Bringing Hope to Ghana
By Dr. Edem S. Agamah
If you are a regular worshipper at Hope Church, or a reader of this publication, you would have read about the work of the International Health & Development Network (IHDN) in Ghana , culminating in the opening of a Mission Hospital in June of 2008.
Few people know the full extent and contributions made by Hope Church in accomplishing this feat. After our first trip to Ghana in 1996, we shared our experience with the body of Hope and invited the congregation to join us on pursuing the mission of IHDN in Ghana.
A young lady, named Nancy Rice was the first person, who came to me and indicated that she was touched by our report and would like to use her nursing skill and help in Ghana . I told her since she was married, I will prefer she comes with her husband Tim. She indicated that Tim was a computer specialist and does not do well in hospital situations. I encouraged her to bring her husband, because we can use a computer scientist on the mission field. When Nancy and Tim met us, we had collected used and non functional computers in our basement and I showed this to Tim . After thinking through and praying about this opportunity, the Rices decided to join our mission team to Ghana in 1998. Tim & Luke worked hard to bring life to these machines. Tim went to establish a computer science program, while Nancy worked in the clinic at Agbozume in Ghana . The experience from this trip was beyond description and imagination that they went back to Ghana with us in 1999 and 2000, taking their whole family in 2000.
The goal of IHDN is simple. We seek to reach out to people in poor villages and towns, using the earthly Healthcare ministry of Jesus Christ as a model. Jesus fed the hungry (meeting physical needs), taught fishermen how to catch a lot of fish without the help of ultrasound technology (economic enterprise), to love your neighbor as yourself (social interactions) and forgiveness of sin and pointing us to God (spiritual). So we established a pilot project site at Agbozume , Ghana , a village of 18,000 in 1996. This village was ideal because there was a need and a reliable leader, who wanted to see a change in the destiny of the villagers.
Over the past 12 years, we sponsored 14 mission trips to Ghana . Out of a total of 163 airplane seats occupied by IHDN volunteers during the period, 92 (56%) was claimed by present or past members of the congregation of Hope Church. We also received direct and indirect contributions from the body at Hope. The total cash contribution from Hope funds amounted to $26,155. IHDN also received donations from members of Hope in part to support our volunteers' trip and also support our work in Ghana . This past June, we sponsored a 36-member team to Ghana to help commission and work in outpatient building of the IHDN Mission Hospital in Ghana , with 8 members from Hope Church. We provided medical and surgical care, dental care, ultrasound, laboratory services, computer networking, software development. We also provided English language enrichment classes and Christian leadership training to pastors and Church leaders. We created learning opportunities for students from the US , who would like to pursue a career in Medicine and Dentistry to learn. We also gave hope to the people and built new relationships.
Now, why am I recounting these statistics? My family and I have planted a garden in Ghana . The people of Hope Church came along to water and fertilize this garden. The outpatient building of the IHDN Mission Hospital is the first fruit from this garden. When fully built, the hospital will provide basic and complex medical care to over 120,000 people.
We cannot fully describe the full impact of our work on the people of Ghana and our volunteers. Briefly, we have provided medical care to thousands of poor villagers, who would not ordinarily have access to that type of care. We have influenced the destiny of several young people, who went on to become computer scientist, economist, nurses and medical students. We have helped married couples strengthen and restore their relationships and provided leadership skills Christian values to the Christian leaders. We have also built roads and now the Hospital.
We will continue to water, fertilize, weed and expand the garden. We will continue to reach out to you and others to join our efforts and make a difference, not only in Ghana but in other poor countries. To all of you at Hope Church [ http://www.hope-church.ws], who sacrificed and gave money and/or made the way for others to go we say Thank you. To you yet to join us we say come along and experience a life changing experience in Ghana . Let us all remain steadfast in our service to the hurting world. May God bless.
For more information contact us at:
IHDN,
3950 Mill Stone Drive,
Springfield , IL 62711
P hone: 217-787-6530
e-mail: ihdn@aol.com
Website: www.ihdn.org
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