Happy New Year to you all. Here in Liberia – one can continue to wish Happy New Year throughout the month of January.
I have been thinking about 2022 and all that took place and looking forward to 2023.
As Country Director, I am writing my Annual Programmatic Report for 2022, I think of the dozens of Mercy Ships volunteers who came in 2022 to Liberia to serve. At times I had four teams in the interior and one anesthesia provider here in the capital.
685 Liberians benefited from one of our trainings here including Biomedical, Obstetric Anesthesia, Safe Surgery, Neonatal Resuscitation, Nurses, Primary Trauma Care, Mental Health, Leadership Development, and Nutritional Agriculture. A part of the vision is to see a well-organized, efficient, and effective surgical health system in Liberia that has the specialized staff to deliver timely and quality care for patients, staff within the surgical care systems are empowered, increased efficiencies within surgical care facilities, and improved leadership and structural capacity to enable a more responsive surgical care system.
Mercy Ships is in partnership with the Ministry of Health and other partners to see this come about.
In my updates, I often share some Prayer Points – including security, safety, and health for all of our people – as Country Director a prayer I lift to our mighty God regularly. Liberia is a difficult country in many ways. I am thankful to God that our teams were safe, secure, and healthy to do what they came to do – to Love and Serve God and Love and Serve the people in all 15 counties of Liberia.
For 2023, I am planning our activities – focusing on some continued trainings and follow-up with past training participants – strategic donations of up to 16 Diamedica Glostavent Helix Anesthesia System <which is an award-winning machine which has its own backup power and portable oxygen concentrator – both are important for a country like Liberia with unreliable power sources> to hospitals in counties around Liberia – see photo. All of the anesthesia providers at the selected hospitals will receive in-person user training. Safe anesthesia is so needed for safe surgery. We have been involved in providing continuing education for almost all of the anesthesia providers in Liberia and have gifted and continue to gift the equipment needed. In addition, Mercy Ships trained all the biomedical technicians in Liberia. They received extensive training on this machine and this machine is at the Heatlhcare Technology Management Unit at the Ministry of Health and at the nurse anesthesia school for training purposes.
After a successful pilot project to come alongside the nurses of Liberia, we have a couple thousand more nurse assessment kits en route to be distributed.
Though as shared in a previous update there is no ship deployment planned for Liberia due to various complications, we will be closing out activities by mid-2023.
I am praying about what lies next for me as my passion is to continue to serve with Mercy Ships – where? what position? but I know He is faithful and will continue to be faithful.
A note about Baby Girl Sangalkam who I shared about having her cleft lip surgery at the Africa Mercy in Dakar, she is at home, doing well. I have received photos of baby girl from the family and she is adorable.
The Global Mercy is sailing soon for Dakar, Senegal for her first full field service and then later in the year to Freetown, Sierra Leone till June 2024.
The Africa Mercy will leave soon for Durban, South Africa for refit and renovations before going to Madagascar.
Serving together, Kofa Keith