Diving in Head First

     Preparations are well underway for our 2014 trip, scheduled to commence on June 5th and end June 23rd to be based out of Ho, Ghana. Local villages that have been frequented in the past include Adigbo torn, Akpafu todzi, Goviefe todzi, Logba horlikope, and Peki agbateh.
   
     Our medical team is busy preparing for the in-country needs of our clinic weeks. Residents from the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System will be assisting us in-country as we travel to rural villages without health communities already in place. We will be partnering with our friends from Irani Brothers and Company Ltd and Life for the Living Medical Centre (LILIMED) to aid us in procuring much needed medications, supplies and clinic expertise, respectively. Additionally, this year, we've made contact with VCU's undergraduate chapter of United2Heal, an organization that procures various medical supplies via donations from the VCU Health System Hospital in order to send them to countries in need. Mohamed Ibrahim, a REACH 4 Ghana team member, was the founder and serving president of United2Heal while in undergraduate before he attended medical school. In honor of Mohamed's memory and in an effort to continue to do the intercultural and humanitarian work he was so passionate about, we are honored to have created a partnership with the organization that meant so much to him.
     Our Public Health committee recently met to establish various different criteria for our in-country teaching sessions. We've brainstormed various different lesson plans for Children ages 6-18 and have also planned engaging activities for students to learn about sanitation, malaria prevention, the important of brushing teeth and washing hands, and STD and HIV education. Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of this is to make our lessons culturally competent and sustainable. For example, if we teach nutrition to children but they have no access to the types of food we lecture on, our efforts are for naught. We are continuing to seek resources for ways in which we can make our lessons relevant, needed, and local-resources focused.
     We are so lucky to have the added benefit of our board for their immense guidance and help as we construct the bones of what our trip will look like. Shikha, Miki, Katie, Jeremy, and the rest of the REACH 4 Ghana team and previous team members have had no shortcoming of positive affirmations and organizational skills that are helping to streamline our preparation process to make this trip even more successful.

Our Cultural Committee recently shared this quote of a Ghanian-American Philosopher that said that “Cultures are made of continuities and changes, and the identity of a society can survive through these changes. Societies without change aren't authentic; they're just dead” 
― Kwame Anthony Appiah

Reflecting on this, as we aim to make positive changes in the lives of others, we are constantly humbled by the generosity and positive contributions that others are constantly making on our own lives and the beginning of our own medical and health-oriented careers. 

Stay tuned for more updates about our DRUM CIRCLE DINNER and our Gala in the spring!