On a recent trip to Africa, I was able to visit our health projects in Ghana and Tanzania. There was one event in Kumasi, Ghana that touched me deeply, and I will never forget it.
Arriving in Kumasi in the evening, I went first to the Bomso Church of Christ Hospital. I was able to witness Gift, a young Christian nurse, provide excellent, compassionate care to Akosua a pre-term baby girl in respiratory distress. The baby had inhaled meconium during a prolonged labor three days earlier, and was receiving 24 hour care and IV medications. When possible, the nurse would move the baby from the radiant warmer to her mother’s arms, as her pulse/ox saturation and other vitals were constantly monitored.
At one point, as the baby started crying, gasping for air, Gift tenderly took the baby’s foot in her hand, and gently stroked the tiny arch of the baby’s right foot. This soothed the baby–and at that moment I realized that Gift was caring for the baby’s mother as well, calming her anxieties through her wonderful care.
I visited again the next morning. It was now the day shift. Marfoowa, the head nurse in the Maternal/Baby Unit, shared how the pulse/ox numbers continued to improve and they hoped the child would go home by the weekend (and the baby did go home that weekend, thanks be to God).
Marfoowa thanked African Christian Hospitals for the opportunity to care for this child all the way to full health. Without the equipment that our contributors help provide, they would have had to refer this child to an overcrowded government facility. It broke their hearts when they would later learn of bad outcomes that they could have prevented, if they had the opportunity to continue to care for such children. But because of people like you, they now have the tools needed to fulfill their Christian calling to care for the poor and sick. They were able to see the child’s mother take the healthy child home, and mother and child will always remember how Jesus’ love and mercy was expressed through the Christian nurses at our hospital in Kumasi.
Our patient load is increasing at this small hospital–we now see over 100 patients per day, and they each have their individual story. But, our nurses have stories too. And they are overjoyed to be able to use their spiritual gifts in service to their communities, to the glory of God.
Kevin Linderman, Executive Director