ELWA Building Destroyed by Fire

Last week, our partner hospital in Liberia, ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) reported that one its buildings caught fire and burned down. The building containing the radio station was destroyed by fire late last week. The cause of the fire is yet to be established. ELWA is still able to broadcast its radio station from a satellite site.

“[Praise the Lord] that we are still broadcasting the gospel which we trust will give some hope and courage to our many listeners and sympathizers during this crucial period,” said one of the ELWA administrators.

More discouraging news come from Liberia as the presidential elections took a violent turn last week. This update comes from our missionary friends in Liberia:

Today was a rough day in Liberia. Our runoff election is scheduled for tomorrow but one of the political parties is asking all of their supporters to boycott the elections. They had a protest today and began to march into town. Things became heated when the Liberian police backed by the UN tried to stop them and several people were killed. We had some of our missionaries in town and they had a bit of a harrowing time getting home. Everyone is safe and we are now restricting our movements. Please be praying for peace and righteousness to prevail.

Hospitals of Hope has had a presence in Liberia, Africa since for several years now.

In our first two years of working in Liberia, we primarily focused on JFK Medical Center in Monrovia, Liberia, the main government hospital in this country of 3.5 million people. When we began work there, JFK was in need of basic equipment, but Hospitals of Hope has donated $1.1 million of medical equipment to JFK, greatly increasing its capacity to effectively treat patients.

Since then, we have shifted our focus to ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa), a well-respected and established ministry, which has been at work in Liberia since the 1950s and began as a ministry of SIM (then Sudan Interior Mission).
Although ELWA offers quality care and has great plans for the future, the hospital is in dire need. With only 1 doctor for every 28,000 people in Liberia, ELWA is swamped with patients, and their limited resources are stretched thin. In summer 2010 we sent a volunteer team to work at ELWA, and, in early 2011, we partnered with the Brother's Brother Foundation to send necessary equipment to the hospital.

Join with us as we pray for both ELWA as they recover from this fire and for peace in Liberia through the remainder of the elections.

Update from 11/16/11

It was announced this week that President Sirleaf was re-elected as Liberia's president. Below is a congratulatory statement from the United States that also describes last week's election protest.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY CLINTON

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I want to congratulate the Liberian people for exercising their right to vote in last week's presidential and legislative elections. These historic elections are important milestones on Liberia's path toward democratic reconciliation. The United States congratulates President Sirleaf on her re-election and we will continue to work with her and all elected officials to advance democracy, and promote peace and prosperity.

The United States commends the National Elections Commission for conducting free, fair, and transparent elections. We applaud the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and others for sending observers to monitor the elections, as well as the UN Mission in Liberia for promoting security during the electoral process.

The violence on November 7th marred this otherwise peaceful process, so we welcome the creation of a Special Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the incident. We are also deeply disappointed by the Congress for Democratic Change’s decision to boycott the run-off election in an attempt to delegitimize the election. We urge all political parties to respect the election results and resolve their differences peacefully.

The United States is a long standing friend of the Liberian people and we are committed to their future. Congratulations on this momentous occasion.

September 11: When Volunteers Became Heroes

Not single September 11 comes around without us thinking back to where we were that morning, how we heard about the attack and how it’s changed life forever. One of those changes was actually a positive change. After September 11, 2001, volunteers became more of a hero than a volunteer. You saw people giving their time, efforts and resources to treat survivors, clear wreckage, comfort the families of the victims. In the ten years following that fateful day, we have seen more people willing to volunteer and help others in grave need. While it has been tragic to see loss of life over the past ten years from hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, war, tornadoes, and most recently famine, we have been privilege to see people step up and become heroes.

It is no different than what we’ve seen at Hospitals of Hope. Our volunteers have given their skills, time, money and more to help bring relief, healing and hope to people all over the world. These heroes have treated earthquake victims in Haiti, car accident victims in Bolivia, brought new life into the world in Liberia, as well as so much more all over world.

We are honored to have some of the best volunteers in the world. Our volunteers have not only a desire to serve, but a passion to see change and give hope.

“There is just such a pressing need for help in this country [Liberia] ... [Serving here] has been a renewed fuel to the passion and fire I had to become an international physician,” one of our volunteers said. “I really hope to someday come back and serve in a country like this, if not maybe here.”

While it is always solemn to pause and think about all the lives lost ten years ago, we have been honored to see the positive change of people becoming heroes and respond to the needs not just in the United States, but around the world. Thank you to all of our amazing heroes who make Hospitals of Hope happen.

