Presidents, Patients and Packing

Hello there friends and family.

I know it is time to leave Ghana, but there are a few cool things that happened that I need to tell you about first. Namely the visit of the President of Ghana, John Kafour, to the ship on Thursday. It was great to have him on board, he was greeted by the whole crew hanging from the railings, and then given a tour of the ship, addressed by the CEO of the Anastasis and the Chief Medical Officer at a reception which we were all invited to.

He spoke to us after the event and stated that he had been made speechless by what he had seen on board the ship. He was able to meet 4 of our patients whom we had treated while here in Ghana, so they could tell him first hand what had happened to them. It was great to see our patients again, and they certainly enjoyed meeting the President!

What made it even cooler is that the next evening on the way to a reception for us thrown by the Minister of Health, the bus we were travelling in (with police escourt) to the venue, screened on the national news an item about the Presidents visit to the ship!!! I even saw myself (sitting in the very back of course) for a split second, so I am now world famous in Ghana!

Since we are moving out pretty soon, when Presidents are not visiting - we are quickly packing up! Being in port for 9 months means you have a lot of stuff to clean up, personal and of course the whole ship wide. My room mates and I have been 'tying down' our room. We have done the same to the ward so things don't go flying if we hit a wave during the sail. Of course the deckies have been busy loading our cars and drills onto the ship.

It has also been time for a lot of patients to come and say goodbye. This is Elizabeth (on the left) who had a massive leg deformity that one of our surgeons helped correct. She and her daughter made the 5 hour journey from Kumasi in the center of Ghana to say farewell. We did take them out for lunch, so it was great to see them again before we head off.

So as you can see it has been a jam packed couple of days, also with last trips to the markets, last meals off the ship, and last time on solid ground for a week. To finish the outreach here are the statistics as promised of our time in Ghana.

Community Development Service (CDS)

1 16 bed maternity unit
1 Youth Health Centre
1 High School Addition
24 wells drilled
103 Maternal Health Trainers equipped
243 HIV Trainers equipped
23 Agricultural Trainers equipped

206 women trained in bee keeping, rabit, mushroom and snail farming

Church Empowerment
350 participants in church empowerment conference

Health Care Services (HCS)
Dental – 5435 patients seen
Eye Team, 19,106 patients seen, 1454 surgeries
VVF repair – 65 surgeries

Maxillo Facial/Plastic surgery – 557 surgeries

Its been a busy 9 months - time now to sail off into the sunset! Bring on Liberia!