Drop 2 UPDATE!! Set the table, we have guests arriving soon....

Submitted by Michaela Sholes

Within 24 hours of the drops we did yesterday, we've heard from three new communities! In addition, We've also received confirmation of attendance by nine communities that both their Community Health Representative and the community's Queen Mother! That means, within 24 hours, we've had over a 50% response rate from previously contacted communities and a 30% response rate from new communities!

There is excitement in the air as we gear up for the meeting on Monday and the opportunity to put faces to the individuals we've only seen from the air and heard over a crackly phone!

It's taken 18 years.. Today marks the beginning....

Today marked a moment in history that will probably only be noticed by a few - perhaps you included. Today we ran the first pinging runs in Upper Manya Krobo.

It was amazing... We had been delayed by weather, but our trusty Rotax Powered, Zenith CH701 sat, ready, waiting. With around 140litre fuel capacity and 20 drop bags on board, 9G ZAF was ready to go, and this morning, 'GO we went'!

We dropped a total of 19 bags, but on 2 drops we called a foul (my fault, a snag on the camera) and so we re-dropped.

The images shown here are marvellous - they show the amazingness of it all... and you can see the aircraft shadow in many...

The flying went smoothly and safely, with Patricia Mawuli flying left seat, and I ran 'drop master' position. We shared the roles of GPS tagging, photography and dropping as well as flying the plane. Patricia would set up on the target, descending from 500'AGL to the approved 200'AGL drop height, as she passed 400' she hit the GPS marker, and I got ready to drop and photo... the people were amazing, they heard the plane, moved clear of the approach path, and then ran to collect the drop bag. For these communities it is new, but many have heard about it and many have seen it demonstrated at Battorkope and Kpong during the research phase. Between villages I would share the flying control duties so as to give Patricia a rest from the concentrated low-level flying. We know these areas well, and run through the flight on our stock images we have built of our target areas, we know all the trees, the odd power lines and comms towers, but still make a 'security check' before the descent and declare an 'escape route'. All went well and, as usual in aviation, planning and preparation paid dividends... The research phase is now over... Today was not research - today was outreach.

As I write we have around a 50% response rate in the first 12 hours... tomorrow may bring more - all were happy to be considered as a part of this outreach - and we will keep you up to date with the outcomes....

Michaela will report on the community responses tomorrow!

Let the Drops begin!!

We are all very excited about our first full fledged health education drop run. After 18 years of working to get the approvals and change regulations we’ll finally be taking healthcare to rural villages.

The ground Team: Michaela, Ben, Rex and Melissa have gone to a rural community to monitor the in-community reactions to the first set of drops. They will arrive there later this afternoon and spend a night in the village ready to share and document the first drop tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile the volunteer pilot, Patricia Mawuli and her student and co pilot Lydia Wetsi, are preparing the aircraft, bags, and materials for the drop.

Tomorrows run will be to 20 rural villages earlier identified by the queen mothers as target communities. The first contact materials being prepared include an introduction, a small questionnaire and some telephone credit for the community health rep to call us.

We’re often asked why we wish to use small aircraft for these runs. The ground team, traveling by road, will spend around 3 hours getting to first drop site. By comparison total flight time for this initial run to all 20 communities will take just over one hour in our Rotax powered CH701. Attempting this trip would require more than a week difficult travel by road, and would still not reach all 20 communities.

These first drops are more about first contact and relationship building. Future drops will contain more community specific health education materials and training invitations.

Fly ME Day!

Today is Fly Me Day.... we have invited over 150people this year, but with a difference.... we have focused on Queen Mothers and the children from their community. Twenty Queen Mothers have each been invited to come with five of their community children. In addition we have invited twenty from Techiman and ten from another school nearby, and of course Battorkope and a another nearby village who are the first beneficiaries of the airborne outreach activities.

Sadly, some have not understood the value of what we do. Some have asked for money to come to the event, and T Shirts and caps... We simply do not respond to such an approach. If the community cannot make the efforts themselves, they cannot benefit. The cost of getting to us from the communities in question is less than they spend on a new dress - and we believe that they need to demonstrate a 'desire for self-priority adjustment' as a primary change in attitude towards greater health.

What they do not know is that we will be giving out prizes and gifts to the children and a small financial gift for development of their community.

