Medical Mission to Sierra Leone December 11 – 18, 2011
PreyeAugust
Fourteen of us physically went for the medical mission trip to Sierra Leone from Dec 11th to the 18th 2011. We all arrived in Lagos on December 10th where we were joined by our brother from Saudi Arabia. We lodged in Lagos Mainland Hotel Ebuta metta. This six room accommodation and transportation was paid for by Wumi and Joyce Iledare, to whom we are very grateful.
In charge of the pharmacy was Elijah Adeoye. Esther Okpara RN, and Prof Diuto Esiobu were in charge of our vital signs with our automatic sphygmanometer. The local nurses also helped in triaging. Diuto Esiobu was paramount on one- on-one counseling, leading people to the Lord, and challenged us by gathering and ministering to the children who seem to have been forgotten. The local pastors were of tremendous assistance in our usual one-on-one counseling in both locations after the patients have seen the doctors.
Surgical operations started in full swing on Thursday December 15th at Rokpua hospital with Dr Obiekwe and Dr Dairo tackling the hernias and hydrocele that were harvested earlier on in the week from the two clinic sites – Kamanda Farm and Samuel town. Most of these were giant hernias and hydrocele and were operated on under local anesthesia. Patients were able to walk out of the operating room to the recovery beds. Most interestingly was a 32 year old man whose hydrocele was down to his knees. He had a 1.5 liters of fluid drained from the right scrotum and 2.15 liters of fluid drained from the left scrotum during the hydrocelectomy. We also transferred surgical skills to the anesthetics and the surgeon both on regional anesthetic blocks and surgical procedures respectively. The ophthalmologist and the two optometrist Dr and Dr Mrs. Uchegbu carried out cataract surgeries, repaired lid lacerations, and performed an enucleation.
Some of the patients we operated on last year returned to show their appreciation for having successfully treated them. Few of them volunteered their time. We inquired of others who were operated on the year before and were told that they were all doing well with no complications except one patient with a stitch abscess that was drained by the resident doctor Dr King.
On this year’s medical mission trip (December 2011) we saw a total of 1303 patients at both locations (698 in Samuel Town and 605 in Kamanda Farm), 39 Hernia and hydrocele surgeries, and 5 eye surgeries including cataract extraction surgeries.
Clothes that were donated by some of our brethren here in the US gladdened the hearts of the pastors and the brethren as they were freely shared out to them.
Our last operating day was Friday December 16th. On Saturday December 17th we went to fellowship with the brethren at Samuel town, Pastor Wellington’s church and sightseeing at the Atlantic Ocean beach in Freetown. We departed for the airport on Sunday December 18, 2011 via the ferry that took us across to Longi airport.
In it all we could see the hand of the Lord both on us and on the people we came to visit. The pastors were encouraged. Despite so many surgeries with very limited resources there were no incidences neither were there any casualties. This testimony was highlighted by Mrs. Wellington the host pastor’s wife, while expressing how grateful the community and the brethren had been. Pastor Victor Nwoji and his wife brightened our visit by informing us of the formation of ACF young adults group in Sierra Leone who actively participated in the organizing and running of the medical mission in Kamanda Farm. They are a group of young men some of which are College students and Muslim converts but have expressed desire to network with the ACF USA young adult.
