Bridging the gap between surplus and need
Founder of CIH spent three months volunteering in this hospital and witnessed first hand the dire need for basic medical supplies such as gloves and microscopes. Having lived in the medical village on the first exploratory trip for CIH, she further gained insight tireless commitment of the medical staff. On a recent trip, several of the staff and families of our partner school were in this very hospital.
MedShare is dedicated to bridging the gap between surplus and need to improve healthcare and the environment in the United States and abroad. Ho Municipal Hospital in the Volta Region of Ghana, the hospital which serves the children Children Inspiring Hope works with, has been approved to receive a container. Read more about their valuable medical and environmental mission: www.medshare.org
In addition to the donated medical supplies, Children Inspiring Hope will place the storybooks and computer for our Library Service Project for libraries to be built in our schools on this container. We are seeking sponsorship for this container of $25,000.
Children Inspiring Hope has taken basic first aid supplies on each trip from MedShare International. Here are two remarkable stories of healing and hope, due to basic medical supplies which are common in most households in the U.S. These are our success stories.
Eyram
Eyram found us, and our lives are enriched from it. We were walking the paths one day, going down memory lane from where we first lived while in Ghana. There was a young child that offered us healing hugs on the days that were difficult, and the reality of the challenges of Africa overpowered the joy we mostly experienced walking with these people. She was late coming home, so we continued down the path.
As we passed the 5 ft tall grass paths, and a new path merged with ours, four children came barreling down the path towards us with their arms in the air screaming with joy. One of them knocked into Amy and held in an embrace around her waist for some time… time enough to have us concerned that she wasn’t letting go. We looked down and her ankle had a huge hole with puss oozing from it. Her foot was swollen. We returned to get the medical supplies we had on us from MedShare International. We cleaned the wound and dressed it. She looked border- line amputation, which also means border line losing your life in Ghana. I brought a nurse to help us monitor her, purchased the antibiotics and continued to return for cleanings. She has her foot today, and possibly her life, because we had basic first aid with us.
Patrick
Patrick is one of the most joyous children we have ever met. Amy was sharing with the volunteers how excited she was for them to meet him, and that she wasn’t sure his feet always touched the ground, as he bounces when he walks and radiates a light from within. As we arrived in the rural village, Patrick came hobbling toward us, with a swollen foot- infected from a cut playing soccer. We again, cleaned his foot, discussed the importance of it staying clean and not walking barefoot. The next day fortunately was a day that a traveling nurse was in the village- giving him a tetnus shot. We left not knowing what his fate would be. When we returned three months later, that bounce was back in his steps and those golden words “color, color” were coming out of his mouth. We bring color, and MedShare preserved his life.
