First Monday

Monday began with Kim Nabieu sharing our revised agenda for the week. I realized that our time will be full of meetings with organizations that the team at HCW has been working for a year to bring together, and how lucky I was to be on the ground to witness all these huge steps forward. Next - morning devotions in the new Mercy Hospital waiting room and then a tour of the new surgical wing, the new HIV clinic, the new consultation area, improved pharmacy, refurbished patient wards,  the new maternity labor and delivery ward, complete with indoor toilets, and so much more!

After that, a whirlwind round of meetings to discuss administrative matters associated with the opening of the OR, the upcoming partners meeting, the Sierra Leone Methodist Church Annual Conference and improvements to the energy and internet infrastructure on the campus. We attended joint meetings with leadership from Mercy, CRC and MTC, and the District Supervisor, Rev. F. Charley in his Bo office. Kim Nabieu and I were particularly blessed when Christians in Actions International Ministry, our contractors in the deep well project in Tikonko, arrived at Mercy Hospital, and we joined Hospital Administrator Jinnah Lahai, and Mercy Hospital Outreach Coordinator Mohamed Kadeh to discuss the next clean water project. We had a deeper conversation on the village mapping that had identified sanitation and clean water needs for almost every village in the catchment area. It was great to have Elmer and Tommy in the room with us as Mohamed discussed the particular health problems Mercy Outreach has identified in each village they serve and are tracking. Many are associated with sanitation issues in the lower resource communities. The importance of the work Helping Children Worldwide does to promote key collaborations was driven home for the second time that day as we all participated in the prioritization of long term goals and problem solving discussions.