A Reminder of the Need for Container Clinics

Sometimes it is easy for us to take for granted our access to even basic medical care in the United States. Read this account of an experience from our staff. It’s stories like these that remind us at Hospitals of Hope of why we are here and why we hope to bring change.

At the JFK Memorial Medical Center in Monrovia, Liberia, a man limped into the emergency room. He lived in a remote part of Liberia and had gotten bit by a poisonous snake while working in a field. Since no proper medical clinic was nearby, he first visited the witch doctor who basically just applied manure to his leg. After his leg only got worse and not better, he walked two days to the hospital for treatment. By the time he arrived, his leg was so swollen that he could barely walk. He desperately needed the proper anti-venom to counter-act the poison that had already worked its way through his body. He was immediately treated for the snake bite but he needed to have the leg that had turned gangrene amputated. Because in his culture he would be viewed as worthless if he did not have his leg he would rather die than have his leg amputated. His condition worsened and he died hours later.

It is tragic experiences like this that inspired Hospitals of Hope to find an innovative and practical way to provide the basic medical care that is needed around the world.

One of the most exciting ways we work to prevent unnecessary deaths and give quality medical care is with our Clinic in a Can program. Clinic in a Cans are self-contained medical clinics built in 40-foot shipping containers that can be sent nearly anywhere in the world, creating an instant, fully-equipped medical clinic.

We are thrilled we have been able to send a total of ten container clinics, but we know there is always a need. We hope to continue partnering with other organizations to bring these innovative container clinics to even more communities around the world to help bring change.

ELWA Makes Plans to Expand

Hospitals of Hope’s partner ministry in Liberia, ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) is making progress on drawing plans to expand its hospital in Monrovia.

Kedrick White, the director of ELWA in Monrovia, Liberia, has been working with a volunteer architect to develop plans for the new hospital. The current goal is to build a new a new 80-90 bed hospital to replace the current 40-year-old 30 bed hospital.
The plans also include an entry way area with seven wings coming off of it. The different wings house all the essential care facilities like an emergency room, surgical rooms, an outpatient clinic, children’s ward, male and female wards, a dental clinic, pharmacy, lab, counseling services, a chapel, a cafeteria, and administrative offices.

ELWA hopes to complete this project with in the next five years. However, they may be able to accomplish it sooner because Samaritan’s Purse has recently expressed interest helping with the project.

The current ELWA Hospital was built in 1965 and is too small and out-of-date to meet the needs of the community. With only 1 doctor for every 28,000 people in Liberia, ELWA is swamped with patients, and their limited resources are stretched thin.

Hospitals of Hope has sent volunteers to serve at ELWA the past four years. Also in early 2011, Hospitals of Hope partnered with the Brother's Brother Foundation to send necessary equipment to the hospital, including a much needed x-ray machine.HOH staff member, Daniel White will be traveling to Liberia next week in order to install the donated equipment.

Hospitals of Hope is committed to helping bring change in Liberia, through sending essential equipment, training hospital staff, and providing patient care.

The Hope of Glory

Check out this reflection by Peter Wickwire, one of our Liberia volunteers:

As I am sure you know, SMP [a Wheaton College program with which HOH is partnering] offers so many different and even unusual experiences, and Liberia was by no means an exception! I spent six weeks in this hospital that was located on the coast of the beautiful Atlantic. It would have felt more like paradise had their not been daily reminders of the travesty and horror of the civil war that had ravaged the nation. Daily I saw and interacted with beautiful Liberian people, but often their beauty was masked by an emotional callous that set in from the constant death and torture caused by witless militia wreaking havoc across the country.

I loved my time at the hospital. At first it was a little difficult getting our foot in the door. Often they would say, "You're welcome, you're welcome here" and then do nothing to help us get set up. Mostly I think it is because they had never had such newbies come to them, and so while they were used to white people coming in and taking charge we were there as inexperienced pre-med students. Soon, however, they began to understand that we were there to be taught and then to use that to serve.

By two weeks into our time I had scrubbed in on surgeries (C-sections, hernia repairs, appendectomies, hysterectomies, myomectomies, ovarectamies, etc), I dressed wounds and did stitches, I did a circumcision, and I moved on to the OB ward where I got to take care of pregnant ladies and those who were ready to deliver. I listened to fetal hearts, I set up IV's for pregnant woman with malaria, I inserted catheters to prep woman for C-sections, and I even got to deliver a baby all by myself!!! It was such a momentous thing... to see life come into this world and the pain that has to take place for it to happen. Really makes the imagery in the Bible, as in the pains of childbirth, a lot more real (Romans 8)... And as it says in that passage, "the creation groans in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed" it was very easy to see that in Liberia. Amidst so much pain and suffering, I had to daily remember the hope of glory, the hope of Christ removing the evil and ugly from this world.

