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Posts from Short Term Mission Teams

Bishop John K. Yambasu's 10th Anniversary Celebration

1/27/2019

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I'm going to let the 6.5 hour event at King Memorial UMC in Freetown, S.L. speak for itself.




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Missions presentations

1/26/2019

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HCW is one of many partners working with the Sierra Leone Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church to serve the needs of vulnerable children and adults.

On Saturday, January 26, Kim Nabieu and I represented Helping Children Worldwide during mission presentations in Freetown, S.L. We were able to continue our fellowship with other supporting partners from the United States, Africa, Norway and Germany, and to share with the delegates of the UMC SLAC conference the vital work we all do in collaboration with their employees. Even after two days of conference with the other international partners, we learned more about the work they were doing in their presentations.

When it was our turn to share, we joined with Mohamed Nabieu, Olivia Fonnie, Catherine Norman, and Jinnah Lahai of UMC SLAC to speak about Mercy Hospital and the Child Rescue Centre's accomplishments over the ten years of Bishop Yambasu's tenure, and the twenty years of our partnership and joint efforts to overcome the barriers to sustainable futures and transform the lives of vulnerable children through education, healthcare and spiritual mentoring.

Of course, no celebration at a Methodist Church goes without music - and we had quite a treat in the gospel praise band. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed the live performances!

Perhaps the most exciting moment of all was when Olivia Fonnie and Mohamed Nabieu introduced the new Sierra Leone local sponsorship program to benefit the Child Rescue Centre - and the Bishop began raising funds on the spot, securing sponsorships for 50 children! 
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Lots of ideas, new friends, partnership

1/24/2019

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International Conversation about Partnering in Sierra Leone to improve health, community development and education

1/23/2019

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The bi-annual UMC SLAC Partners conference gives HCW a chance to discuss broader collaborations with other NGOs and humanitarian ministries operating in partnership to tackle the same problems we are address.

The conversation gave Kim Nabieu and I an opportunity to speak with our new and old friends about the needs of the UMC medical facilities, and our potential combined impact on the Sierra Leone Healthcare System. Representatives from Mission of Hope Rotifunk, alongside the Norwegian UMC that is supporting Rotifunk Hospital, as well as the conference supporting a specialty Surgical Clinic (Ophthalmology) at UMC Kissy  Hospital, and the United Methodist Churches General Board of Global Ministries put their heads together with Kim and I and we came up with several opportunities for collaboration. Expect to hear more on the new task force that formed out of this!

With respect to child welfare programming at the Child Rescue Centre, Olivia Fonnie of UMC and I had to sort of straddle the education and community development break out sessions, as there wasn't another NGO tackling child welfare present, outside of those who were doing community development.

Overall, this was a great opportunity to look more holistically at the  issues of job creation and sustainable futures, and make the links between separate missions that focused on healthcare or education, or efforts to dig wells, install public sanitation, build schools and churches, provide business training, support agricultural ventures and other social infrastructure supports.

Of course, most of our partners are churches, and that is the case with international partners as well. So, we had plenty of opportunity to consider our spiritual mandates as well as our practical program supports.
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Weekends give us time to learn, share and grow...

1/20/2019

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Learning how Sierra Leone works.

Most of our short term mission trips are just that - short. Unlike in-country staff, or long term missionaries, interns and fellows, for most HCW mission work, we are sharply focused on getting a specific task, racing against the calendar and clock to make the most impact and gather as much information as we can along the way to bring back to the US to share with our partners and leaders here. We try to build in "team" time in our short mission trips. We try to give our missioners time to have real conversations, and to make real connections with the people, with the country and with the culture. But it's just flashes. We don't have time to reach full understanding, even staff is limited, it wouldn't be enough if we went on all three two-week trips. Modern technology allows us to communicate daily, and to see one another (when the electricity and internet is working, which isn't that often) - but having three weekends in Sierra Leone this trip is going to be a blessing. I could see that this weekend, and I have one more to go!

This weekend, Cynthia Grant and I spent some time with our friends working on budgets and program plans, and some time playing, and some just hanging out in the Peace Hut, drinking fresh coconut water and munching on the nuts and fruits from the trees growing at the MTC. Wow, that was a treat!

