You've Got to Love Me to Come This Far

I am thankful for our last trip to Ghana. I was tired and needed rest before I could write this final report. I’ve enjoyed time back with family and eating plenty of food for Thanksgiving. I hope all of you had a wonderful time to give thanks for the blessings in your life.

I am so thankful that I had the chance to see so many wonderful things. The highlights of my last week were:
1. Seeing people with Buruli Ulcer getting better
2. Speaking on the radio about why I came to Ghana and being able to preach on JLife 95.5 FM.
3. Seeing more wells that we’ve completed. One well is in a village called Domeabra was especially memorable.
4. Spending a day of rest with good friend, Jim Niquette and his family
5. Knowing that a new church has a floor in Singini

1. Seeing Improvements with Buruli Ulcer
The highlight for the last week was to see the early results of the work to make a difference against a neglected tropical disease called Buruli Ulcer. It is a flesh eating disease that is similar to leprosy. We had money in Rotary grant 71926 to prototype early detection and early care of people. Early detection is taking a survey or census to find people who are sick with the disease. Early care is trying to find people with the early stages of the disease instead of waiting until it gets really bad.

The quick answer is that we saw amazing results in the lives of people in one district of Ghana called Asunafo South District (A Sue Nah Foo South). The district health director and her staff trained community volunteer health workers to survey their communities for people suffering from Buruli Ulcer. They found about fifty-four people who are now getting treatment. The ulcers are shrinking and the people are encouraged after receiving antibiotic treatment. One man had the disease for over twenty-five years.
It takes seventy days of antibiotic injections to fight the disease. We funded this work with just $15,000. We hope to raise more money to give people hope, help, and better health.


The “before” and “after” of a teenaged girl is shown left. She will still need therapy to prevent disability. The class to help her minimize scarring and disability was prototyped in the Dormaa District mentioned below by ALM.
We also went to the Dormaa District to see the results of a new educational program created by American Leprosy Missions (ALM) to teach people how to care for the Buruli ulcer and prevent the usual disability from the scaring that comes when the skin heals from the ulcer. I was amazed how people were improving with less scarring and more mobility. Our next Rotary grant, 25176, will be working in both of these districts in the Brong Ahafo Region. The miracle is that the training envisioned by our next grant was developed simultaneously by wonderful and smart people at American Leprosy Missions. We will be using that training and material from the World Health Organization to help people have better lives after this disease.

2. Speaking and Preaching on JLife 95.5 FM
It was truly an experience to speak on the radio in Ghana. It was my first time. I was interviewed and asked why I come to Ghana and what I do. I was asked about my church and Rotary. Rev. David Donkor asked me to explain what we do through the church and what we do through Rotary. The signal for the Christian radio station reaches into three different regions of Ghana. We’ve recorded the audio portion of my sermon if anyone is interested.

3. Seeing more wells that we’ve finished
A really special village is Domeabra-krum. The town’s name means “You got to love me to come this far!” The name also means that the village is not near anything. It took us two hours to come and go to Domeabra-krum. It is in the rain forest outside of Sunyani. I kept asking “Are we there yet?” The road to Domeabra was rough and narrow. We stopped at a wooden sign with the village name on it. We didn’t see any houses. The borehole was located slightly off of the “road” in the rain forest. We had to walk downhill to reach any houses and visit with the people. They gave us three big bunches of big bananas called plantains. I told one of the mothers (above) “Me Do” which means that I loved her and her village. I believe that I’ve traveled to many places around Ghana that deserve a name like Domeabra. Most of those wells are funded by Rotary matching grant 69051.

We also visited a well donated because I spoke at a Christmas United Methodist Women’s banquet last December. I preached on the blessing of a church and a well to a village. An anonymous donor who heard that presentation gave us money for one church and one well! The new well is at Domsesere in central Ghana. It is a very poor community and needed more water to drink.

4. Spending time with friends
I have friends all over Ghana. It is a pleasure to spend time with them. This trip, we had time with Jim Niquette and his family. Jim Niquette is the director of Water in Africa and previously worked for the Carter Centre in Ghana. We worked together to eradicate guinea worm and now are focused on Buruli Ulcer. I didn’t preach and I didn’t work when I was at Jim’s home. Jim’s wife, son and daughter are a real joy, too. I look forward to introducing my wife and oldest daughter to many of them in January.

5. Singini Church has a floor
The people of Singini can worship God in a church with a floor now. We started the church in February. The walls went up in March. The roof went on in April. The walls were plastered in September and November. The floor was just finished this month. We still need to get the doors and windows for the church installed in January.

The photos showing the church construction can be seen here. Click on picture.

Building New Church at Singini in Ghana