Happy Thanksgiving to our US supporters

Thank you all for your giving happily to MoM all year, may your Thanksgiving day be a wonderful one.... we give thanks for you all being our friends, supporters and encourager's from the USA - you and your families!

All the best wishes possible are coming from Kpong Airfield and the Medicine on the Move Team in Ghana to you in the USAas you celebrate this special day, may it be a safe and peaceful one!

VIPs visit the airfield

Yesterday the Kpong Airfield was graced with Chiefs and Mayors as our local area considers a twining with Wichita Kansas.... The Mayor of Wichita, Kansas, accompanied by a large entourage (including the Deputy Mayor and the Wichita Chief of Police as well as local dignitaries) enjoyed meeting Patricia Mawuli Nyekodzi, learning about the challenges of Schistosomiasis and how aviation is changing lives one flight at a time.... we hope to explore possibilities with the good aviation minded folks of Wichita in the coming months. If you are from Wichita and interested in health, education and aviation - please get in contact.

A visit with the Queen Mother, Manye Esther

Jonathan Porter, aka Captain Yaw, rarely gets off of the airfield, but he did get to spend some time with the Queen Mother, Manye Esther recently, discussing ways to help in the many rural and accessibility challenges communities in the Manya Krobo district, much of which, in Upper Manya, borders the Volta Lake...

The best solutions are home grown

Yesterday we sent some more dried food items to the Queen Mothers to assist with their feeding programme for HIV orphans and vulnerable children. We are working with DFP's Ghana Based factory to make this a sustainable monthly support of a made in Ghana food item to help in the nutrition of 1000 plus children affected - all of whom are cared for in the community. Manye Esther received the food items, even during her mourning for the loss of her husband, for which we extend our deepest condolances. Manye Esther leads the eighty plus Queen Mothers from the Manya Krobo district in this and other community development activities.

Lydia sees the light

Sucess - tonight Lydia came to me asking for a plaster... she had cut herself, washed the wound and put antiseptic cream on the cut - all by herself, just wanting to covered... if that had been done when she was three to her then insect bite on her elbow, she would not be disabled today... Learning is one thing, application of the knowledge another... NOW she is ready to teach others and to start a bush fire of simple first aid knowledge... Well done Lydia!

A lot on our plate

Despite the lack of writings lately on the blog, we have been busy bunnies working towards a change in pace and modus operandi coming soon.

As from February 2012, less than 90 days from now, we will have Michaela and Ben full time with MoM.  This will be the first time that MoM has full time operatives in the field.  Michaela has a stack of experience in Ghana and Ben demonstrated an 'excellent integration' during his visit earlier this year.  

Both of these dynamic young people will be volunteering their first two years of married life to help to change the health quotient of rural folks in Ghana - and we are just setting the scene for them right now - so that they can hit the ground running!  At the same time, we are ensuring that there is sufficient latitude for the dynamic duo to grab the stick and rudder of MoM and steer it safely on course in their own style.

In March 2012, MoM is actively supporting the Integrated National Schistosomiasis Control Initiative conference - the first of its kind in Ghana, and one that has hopes to set new standards for Schisto control - and perhaps eradication for the developing nations.   MoM's extensive community identification work will be a key part of guiding the policy and standards, and we look forward to partnering with the many other stakeholders in the programme - you can read more on the MoM Website under the INSCI tab.

Other developments that they will be picking up include work on an innovative co-operation in relation to using food packaging for health messages... although in its early stages, the concept could well reach out far beyond the borders of Ghana - and change lives, one plate of food at a time.... as it develops, we will share more with you!  

Food security is clearly going to become a major challenge in basic health needs in the coming years, and we must start to think about how to address that in a sustainable manner... 

Meanwhile, Lydia is now able to clap, use her arm for most things and we should be clearing off the charges from the first surgery this week - and start preparing for her second operation, which we have put off until the new year.

For those in Ghana on the 11th December we are holding a fund-raising dinner in Accra, and would be pleased to sell you some tickets to a fun evening!

So, MoM is busy - but much of the happenings right now are 'organisational' and they are laying the foundation for a major thrust into 2012... so stay with us, keep on holding our hands as we build up speed and impact in our areas of operation.