Cape Coast Ghana

Volunteers who have been working on the Ghana medical programme have started to work on an outreach programme going into the Orphanages where volunteers work in and around Cape Coast. Ian Birbeck from the UK office visited the programme last week; “ It was great to see the impact that volunteers were having helping to clean up wounds and small infections the children had. One of the problems at the orphanages is that basic cuts and injuries are sometimes left and become infected. The volunteers have made a real impact.”

At the OOEIM orphanage outside of Cape Coast Tim Fazio from Australia and Charlotte Friis from Denmark were working on the project. The reward of a sweet was enough to persuade most of the children to come to the two gap year students and get checked out. One important reason for volunteers carrying out the work is to hopefully overcome the fear and suspicions some Ghanaians have about going to hospital. This creates some real problems in the hospitals with patients only coming to the doctor when the condition is really serious. It is hoped that the children will get used to being seen by the doctor without too much fear and trepidation.

Already many basic wounds have been tended to by volunteers. In one case they managed to spot a more serious condition and took the child into the Central Regional Hospital to get checked out by the experts