Thanks… and keep it coming!
Thanks . . . and keep it coming!
Morning family and friends! Thank you so very much for your financial support! Every time Christina informs me that another donation has come in or I receive mail and there’s another cheque, my heart leaps for joy! We are well over half way there now with the funds needed to support the electricity needs for the outgoing hospital equipment to Ghana. Keep it coming, friends! Every contribution brings us closer to sufficiently fulfilling this need.
For those that may have missed the previous emails, KBNF’s 18th container was fully loaded last Thursday and Friday in Victoria and will leave Vancouver’s harbor for Ghana early this week.
KBNF has been on a mission to provide the suitable power converters to support superb electrical tools, surgery equipment, hospital beds, machines and equipment being shipped over to Dr. Gladstone Kessie’s 100 bed Mt. Olives Hospital in Techiman, Brong Ahafo Region of northeastern Ghana. Ghana’s voltage is 220-240 Volts compared to Canada’s 110-120 Volts. We need a minimum of 20 electric power converters to ensure that the electrical equipment being sent can be effectively put to use. After some considerable team research, the suitable converters chosen have the capability to handle any 2 machines simultaneously.
In partnership with The Compassionate Warehouse, the 40 ft. container was chock-a-block with donated hospital supplies, furnishings and equipment including 20 wonderful electric / manual beds, with nary an inch of air allowed between anything. Brenda, Diane and I stood in awe as we watched Dell’s team pack the container like they were painting a masterpiece. It was a gift of exceptional planning, effort, and execution.
We are preparing a 2nd container for Mt. Olives in May, providing another load of excellent beds, dental equipment, and everything not ready to be loaded this time round including the converters. I would be remiss if I didn’t express our appreciation to Diamond Delivery for their faithful diligence and promptness in picking up equipment and supplies from around Vancouver and delivering wherever Brenda informs them it has to go.
Sponsor a converter and save lives!
Just one example of how lives can be saved . . . Imagine a child struggling to breathe. Can you picture how desperately helpless the staff and family would feel when their loved one is choking and there’s no access to equipment? Suction machines are critical for basic patient safety. Electricity is required. Because of your partnership, we can address this issue.
WE NEED YOUR HELP. . .
Your support is what gives KBNF the ability to extend our hand in partnership with Ghana and West Africa.
Either on-line via our website: www.kbnf.org or by phone or mail.
Thank you everyone!
University Students Help Pack Donations
Another splendid packing day took place at VGH’s old laundry facility, as KBNF gets ready to ship two more containers off to Ghana. One will head for Techiman in the northeastern region of the country and the other to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
We are so very grateful for the energized efforts of Christina Chiu and her dear friend in organizing this event. Facebook was the prime communicator, and we are ever so pleased that these university students are ready to help us again real soon.
Click here to see additional images.
Nigerian Container Update
I am so pleased to report that our Nigerian container was cleared from Tin Can Island Port last weekend. The first half of the container, destined for our University of Benin Teaching Hospital neurosurgery unit in Benin City, was delivered while the second half is on its way to a new maternity clinic in northern Nigeria.
We want to thank all of our team for their diligence in donating their time, expertise and effort in making this shipment possible. And big thanks to Rick Diamond and Diamond Delivery for their faithful support in transferring equipment and supplies from Vancouver to Victoria. Arranging for Seaspan to take our cargo across the Georgia Strait for free was such a cost savings. And thank you to Compassionate Resource Warehouse, led by Dell’s team, for their amazing attention to detail and efforts to fulfill the requests of our Nigerian friends – ensuring the load was filled to the maximum (i.e. no air!).
This shipment started with a heartfelt plea to help provide equipment for a maternity clinic being constructed for village women dying giving birth and our neurosurgery unit’s 20-bed expansion in Benin City.
We’ll keep you posted as photos come in.
Thanks again, everyone!!!
Click here to see additional images.
