FRIDAY....Packing Up, A Visit to the Patient Shelter, Humanitarian work being completed & a LONG drive back to Accra

 Another long one…so I am again dividing this post into a couple or sections because while 6 hours of is was on a bus ride back to Accra – there was also an unexpected, wonderful visit to the patient shelter that deserves it own space & an update on the humanitarian work 😊

The Morning I had a good nights sleep & woke up about 7 am & spent an hour packing before going to breakfast at about 8:15. It was the same breakfast, but they also served us ICE CREAM CUPS. Mind you there are no dairy products in Ghana I am told no cows I guess???  so it was soy-based ice cream, but it was yummy. My theory is that Op Smile paid for it for dessert last night at the party & they forgot to serve it, so we got it this morning – either way I took it as a win! Op Smile Ghana also had scrubs for us as a gift & Abi & I went to pick those up after breakfast. I asked her if I could talk to her for a minute & gave her my last 500 Cedi that I had personally exchanged at the airport when I landed & told her I wanted her to use it to buy Nana her son a nice 1^st Birthday present on his birthday Sept 3^rd or get something they both needed. She was grateful & said I would be his” honorary granny” and she would video call me on his birthday. Her parents live about 8 hours from where she is in Accra & she is working on getting her mom to come live with her for a year to care for Nana before he can go into childcare. I went back to finish packing and it was much easier to close my carry on suitcase then it was on the way here because there were things I used, ate or gave away that provided me with added space – I am bringing back some delicious plantain chips that Beatrice made &  gave me with a little note. I still had about 45 min of packing to do but several Whatsapp messages were coming thru about people going to the hospital to check on yesterday’s patients & also going to the shelter. I really wanted to go see the shelter as I missed going there on Sunday when I went to church & then became busy in meetings to determine the needs here and planning with Salam. I just wasn’t sure when they would get back & if I would have time to finish packing. I texted Princess separately & she said she thought I could do both & have time to pack so I asked her to hold the bus for me & ran up to the front where it was parked to leave.  Everyone got off at the hospital except Cherish, me and the 3 USA students.  

THE SHELTER I have been to shelters on other missions it is always a very humbling experience that all of these moms & children are staying in brick buildings and sleeping on very thin floor mats. I assume that maybe their normal living environment which is always simply difficult to see. The drive to the shelter was longer than I expected, about 30 min on a dirt road that of course had hundreds of potholes. The 2^nd  “road pathway” to the shelter was being dug up & worked on so we couldn’t drive the bus on it & walked about 200-300 yards to the shelter. I am told it was actually a church & school, but I imagine OSI was “using or renting it” for these 2 weeks.  As we approached their living quarters which was next to a covered “pavilion” and we were about 50 feet away suddenly ALL of the mothers and patients from the entire week came out waving white or colorful towels, walking towards us & singing this beautiful song of gratitude to us – just the 5 of us…I was immediately overwhelmed & am again as I type this. They continued to sing, surrounded us and wanted to hug us. My heart was so touched & my tears were free flowing.  There was an older woman leading the singing & clearly the “matriarch” of the shelter – she spoke only Twi & some of the patient advocates who go into small villages to find patients were also there & one of them spoke English & led us into the pavilion where they had some plastic chairs set up. In the pavilion they continued to sing & dance in a circle around the perimeter and around us until we joined them. We were handed patients by the moms or patients came up to us to hold their hand or hold them as we danced. The “matriarch” gave a beautiful speech that was not translated but understood by the heart. A few of the moms also spoke in English simply expressing gratitude and praising God for bringing the team to Ho to help their children. One of the advocates who seemed to be in charge asked if we wanted to speak & all 5 of us said a few words while he translated for us. I simply told them that "I knew God had sent me to Ghana for them and their children and for other purposes. I also told them I was a better person for having been with them the past 2 weeks. I said they were amazing mothers, daughters, grandmothers and women who reflected a mother’s sacrifice and love for all to see and that I wound remember them & perhaps would return to Ghana someday". While we were there and afterwards many of the mothers and children who remembered each of us came to us individually to take photos with them. (LOTS of group photos remember I said they ALL love to be in pictures…) .My new friend Kofi a patient advocate, was there and told me he was going to church this week & taking his 4 boys. Another advocate Jonathan who I remember slightly came to me & thanked me for coming to Ghana & then spoke a beautiful prayer over me and my family for generations to come for the lives I changed in Ghana. He was so tender-hearted. He also asked for my contact & we took a photo. Those moments with him & this entire experience were truly spiritual to my core. I had heard of the mothers doing something like this in the Congo on missions & even seen a video or two maybe a decade ago but I was not even thinking abut that today I was just going to “see the shelter”. What a “GIFT” that was to receive from them as I leave Ghana. I will never forget it.  

