Humanitarian Mission

In January of 2009 three Rotarians from the Libertyville Sunrise Rotary Club traveled with Rotarians from Pasadena, California and a medical/humanitarian mission group from Libertyville to rural Umuagwo, Nigeria.

Our mission was to do three things. First, we were traveling as part of a 13-member medical team that would serve medical and dental needs for over 3,000 rural farmers and their families: the poorest of the poor. They have no easy access to medical or dental care, nor the means to pay for it. Ohaji Medical Center is located about an hour’s drive from the closest city, Owerri, where our team’s hotel was located. The members of this farming community are in desperate need of healthcare and the crowds we encountered were larger than anything the team had experienced previously. Hundreds of mothers with sick children, the elderly who were too weak to fight themselves to the head of the line, young people with HIV/AIDS, adults and children with skin infections, tumors, malaria, wounds of all kinds, diabetes, hypertension, goiter and deformities met us daily. Some slept on the hospital grounds for three days before they were seen. We brought with us 29 trunks of medical supplies and life-saving medicines, donated from various organizations in America. We used mission funds to buy antimalarial medicines and lumber for building projects. The weather was hot and the stories we heard were heartbreaking to Americans who are used to the finest healthcare in the world. We labored together to serve over 500 patients per day, and made lists of surgical candidates that would receive free surgery immediately as well as long after we were gone. All of our services and medicines were donated free of charge. Our hosts, Dr. and Mrs. Okechuckwu Elisha-Wigwe, were gracious and generous hosts who were very grateful for our services to their people. By far he most valuable thing we brought was hope and encouragement.

The second aim of our mission trip was to bring ways to stimulate the economy in this impoverished region. Jobs are scarce in this area, with over 30% of Nigerian college youth being unemployed. Most of our patients were subsistence farmers and their families. Just as our first goal targeted one of the millennial developmental goals of improving maternal/child health in the region, our second goal targeted poverty reduction. Making an impact in communities devastated by poverty and AIDS requires a multi faceted approach, which we have utilized on past mission ventures. This year, two Rotary sponsored projects were chosen from those shown at the 2008 Rotary International convention in Los Angeles. The first was a biomass project: converting trash and other biodegradable items indigenous to the region into useable fuel. Rotarian Bob Zamor taught local students at Imo State Polytechnic College how the Peterson Press trash compactor works and challenged them to develop a formula or recipe from this region that would provide an optimal fuel briquette that could be easily produced by individuals or groups. The college’s rector, Dr. Anderson Amadioha, was delighted with the project and students were very excited about the potential they saw in this innovative project. Professor Amadioha has invited Rotarians to return later this year to help develop their school’s training program, using research the students will develop over the coming months.

The second Rotary project was taught by team member Tom Rodriguez and Rotarian John Frykenberg from the Altadena Rotary Club in Pasadena. Glasses for Missions provides eyeglass making kits and training materials to help budding entrepreneurs make a pair of reading glasses for 45 cents out of bicycle spoke wire and Lucite lenses made in China. Eye problems are rampant in this region and the few dozen pair of glasses that our team brought with us went very quickly. Our missioners were able to demonstrate the process to both local students at Imo State Polytech as well as to government dignitaries, chiefs and tribal kings in Owerri.

The program was enthusiastically received and several groups have requested more formal training programs and additional kits to begin making these eyeglasses.

Besides helping Tom with the eyeglass training project, John also served as a sort of team ambassador to our host Rotary club: the Rotary Club of Owerri. He spoke at several meetings about the short and long term benefits of instituting small business training to the youth in the area. We were able to bring an expert, Dr Sunday Agang in from Kaduna state, where he had successfully helped to implement a similar program that was successfully piloted in Jos and is now being taught in many secondary schools in the area, giving local youth skills to start their own small businesses. The Altadena club sponsored this project several years ago and it has been an enormous success. Both this and our entrepreneurial projects were met with great interest in Owerri and the Ohaji community.

Rotarian and dentist Dr. Anthony Collins and his 11 year old daughter Shea were valuable members of our medical team. Tony was our team’s dentist and Shea was a pharmacy runner, dental assistant, errand girl and all around team encourager who made friends wherever she went. The weather was hot and the conditions difficult to work in, but Tony and Shea persevered enthusiastically and made many friends. When things got hot and frustrating for the adults, all we had to do was look at Shea to remind ourselves of why we were there. She kept her focus on loving others and it made us all smile every day. Her father performed over 200 dental procedures, mostly extractions. He and Tom had to build dental chairs and set up a dental clinic first, and later constructed a beautiful operating room table to replace the old one at Ohaji. The operating suite became half dental clinic, half OR and was the hub of nonstop activity daily. Many of the poor clients had never before seen a dentist. The Sunrise club had provided us with a suction machine that will make a big difference to Dr. Okey as he performs surgery in the future. Things that Americans take for granted every day are rare luxuries in rural Africa, and greatly appreciated. A set of basic surgical instruments donated in 2006 has saved many lives since it was received, most of whom were women and children.

My name is Teri Dreher and I was the team’s newest Rotarian, as well as Co-Leader of the trip, along with my dear friend Wendy Coulter. Wendy and I have been taking teams to Ohaji since 2006 and enjoy watching the changes that we’ve been privileged to help bring to this impoverished community. A new borehole was drilled in 2007, providing fresh water to thousands of residents who used to buy water from local water merchants, or drink contaminated water if they could not afford fresh. We’ve seen improvement in overall health and great reductions in diseases associated with contaminated drinking water since the well was drilled. A renovated doctor’s apartment, hospital bathrooms and showers, and a new generator for the well have brought about further improvements in healthcare delivery. The hospital has been painted, the roof repaired and mosquito screens provided in the past year as well. Small changes make a big difference in Africa and the gratitude our patients show us is touching beyond words. Instead of being irritated by long waits, when the elderly would finally make it into my office, many would be full of gratitude for medicines and care, praising God for our arrival. They brought us gifts of fresh fruit and vegetables every day to thank us.

The third goal of our mission was to build meaningful relationships with Rotarians and leaders in this region that will strengthen our efforts to further develop Ohaji Medical Center and bring improvements to this region. We are all about Making Dreams Real for impoverished African communities. Seeing the difference that Rotarians can make was truly an awe-inspiring experience. The Rotary Club of Owerri greeted us warmly and hosted a dinner meeting where we were guests. Rounds of applause and laughter greeted us when we showed up in traditional Nigerian dress (thanks to our generous hosts) and sang a well known song in their tribal language, Igbo. We were delighted to meet members who had helped us with a Rotary Volunteer Service Grant application a few months ago, and met leaders who showed interest in working together on future endeavors. Having a good working relationship with international partners is so important. We have truly been blessed in knowing Dr. Okey, Professor Amadioha and the Rotary Club of Owerri, Nigeria.

We’re grateful for all of our friends who have been helping us Make Dreams Real at Ohaji Medical Center. The dear people we have come to care about in Umuagwo have become like an extended family over the years and we’re anxious to continue the work that has begun. New construction at the hospital, medical equipment, food preparation areas and waste disposal facilities are their greatest needs at this time. We hope that future mission trips to this region will involve even more Rotarians, and we can bring even more hope to this region of Nigeria.