Weekends at the MTC are for little things, like watching a huge lizard sun himself, and waiting for my phone to charge off a solar-battery charger like they have to use in the villages, and big things, like attending the funeral for the father of one of the children at the CRC, and realizing that I had just helped that child write a letter to his sponsor, and I didn't have any idea this tragedy was looming big in his life. Taking in the fact that nobody had seemed to think anything of it - because it isn't rare. And then taking in,  that  despite that commonality of death, a funeral isn't treated as a small thing, it's a huge community event that lasts for hours and involves everybody with speeches and songs and dancing and prayers and offerings to support the family.

The weekend is also for distractions and adventures, like the river, the market, having a dress made for the Bishop's celebration in a week, seeing Fudia's house, watching her throw candy out to the children all along the scary, winding, rutted road in the heart of the city that leads through her neighborhood to her house, and hearing the stories of her life.

Fudia took Cynthia and I back to the river, where we picked up an escort, Corporal Daniel, who insisted in safeguarding our excursion as we watched the families digging sand from the river bottom, and examined the new bridge being built. We walked close to the water this time. Corporal Daniel took us through the family campsites where women were cooking and washing clothes and feeding babies, and everybody else old enough to walk was engaged in the family business of digging and ferrying, and hauling and piling sand. It felt a little bit like prying, but almost everyone was gracious and welcoming, including two heads of families and a chieftain who was overseeing the work. Although I had the sense  that they were probably glad to see us and our escort leave, particularly after Corporal Daniel barked a few orders, including insistence that one man had to put out his cigarette,.

I can't speak for Cynthia, but the time playing was even more instructive for me. Our partners in Sierra Leone are kind and patient, trusting in our good intentions, but having and taking the time to see things from a different angle on the weekend was enlightening.  
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A formal dedication - Sierra Leone Style Mercy Hospital Surgical Wing Open for Business!

1/18/2019

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An illustrious event. With fun on the side.

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For This is what I went to Sierra Leone to do, to officially open the surgical wing at Mercy Hospital. I couldn't wait to get there and help with preparations. I finally got to meet many of the people in charge of UMC SLAC, and those who had participated in bringing this vision to life.

It was my honor to represent all of the Helping Children Worldwide partners and leaders who worked so hard, believed with such faith, and operated with such compassion. Of course, I had to put in a plug for the "next steps" work we're doing to raise up Sierra Leone.

For more photos, check out the HCW news story. 



This is what I said:
Remarks of Melody Curtiss, Executive Director 
Helping Children Worldwide
January 18, 2019
Dedication of Mercy Hospital Surgical Wing    
 
Good morning, I am Melody Curtiss, Executive Director of Helping Children Worldwide. HCW has been a UMC Sierra Leone Annual Conference Partner for twenty years. We are blessed and honored to be included in this occasion. We are represented here today by myself and two others who are well known to most of you, my Financial Specialist, Cynthia Grant, the longest serving member of the HCW team, who has been part of this ministry since the birth of Mercy Hospital ten years ago, and Kim Nabieu, my Medical Programs Field Director, who has been living here in Bo and working with Mercy leadership for two years.  Please stand and be recognized. 

We are grateful to have been able to come alongside Bishop John K. Yambasu, DS Rev. Francis Charley, Health Coordinator Catherine Norman, Manager Jinnah Lahai, Doctor Sao Amara, Matron Augusta Kpanabaum and all the amazing medical and support staff at Mercy Hospital in this shared Christian ministry and desire of attending to the healthcare needs in Bo.  
Eight months ago, I stood at the top of that ramp with Sister Catherine and the Bishop and looked out across this entire campus of the UMC Urban Centre, talking about a shared vision for this facility. We spoke of what was possible, and imagined this very day, with all of you here together to witness Mercy Hospital celebrating the opening of a new surgical wing, with trained surgical staff to perform complex medical procedures, and surgical deliveries of babies. It seemed a long road, but, with God’s help, we have arrived.

I am blessed to have the responsibility of helping to find resources to aid the mission of Mercy Hospital. I don’t do this alone. The Board Members of HCW are great leaders. My staff is amazing and we have a partnership of UMC churches and donors all across the United States to assist as well, including Ebenezer UMC in Virginia, who made a large bequest available for the construction project, and the Peterson Family Foundation, who sponsored the shipment of surgical supplies and equipment necessary for an operating theatre. 

