Nurses training program

Our internet connection has been spotty and nonexistent for much of the past 3 months, making it difficult to put any posts on our blog. The internet reaches our part of Africa via an undersea fiber optic cable. Sometimes a ship drops an anchor that damages the cable. Sometimes the cable is damaged coming from the coast through one of our neighboring countries. The internet for our whole region is knocked out when this main line is damaged. It seems to be working for the moment, so I'll try to post some updates. (As I wrote this sentence, the internet stopped working again... go figure.)

Our hospital in Galmi is implementing several new strategic programs. In a few months, they will be starting a surgical residency program training Christian surgeons from this part of Africa. This vision has been a dream for many years, but the pieces are finally in place to begin. A while back, I flew a member of the accrediting board (PAACS - Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons) to Galmi for the final approval process. They've now received approval to start the program with their first two residents scheduled to arrive in July. New housing is under construction to house these future residents.

Galmi hospital also has a vision to start a program to train local Christian nurses. This vision is in the very beginning stages. A hospital run by another organization in southern Togo already has a viable nurses training program. So, we flew to southern Togo to pick up the hospital director and another lady involved in the program to come consult with the folks at Galmi. The trip by road would have taken them 3 days each way. It was a full day of flying for us to get them from their hospital in Togo to Galmi. I took off at sunrise and flew 2 hrs to an airport in northern Togo where I checked into the country. Then, I continued flying another 1 1/2 hrs to their hospital.


Here are the two ladies we flew. They have an airstrip right at the hospital. They also have a plane based there at the hospital but no pilot currently. You can see their hangar behind us in the picture. Several pilots are raising support to go there. One of these pilots was a student in the aviation program when I was flight instructing at Piedmont.


The airstrip is sloped slightly, rough, and one way in and out. As you can see, it's a lot greener in Togo than here where we are. I was greeted by about 10 military officers who were waiting in the shade of the trees in this picture. They were there to make sure I wasn't doing anything illegal. After greeting the officials, I refueled the plane with fuel that I brought with me.

Here's their hospital compound next to the airstrip. It's tucked right up in the corner at the base of two ridges. We took off and flew 1 1/2 hrs to the airport in northern Togo again to exit the country and then 2 hrs back to our base. There, we refueled, did the immigration formalities for here and switched pilots. Ian flew them 1hr 45 min to Galmi hospital, landing a little before sunset. They spent 3 full days consulting with our team in Galmi and then we did the trip in reverse to take them back to their hospital in Togo.

We're grateful for the spirit of collaboration that will benefit both hospitals.