recently returned from 11 weeks spent in Sierra Leone. This was my eighth such visit there since December 2001. For the second year running, along with some missionaries, I hosted a spine surgeon and a nurse practitioner. While only in the country for 27 hours, the duo examined 34 patients. Eight of these patients have already received emergency spinal surgery by the Foundation for Orthopedic and Complex Spine, while the other 26 are hoping to receive this help which is managed through a diocesan program.
I then helped the Catholic Diocese of Makeni to host a plastic surgeon and a logistical officer. They came from Ghana and Scotland to make an assessment for a medical mission team interested in helping the new Catholic hospital in Sierra Leone to develop a plastic surgery program. This program is badly needed to treat victims of burns, trauma, congenital problems such as cleft palletes, and more. Currently there is no such care available in Sierra Leone. I also had more patients in need of surgeries to repair hernias treated at the hospital there.
The goal of the adoption program is to obtain funding here in the USA for the many students in the very large Diocese of Makeni who are in dire need of an education
I trained one of our 20 recovered spinal surgery patients in the operation of a water purification system. Working just two days a week, John Thullah is able to purify about 150 gallons of water. The clean drinking water is being provided for free to the patients in the hospital, to the hospital staff, and to many others. John himself carries two and a half gallons of water the five miles from the hospital to his home twice a week on the bicycle we have provided him.
With the blessings of the Xaverian Bishop George Biguzzi, I am helping a young African priest, Fr. Francis I. Sesay, to set up a student “adoption program.” The goal of this effort is to obtain funding here in the USA for the many students in the very large Diocese of Makeni who are in dire need of an education. These students’ families are struggling and often are failing to secure the money needed to pay the school fees and to buy the books, supplies, and simple clothing needed for them to attend school.
I look forward to working with anyone interested on this education project in conjunction with the Diocese of Makeni. I hope it will be as successful and effective as has been our efforts for the funding of surgeries and provision of medical care in Sierra Leone.
You can find out more at AfricaSurgery.org.
(From AfricaSurgery.org)