A brief summary report follows:

Hospital Construction:
Our construction team was able to install almost all the window frames for the building. They also installed 15 windows and built 21 cabinets. The rest of the windows and door frames will be installed by the Ghanaian workers as well as the cabinets. Dennis, our architect, developer on the team, was able to assist with the development of a reasonable timeline for work schedule.

Prior to our departure, our group met with the Ghanaian working group in front of the building. Each member of the team shared with the workers the reason for our visit and how we were blessed by the opportunity to come and help them in Ghana . Above all we shared with them that we desire to advance the kingdom of God with our efforts in Ghana . As always, our presence in Ghana brought a lot of enthusiasm at the construction site, speeding up the rate of construction.

Nursing Training Program
This program was very successful. We trained over 18 students in the basic science of nursing – Anatomy & Physiology. We encouraged the students to go ahead with their education if they get accepted into nursing school. Those available in the not too distant future, when we open the nursing school, will have the opportunity to apply to school.

Christian Family Life & Leadership Training program
On June 14, Chad Pickering held a workshop on leadership while Susan Yarrington led workshops on “communications in marriage”, “God's perspective on women” and “forgiveness in Relationships”. June and I hosted sessions on “Falling in love and God's plan for marriage” and “the Needs of Husbands and wives in marriage”. Susan also held one to one marriage counseling sessions. In all there were between 20-55 participants at these meetings at various times. Ghanaian marriages, like those in US face major challenges each day. The divorce rate is not as high as in the US . Money matters or the lack of money, however, have major impacts on relationships. Our vision is to teach biblically sound principles to enable couples build strong marriages, despite being poor.

At team from Databank, led by Nana Nketia, held a workshop for a small group of villagers who wanted to learn about investments and saving for retirement. We will build on this initiative to help people become financially self sufficient.

Medical Clinics
Morgan, Susan, June, Aseye &, Alikem helped me at the clinics held at our main project site. We held one outreach clinic at Worgbato. The patronage was extremely high with over 85 patients treated on one day. Most of the patients had malaria, hypertension and back ache. One patient had a strangulated hernia, and was referred to the Aflao hospital. Two others, one with alcoholic liver disease and multiple enlarged lymph nodes were also referred. One disturbing observation was that some of our old hypertensive patients are now non-compliant and some have developed stroke. Overall, the villagers were so thankful for the services provided.

Church Service
Today, we attended Church Service with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church over here. Chad Pickering preached on God's forgiveness. We were all dressed in the newly made African dresses and shirts to Church. Our team enjoyed the time of singing and reading of the word of God.

Social Life
We made sure that we got some time to relax on the trip. As usual, the trip to the beach was the most exciting part or our social life. There is nothing compared to letting some Midwesterner loose on the shores of Ghana , where they can dive in the roaring waves of the Atlantic Ocean . We visited the Fort Prizenstein , the Danish slave Castle at Keta. We shopped for African crafts and artifacts. We visited friends at and colleagues at Aflao, Ho and in Accra . At Ho, we met Pastor Peter DeVries, a friend from Mars, PA, who was visiting Ghana with a group of Seminary students. We also had dinner at the Labadi Beach Hotel. This hotel was fully booked, even though the nightly rate was over $200. We visited the

Donations
We made donations of medications and supplies to Aflao Hospital , Ho Hospital, New Hope Clinic and Hematology Department at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Our donation of Neupogen (white blood cell stimulating agent) to this department produced immediate benefits to a patient on chemotherapy who needed this treatment. We also donated 3 Dell laptops and software to our construction team of Architect, Quantity Surveyor and Water Engineer. They can now improve their efficiencies.

Final Thoughts
Once again, we have completed another successful mission trip to Ghana . We have made little contributions to improve the lives of the people in Ghana . We have done this in the name of Jesus Christ, who called us to serve. We have been and continued to be blessed tremendously as we serve in Ghana . We do give Him all the glory for all that has been done. We have given our volunteers the opportunity to learn about Africa first hand. This knowledge is different from what you see in the movies or TV. Our team saw Africa with people, just like us in the US . These people though poor are content. They have the same cares and concern about their children and future just us we do. The people are uniformly friendly and very hard working. They only need a little push and guidance to overcome their economic difficulties to get to the next level. We thank all of you who have prayed with us and for us. We thank all who supported our team financially and in various ways. Above all we thank the good Lord for traveling mercies and for what we accomplished in Ghana . We pray for continued blessings on the healthcare ministry of IHDN in Ghana and ongoing hospital construction efforts. We pray for continued blessings for our present and future teams. We invite you to join us as we advance His kingdom. To Him be the glory. We welcome your comments, questions and feedback

May God bless you and enjoy rest of the year.

Summary report submitted by Dr. Edem Agamah
on behalf of IHDN Ghana Mission Team

For more details about the mission tript, please read the IHDN bi-annual newsletter.