Story, Video and Photo Gallery

For MCH Africa, children are the focus of our outreach. In today's Church, children are often the most effective evangelists to their families. Older children can prove themselves to be very adept at teaching other children, and in encouraging their peers in the faith. In addition, children brought up in the Word and ways of God are our most powerful tools against tomorrow's poverty, because they bring the heart and mind of Christ to the challenges they know from experience. Children who grow up in poverty have firsthand experience no classroom could ever teach. Armed with the knowledge of God, these children become the adults who prove the most creative and effective in leading their communities in powerful solutions to the challenges presented by poverty.

Bernard

Bernard is a child who was born without an anus and the Ghanaian doctors had created an opening in his side at birth through which could pass excrement. His father abandoned Bernard and his mother when he saw the condition of his son, but his grandfather sought medical care for the child and found it through CMM Ghana. Bernard was escorted to the U.S. where he received corrective surgeries at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in April of 2007. Bernard was escorted back to Ghana on June 20th 2007, and was returned to his mother the next day. The doctors at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center had fixed the opening in his side and created an anus so that he can pass stool normally.

Christabel

Charitable was born with a condition called Haemangioma. Tumors covered much of the right side of her face including the right nostril, upper lip, and right eye. These tumors generally grow continuously until the child is at least five years old. At only a few months old Christabel could not see at all out of her right eye and the tumors were growing rapidly. At the age of six months, Christabel was escorted to the U.S. for medical treatment, in October 2006. Christabel stayed with a host family in Cincinnati while she received free medical care from a number of different plastic surgeons in the area. The doctors were able to completely remove all of her tumors, allowing her to see out of both eyes. Christabel returned to her family in Ghana in May of 2007.

Freda

Freda was born without an anus, with a condition called rectal prolapse. The doctors in Ghana tried to treat her by creating an opening in her side for her rectum to come out so that she could excrete waste. When Freda's father saw that his child had been born without an anus he didn't know what to do and abandoned his wife and child. When Freda was two and a half years old CMM Ghana flew her to the U.S. for free medical care, in December of 2006. She received philanthropic medical care at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center that same month, and the doctors fixed up her side and created an anus so that she could pass waste more normally. Freda returned home to her family in Ghana in March 2007.

Ibrahim

Ibrahim was born with a large hernia that caused him considerable pain. CMM Ghana found this child in July of 2007 and he was escorted to the U.S. on the 31st of July for free medical care. Ibrahim will be receiving treatment at Columbus Children's Hospital and will be returning to his family in Ghana on the 31st of October, 2007.

Patience

Patience was an orphan who was severely burned at the age of eleven when a gas tank exploded while she was cooking. She suffered extensive burns on her knees, her chest, and her left forearm, which had to be amputated. A year later, she was connected with CMM Ghana and they flew her to the U.S. for medical treatment in September of 2007. In the U.S. Patience received free medical care for her burns at Shriner's Hospital for Children. She also received some medication for her asthma and her diabetes. She returned in to Ghana in March of 2007, but her family was not able to provide for her the continuing care that she needed, having diabetes and asthma, and she died in her sleep a few months later.

Sisu

Sisu fell into a burning fire pit when he was about a year old. His hands were burning in the fire for several minutes before someone finally found him and pulled him out. Unfortunately, by that time his hands had become severely burned and deformed, to the point that he was unable to use his hands and fingers. He was rushed to the hospital but the Ghanaian doctors were then on strike so he was not able to receive treatment.Sisu was connected with CMM Ghana two years later and in February of 2007 he was flown to the U.S. for free medical care. Sisu stayed with a host family in Cincinnati, Ohio, while undergoing treatment at Shriner's Hospital for Children. His surgeries have given him back the use of his hands and fingers, and when he is cleared to return home he will be taken back to his father in Ghana.

Wadudu

Wadudu was born with an inguinal hernia. When he was one year old he was flown to the U.S. in February of 2007 and received free treatment from Dr. Michael T. Sheehan at West Central Ohio Surgery and Endoscopy Center. Wadudu returned to Ghana on May 9th of 2007, cured of his hernia and healthy.

Sisu

Yakubu is a child from a village in the Northern Region of Ghana. When he was five years old he fell from a tree and his eye got caught on a nail. Since that time he has lost sight in that eye and it seeped and caused him pain regularly. In May of 2007, Yakubu was taken to the U.S. for free medical care at the age of nine. Up to date, the only outside aid his village has received has been CMM taking Yakubu to the U.S. for medical care. He has stayed with a host family in Toledo while receiving treatment at the University of Michigan Health Systems. The doctors there removed his damaged eye and have given him a glass eye in its place. Yakubu will be returning to Ghana and his family in September of 2007.

Taiseer

Taiseer was born with a condition called Idiopathic Rectal Prolapse, in which part of her rectum comes out whenever she has a bowel movement, and she has little control over when she has a bowel movement. When she was three years old her parents wanted to send her to school but could not do so because of her condition, which was causing her pain and bleeding. CMM Ghana found doctors in the U.S. willing to treat this child for free so they arranged for Taiseer to come to the U.S. for care.

Taiseer traveled to the U.S. for medical treatment in June of 2006, and stayed in the U.S. with her host family for a year. During this time she underwent a series of operations at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center that greatly improved her condition, so that her rectum no longer comes out when she has a bowel movement, nor does it cause her pain or bleeding. Taiseer was returned to her family in Ghana in June of 2007.