On September 22, 2012 I will leave on my 11th trip to Sierra Leone since Greatest Goal Ministries was formed in 2007. I have added here highlights from our Spring trip in April/May 2012.
One on one staff evaluations and goal setting was completed with each of our 14 staff members at the GGM clinic and Freetown office. Statistical clinic data collection for a one year period was completed and will now be analyzed. Initial clinic data indicates that approximately 1323 new patient visits for the under five year olds and over 8,000 over five year olds were seen from April 2011-2012. These do not include repeat visits or circumcision patients.
With the arrival of our 3rd, 40ft. supply container in
October, came new file shelving units and empty charts as well as medical,
school and office equipment and supplies including an autoclave donated by a
church member from a Bellevue Orthopedic group.
This shelving unit was donated by a retired
orthopedic surgeon who is a member of our congregation. Thanks to the hard work of our Sierra Leone
staff all the past paperwork has been filed and patient’s charts are now easily
accessible.
An education area was constructed to provide
health education and staff development classes as well as benches for
seating. Funding for the construction of
this center was provided by First Presbyterian church. An OB/Gyn physician from our congregation
donated teaching materials and education dolls for pediatric teaching. We now have a space to begin this teaching.
GGM was thrilled to
welcome a SL woman now living in London who taught 4 half day sessions in the
area of honesty, integrity, forgiveness, and hospitality. It was a very well received program.
A visiting podiatrist from the USA who was directed to our
clinic by individuals in the disabled community gave an impromptu wound care in-service
to the clinic staff.
Outreach into the community and health education remains a high priority as well as funding for medications and laboratory testing supplies. We would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows how we can have access to both or either one on a reduced or free basis.
Education: LEAP-Lansana Education Assistance Program
In addition to the clinic, GGM has an office in Freetown with seven paid SL staff. Our Operations Manager is an American who resigned as laboratory director from Overlake Hospital to follow God’s calling in Sierra Leone. GGM has 40 children of disabled parents or they are disabled enrolled in community schools. During this trip we made one of our monthly visits delivering letters from their sponsored families and giving a brief health assessment.
9 of our sponsored children with
our Office Manager Milton Kepler after distribution of letters and general
physical assessment
A tool exchange program was
established with carpentry tools and
mortar tools donated by First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue and an
organization on the East coast called
“Hope For Lives in Sierra Leone”. These
tools and the program was introduced to craftsmen from the deaf, polio and amputee
community.
Dress A Girl Around the World Partnership
We are working in partnership with “Dress a Girl Around the World”. This organization encourages women to sew dresses using pillow cases as the basic dress and then adding lace, pockets and ribbon. To be delivered to girls around the world.
We delivered 100 dresses in October and another 100 on this trip. 20 were distributed at the GGM clinic in Freetown.
and the remainder at a polio victim
community. A building in this
community also cared for children with a variety of disabilities.
The dresses were enthusiastically received by the community. The boys were given a tattoo and a piece of candy.
A 6 week disabled mentoring program was started with 20 disabled women. We attended a conference on HIV/AIDS Education and discussed the following topics; discrimination, basic health education and how to prepare for a job interview.
We have set up a computer with internet access at our office available to the disabled on a sign in basis to look for jobs, update their resumes and receive one-on-one computer training.
The office has an open door policy and individuals from all disability groups visit often looking for assistance for any number of reasons. As an example from this visit, young man with a club foot named Foday. Foday came to the office requesting legal assistance.
His father had been murdered and the family home burned to the ground by three individuals who wanted to take Foday’s property. The murdering threesome were bribing the village authorities and although it was clear what was happening Foday could find no justice and no assistance for the crimes committed against his family. Because the land was now in dispute he and his family had been forced to leave the land. After a session of prayer with this man we left the office and there out the front door, on our busy street was a civil rights activist I had met 6 months earlier. She agreed to help us contact a lawyer. He turned out to be one of the best lawyers in the country. This lawyer agreed to help Foday free of charge. I am happy to report that the family is now back on their land and have started to rebuild and farm. God is so faithful!
