Well, it's happened... I have had my first official driven to the point of tears moment.  I know there will be more, but the first one kind of makes you think maybe you don't have what it takes to make it here.

I have written about the Tamale Teaching Hospital before.  But it seems each time I go, for some reason I get all hopeful that this time it's gonna go our way.  (Spoiler alert:  it didn't this time either)

There are many children... many children here in Sang Village who are in very serious need of medical care.  There are a handful of kids who are pretty healthy and just need the basic medical care any parent can give, save emergencies.  They get bumps and bruises, coughs and runny noses, etc.  We are totally able to handle that.

The majority of our children have serious medical needs, whether physical or mental, that are way beyond our meager medical knowledge.  I know what you're thinking... duh, Sarah... that is what doctors and hospitals are for!  And normally, back in the US, I would say, oh yes, that's right.  Let's make appointments for all of our children and help them to get better.  However, I am not in the US, I am in Africa.  That makes all the difference in the world.

I could, and will, tell you about each child's medical needs, but right now I'll stick to the two we took to the hospital today, I mean 3 days ago... I mean 2 days before that.

Ok, so Ajah is 4 years old.  He has a rash or bites of some kind all up and down his arms and legs.  They are extremely itchy.  One he itched so hard that it created a hole in his skin (this happened before we came)  Now the hole is about the size of a penny and about 1/4" crater in his leg.  It oozes and is so painful.  When we clean it, it takes 3 of us, 2 to restrain him and one to clean and cover his wound.  He screams until he is hoarse.  He has been to the hospital all 3 times we've gone, hoping a doctor will see him.

Elizabeth is 10 years old.  She has skeletal problems that cause her to be hunched along her spine and one of her feet has only 4 toes and is rounded.  Elizabeth has a hole in this foot, smaller than Ajah's, probably half the size of his, but deeper.  It doesn't ooze, but it is extremely painful to walk on, and for someone who already has problems walking, the added pain is too much.  Elizabeth has also been to the hospital each time we've gone.

So today, Ajah and Elizabeth had appointments to go see a surgeon at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.  I got up at 5 to get myself ready, then got up the kids, helped to bathe, dress and feed them, and we were on the road to Tamale by about 6:45am.  After the 1 hour 15 min drive there, we waited about 2 hours only to be told that although we had appointments to see the surgeon, he's only seeing people who got their paperwork last night. (which of course, is a "new rule" we didn't know about)

Two weeks ago Wednesday we were told come back on Friday, on Friday we were told come back on Wednesday, on Wednesday we were told we had an appointment to see the surgeon on Tuesday, and today, we were told come back on Thursday.  THIS. IS. A. HOSPITAL. 

Ready for more... that isn't even the most frustrating part.

So, we call Sister Stan to tell her about this new pushing off scheme, and she asks to speak with the nurse.  The nurse refuses to speak with Sister.  So we leave.  These poor kids!

In the parking lot on the way to our car, we see a doctor who stops to talk to us.  He recognizes the workers I am with and the kids, asks how we are, how Sister is.  We tell him about the situation we just faced in the hospital.  He says, oh, that's too bad.  I resigned from this hospital, I just teach here.  I am late for a meeting.  Goodbye, and that is that.  After he leaves, I am told that this doctor I just met, who basically brushed us off, is on the Board of Directors at the orphanage.  He is on the Board of Directors!!!!  He did not even make the tiniest effort to help.  Even though he is resigned from the hospital, he was there!  He knows doctors there!  He should have helped us! 

This sent me over the top.  If he, who intimately knows who we are and our situation, will not help us, who will.  Tears of pain for these kids ran down my face, because I know there are three kids who are supposed to come to the hospital on Thursday, and two next week.  But for what?  To sit for hours to be told to go and come back in two days?  Why is this happening??? 

Are we mutants?  Are these children destined to go through their entire life with only a handful of people in their home country who will care two bits about them?  What gives a hospital the right to, time after time, refuse to help these children in obvious need of professional medical care?

It feels like Ghana has turned it's back on it's own.  I'm not sure what you need to be able to get care here, but it's plain enough to see that whatever it is, we don't have it... and I am told we are not the only ones who receive this treatment from the only large hospital in Northern Ghana.

I didn't want to use this blog as a fundraising tool.  If, by my honest observations and witness to life in the orphanage generated some funds for Sister Stan, that would be amazing, but it wasn't the point of my blogging.  However, I cannot sit silently, seeing the children suffer, and the medical community turn their backs time after time. 

It is one of Sister's goals to build a medical clinic here in Sang.  She has the land needed to build it given to her by the Chief of Sang.  Next on her building agenda was supposed to be a convent, but tonight she decided that the medical clinic must come first.  She has some building supplies already for it, but will need more, then she will need medical supplies and machines for it.

If anyone reading this feels the call to help, it would be so completely, amazingly appreciated!  We need funding for our clinic and prayers for the staff to fill it.  We are in such desperate need of medical care.  We have children with serious mental issues that require good psychiatric care, children in need of physical therapy, children who need medicine, vaccines and good, good medical care.  In  I am begging anyone who will listen.  Please help us!

I know it is a corny, way far out there dream, but I'm shooting for the stars with this one, hoping if we build it, they will come... and I am not wishing for the medical community's version of Shoeless Joe Jackson here, although if Florence Nightengale showed up, I wouldn't tell her to leave!!  But that if we had a clinic here, we'd get doctors, either missionary doctors or doctors from the local communities who would come to work out of our clinic. 

You can donate by going to http://www.sisterstanschildren.org to donate, and request the money be spent on medical needs. 

Please.  We need help.  We are approaching Thanksgiving, Advent, and the Christmas Season.  Coming here always renews my gratitude for all the blessings I have been given in my very blessed life.  Would you consider making a donation to the orphanage this Thanksgiving as a way of renewing your gratitude? 

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.  And, if the only gift you can afford to give is your prayers, we are in desperate need of those too, and are just as grateful for them!

My tears have dried off my face.  Having reported to you, and having had a good venting session with Mary Clare, I've shaken off my sourness.  But my heart remains heavy for these kids.  Thank you for reading this, for thinking of me, and for caring.  xo