With the new intake of trainees we need to establish their strengths and weaknesses. Part of that
One man's treasure is another man's trash, so they must discover their own treasures. 
With the new girls in for training our feeding bill is rising faster than a F16 with after burners in a
Four of the young people supported at the AvTech Academy are from Kete Krachi, a strategic location in the Volta Basin, and one that is not easy to get to. Krachi, as it is referred to, is about 14+ hours drive from Kpong, or less than 2 hours in any of our aircraft - or about 13 hours on the ferry (yes it is a bit faster now!). Fortunately, the Volta Lake Transport Company help to support these girls and have provided transport solutions on the lake ferry. 
The Yapei Queen Ferry took them Northwards a little over a week ago, to speak in the schools and check the condition of the runway in Krachi, as part of their placement duties. Getting Krachi airfield open is key to future MoM outreach activities in the isolated communities around the lake itself. Yesterday they reported for the ferry, only to wait till the early hours of this morning for it to dock, due to unexpected delays. They boarded and slept. 
Thanks go to Michael in Germany for his fund raising and donation of support to purchase new safety boots for the young women in training at Kpong. 
Emmanuella and Lydia are the only Av Tech students at the airfield this week, since the others have travelled to their home towns for the election on Friday. 
Medicine on the Move is committed to a long term support partnership for the training of rural girls in West Africa as pilot/engineer/health educators in order to meet the aims and objectives in rural outreach for expansion to more locations and in more ways in the coming years. Plan International has a programme called 'Because I am a Girl' and Dr Wilfred Owen came by to chat with the girls sporting one of their T Shirts.... A few moments of encouragement go a long way as we seek the sustainable solution to reaching the isolated communities in Ghana and West Africa.
We are not sleeping on the job. We are simply delivering new mattresses for the mini clinic accommodation and girls hostel...
The new girls are amazed that we provide a mattress, and that we do not put more students in a room than there are beds. 
Last year, Erin Nolan came out from NYPD and supported a trip around Ghana on the hunt for new talent. In that tour we spoke to over 1000 young people. From which 100 were invited to the Fly Me Day, and flew, learning more about aviation, health and engineering. From that day, seven girls were offered two in the workshops for selection for training in health, aviation and engineering. Five arrived and next month four will begin their training.
Today was a lesson in flexibility for all of us involved in the Fulani Educational Center. We had some trouble getting into the camp because of the thick mud caused by last night’s heavy rain. After moving some folks around into the back for extra weight, we were able to manoeuvre our way to the camp. When we got there, folks were a bit slow to show up, and when a disagreement broke out a few houses down the road, one by one our pupils began to leave to go observe/assist in the disagreement. Finally, when it was all settled, we were able to start our classes – over an hour late. We made the best of it by having shortened sessions for everyone and by doing a shared demonstration of the SODIS method of cleaning water – courtesy of the AvTech girls. All kinds of illnesses can be transmitted through water, and we’re trying to educate the Fulani in ways that they prevent them. The community was definitely interested in this new information, and we hope that it will be an effective way for the people in camp to get clean water.
There wasn’t time to have an academic session, but a great many of the women brought their pencils and books back, which was a great encouragement! I happened to see one flipped open and line after line of A’s and B’s popped out at me…I was so happy that they’d actually practiced the letters that we’d learned. I hope that next week there will be more time and that we’ll get to review and move on to some new letters! This basic literacy is so important because since organizations like MoM send information out in English, and since things like pill prescriptions and bottles will be printed in English, the Fulani people will need a basic understanding of the language to be able to better care for their families and themselves. It is a work in progress, but is certainly a worthwhile effort on everyone’s part.