It takes more than money to do what Mercy Hospital has done here. Their leadership and dedication shows in every miracle they manifest. They are the very hands of God in their care for their patients. HCW also has a medical advisory group of talented doctors who work with Mercy’s medical team, and a relationship with the Medical University of South Carolina to support Mercy’s dedication to operating under the highest medical standards.  

We have so much to celebrate here today. Look at this beautiful campus, every day, a new improvement. I can see them right now, and keep in my mind’s eye all the visions that Bishop, Sister Catherine and Manager Lahai shared with me. However, that day in April when we all imagined the future of Mercy Hospital together, we did not imagine that Mercy would have the advantages of working in so many collaborations with other hospitals and medical facilities in Bo, and I am delighted to have met so many of you during my visits to Bo. We did not imagine how the leadership of District Medical Officer Dr. Roland Carshon-Marsh would create new opportunities for collaboration and alignment with the government of Sierra Leone priorities. We also did not imagine that in our midst was a talented team of professionals who would engineer an Electronic Hospital Information System for Mercy Hospital, the first of its kind in all of Sierra Leone. 

I would like to introduce to you the database designer, Joseph Lamin, to share with you the next future innovation for medicine in Sierra Leone, and for operations at Mercy Hospital. 
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I will leave you with Joseph and my sincere gratitude and delight in the miracle of Mercy Hospital. May God continue to bless our lives. 

​
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Benchmarking and Program Plans

1/16/2019

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Our mission for the first 2 weeks included working with the Mercy Hospital leadership team and the CRC leadership team as they began the next phase of their shift to Activities Based Budgeting, by connecting UMC's goals in Health and Child Welfare with the Global Sustainable Development Goals and setting program goals, outcome targets, and progress indicators and defining program activities.

Cynthia, Kim and I worked on the ground with the leadership in Sierra Leone and the team back in Chantilly joined in remotely. Even with the challenges of scarce internet and electricity, we managed to make significant progress from day one. Thanks to Cynthia Grant - by day 10, we were on a roll!
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We persevered

1/15/2019

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After missing out twice on the opportunity, Cynthia and I were determined to make it on outreach. Our trip was well worth it! We got to witness two babies graduate from the Mercy Nutrition program, and talk about potential solar power options at Mercy at a remote health clinic where Outreach provides the nutrition program to supplement other services already in place.

It wasn't all good news. There were some positive test results in the lab diagnostics and testing, and a mother and baby were referred for follow up at Mercy for necessary treatment. They are lucky that the Mercy team was there to provide testing at this crucial moment in this baby's life and that Mercy Hospital will be there to serve their health needs, regardless of ability to pay. As difficult as it is to see this, it made me proud to be supporting such an important life-saving program and to see it in action.
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A weekend at the MTC

1/13/2019

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Weekends are time for helping Henry and students from the SAC program in a letter writing event at the CRC Happy Hall, then dropping in to visit a training for Mercy Hospital and all the Medical Facilities in Bo hosted in the CRC Great Hall (courtesy of Rural Health Care Initiative - see prior entry about our visit with them) - then a Sunday Service that turns out to be the Funeral for the father of one of the children at the letter writing event the day before, not to mention a visit with the tailor, eating coconuts fresh off the MTC trees, taking another trip to the river, and sharing a visit with Fudia. Productive, fun, and inspiring family-time with our friends and partners.
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Clean Water Miracles & Mercy.

1/9/2019

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The miracle of clean water has inspired a village to request that the United Methodist Church please consider planting a church in the midst of their community, so that God may bring them more miracles, and they may praise and honor him.  

Our team went out to inspect the well site and was met by the village chief and members of the community, who expressed their deep gratitude and renewed their request for a United Methodist Church.

It isn't hard to understand why this has occurred. Mercy Hospital Medical Outreach Coordinator Mohamed Khadar explains why this village was selected.

1. No source of clean water.
2. The closest stream was used for drinking water, for clothes, for bathing and for human waste.
3. Even the filthy water they relied upon is 3 miles away.
4. By the time somebody walked to the stream and back to collect water, it would often spill out upon the ground.

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