Summer in Liberia: A Volunteer Story

We have a team of students from Wheaton College serving at ELWA Hospital in Liberia this summer. When HOH staff traveled to Liberia a couple of weeks ago, we interviewed them about their experiences. Here are some excerpts from one of the interviews:

My name is Peter Wickwire, and I’m part of a group of three that has come to ELWA Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia for 6 weeks. We’ve had a blast so far. It’s been about 4 weeks, and each week has given us something entirely different than the one before it.

I went to the OR to start with. I’m so thankful I went to the OR. It was a really good landing for me in the clinic. The OR is pretty much like the functioning ER, the functioning operating room. The first couple days were difficult to get settled into. I don’t think they were used to premed students coming in. They didn’t understand back then that we were really here to be taught, and then, using what we’re taught, serve. It was really just watching people, shadowing from the corner, silently watching people.

Really my in was that I watched a nurse folding gauze for surgery and wound dressings, and the next day, without them asking, I just got up and started doing it, and he’s just like, “Oh, where’d you learn how to do that?” They kind of realized that we can learn, and so time went on and day after day I started doing more things, learning new things.

I saw a c-section one day. It was the first c-section I had ever seen in my life. The next surgery after that was another c-section, and they’re like, “Okay, Peter, you’re scrubbing on this one.” I was like “What are you talking about?” but I ended up scrubbing on the surgery, and it was a really neat experience.

After the first week or so, I think they really picked up on the fact that really we’re here to be taught and really here to just serve them, and they really started understanding that and utilizing that. Also, I think what helped was founding relationships with them and spending time just talking, and learning, and exchanging personal stories and life stories of how the war has shattered this country. It’s good to hear their stories of what they had to go through. It kind of opens doors for you to be part of their lives.

I think one of the difficult things for me being in Liberia is this place is really so torn. The buildings you see when you’re driving by are a living history of the war that happened so recently. It’s hard to be in a country so full of pain and just coming out of that. It’s a beautiful time, and yet it’s a difficult time.

I think my favorite thing of being in the clinic has not been delivering a baby or stitching up patients but getting to know the Liberians and speaking Liberian English to them and joking around with them and them loving to see that I’m trying to learn their culture. People are really grateful.

This trip has been so beneficial to me as a premed student looking in the future to going into medicine internationally, to use it for furthering Christ and his kingdom, and I couldn’t have thought of a better experience for me. They’re kind of teaching me what it looks like to use the resources that you have, which here are very limited, to give the best health care possible. There is just such a pressing need for help in this country, and it was good to visualize that. It’s a renewed fuel to the passion and fire I had to become an international physician. I really hope to someday come back and serve in a country like this, if not maybe here.

Expanding Health Care in Liberia

The man who came into the ER was vomiting blood. A viper had bitten him, and it had taken him more than 24 hours to reach the hospital, which was far away from where he lived.

He could only afford one vial of antivenin, so that was all the public hospital was willing to give him. It was clear, though, that that wasn’t going to be enough.

The Hospitals of Hope team, which was at the hospital installing medical equipment, saw the man’s condition and quickly decided to help cover the cost of his treatment. By that point, unfortunately, it was too late.

This man’s life likely could have been saved by quicker treatment, but Liberia’s lack of medical infrastructure makes it difficult to access health care.

In the past two years, we have primarily focused our work at JFK Medical Center, since this is the referral center for the entire country of Liberia and since it lacked basic medical equipment. In the last year, Hospitals of Hope has donated $1.1 million of medical equipment to JFK, greatly increasing its capacity to effectively treat patients.

Now, however, after February’s trip installing x-ray machines, a central oxygen system, and more, we believe that it is time for us to expand our reach in Liberia, working with smaller clinics and hospitals to ensure easier access to care.

In April, we will be sending another container of medical equipment to Liberia, this one primarily aimed at equipping smaller clinics. We will work with 2 other organizations on this project, providing the equipment necessary to supply the medical clinics they are building.

Another trip is planned for Liberia this summer, in the last 2 weeks of June or the beginning of July. If you are interested in joining this team, whether to treat patients, train staff, or install equipment, please contact Daniel White at daniel@hospitalsofhope.org.

