Dear Friends,

Well, here we are again, I am sitting in my usual place, at the table under the fan in Ghana contemplating where to begin! Who of us would ever have thought the world would look like it does now?

We arrived home after our last visit on the 15th February 2020, having said our farewell’s and we’ll see you next year, never dreaming what would follow. Even the day we flew home wasn’t without its dramas, we were late flying due to the huge storm over Europe, and when we did eventually arrive home, we were met by fire engines, pumps, police and even an ambulance! Lowdham had been flooded, some of our neighbours for the third time. The elderly neighbours had to be put in inflatable canoes to get them out of their properties, it was all hands-on deck, even for us although we had travelled through the night and were pretty tired!

But worse was to come as Covid struck, and from the middle of March life for us all changed. Why do I say all that, well clearly it prevented us going back to Ghana in 2021, and to be honest it was never a done deal for us going in 2022, right up till 48 hours before travel when we got our negative PCR tests back! We had been with family and friends over Christmas that had been positive after we had left (not our fault!!) so the expectations that we would also get it were extremely high. But clearly, we were meant to come, against the back drop of hugely rising figures, where so many had to alter their plans over Christmas and New Year, we stayed negative, quite a miracle. We were so thankful as we stepped on the plane and took our seats, we had made it. The only hurdle now was once in Accra airport we had to queue with hundreds of others for a further test, a lateral flow at a cost of $150 each ($50 if you were Ghanaian!) Negative !! We were on our way!

We had made the decision that after 15 years of traveling to Ghana and 25 trips, that this was to be our last. Terry has some ongoing health issues, and the challenge of the environment, the heat, the dust and the traveling would become more and more difficult for him to handle. Even now he has said he’s finding the heat more of a challenge than he expected, it saps your energy even for the robust ones of us!! We wanted to tell our dear friends out here and to finish well. To say our goodbyes to just so many wonderful people of all ages, positions and dialects, those that have become intertwined into the fabric of our lives and who hold such a special place in our hearts, it’s not easy!!

But to Covid !!! Oh no I hear you say, but we can’t talk about Ghana and life here without including it, and the impact it has had For the Nutrition centre; it’s been drastic and is still impacting it greatly. For the first time ever there were very few children in either the HD unit or the centre itself. Talking to Norma, who started when it first opened in 2007, he unburdened his heart and his struggles particularly over the last year The feed that is recognized worldwide as the main component essential to the rehabilitation of the severely malnourished child is called locally ‘plumpy nut’. Its base is groundnuts, sugar, milk and oil combined with vitamins and minerals. In years passed it was donated to Ghana, and us, from UNICEF, however about 3-4 years ago they decided to stop donating it to Ghana and we therefore had to find other ways of sourcing it A company in Kumasi was producing it, but obviously at a cost! This stretched our budget but it had to be bought. However, when Covid hit they stopped production as the essential vitamins and minerals they used came from France and they stopped exporting it to Ghana, due to Covid!!! There was a brief period where donations resumed from UNICEF, but unfortunately it didn’t last The team were forced to make it themselves using what they had locally, the vitamins being the syrup they prescribe from the medical centre. For a time, this worked, but supplies of some of the other ingredients became difficult to source.

This year the basic crops of maize and soya beans were hugely impacted when the rains came early, very briefly and then not again at the critical time for the growth of the plants. Talking to a local farmer he told us he had sown his 10 acres of maize expecting to harvest 80-100 bags, he only collected 5 bags, another farmer told us his 60-acre plot should have yielded 350 bags at a minimum, but only produced 35 bags. Fortunately the nutritional officer, Norma had the opportunity to purchase 10 bags, which should last till October, but instead of a cost of 100ghc per bag it was 300ghc !! In addition, Nestle who produce the lactogen milk essential in the feeding of the children, ceased production just before Christmas. The impact was that the suppliers stock piled as the new price when production resumed was so much higher, 3 times the price. Norma had to plead and beg for them to release some, or we would have seen several children die as a result.

One of the sponsored children, Clare*, with her grandparents who look after her.