MoM continued it's first aid training with the AvTech students today with a review of an emergency scenario and introduction of the B.E.A.M (Body Elevation and Movement) technique. The girls are gaining confidence in their skills as they learn to assess patients in an emergency situation and regularly practice taking vital signs on the staff here on the airfield. Lydia exhibits a very caring bedside manner, while Emmanuella's strength lies very much in her ability to remember all the details of what she needs to look for, and Juliet is very good about taking and maintaining control of an emergency situation. In addition to the practical skills they are learning, the girls also participate in a discussion session prior to the hands-on material, where they have the opportunity to talk about concepts in health education, such as respecting cultures and traditions, effective teaching strategies, and ways in which their future students may be empowered. It's very interesting to hear the concepts and ideas that speak to each girl differently...for example, Lydia holds very tightly to the idea that health education is built around working together to address the concept of health and improving ones health. Emmanuella speaks very passionately about needing to respect traditions and cultural beliefs as they affect health, and brought up the fact that issues such as economics and land are to be remembered when it comes to community health. Juliet feels strongly about the need to evaluate your efforts along the way, as well as the way that health educators need to both teach and listen to those they work with. I learn new things from these girls each week and thoroughly enjoy these sessions!  |  |  |
Each of the girls will take a group and chat with them, admittedly about aircraft, health, engineering and flying - for that is what lights their eyes when they speak. As they talk they will spread something very special - something that cannot be taxed, something that cannot ever be taken away from them. Each and every girl will be inspired in one way or another, realising that 'if these girls from rural Ghana can be learning to fly, build planes and use their skills to take health education to the people, then the girls from rural Ghana can achieve whatever they set their minds to.' 
It has been only six months that I came back as a volunteer to Kpong Field for the second time – being “bitten” in July 2011 in Oshkosh. There was so much more to find since my first visit in Ghana last October: running water for the whole field (not yet to be used in terms of showers – but that won’t be too long), another accommodation with living bodies in there: the MoM voluntary team by Michaela and Ben from the US, an almost finished Mini Clinic for first aid support if needed (still needs basic equipment though), the permission to MoM for dropping by plane, the accomplishments of the first drop runs for health education for the first 20 (!) communities, and the concept of how to do those efficiently – and what really made me happy was seeing the young ladies having developed a lot and having learnt so much more about the planes, engineering, maintenance and flying – a great accomplishment – next to all the unforeseen trouble of everyday Ghana-life ...
I spent all nine days of my stay almost entirely at the airfield – might sound boring for some non-knowing-Ghana-people and non-flying-folks, but there was so much happening – although I arrived in between major activities which I have missed: the first national Shistosomiasis conference, Fly-Me-Day, the first MoM drop mission, the first ETCHE training of the community’s representatives for health education, health training for the girls, major TV channels and newspapers reporting about the girls and the project – but what I did not miss was again the kindness, the energy, the enthusiasm, the motivation and the fascination of everybody in the Kpong Field family. I loved to be there.
Having gotten my Ghanaian validation and PUP-license last time, Jonathan checked me out as an instructor sitting right seat of the plane this time. This way I could teach the girls for a few hours and it was fascinating to see how they learnt from one day to the other. They just love flying and they live flying. It is great to observe how much potential is to be seen and how they envision their future by this opportunity.
On my last day we went to a diagnostic center in Accra to get X-rays of Lydia’s arm and hand. It turned out to be a very professional and well managed center. I was impressed by one of their educational wall pictures: “Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (27 March 1845 – 10 February 1923) who was a German physicist and who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation today known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achievement that earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901“ (wikipedia). Seemed like we have been at the right place ... The professionals working with Lydia have been fascinated by her story and accomplishment and I am sure that WAASPS will have new students soon … More important though, I have gotten very good X-rays of her hand and I will try to find feedback and recommendations by German doctors hoping that there might be some solution for her. But help and answers can be given from anywhere in the world ...
The AvTech girls and I had a fun photo shoot in order to develop educational material for the ETCHE drops! With our next few drops being targeted towards water and sanitation issues, the girls modeled a hand-washing demo as well as several applicable scenarios. Lydia did a lovely job showing us how to properly wash the top and bottom of our hands, while Juliet's demonstration is intended to remind observers to wash in-between their fingers and Emmanuella displayed money as a reminder to wash hands after handling currency. None of them wanted to get close to the potty for the after-toilet reminder and held their noses in protest! =) All in all, we had a lot of fun thinking up different scenarios and I can't wait to see how the posters turn out!