Disability Sports: Creation of the "GGM Disability Sports Association" in SL
GGM has been active in amputee football (soccer) since we were formed in 2007. It became clear however that all the disability groups wanted to be a part of a larger organization and that corrupt practices had also affected the previous amputee football club. Knowing this, GGM created a Disability Sports Association constitution and applied to the Minister of Youth and Sports for recognition.
The Ministry as well as the Paralympic/Olympic committee were thrilled with this concept. The GGM Disability Sports Association is the first of its kind for the country. The constitution provides a framework to distribute and oversee sporting equipment and manage the formation of teams across the country. The Ministry of Sports plans to give us an office at the National Stadium to manage the association.
A meeting held to be formally
introduced to the Minister of Youth and Sports for Sierra Leone
Milton Kepler our SL office
manager receiving our official recognition papers for the GGM Disability Sports
Association from Mr. Campbell, Secretary General of the Paralympic Committee
under the SL Ministry of Youth and Sports 
GGM was invited to a cocktail party to honor the SL Olympic
Association President; Mr. Henry G. Moore in the Presidential Lounge at the
National Stadium. Mr. Moore was recognized
with an Award by the International Olympic Committee for his leadership and
contributions toward the Olympic movement.
It is given by the International Olympic Committee to only 3 people in
the world every 4 years.
We hosted the second cruise ship
to make port in Sierra Leone. From Zegrahm Expedition Cruises. The 120 guests visited a chimpanzee sanctuary.
From the chimpanzees they traveled by bus to our clinic where we had the
opportunity to share our work with them.
After the clinic we all proceeded
to the beach to watch an exhibition match between the polio and amputees soccer
players both teams under the new Disability Sports Association.
In exchange we make many contacts with the
cruise ship guests and also receive some funding from the cruise ship. We now have a ship scheduled for late
September and two ships in the spring.
The German Ambassador and politicians from Germany also came
to watch a polio and amputee exhibition match through an organization called
GIZ based out of Germany.
They came with soccer equipment,
uniforms and medical kits which will be distributed among the various newly
formed teams involving the deaf, polio, amputee and eventually blind disability
groups. The formation of teams will
begin in the 4 largest cities, Freetown, Bo, Makenio and Kenema. This process has already begun.
Greatest Goal Ministries USA (GGM USA) founded by Dr. Jim
and Lynn Pelton and sponsored a small team to Sierra Leone for six weeks from March
28th through May 10th. GGM is working in
4 areas-Healthcare, Education, Disability Sports and Disabled Advocacy. Here are a few of the highlights from each of
those areas.
Healthcare:One on one staff evaluations and goal setting was completed with each of our 14 staff members at the GGM clinic and Freetown office. Statistical clinic data collection for a one year period was completed and will now be analyzed. Initial clinic data indicates that approximately 1323 new patient visits for the under five year olds and over 8,000 over five year olds were seen from April 2011-2012. These do not include repeat visits or circumcision patients.
An education area was constructed to provide
health education and staff development classes as well as benches for
seating. Funding for the construction of
this center was provided by First Presbyterian church. An OB/Gyn physician from our congregation
donated teaching materials and education dolls for pediatric teaching. We now have a space to begin this teaching.GGM was thrilled to
welcome a SL woman now living in London who taught 4 half day sessions in the
area of honesty, integrity, forgiveness, and hospitality. It was a very well received program.
The clinic staff now includes a community health officer
(CHO), clinic director and nurse, a registrar, two laboratory technicians (one
is deaf), a pharmacy assistant/health educator, a clinic assistant for cleaning
and a an amputee grounds keeper and general electrical maintenance.
A visiting podiatrist from the USA who was directed to our
clinic by individuals in the disabled community gave an impromptu wound care in-service
to the clinic staff.Outreach into the community and health education remains a high priority as well as funding for medications and laboratory testing supplies. We would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows how we can have access to both or either one on a reduced or free basis.