THis years line up of Pilots is Melissa Pemberton (9G ZAE), Patrick Ata (9G ZAC), Patricia Mawuli Nyekdzi (9G ZKT) and Capt. Yaw (9G ZAF)...
Lydia, Juliet and Emmanuella are on 'loadmaster duties' - that is putting passengers in and out of the planes!

Jenny Jocksh has flown in for the weekend to help and is running the passenger control - her title is 'Flight Line Queen' (control of the access to and from the flight line and photo taking with a polaroid (thanks to the Pembertons) of each child who flies...

Michaela Hayes is on 'first Aid Post and Queen Mother interaction, community liason' - probably the most important role for outcomes down the line.

Ben Sholes is 'Ring Master' and gets to try to herd the cats - getting cars in the right place and people control (includes all the headaches - poor Ben!!!)
Two staff have volunteered for security roles (Lele and Bernard)
Many students and friends will be helping too, special thanks to Paul H (safety car and fix it man), Soumya and family (marshalling and passenger pre- post-interaction), Aunty Judy (flight line support and gift support).

Special thanks go to Millward Brown for their financial support this year. We are, once again, running the event at a loss and thank WAASPS for covering over 60% of the event. 
We see the importance of this event and look forward to sharing the outcomes with you tomorrow!

(NOTE: We do not announce the date of this event in advance, except to invited guests, since we can get overwhelmed with 'opportunists'. If we exceed 300 people on the airfield we need to shut down operations under the regulations, and it is simply a way of working, but it makes it hard to gain support for the event. )

Meeting with the Queen Mothers

Submitted by Michaela Sholes

Yesterday marked the first work day that Ben and I faced on the airfield while Pat and Jonathan are in Europe and I have to say…I’m pretty pleased with us at the moment =) I realize this well-oiled machine is the product of much TLC and the infrastructure put in place by those two…but it’s hard not to pat yourself on the back a little bit when you reach the end of what felt like a really long, busy, crazy but productive day and realize “Wow…I didn’t fall on my tush as hard as I was scared I might! I could do this again tomorrow…and maybe even the next day”

The highlight of the day was the visit to Manye Esther’s office to both pick her brain about some of our proposed health education topics and to introduce the concept of Fly Me Day to 20 or so local Queen Mothers. She had some great insights, not only on some of the topics that we should include, but also the presentation methods (i.e. a combination of posters, small flyers, booklets, balloons, etc). We had already identified health topics (i.e. water and sanitation), but she was particularly helpful in breaking the categories down and providing culturally relevant advice about specific areas (i.e. parents should be active role models and involve the children in the community in maintaining trash awareness and proper disposal)..

Although we had talked with Manye Esther about inviting the Queen Mothers and some of the children in their communities, this was the first opportunity I’ve had to address them directly. I’m not going to lie, my knees were knockin’ a bit under my kaba and slit (remember, traditional skirt/top outfit) as I’m seated in front of all these rather regal looking women. It’s a humbling experience but also an exciting one when one realizes that you are actually addressing royalty in the local sense. These women hold great respect in their communities and the effects of their support are irreplaceable.

They were very kind, both in their willingness to allow me to speak with them during an official meeting and in their patience with me as I bumbled my way through greetings in both Krobo and Twi. All meetings with the group are rather formal affairs in the sense that there is protocol to be observed and maintained, such as who to address when speaking (don’t address an aide instead of one of the Queen Mothers) and not to cross your legs while sitting with them (you cross your ankles, as it is considered highly rude and disrespectful to do otherwise). I was officially introduced to the group by Manye Esther before speaking to introduce myself and my purpose again. One of the Queen Mothers (Manye Makutsu: pronounced “Mah-KOO-choo”) was kind enough to translate for me as I introduced the concept of Fly Me Day and the purpose behind it. They were thrilled to be invited and promptly began planning group t-shirts and head scarves for the occasion (Here in Ghana, many events, regardless of whether it is a festival or funeral, are celebrated by ordering specialized T-shirts to commemorate the event. As I understand it, it’s almost about a sense of solidarity, of coming together as a group…and you show you are a part of it with a T-shirt or other specialized item such as a cap or scarf.) By the time I left, Ghana time true to form, what was supposed to be an hour’s meeting had become almost 4 times that. It makes me smile and I enjoy the fact that no day is ever alike.

We have a few challenges ahead of us as some of the communities are rather far, particularly those that we are hoping to target for project ETCHE, but we will put our thinking caps on!