Clinics, Liberia, and life at Hospitals of Hope

It’s been amazing seeing the way the Clinics in a Can have come along in the last couple of weeks. We’ve had a great group of volunteers coming in every day for the last few weeks, and Hutton Construction donated several of their employees for about 3 weeks. The clinics look great, and they’ll be a huge blessing to many in Haiti.

This Clinic in a Can project has definitely been a learning experience for me. While I haven’t been involved in the hands-on details, like sheet rocking and plumbing, I am learning my way around Home Depot, and I can now tell you what, exactly, a down cut jigsaw blade is!

Mike and Daniel are in Liberia right now, where they’ll be installing the medical equipment that we sent in December. The container has arrived in port and should be released from customs soon. Please pray for the quick release of the container and for safety as they unload it and install the equipment.

While they’re over there, I (Leta) am here in Wichita, working with volunteers to equip the clinics, pick up supplies, and run the day-to-day business of the office. There’s plenty of work to keep us all busy, so, if you’re in need of something to do, I could definitely put you to work. :) (You can send me an email at leta@hospitalsofhope.org or call me at 262.0964 if you’d like to come in.) Or, if you’d like to just drop by and see the Clinics, I’d love to show them to you; just give me a call to let me know when you’re coming. Either way, we’d love to see you!

Container shipment headed to Liberia

Last week, we loaded up and shipped out another container to John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Liberia, West Africa. This container is full of medical equipment that will greatly improve patient care at the hospital-- including 4 x-ray machines (since the hospital currently doesn't have one), surgical instruments, operating room lights, a central suction system, sterilizers and patient monitors, hospital beds, and dental equipment.

We picked just about the coldest day so far this year to load up the container, as you can see from all the layers we're wearing! But we got everything loaded up and shipped out safely, and it's on its way. Mike and Daniel will be headed to Liberia in February to unload the container and install the equipment.

Volunteers help provide medical relief to Liberia

As many of you know, Hospitals of Hope has been working with John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia, Liberia for the last two years, in an effort to help this hospital rebuild after the country’s devastating civil war. After this summer’s successful trip and further discussion with the staff at JFK, Hospitals of Hope has begun packing another container of essential medical supplies and equipment that is due to be sent out at the beginning of December.

We’ve had a great group of volunteers helping us out as we get ready to ship this next container. This past weekend, volunteers from Pathways at Central Christian Church came and sorted through surgical instruments, and a couple of surgical techs from Wesley Medical Center have been putting the instruments into packs to be used during surgery. We (and the people of Liberia) are so blessed by all of you who help us in our goal of providing quality, accessible medical care!

If you or your group is interested in helping out, call the Hospitals of Hope office at 316.262.0964, or send an email to leta@hospitalsofhope.org.

The Concert and Beyond

Thanks to all of you who came out for last week's concert! We had around 200 of you come out to show your support and hear some amazing music from Waterdeep, Justin McRoberts, and SHEL. We especially want to thank all of you who volunteered to help with childcare, tickets, cleanup, etc. You all were great!

Now that the concert is over, we're turning our full attention to our other projects. One of the biggest ones we're working on right now is preparing to send another container of medical equipment to Liberia. The container we sent earlier this year has already made a big difference there, but the hospital still lacks many essentials. We've been talking with the hospital administration and are working on procuring some of the most important items that they still need. We've already got 3 x-ray machines, a bunch of hospital beds, and thousands of dollars worth of surgical instruments ready to send. As you can probably imagine, our warehouse is getting pretty full!

We're also continuing work on our longer-term project of implementing our new inventory system and getting the warehouse organized. This will be easier once we get the Liberia container sent, but there's a lot of work to do between now and then! If you're interested in helping out, send me an email at leta@hospitalsofhope.org.

Both dire need, reasons for hope in Liberia

The woman who came into the ER didn’t have anything obviously wrong with her. Although she told the staff she thought her leg was broken, there were no bones protruding from the skin, and her leg looked relatively normal. The injury, she told them, had happened months before. First, she had tried visiting a “country doctor”—a practitioner of traditional medicine—who had subjected her leg to a regimen of daily massage. Finally, when his treatments made no difference, she came to the hospital.

Because of a power surge a month before, the hospital had been left without a functioning x-ray machine, but there was another hospital nearby that had one, and a couple of days later, they were able to transport the woman there for x-rays. They found that her leg had, indeed, been broken severely, but, because she had waited so long to come in for treatment, the bones had already begun to re-calcify at a sharp angle, requiring major surgery to repair the damage.

This is one of the many cases the Hospitals of Hope team saw in Liberia during their trip there in August. They worked primarily at John F. Kennedy Medical Center, the referral center for the entire country—which makes its lack of a functioning x-ray machine especially problematic.

While JFK was once a top-notch facility, currently only 1 of its 5 floors is in use, due to the devastation wreaked by Liberia’s civil war. While many organizations and foreign governments are working to help repair the damage, work at JFK faces several challenges.

A couple of the primary problems with re-development are the poor quality of some donations and the lack of infrastructure to receive the donations. When the Hospitals of Hope team arrived, they found that another aid organization had recently sent two sets of surgical lights—but they had neglected to include the controllers for the lights, which left these expensive pieces of equipment useless. In addition to this, our team found that the hospital did not have enough qualified staff to process all of the donations they had received—leaving many useful items stuck in storage because no one had had the time to sort through them.

We avoided these problems with the shipment we sent earlier this year by carefully considering the hospital’s needs before sending the items and by sending the team in August to install them. Our team was able to install patient monitors, ventilators, and other equipment and train the hospital staff how to use them properly. The hospital was grateful for their work, and one hospital administrator even commented that we are the first organization to send good, quality items and that, on top of that, we even came to install them.

In addition to installing equipment, the team treated patients at JFK and at another nearby hospital and completed staff training in everything from sepsis to anesthesia. This kind of work is crucial in Liberia, since many doctors fled during the civil war and many of those who remain lack training. Without sufficient doctors or proper training, patients will continue to receive poor care, no matter how many x-ray machines are available.

While this situation may seem bleak, the team was able to see improvements from last year. JFK is almost ready to open up three new patient wings, and the country's infrastructure is steadily improving. Life expectancy has increased significantly in Liberia in the years since the civil war, and it has now reached 56—still low, but climbing.

Hospitals of Hope is making a difference in Liberia, and it is your support that makes this possible. Thank you for helping to bring hope in a country that has seen so much despair.

HOH Team Brings Hope in Liberia

Imagine never having been to the dentist. I, for one, think it sounds great-- or, at least, it would until I needed to have a tooth pulled.

Even worse, imagine having to go to the emergency room, wait in line for hours, and then find that the hospital didn’t have the equipment necessary to treat your illness.

This, unfortunately, is the situation facing many in Liberia, West Africa.

Hospitals of Hope sent a team to Liberia last summer, and now, after much prayer, hard work, and a few unexpected challenges, a Hospitals of Hope team has returned. The team, made up of volunteers from the US and Britain, is treating medical and dental patients—an incredibly important task in this country with only 1 doctor per 28,000 residents and even fewer dentists. Many of those they see will probably never have visited a dentist before, and any doctors’ visits will have been few and far between.

The team is also planning to supervise the installation of the equipment in the container that we shipped to Liberia in May, which is due to be delivered at the hospital either today or tomorrow. This equipment, containing everything from patient monitors to hospital beds, will greatly improve patient care in the ER at John F. Kennedy Medical Center, the referral center for the entire country.

The team has very limited internet access, due to their busy schedule and the unpredictability of the power supply in Liberia, but I will post further news from the trip when it is available. In the meantime, please keep praying with us for the team members and their work in Liberia.

Ways to pray for the Liberia trip:

- that God will use the medical and dental team to meet many needs—both physical and spiritual
- for the quick, safe, and successful unloading and installation of equipment in the hospital
- for encouragement, health, & safety for the team members
- for the continued stabilization and re-development of the country in the wake of its civil war

Long road to recovery for women in Liberia

Liberia's civil war is over, but many of its effects remain. Much infrastructure was destroyed--but, in some ways, this is the easiest problem to fix.

Up to 10% of children may have served as soldiers. Up to 75% of women were raped.

Unfortunately, the type of mentality that caused/was produced by 14 years of conflict is not easy to change, and Liberia's women and girls, in particular, are still facing its effects.

Rape, even rape of young children, is widespread. The government and NGOs are taking measures to change this, but there is still a long way to go. Check out Nicholas Kristof's opinion column in the New York Times for more information on the situation and the progress being made.

A team from Hospitals of Hope will be headed back to Liberia in a week and a half, where they'll be caring for patients at a couple of hospitals and working to refurbish the emergency room at John F. Kennedy Medical Center, the referral center for the entire country.

Pray for safety for our team as they travel, and pray for the patients they will see. Pray that they will be able to demonstrate Christ's love to those they serve, and pray that God will use them to bring a measure of healing in Liberia.