Last Day of Outreach for Some of Us
It had been raining a little bit last night. So, when we left for the village this morning the roads where a little challenging.
One can imagine during the rain season the hardship people must experience to get on with their lives.
While driving, we saw many people walking towards the village - the driver told us they are coming to see us and get medical help.
Some of them had to walk 5k to get here.
Many of them were monthers with one or two children - the little ones attached to their mother's backs in what has become a very familiar picture over the past couple of weeks.
Although we arrived early, the place next to the warehouse was packed with people waiting to be seen by doctors.
We decided today to split in two groups and have some of the doctors seeing children up by the school - a couple of hundred yards away.
We thought this way we could be more efficient and less crowded. But by noon, we realized that, without the pharmacy also split in half, this wasn't working. Our nurses got easily overwhelmed by the amount of prescriptions coming now from two directions - we know that we have to come up with a better system next time. Another major challenge was that many children were at school without their parents around. So, giving malaria medicine to a 5 year old and telling him that he needs to take one every six hours for two days, and then one every eight hours for three day and so on was not practical. Towards the end, John and Sheila came up with a list of children and got the teachers involved to pass the malaria pills to their parents with the proper instructions - so this issue was solved.
We learned from it that ministering in Africa has many challenges and many hidden faces, but with a willing heart and the grace of the Lord, these difficulties can be overcome.
At end of the day, the tribal chiefs wanted to give us a gift for all that we've done for the village. So, we ended up with a live and cute little goat and a few baskets of local fruit, which Wayne had to officially receive and thank for. As for the fate of the goat, may the Lord have mercy on her... Goat stew with fufu is a very popular dish in this region.
So concluded the first two weeks of outreach in Ghana. Louis, Donnelles, and I will return back home on Saturday. The others will see two more villages next week.
Tomorrow we're taking a tour of the surrounding areas and, likely, catch a few waves at the beach. Beautiful sunshine and refreshing water - here we come !
Lord, this has been such a humbling experience for all of us. Many of us will never return back home the same people as when we came here. But we know that you have a plan for each one of us and this was part of it. Thank you for being so wonderful and for using your redeemed to glorify yourself in Ghana. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment