Great People Doing Great Things

Woezor !! (meaning You are Welcome !! in the local Ewe language). I hope everyone is doing well around the world wherever you may be reading this.

Recently our second group has returned back from another great weekend excursion. Highlights included visiting New Seed International, Wli Falls, Monkey Sanctuary, and a traditional Kenti Weaving Village. All and all everything worked out pretty well except for my slight injury at Wli Falls. At the falls I was climbing some slippery rocks and ended up slipping and catching my fall using my left hand. Except on my left hand I had my steel watch of 1.5 years on which was developing a sharp edge to it. I ended up slicing the bottom of my palm about ½ inch deep and about 1.5 inches wide. So with the gaping wound on my left palm I needed to battle through the chaos/wind storm that is Wli Falls (the tallest waterfalls in West Africa) to get back to where my med kit was to stop the bleeding. As of right now as I am typing this my hand is well on its way to recovery after visiting the local doctor at Keta Hospital.

This morning’s trip to Keta Hospital was pretty memorable. I arrived at around 7:30 AM to try and avoid the rush, but despite arriving early I was only seen by a doctor by 9 AM. At the hospital I needed to visit several stations to organize my paperwork, take my vital signs, and then finally wait for the doctor. My boss told me the one Doctor who works at the hospital was Cuban, so I immediately broke out my Spanish as I greeted her in the morning. After falling into her good graces she immediately told me she would see me, but I just needed to wait one moment for her to tend to an emergency. As I was waiting for her I saw a gurney with a patient on it who seemed to be sleeping enter her examination room. After she was done with the woman, she told me that she was a 24 years old woman who arrived to the Hospital dead on arrival and was already deceased for more than one day. Somehow her family neglected to bring her medical attention or pay attention to her at all until this morning where they transported her already dead body to the hospital to see if there was anything she could do. Unfortunately she passed away and I , of course, do not know the entire full story but it is particularly difficult for me to hear and see someone pass away so close to my age of 27 years old. After I received my shot and prescription for antibiotics I was able to leave the hospital. My whole consultation with my doctor occurred in Spanish, which was pretty cool. By the time I left her office every single seat was filled and the hallways where stacked full of people. A conservative estimate for the amount of people waiting to see the one doctor the hospital had would probably be around 175 patients. As well I tip my hat to the government of Cuba who is providing this Doctor at the clinic. For if she wasn’t there who knows what the public health implications of the region would be. I have met so many people (foreigners and domestics) here in Ghana who are working EXTREMELY hard to better the lives of other people, and putting their lives on hold/straining their lives to serve others.

I met two more of those people who are literally SACRIFICING their lives for the well being and future of others today. They are the two Americans who are currently running Father’s House International (an organization and orphanage who is currently taking care of/raising 8 ex-child slaves from Ghana) http://www.fathershouseghana.com/. The children at the orphanage were sold by their parents into slavery in the Volta Region to fisherman. These fisherman would use the children to dive deep underwater to untangle nets. This is extremely dangerous work as many children drown from diving deep and getting entangled in the nets and drowning. As well they are not taken care of properly and given no education. These two American from South Carolina who are working to slowly rehabilitate the lives of these children are doing absolutely amazing work. As a group I was able to bring students to the orphanage and we were able to meet the saved kids and see where they lived and play soccer with them. They also played drums for us, and showed us their homemade drum set which consisted of tin cans, bamboo, and a card board box drum bass. The children were super friendly and outgoing, something I am sure they weren’t when they were held as slaves. Seeing the whole compound and playing with the kids was an awesome experience and motivates me to continue doing great things for others once I get back to the states.

In Ghana it has been great to see the community mentality in full effect which many developing countries have. Neighbors know each other really well, communities rely on each other for survival, everyone looks out for one another and are extremely kind and friendly in their demeanor. Ghanaians are extremely welcoming people and gracious people. The best parts about traveling are truly getting to know the people, and so far I feel I have definitely been able to meet and become friends with the Ghanaians I work with, have met while traveling, have met while working at the schools, and have just met when walking down the street. Overall it has been an amazing experience to be here and work in this country.

Anyways that is the latest that is happening out here in West Africa. I definitely miss everyone back at home and only have a little bit more than one month left in this country and I plan to take full advantage of the time I have here.

Thanks for reading.

Love to all,

Rudolph

You are Welcome !

You are Welcome ! That is the phrase many Ghanaians say to welcome you to their homes, schools, or just about anywhere you meet a Ghanaian.

All is well here with me in Ghana. Today is the second to last day of the first group of students which will be working with this summer. This past weekend we went on an excursion to the city of Ho in the Volta Region. There we were able to visit a Monkey Sanctuary, swim under the highest waterfalls of West Africa (Wli Falls), visit a Kenti Cloth Weaving village, and relax in a hotel with a POOL ! Overall it was great to leave our home base a little bit and see the surrounding country side. After this past weekend’s excursion we continued work making bricks at the schools, teaching at the school, and participating in afternoon/evening cultural events.

The most impressive place I have been to so far in Ghana was also visited during this past weekend. We visited an organization called New Seed International (http://www.newseedinternational.org/index.html) it is an amazing organization located in Ho and its mission is to assist children and all people who have been somehow affected by HIV/AIDS. The organization has an orphanage component which helps take care of children who have HIV, children who have been shunned from their communities and own parents as a result of having HIV, and children without parents who have died as a result of AIDS. There are approximately 75 children at New Seed International and we were able to spend an amazing afternoon playing with the children and also having an in depth conversation with its founder Livinus. The organization also works on HIV/AIDS awareness and also has a medical clinic component attached to its facilities. This is an amazing organization which is helping many children’s lives through no fault of their own have been affected by HIV/AIDS. All of these children were simply born and, of course, never chose to be born into having HIV or having had their parents passed away as a result of this virus. Playing and interacting with all of the children ages newborn to 14 was definitely the most memorable/heartwarming/difficult interaction with children I have ever had. If anyone is ever thinking about donating any money to anything, this is an effective organization who is working very hard for the children they are taking care of. Please email me (rudy.becker@gmail.com) if you are interested in donating anything, they are currently working on a large 60 bed boy and girl dorm room facility to house the children in a clean and safe environment.
Today is Thursday and before I know it on Saturday afternoon I will be greeting 36 new students in Accra Airport to Ghana. This group will be a 3 week program, and I am very excited to get to know them. In this group it looks like there will be 3 boys and 33 girls. I look forward to working with them all and embarking on adventures throughout Ghana with them. This past group has been really amazing with some great characters and cool students.

Anyways that is the latest for now! I miss everyone and look forward to seeing you all soon back home!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA !!! Wish you were here !!

Love to all,

Rudy

Here is a link to my latest pictures from Ghana : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100771172575793.3069401.2206209&l=dd62106b61