GHEI Health Team Visits a Millennium Village

The Health Team and MVP staff in Manso-Nkwanta

The Health Team recently visited the Millenium Village Project, specifically the communities of Groso, and Manukrom in the Bonsasso Millennium village cluster. Click here to read about UN Millennium Village project there and here for their blog.

Since 2007, GHEI and MVP have been sharing ideas.  This makes sense since GHEI and MVP share a similar philosophical ground, that is, a direct investment in empowering community members will bring communities out of poverty. In 2007, GHEI staff visited the millennium village, and in 2009, more formal sharing took place, specifically about health programs. Then in 2010, MVP staff visited GHEI in Humjibre. MVP staff visited to learn more about GHEI’s malaria program, particularly how GHEI encourages bednet usage. Thanks to this meeting, MVP implemented bednet distributions based on some of GHEI’s methods in three pilot villages.  

Voices: Mensah Gyapong

“I was a coca farmer at Soroano the first time I heard about GHEI.  Some Obruni’s [foreigners, originally meaning is ‘the ones from over the horizon’] came and surveyed the community about malaria in Soroano in 2007.  We were a little scared with these Obruni’s in our village, but that’s when we heard, ‘There is a NGO in Humjibre and that is why we are here.’

You see, in Soroano, because of the river, we have so many malaria cases.  If it rains, and if the river comes forward, you will even have small water in the community.  Mosquitos like the dirty extended water, and they will reproduce, and bring Malaria.  

So, later, I was at Soroano, just farming, and the Community Health Worker leader CK asked if I would help them with hanging nets and do the malaria program with them.  CK involved me and we worked together for some time.  Then Clement came to the village with some volunteers and informed everyone that these people, the volunteers, are here to help you with your bednets.  They brought 500 bednets, this was enough for the whole community.  ...read more.

New and Old Learning with Dr. Amin Davari and Dr. Nikki Webb

Dr Davari, in class at Bekwai Clinic

Dr. Amin Davari ended up in Ghana because of pizza.  The UCLA pediatric resident heard about a talk on International Health that was happening and thought it sounded interesting. He heard that they had pizza too.  By chance, he happened to sit next to Rebecca Dudovitz, long time associate of GHEI and coordinator of the many trips that UCLA residents have taken out to Humjibre.  While he enjoyed his delicious slice of pie, he heard from medical school students giving a recap of their time in Ghana, and Rebecca mentioned a chance to go to Ghana to support health service out there with GHEI.  

Several months later Dr. Davari was travelling down a shell-shocked road in Ghana, from Kumasi, in a rattling orange bus that wheezed dust as it motored to Bekwai, where he would continue on to Humjibre in a stuffy taxi probably blaring some great mid-90's adult contemporary music. Where he was going, there was no pizza… Meanwhile in Humjibre, Dr. Nicole Webb was already set up for the past two weeks.  Nikki had already begun many of their trainings as well making initial contacts with traditional birth attendants.  

There are three hospitals in Bibiani-Anwhiaso-District; there is only one that is public and affordable with (supposedly) one ambulance for an area that has a population well over a 100,000 and spans 837 square kilometers.  For a pregnant woman, making it to the hospital is not always likely, as it’s roughly a forty five minute taxi ride from Humjibre, when there’s even a taxi available.  There are midwives and nurses at clinics in some larger villages, but sometimes it is even difficult to get to those.  Most women are working up until the day that they give birth; many births happen at a cocoa farm.

In villages in Ghana just like Humjibre, there are women who deliver babies at home. Traditional Birth Attendants are these women, and they belong to a tradition that goes back generations and is a deeply rooted part of Ghanaian culture. Though the exact number is unknown, it is estimated that perhaps greater than fifty percent of babies born each year in Ghana are delivered outside of the health care system, many by Traditional Birth Attendants.  While the knowledge of these women's work is well known in the community, there isn’t a lot of interaction between the medical health services and them.  Amin and Nikki were here to meet these remarkable women though.  They heard the women’s experiences, got to know their technique, and formally established a relationship.

Dr. Webb training midwives

Amin and Nikki were also continuing the neo natal resuscitation training that residents like Beatrice Teatteh had provided in many clinics in the B-A-B district.   In the first few seconds after a birth, many babies cannot breathe, and response to this should quick and skilled.  The residents were here to show the midwives and nurses how.  Amin and Nikki with proper gear, including a dummy baby with lungs that fill with air and a chest that rises, spent several weeks bombing around the district in a string of sketchy taxis. They would arrive at clinics in clouds of dust, with smiles and an inflatable baby, ready to train.  

