Ghana - Trip from 24 March to 07 April 2023 / Arrival and onward journey to Sunyani-Fiapre (Ghana)

Best regards from Sunyani-Fiapre, Ghana! It has been about 3 years since we sent you/you a report directly from Ghana. Now it's finally time again! On Friday the HITA e.V. project team landed in Accra. Birgit Meyers-Carow, Thomas Erkert and Daniel Gerlach already have a tight program in the first week: In Sunyani-Fiapre, the implementation of the project "1Bed4All(II)" is at the top of the agenda. Here, the local project partner, the Catholic University of Ghana, "Sunyani-Fiapre" is working feverishly to deliver the beds on time to selected medium, small and micro hospitals in the Bono region. Read exciting updates on this in the coming days on our homepage hita-ev.org. Thomas Erkert and Daniel Gerlach will seal this and the future planned cooperation with the official signing of a letter of intent with the university. Birgit Meyers-Carow is using the time to complete her master's thesis. She already had 7 weeks last August and September to get to know the daily routine at a maternity ward here in Sunyani-Fiapre and to make contact with midwives and young families. Due to the recent relaunch of the hita-ev.org homepage, we have not yet been able to share their impressive experiences, but we promise you detailed testimonials in the coming days.

Working in Ghana

Very exciting for the HITA e.V. team is also the experience of the current economic situation in Ghana. Upon arrival and during yesterday's all-day drive from Accra to Sunyani-Fiapra, the usual African street scene presented itself. However, the situation must be dramatic, especially for the poor and poorer. Prices have exploded, jobs have disappeared, and for many people the money is not even enough for the bare necessities. Read an exciting report by the Tagesschau: www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/weltwirtschaft/ghana-wirtschaftskrise-101.html. This certainly has a significant impact on education and training numbers for non-physician healthcare professions. Here we try to get a lot of background information. This Sunday, March 26, we are heading to the University campus for our first project meeting. The transport, distribution and functional testing of the beds are also on the agenda, as well as the planning of user training, a video conference with the design thinking team from Mannheim, and the assessment of local conditions for a future HITA computer lab to support the training of non-medical staff at the Catholic University of Ghana, Sunyani-Fiapre.
As you can see, this will be a challenging program already for the first week. During the Easter week, Thomas Erkert and Daniel Gerlach will visit more projects, project partners and cooperation partners based in Ho (Volta region). What has already become clear to us is that HITA e.V.'s ambitious project approach of creating a link between theory, consulting and hands-on has become much more complex and expensive after Corona. For example, the cost of shipping containers has exploded. Local costs and fees can no longer be reliably calculated in advance. Please continue to support us with your donation, give away bed sponsorships or gain supporting members for HITA e.V.! Also feel free to use your networks and approach acquaintances and business partners to tell them about the work of this special NGO. Our fundraising campaign for the sustainable implementation and continuation of the project "1Bed4All(II)" can be found here: https://hita-ev.org/1bed4all-ii-spende/. Best regards from the Ghanaian sun! Birgit Meyers-Carow, Thomas Erkert and Daniel Gerlach