All of this has had an exhausting and demoralizing impact on the staff, and when we arrived, we knew they needed some hope! We spent a lot of time talking to them and trying to motivate them, we are just so glad we made the effort to come. The normal route of admission to the nutrition centre is through the hospital, but fear of Covid, misinformation, a lack of any form of education about it and a continued shortage of the vaccine has meant fewer people are attending the hospital. In addition, many of the farmers are still desperately trying to finish harvesting the soya beans in the hope they can increase their yield. It’s very normal during this time that the children are neglected as the mothers assist in the process. Often after this we see a huge increase in the numbers of quite severe cases of malnutrition being admitted. The staff have been very diligent in getting ready for this influx and collecting all the foodstuffs they will require The Nutrition centre and the huts are now 15 years old and are looking very tired. The doors were hanging off, the bath house was in a real state of disrepair, the kitchen, which is a large summer hut, needed re-roofing, and some of the cupboards in the HD unit desperately needed painting. Thankfully we had brought some funds with us to enable the refurb to begin. The harshness of the climate, from intense heat to torrential rains, means that the buildings take a very heavy beating and do need constant attention. As always some of the children were very sick, and one in particular had been so close to death when admitted that they expected her to die overnight, but what a fighter, a real will to live. A long way to go yet, but the prognosis is far more positive! Slowly, in the time we were there we saw more children being admitted, but to be honest with the major repairs underway it was an advantage not to have too many around, especially when one of the team fell through the summer hut roof injuring himself!!!

This trip we spent quite a lot of time visiting communities especially where some of the sponsored children from the King’s School live. It’s always a great leveler, and so humbling to sit in their compounds and look around at the open fire, the clay water pots often with murky water collected from the nearby dam, and the animals, goats, chickens, guinea fowl, and sheep wandering around causing all sorts of mischief and obviously making mess everywhere!! This time I asked each child what they wanted to be, nurse, teacher, doctor, Agric officer, all aspiring to go further than their uneducated parents who are subsidence farmers. This is the legacy of the King’s School, a great testimony to its work in this underdeveloped and under resourced area. The children sleep often 6 to a hut, on the floor, surrounded by clothes, bags of grain, and cooking pots. No toys, pretty clothes, beds or any other amenity, they’re fortunate a mat to lie on the hard ground. I often wish others could see, and then maybe understand just how blessed we are in the UK. We made what will be our last trip to Singa, across the Volta in the canoe. I found myself being very emotional as these forgotten communities, have not changed in the years that we have been going. There’s been no improvement to their living standards and to be honest its unlikely change will come. But what lovely, grateful, warm people they are. But our hearts were overwhelmed when we saw that the clinic, we renovated several years ago had been painted inside and out. It was being fully used, with several children on admittance on drips. It’s now been passed to the Ghana Health Authority to run, and I would say resource, but as in so many cases drugs are in short supply. It was wonderful to be able to supply some pediatric drugs to them. The community had come out and built (local bricks) a house and compound in the hope of attracting a qualified midwife, the only one in the region!! This has yet to happen!! Our joy was complete when we saw that they had been able to put up a church, in the midst of many mosques! One of the young men from the King’s Village is the Pastor there and crosses the river every Saturday to take a service, such dedication and love. We left with full hearts, but tinged with sadness.

Clinic with midwife accommodation on side.

As I mentioned before the harvest has been drastically reduced this year, with the shortage of grains, and the high price for what little there is, the chance of severe starvation in the area is very real, and as always, the women and children will be the ones to suffer the most. If you are able to buy now and store it you have a far better chance, but that’s only the few who have extra resources available to them now. I can’t contemplate what this is going to look like. Many are saying it’s the worst harvest in their lifetimes. No doubt we won’t hear anything about it in the UK as it’s not war-torn, but it will still claim many innocent lives. We set up a hardship fund to create a buffer for some of the poorest people. Some Pastors who run village churches are in that category, and some of the people of Singa, especially the Filani – the herdsmen who don’t harvest but run the cattle.

The team had a surprise celebration for us. It was so emotional, with thanks from so many people. They brought in some of the early children that had been treated at the centre, all of them those that the witch doctor was about to kill. It was an incredible experience, Norma the head of the Nutrition Centre sharing that over 10,000 children’s lives had been saved clinic with midwife accommodation at the side. The day dawned when we packed up what clothes we wanted to take home and gave the rest away. It broke our hearts as so many came to say goodbye, those we have spent the last 17 years with, who have made our journey possible by caring for us, responding to my ‘NOW’ not later requests, those that I have actually managed to make run !! And those who have loved us. We will continue to support, monitor and be part of the oversight of the Nutrition centre, just from afar! We drove away and a part of my heart stayed there, but things do have to come to an end, as one chapter finishes surely a new one will begin So, as I draw this to a close all that is left to say is a huge thank you to all of you for encouraging us on the journey, and for supporting the Nutrition Centre financially. Please don’t stop Many blessings and much love to you all

Update from Ghana: Letter from the King's Village

Dear Friends,

Well, here we are again, I am sitting in my usual place, at the table under the fan in Ghana contemplating where to begin! Who of us would ever have thought the world would look like it does now?

-Ann

Operation Orphan

Legals