The Keys to the Kingdom

Today is a big day for Ben and Michaela, after barely 4 weeks on the ground they are being given the keys to Kpong Airfield for one week. Although building work has come to a sudden standstill due to lack of cash flow, the upside is that they will not need to deal with masons for the week.... the downside is that B3 (their accommodation) has not yet got the drains sorted out and Mr Solo is still working on their bed and doors... remember we make it all here...

 We will use the available skills sets in the WAASPS staff to get as much done as we can, and Ben and Michaela will be starting some more training with the AvTech girls in relation to health care delivery, nutrition and other topics that will become an integral part of their involvements in MoM...

Perhaps the most exciting part of the day was the preparation of two bags for a quick bag-drop to Battorkope tomorrow, the only community we are currently allowed to drop to, with the documents that they need for us to fly some of their great young people at a forthcoming fly me day... (which will be a day with a difference - since we will also be flying up to 20 Queen Mothers on that day!)

We wish Ben and Michaela lots of challenges with opportunities and solutions during their 'first week of solo ops'!

Health Education with the Manya Krobo Queen Mothers Association

As part of the Valentines day (chocolate day in Ghana) celebrations, we joined hands with the Manya Krobo Queen Mothers Association and provided some fun and inspirational interaction with some of the 1000+ HIV orphans and vulnerable children that are cared for by this organisation.  MKQMA has been a partner with MoM since the very early days, and we hold them close to our heart.  The AvTech girls, as always, shone, and Lydia told the children that with a bit of effort we can all make it.... regardless of our backgrounds - and she knows that more than most!  As part of the fun and games we took the opportunity to get across some basic health concepts especially related to HIV and to Schistosomiasis, and we not only left each child with a packet of Pasta (courtesy of DFP) we also left them all with a little more interest in aviation and the ability to spell Aeroplane!

Michaela’s Blog: February 9, 2012

Submitted by Michaela Hayes

I would be tempted to say that it’s hard to believe we’re finally here…if it weren’t for the thick Harmattan dust, bucket baths, and spiders the size of trucks which remind Ben and I on a daily basis that we are most certainly NOT in Oz anymore. And yet, it is SO good to be here! It’s what we’ve been preparing for over the last year or so and what I’ve been hoping for ever since I left Ghana in 2002. We are so excited at the opportunity to have an active field-based role here at MoM and can’t thank the team here enough for their thoughtful preparations and tireless efforts to have things as in place as they can be. By the way, to give you an idea of just how heavy Harmattan is, note the difference in the photo we took of Krobo mountain last year and a similar shot just yesterday.

This week has been a bit like trying to drink from a fire hose! If you are familiar with the expression, good for you…if not, it just means that we hit the ground not so much running as we were sprinting. In addition to battling jetlag on my part, settling in, getting a feel for airfield and MoM-based operations, we have already had so many opportunities to network within the communities and continue building the stage for all that is to come in 2012.

Some highlights from the week:

We visited the port on Monday and had the chance to explore the Yapei Queen, upon which we will be traveling next week. This ferry transports people and goods in a North/South manner along the majority of Lake Volta. It takes almost a full 5 days to travel all the way up to Yeji and back to Akosombo. During that time, we will be talking with passengers and collecting demographic and health-based information to help guide some of our programs for 2012.

On Thursday, Ben and I had the pleasure of being

introduced to one of the sweetest supporters of MoM when we met Manye Esther of the Queen Mothers Association. For those of you who, like me, weren’t sure exactly what a Queen Mother is…she is a person who would have been chief if she had been born a male. She commands a great deal of respect and influence in her community and after meeting her, I understand why. She is certainly a character and I look forward to building a relationship with her as we explore how to best support the local communities. She has become an invaluable ally in our efforts to gain support for our health education programs and is teaching me things already (i.e. the reason why, when asking about marital status of a participant, I need multiple definitions for “married.” Apparently, there is simply a live-in where the man can’t afford the dowry, a situation where partial dowry has been paid, and finally, where the full dowry has been paid and traditional rites have been performed)

This coming week, Ben and I will spend most of our time interviewing passengers on the Yapei Queen and we look forward to sharing our findings upon our return. Stay posted, there’s lots on the horizon for MoM!

Hit the ground Running!!!

Ben and Michaela made the monthly supply run of Pasta to the Queen Mothers and participated in the INSCI planning meeting for the March 15th, 1st Schistosomiasis Forum, which our Queen Mother's are an integral key to its implementation! (Ben managed to balance some Pasta on his head - he needs more practice to walk like that!)