Some of their students were also coworkers, as Amin and Nikki also volunteered their time at the Bekwai Clinic.  Nikki and Amin, would see patients for a morning, and then bundle into a taxi in the afternoon and head off to a clinic in a far flung area of the district.  Or shoot off in the morning, and arrive slightly bedraggled (but still pretty psyched) for an afternoon in the clinic.  

I followed along and witnessed one of neo-natal resuscitation trainings at the Bekwai clinic.  I was a bit late, so I slunk into the back of the room and watched, as overhead fans mercifully roared away. 

“Is this a good heart rate for a baby?” Amin, with an assistant at his side and an imaginary stethoscope in his ears and on the plastic baby in front of him, tapped his finger on the table in a slow rhythm.  The answer was a resounding No from the audience.  “No, you are right.  This is much too slow.  What is the number one reason for a baby to have a heart rate that is not good?” Amin asked, in the particular cadence of Americans who are speaking slow enough to be understood by anyone not American.  A pause, and then an answer, “Yes, that’s right, because the baby is not breathing right.”

After training was done, Amin and I trekked up the dirt road back to Bekwai, when a car pulled off and invited us in.  It Mr. Anim, the Bekwai Clinic Senior Health Assistant, and as we got into the car I asked what he thought of the trainings, and he made a funny quip about his staff to the effect that they were allergic to learning, but on the subject of Nikki and Amin he said they were “splendid.” He said the example of their work, and the chance to work alongside them was improving the service of his staff greatly.

  

The hope is that one day, as relations continue to strengthen with the medical health services in the district, that better learning and sharing will take place between the traditional birth attendants and future volunteer residents.  In much of Africa, there can be a dynamic friction between the traditional and the modern, between the new learning and the old ways of doing things, this can be a difficult bridge to build.  The reality though is that the average Ghanaian is already a mix of new and old; they exist healthily within that tension, and the hope is that GHEI services can exist there with them.   GHEI is committed to the total health of the residents of the B-A-B district, no matter where the service comes from, old or new.

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Volunteer with G.H.E.I. in Humjibre, Ghana this summer!

We are now accepting applications for G.H.E.I. Summer Serve and Learn 2012!

GHEI Serve and Learn volunteer programs give short term volunteers an experience in a different way of doing development work in Africa.  Our work is grounded in the communities we serve, and by volunteering with GHEI in Humjibre you will profoundly experience life in rural Ghana.  Join us working on a better world in one small corner.

Session 1: Girls' Empowerment (June 4 - 20, 2012) / Session 2: Read and Play (June 22 - July 8, 2012) / Session 3: Kickin' It in Ghana (July 10 - 26, 2012) / Session 4:  Malaria Prevention (July 28 - August 13, 2012)

Download the session document

Download the FAQ's  

Download the application and send it to Tabatha at apply@ghei.org

... 

We've blogged about our amazing summer programs quite a bit here.  Check out last summer's programs and people:

Read and Play 2011 volunteers created a literacy outreach to local primary schools and wrote a catchy song about taking proper care of your books. 

Girls' Empowerment 2011 volunteers spent two weeks learning and sharing with girls finishing junior high studies, culminating in a traditional Ghanaian feast that they prepared with the girls help.  

Malaria Prevention 2011 volunteers assisted Community Health Workers to undertake a massive community survey on bednet usage and got to visit folks among the many unique neighborhoods in Humjibre.  

Build Ghana 2011 session (now more appropriately titled "Kickin' It in Ghana") was about teamwork and the volunteers demonstrated this themselves while collaborating on a teambuilding camp, hosting a popular football tournament, and tutoring local staff on computer basics.  

Of course, that's only some of what they did during the day.  Life in Humjibre is so much more full and vibrant than that.  Here is one person's reflection on what volunteering in Humjibre meant to her.  

...

My time here greatly changed my understanding of development work. As a matter of fact, I learned a lot more than I was anticipating. I am convinced that my time spent in Humjibre has helped shaped the beginning of my path in life. 

- Oluwaseun Ososami, Build Ghana 2011

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Letters from Humjibre, Ghana...

Every few months,  we put together a small mailing to those who have supported GHEI for a number of years.  Since it take roughly 600 years to get mail from Humjibre to USA, we're already starting to mail out holiday themed letters.  