FINAL PACKING & DRIVE TO ACCRA: After leaving the shelter we picked up the team that was at the hospital & returned to the hotel at 12:30 the same time the bus was to leave. Fortunately, we were on Ghana time & they were sending the bus to get food for the drive & we would then leave – translated they said we had 30 minutes & bring our suitcases up. While packing Salam was texting me (next section) and I rushed to get myself organized & called to see if someone from the office could help me with my bags. The housekeeper was outside my room waiting to clean it – I apologized that I was late & told her I left some items in the room for her as a thank you (snacks, travel toiletries and a little money). Later I realized I also left her my silk pillowcase I forgot to take off the pillow in my rush to pack -I hope she took it & enjoys it 😊We ended up leaving at 1:30pm in the small “school transport bus” we had been using in town all week. They Tetris stacked all the luggage in the last 2 rows of seats & we all piled in there was a single seat on one side, a double seat on the other side & a fold out “jump seat” in between. There were 22 of us to go & 20 seats. They made a makeshift seat for 2 by the driver on someone’s luggage.  We were cozy in there…I suggested we pray we get to Accra safely & there were resounding AMENS!!!! Now the question was how long it would take us to get there I heard times ranging from 3 hours (optimistic) to 6 hours (realistic) According to Apple maps if you were on a “good road” it should be 3 ½ hours. But we were on far from good roads, dirt roads with a zillion potholes to avoid & traffic without lanes or rules of driving. In hindsight I should have prayed we got there safely & swiftly!!! After about 90 min we were back crossing the Adomi bridge & as soon as we got in that village traffic was stopped & our lil bus & all cars were surrounded by at least 40 people men & women at every window trying to sell us stuff – mostly food items. It was hard to watch & we were told not to make eye contact or they would think we were interested but these were people and I did smile at them for the 15 min we were totally stopped there. I realized they are all just trying to survive. That happened every time we were stopped in traffic in a small villages for the next several hours. You need to imagine a dirt road & as you face the direction you are going there are no lanes but perhaps 4 cars would fit across the entire road & instead there are 6 cars (or more) 3 in each direction and not necessarily in any orderly fashion so 2 “lanes” going north, 2 going south & if one direction was bottlenecked & slower then there may be 2 other rows going that direction a bit more “off the dirt road”. Basically, everyone competing for space on the road, honking & cutting in. This apparently is an everyday “normal”. Fortunately, I had 3 hours on podcasts already downloaded on my phone & a battery charger so that occupied some of my time on the drive. We finally arrived at the hotel at 8 pm (same one we were at on the 1^st night). We were all tired & sweaty 6 & ½ hours later, went to our rooms, I took a quick shower, said some hallway goodbyes, quickly rearranged by luggage, blogged for Thursday and went to bed still completely both AMAZED and OVERWELMED at what the last 12 days had included.  

HUMANITARIAN: As I said while I was packing & then while on the bus ride Salam was texting me & sending me photos…they had already completed all the “shopping”, gotten 80 cases of tomato paste, as well as large bags with pounds and pounds of beans, corn & gari to be divided for the families. They were gathering today about 12 women to make the 40 packages of each type of food for each family so that they could spend Sunday delivering to as many as possible. The photos of women on stools hunched over bowls bagging up food for other families made me teary. They were putting all of those items in a larger bag – so ultimately each family would receive the 25kg of rice, 2 cases of tomato paste, a case of some cans of protein fish (sardines) or chicken or beef, 5 liters of oil, and the large bag with the sugar, corn, beans & gari. WOW!!! Via text I thanked her so much and told her I did not expect her to be doing this until next week. she replies that Sister Caroline (with baby Laura she is caring for) helped her a great deal because we had helped her with Lauras needs. I asked her to PLEASE give my deepest gratitude to all the other women helping and being our hands from afar by doing the shopping, bagging the food and helping distribute.  Her text to me was “We love you and your friends who do not know us but are caring for us, feeding our hungry and bringing hope to many others who simply know of your kindness” That was another tearful moment of gratitude for so many friends who are so generous and trust me with their sacred funds. This time that amount was more than any other mission. They gave or sent me their money and believed and prayed that I would figure out how to help those most in need without a “pre-plan” (which is hard for me as I am a planner!). Throughout the week there were numerous barriers, but I kept moving forward with faith that God will build the path in front of me to accomplish His plan sometimes one step at a time. Now that I am on the “backside of this journey” I know this was the “other purpose” for me being in Ghana…so that a compassionate “Army of Angels” could feed the hungry & bring them hope in a 3^rd world country where “making this happen” in 5 days would to others seem impossible. Together we donated 2200 lbs. of rice, 200 liters of oil, 80 cases of tomato paste, 50 lbs. of sugar, 80 “bowls” of beans, 200 “bowls” of maize/corn & 120 “bowls” of Gari  (btw I have no idea how many pounds are in a bowl?). This should last each home close to 2 months. ALL of that was $120 US$ per family for 40 families (13 elderly & 27 single mothers) and for 2 additional elderly widows they are getting the cash allocations weekly “prepared foods”.  As as I reflect again that this was all done start to finish in a 5 day period with miracle after miracle and every time I couldn’t see the path forward from needing cash to transporting supplies to “crunching number and dollars” Gods guiding hand, numerous prayers on my behalf, as well as added generosity all matched up perfectly and miraculously to care for the people of Ho Ghana….I was where I needed to be 7500 miles from home to fulfill this need as the conduit of others goodness. As I “make up a story in my mind” I imagine people struggling without food praying then I imagine in my mind God saying” Don’t worry my child I am aware of your needs and an ARMY OF ANGELS is on their way to feed you and will bring you relief” I am honored to be the representative of so many angels…..and just like that this secondary “mission” too is complete. I will forever appreciate my blog to remind me of these days  Nurse Nancy