The M/V Anastasis has just completed their field service in Tema, Ghana and is now docked in the port of Monrovia, Liberia.

Here is an overview of their time in Ghana (of which I was a part of for a short time)...

The Mercy Ship Anastasis arrived in the port of Tema in June 2006 for her third visit to Ghana. During the nine months of field service that followed, the Mercy Ship offered free specialized surgeries, developmental assistance, and educational programs benefiting thousands of individuals and many communities in Ghana.

HealthCare Services

Reconstructive Surgery - 590 maxillo-facial and plastic surgeries provided

AfterHealthCare Services began the Ghana field service with a two day mass patient screening June 25 and 26 in Tema. Over the next eight months volunteer surgeons performed 590 life-changing surgeries on 441 patients; including 34 jaw or cheekbone tumor removals, 84 cleft lip and/or palate repairs, skin grafts, and hernia repairs. Patients recuperated in the ship’s ward – some for a few days, others for several months before returning home.

Vesico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF) Surgery - 62 vesico-vaginal fistula surgeries provided, 2 surgeons trained

An estimated 2 million women worldwide suffer extreme incontinence due to a vesico-vaginal fistulas (VVF) resulting from child birth injuries. 62 women received free fistula repair surgeries during the Ghana field service. 2 Ghanaian surgeons received additional training in VVF repair. To celebrate the woman’s return to family and community life, Mercy Ships provided each woman with a new dress and head scarf for the trip home.

Ophthalmic Surgery - 1,364 eye surgeries performed following 19,106 field assessments

Candidates for eye surgery were selected at the main medical screening June 25 and daily at smaller dockside screenings. In addition, 19,106 ophthalmic assessments were performed by the Mobile Eye Team, a service offered for the first time during the Ghana field service. 15 community health workers were trained to perform eye examinations while 17 surgeons received additional ophthalmic training.

Dental Care - 10,211 procedures were performed for 5,435 patients.

The Dental Team established a clinic in the poor Tema New Town community at the Manheim School. A total of 5,435 patients were treated while 3,528 received lessons in oral health. In one case, dentists discovered and removed a broken knife point embedded for more than a decade in a patient’s cheek.

Health Education - 30 trained in Maternal Health, 243 received HIV/AIDS instruction, and 73 trained as Community Health trainers.

Sustainability is the goal of all Mercy Ships health education. Community health instructors are trained to teach course material to their neighbors. New instructors are now at work in at least 8 communities in the Tema region. 15 churches submitted plans for conducting ongoing HIV/AIDS training in their communities. 2,207 individuals watched the “Starting Over” HIV/AIDS video.

Community Development Services

Construction Projects - Completed three construction projects.

A 845 m2 addition to the Fountain Head Christian School. Classrooms, offices, science lab and a washroom were built. The school is operated by Youth With A Mission – Ghana.
A 566 m2 Maternity Ward for the Tema Polyclinic. The clinic provides prenatal services to more than 8,000 women a year, but did not have a birthing facility.
A 200 m2 Youth Health Clinic on the grounds of the Ashaiman Health Centre.

Water and Sanitation Project - 24 freshwater bore hole wells completed & 7 demonstration latrine

Twenty-four villages in south central Ghana now enjoy clean and abundant water. The water and sanitation project not only provides safe water and sanitary facilities, but also serves as a catalyst for community action through participatory educational methods. The team provided hygiene training to 960 individuals primarily in local schools.

Women’s Empowerment Projects - 206 trained in mushroom farming, beekeeping, or raising snails and rabbits

The Women’s Empowerment Projects provided micro-enterprise training, husbandry or horicultural skills, as well as the equipment and initial breeding/crop stock required. The beekeeping project was located in an area north of Accra where farming is in decline due to depletion of the soil. The other three projects were concentrated in Tema’s poorest communities: Ashaiman and Tema New Town.

Agricultural Training - 37 participants trained in agriculture

Participants were trained in faith based agricultural workshops. Students were taught basic agricultural knowledge and practical techniques, and gained an understanding of the impact of humans on the environment. Three at-risk communities were chosen to receive the training. The first involved both inmates and wardens at Ghana’s largest women’s prison. The second group lives in a community of HIV/AIDS patients in a poor Tema neighborhood. Third group included farmers near Tema New Town.

Church Empowerment

Pastors Conference - 350 pastors attend a 2 day Unity in Ministry conference.

January 15 and 16 the Anastasis Church Empowerment Team held a two day conference on the subject of unity in ministry. The event was planned and executed in conjunction with a steering committee of 6 local pastors. The event was well received and the steering committee has already discussed the possibility of making the unity conference an annual event in Tema.

Counselors - Counselors/Disciplers available to our patients 24/7

Counselors provided prayer, counsel, and comfort to thousands of our patients, those in the 42 bed ward, at the dental clinic site and for the pre and post operative patients on the dockside. Weekly Sunday morning services were held for the patients along with various Bible studies. They provided our patients with spiritual and emotional support.

Mercy Ministries - 385 crewmembers volunteered to assist in 3 projects

Mercy Ships volunteers contribute more than 10,000 hours a week in service to the poor. In addition, they often persued additional service opportunities during their off duty hours; primarily weekends. During the Ghana field service crewmembers routinely visited children in 3 local children’s home – Missionaries of Charity, Save Them Young and Kinder Paradise to provide much needed attention and affection. In addition, some practical assistance was provided to one of the homes to improve their living conditions.

Additional Projects

Crew Projects

Hundreds of hours in crew time donated

In addition to the official projects, the volunteer crew involved themselves on a regular basis with 9 crew projects. They included visiting various children’s homes and the psychiatric hospital, building a playground & water tower, renovating the kitchen at the women’s prison, and establishing a youth drop in centre.