We've got some great letters this year from our YEP after school program.  Our YEP program is for high achieving students in Junior High, and in these after school classes we teach advanced High School level lessons on English, Mathematics, Social Studies, ICT, and Science.  Many of these kids speak English well, but you can tell that they've spent years studying English very hard...from a book.  Their flowery prose and gentleness is a wonder to behold, mostly because it's so rare to hear in the way we native speakers converse in our subtle, ironic ways. 

These letters are solid gold, and I couldn't help but share some great quotes.  Even though some are very funny, and it's a bit early for Christmas, I love how their heart-on-their-sleeve honesty comes popping off the page.  Enjoy.

“I greet you all in America, and say Happy Christmas to all of you.”  -Akosua

“My name is Stephen.  I am very jovial and every morning I give birth to success. When you read my [letter] you will be caught up in the sky with joy..I hope you are swimming in the coming joy of Christmas...” –Stephen

“I am very happy about Christmas because my parents will kill a full chicken for me to eat!” -Gladys

“My favourite football player is Lionel Messi on F.C. Barcelona. So I like Christmas because I get time to watch my favourite [football] matches and watch war films.” –Justice

 

“My wish is that in the New Year, I want to abstain my self from bad things. This is difficult.” - Lawrence

“My name is Ebenezer but [the] population calls me King Pogasty or Rastico...I was a good man [this] year and I don’t like those who frown on their face and I don’t like those who play with fire.  It means to tempt serious trouble!” – Ebenezer. 

“There is also a festival here called the Yam Festival.  There is dancing and singing.  Here is a special town if you come here, you will not go to your own town.  You will want to stay here until you die!” – Lawrencia 

"I am happy for Christmas because I have got new clothes and some sandals, which I will use...One more thing, if God [does] not permit Christmas holiday and me to meet, I will be sad and worry.” -Dorothy. 

“If you come on Christmas day I will take you to my church and sing a nice song to you, so please, come and let us celebrate the Christmas together...I hope the next year will be the best year to you and me." - Susanna

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Lending a Hand, Here and There, in Humjibre

Last week, the staff at GHEI engaged in the provocative act of painting a message on the side of a building.  It was not street art, it was actually a task that had been on our to-do list for some time, which was to paint GHEI’s mission on the side of the classroom, directly by a popular footpath. This would be an effective way to advertise what we are here to do, because, as I found out a little while ago, many know that we are here to do good things but few know what those good things are.
 

Painstakingly, Jen stenciled in the letters by pencil in the morning, expecting that we would tackle it at some later date. Before long, Happy and Clement had already gotten out the paint, and everyone was picking up a brush.  Some of the recent additions to our team even joined in, like our National Service Volunteer Emmanual Hagyrahirah  and Nikki Webb, a Pediatric Resident from the states here for three weeks to provide training to clinics in the district.  Some had detailed skills, others needed a little practice, but fortunately there were a lot of letters, and thanks to everyone pitching in, we finished mid-afternoon.

While we’ve been at the forefront of a big push in local schools to get student’s hands washed, the need to keep our own students hands clean, somehow got lost in the mix.  Which is why the Health Team recently unveiled the new Veronica bucket (a bucket with a small tap at the bottom for running water), especially for our Early Childhood Literacy students and young library patrons.   Education staff keeps an eye out making sure student’s hands are getting clean, while Health Team puts the bucket out for use. Much like the gentle camaraderie of our painting mission, Health and Education are working together to keep the water flowing. 

 

Just recently, we had our annual ECL vs Library football match.  The students who regularly patron the library after school are selected by Lawrence to form a team that squares off against the ECL students.  It’s a popular match, and even those kids not normally going to the library come out to support their friends.

 

The pitch itself leaves much to be desired unfortunately.  The spaces infront of the library is rutted and eroded from the heavy rains that have tapered off recently, but come roaring back every few days.  It’s quite a challenge, and I can’t imagine playing on that field (somewhat like how I have difficulty envisioning playing on the rock strewn official field), but to the kids it’s no sweat, the ball just bounces a lot.  Girls Library won their match with a touch of finesse, while the boys team played to a boisterous and sweaty draw of 1-1.

The day was a scorcher too, and kids were getting thirsty real fast.  Noticing this, young Attah asked Jen for a bucket of water.  Together they got a bucket of water, and Attah spontaneously organized a rehydration unit.  She organized lines, and with just one cup, she quenched dozens of kid’s thirst.  I stood impressed watching this, and even more impressed when she sent a kid to the back of the line for trying to cut, and then withheld the cup when there was too much pushing and shoving. 

It was neat to see her lending a hand...

 

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