Laundry Folding Party Update
Brenda and her volunteers had an energized day sorting and packing medical supplies for the upcoming shipments to Mt. Olives Hospital, Techiman, Brong-Ahafo Region, in the interior of northern Ghana and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
For eight hours, you could hear much laughter, cheerful banter and questions hurled as the team determined what donated items in fact were, which were suitable for sending, and where on earth is that box that is being packed with lab supplies, respiratory supplies and/or any other supplies. Oh, is the box already sealed containing x, y, z? Lots of fun and patience as our volunteers took up the cause in earnest, determined to meet Brenda’s goal of having all the supplies packed by day’s end.
Lunch was also scrumptious, even though there were no chairs to sit on. Come to think of it, we never sat the entire day! But everyone devoured meat wraps, turkey croissant sandwiches, veggies, apples, and organic coffee with pleasure. The coffee pot malfunctioned, so I made coffee at the nursing unit and could be seen walking through the hospital carrying a pot of coffee on more than one occasion!!
TOYS . . . I observed a little boy playing with Coke bottle caps at a hospital one day, his only toy. Talking with another Ghanaian young man, he recalled how his only toy growing up was a ball handmade with pieces of tape carefully peeled off of boxes mailed to his village. Eventually it was the size of a baseball. So considering how hospitalized children just don’t have anything to play with, I put out a call for toys and books. So a BIG thank you to VGH Neurologist Dr. Tony Traboulsee and his family, as they arrived with a carload of toys and books for the Mt. Olives Hospital in the afternoon. A battery powered train set and a large mauve plastic princess house will grace the playroom of Mt. Olives pediatric unit very soon. Dr. Gladstone Kessie is already very excited by this development.
Aaron Asante, one of our founding KBNF members, also completed loading up hospital linens and a wheelchair destined for his hometown Ghanaian village clinic next week.
We could not achieve any of our objectives without the incredible support of our faithful volunteers and donors. Thank you everyone, for your wonderful labour of love.
Our next packing day is Feb 9th at the VGH old laundry unit. Please “ink” it into your calendar. Brenda and I need everyone on board, once again. Brenda is planning our next shipment for mid-month and we need to prepare the final packing of linens prior to shipping by barge to Victoria for its final loading before heading to Ghana.
Please click here to see additional photos from the folding party.
Techiman and Nsawkaw November Mission Visit
Samuel teaching in Techiman
Marj’s visit to Ghana in late November 2012 got Jocelyne and me involved in a flurry of fruitful ventures. Notable among them was our visit to Techiman and Nsawkaw, two towns located in the upper section of Ghana. The visit was upon the invitation of Dr. Kessie, a great volunteer who had been the proud recipient of a container full of medical equipment from KBNF on the behalf of the Nsawkaw government hospital.
Dr. Kessie, who hosted us, drove us to the Nsawkaw hospital for a firsthand look at how the beds and other donations from KBNF had been utilized. Apart from a few broken beds, most of the equipment was still in use in the hospital. The hospital had also generously donated some of beds to another needy hospital close by.
We had the opportunity of visiting Dr. Kessie’s private hospital as well as his new 100-bed hospital, which is at the final stages of completion. Jocelyne and Marj gave him some general insight about the structure as well as how to get the community behind him in support of his efforts.
Much as he is running a private hospital, its apparent he is also running a charity given the endemic nature of poverty in the area and the high demand for health care. He however serves his community with his heart, and that has greatly endeared him to the people. It is most probable that his new 100-bed hospital might turn out to be the toast of the area in the near future, provided he implements some of the good counsel Marj and Jocelyne have graciously offered him.
Nonetheless, there remains many avenues to touch the heart of the community through generous support to hospitals in that area. It is in the light of this that Dr. Kessie appreciated the suggestion to ship a container of medical supplies to his hospital. He willingly agreed to find the resources to pay for the shipping costs and clear them on arrival in Ghana.
One feature of the visit was a three-hour teaching session of two groups of students in care giving from Dr. Kessie’s school. They received insights into radiology, life-saving basics in health care and some of Danny’s Heart Power lessons. I am convinced that they will long remember their encounter with the two Canadian ladies and a gentleman from KBNF, as much as we ourselves will cherish that memorable visit.
