The journey of a lifetime

Four weeks ago I set out on a journey to Ghana with the support of my family, friends, the Cheerful Hearts Foundation, and the Notre Dame Kellogg Institute. When my dad left me at the airport, he told me that if this became more of an endurance test than I was expecting, to push through it and do good work. I did not think it would be an endurance test. For me, coming to Africa was a dream because, as my friends know, I have an obsession with the continent. It was a life experience, but it did indeed become a bit of an endurance test.

My goal was to use my experience working in the St. Gregory Catholic Clinic as research regarding the role of medical NGOs in Ghanaian healthcare. St. Gregory is supported by the National Catholic Health Service and Point Hope. In addition, it receives interns from Cheerful Hearts on occasion. I am really thankful to all who helped me. In the end, there are a lot of valiant efforts to improve healthcare in Ghana. All the NGOs are trying to do this. They have a desire to help others just like our moral culture teaches us. This is evident by the mere number of NGOs. Ghanaians see the plight of their fellow man and understand that it needs to change. The problem is that as you spread the resources between the NGOs, very little gets accomplished. There are 500 medical NGOs at the national level in the health coalition, a country the size of Oregon. This is a staggering number and even more want to start NGOs. It seems like everyone has an NGO or wants to create an NGO. I was stopped on the roadside on multiple occasions by Ghanaians who wanted my help starting an NGO (as if I know anything about it). Another eye opening experience is seeing how difficult it is to improve healthcare. Where do you start? In my mind, I thought the solution to improving healthcare was educating Ghanaians in Ghana to build up the infrastructure rather than relying on more developed countries to provide medical missions. I realized during my time in Ghana, however, that there are deeper problems than educating the next generation of doctors. It is hard to make improvements to healthcare like this when the main cause of most medical cases in Ghana is due to improper sanitation. It is hard to provide proper sanitation when the roads are difficult to drive. It is hard to provide paved roads when the funds are not available. In recent years, more developed countries have been investing in Ghana to build the infrastructure, but according to one Ghanaian, the government takes cuts from the deal and this has negatively impacted the development of infrastructure. None of the NGOs that currently exist can see their intended impact when there is so much to be done. I do not know what the solution is, but I do know that Ghana can become more developed if people gave the time and effort to do so.

I have wanted to become a doctor since a very young age. As I have grown up, I have realized that my gifts need to be shared with others. I am not the smartest or greatest, but I do have many things that many would be envious of. When I was deciding which college to attend, I wanted to go to a school that would help me expand my ability to serve others. In high school, I was taught to “Be who you are and be that well.” To me, that means sharing my gifts by serving others. That was the main reason I decided to attend Notre Dame. A professor cried during class last year around Holy Thursday because every year she is reminded how special Notre Dame is. She said that more than any other school, we take the passage of washing others feet and serving others to heart. As I grow up and decide on medical school, there are three options. I can live a comfortable life in the US, serve others elsewhere, or do a combination of the two. I have realized that while serving others is very rewarding, I love my amenities. I had a difficult time living without air conditioning, clean water, and a washing machine.

I hope that my blog has not only enlightened you about my voyage, but also about life in Ghana. It is a lovely country with very friendly people. I know that people care either about me or about Ghana because this blog has gotten over 700 hits in the past month. Thank you for all of your support over the past four weeks. I have had the experience of a lifetime and I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog.