October has been a challenging month for John in Ghana. We have helped Belinda
through the birth of her little baby boy and, though rewarding, that is always a
considerable expense. In addition Belinda suffered some medical complications and
was forced to spend several days in the hospital receiving treatment. She and the
baby are home now but the baby has required further medical care and has just been
taken back to the doctor for treatment. Hopefully this is a minor issue that will
be easily resolved.
In addition baby Donald, who is barely a year old, came down with malaria and has
been gravely ill. Like Belinda's baby, he was taken to the hospital and was
required to stay there several days. This turned out to be complicated because
Donald hadn't been registered in the national medical insurance program so the full
expense of treatment had to paid privately. Fortunately this has now been taken
care of so the only expense is what would basically be termed copays.
At any rate Donald was released this past morning (the 11th) and should be home
with his mother. We do not yet have a full report on his situation but at least he
is no longer in the hospital. We are a small organization and we have a limited monthly budget but we always try to take care of the people who come to us asking for help in emergencies and of course childbirth and sick children must always come first. So far we
have managed to cover everyone but we are hoping that there will be no more emergencies for awhile. We have always had to decide who to help and who we have to turn away but
right now it would be difficult to help anyone at all.
Hopefully the rest of October will be better for each and everyone of us. Thank you!
