedding photos on the temple grounds.  The children were adorable!


Guess who showed up at church today?  Katrina and Sierra were on their way home from Cape Coast, so stopped at the temple grounds for church with us.  How delightful to see them!  Even the angel Moroni was happy as evidenced by the glow around him.  Three and 1/2 weeks left!!

Safari...so good!

Well, we are down to only 5 weeks left of our stay.  When we arrived in January, we were shown this lovely building above that will eventually be the home for the Audiology students' classrooms.  We were told we could expect to move in "soon".  First the AC wasn't working (this is a new building), then there were too many mosquitos.  However, lovely landscaping has been planted and it is now the end of June and John is still teaching in the patient reception area of the clinic....oh well.  Guess it's not "soon" yet.  News Flash!!  The students got to take their finals in the new building!  So far...so good!

This last weekend we were absolutely delighted to have a visit from Katrina Tolman and Sierra Burris.  They are volunteering in a very small village on the coast about 3 hours drive from here (near the border with Togo) teaching kindergarten.  They decided to come visit for the weekend and they had the opportunity to do baptisms at the temple and help us out at Primary on Sunday.  The mission does not have any wards or branches yet that far east, so they were glad to be able to attend church here.  They took two copies of the Book of Mormon home with them to the village.  Could be a Branch there soon!

On Saturday, we took the girls down to the "Pit" and they had fun shopping.  This lady was busy stringing beads.
Artwork, wood carvings, and leather were in another shop below.  The man in the photo to the right was busy sanding wood to make drums.

I think the girls had the most fun, however, with the wood carvings and the jewelry.  It was delightful having them here.  They filled our apartment with laughter and we were sad to see them go back to the village on Mon. morning.
Monday evening we attended our farewell dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  The food was very good and we were saying good bye to two members of our Area Presidency along with 4 other senior missionary couples, including us!!  It is a tradition to give each couple who is leaving a banner made of the African Kente cloth.  It has our name, Africa West Mission and the dates served.  We were not here as long as most, but we feel very honored to have one.

On Tuesday, some of the sisters invited Ann to go with them to the village of Ayi Mensah, where there is a new school for small children.  The wives of the Church Employees have taken the school on as a project and have raised the money to build 5 classrooms and fill it with desks, chairs and supplies.A few years ago, the wife of the Director of Temporal Affairs found a woman sitting under this huge tree pictured below and she was teaching a small group of children.  When Sally asked what she was doing and found out there was no school nearby for the children in the area, Sally asked what she could do.  The woman suggested a classroom for the children.  The school is a result of that meeting.

Below are  pictures of the school and of the small village homes and the tree in the background.

After visiting the school, we stopped by the TK bead factory.  I explained in a previous blog the importance of beads in the Ghanaian culture.  They are very valuable and significant especially for special occasions.  Above is a photo of a young man painting the glass beads after the powdered glass was put in molds and then melted in a slow clay oven.  It was fascinating to watch the process.  As soon as they are removed from the oven, a hole is put in the beads, then they are cooled and washed and strung.  You can select colors to make your own necklace and bracelet, or you can buy them already finished.

 This last photo is very special.  All the flowers we have seen in Ghana for the last 6 months have been plastic or silk.  We have not seen a single flower shop, and absolutely no fresh flowers anywhere unless they were attached to a bush or a plant.  But...sweet John searched far and wide and found the only place in all of Ghana that actually sold fresh flowers and brought home a dozen BEAUTIFUL roses to say Happy Anniversary.  I was quite touched.  Happy 45 years!!
So far...so good!