Education: LEAP-Lansana Education Assistance Program
In addition to the clinic, GGM has an office in Freetown with seven paid SL staff. Our Operations Manager is an American who resigned as laboratory director from Overlake Hospital to follow God’s calling in Sierra Leone. GGM has 40 children of disabled parents or they are disabled enrolled in community schools. During this trip we made one of our monthly visits delivering letters from their sponsored families and giving a brief health assessment.
9 of our sponsored children with
our Office Manager Milton Kepler after distribution of letters and general
physical assessment
A tool exchange program was
established with carpentry tools and
mortar tools donated by First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue and an
organization on the East coast called
“Hope For Lives in Sierra Leone”. These
tools and the program was introduced to craftsmen from the deaf, polio and amputee
community.
Dress A Girl Around the World Partnership
We are working in partnership with “Dress a Girl Around the World”. This organization encourages women to sew dresses using pillow cases as the basic dress and then adding lace, pockets and ribbon. To be delivered to girls around the world.
The dresses were enthusiastically received by the community. The boys were given a tattoo and a piece of candy.
A 6 week disabled mentoring program was started with 20 disabled women. We attended a conference on HIV/AIDS Education and discussed the following topics; discrimination, basic health education and how to prepare for a job interview.
We have set up a computer with internet access at our office available to the disabled on a sign in basis to look for jobs, update their resumes and receive one-on-one computer training.
The office has an open door policy and individuals from all disability groups visit often looking for assistance for any number of reasons. As an example from this visit, young man with a club foot named Foday. Foday came to the office requesting legal assistance.
His father had been murdered and the family home burned to the ground by three individuals who wanted to take Foday’s property. The murdering threesome were bribing the village authorities and although it was clear what was happening Foday could find no justice and no assistance for the crimes committed against his family. Because the land was now in dispute he and his family had been forced to leave the land. After a session of prayer with this man we left the office and there out the front door, on our busy street was a civil rights activist I had met 6 months earlier. She agreed to help us contact a lawyer. He turned out to be one of the best lawyers in the country. This lawyer agreed to help Foday free of charge. I am happy to report that the family is now back on their land and have started to rebuild and farm. God is so faithful!
Disability Sports: Creation of the "GGM Disability Sports Association" in SL
GGM has been active in amputee football (soccer) since we were formed in 2007. It became clear however that all the disability groups wanted to be a part of a larger organization and that corrupt practices had also affected the previous amputee football club. Knowing this, GGM created a Disability Sports Association constitution and applied to the Minister of Youth and Sports for recognition.
The Ministry as well as the Paralympic/Olympic committee were thrilled with this concept. The GGM Disability Sports Association is the first of its kind for the country. The constitution provides a framework to distribute and oversee sporting equipment and manage the formation of teams across the country. The Ministry of Sports plans to give us an office at the National Stadium to manage the association.
A meeting held to be formally
introduced to the Minister of Youth and Sports for Sierra LeoneMilton Kepler our SL office
manager receiving our official recognition papers for the GGM Disability Sports
Association from Mr. Campbell, Secretary General of the Paralympic Committee
under the SL Ministry of Youth and Sports 
GGM was invited to a cocktail party to honor the SL Olympic
Association President; Mr. Henry G. Moore in the Presidential Lounge at the
National Stadium. Mr. Moore was recognized
with an Award by the International Olympic Committee for his leadership and
contributions toward the Olympic movement.
It is given by the International Olympic Committee to only 3 people in
the world every 4 years. 
After the clinic we all proceeded
to the beach to watch an exhibition match between the polio and amputees soccer
players both teams under the new Disability Sports Association. In exchange we make many contacts with the
cruise ship guests and also receive some funding from the cruise ship. We now have a ship scheduled for late
September and two ships in the spring. 
They came with soccer equipment,
uniforms and medical kits which will be distributed among the various newly
formed teams involving the deaf, polio, amputee and eventually blind disability
groups. The formation of teams will
begin in the 4 largest cities, Freetown, Bo, Makenio and Kenema. This process has already begun.
We are so grateful for the financial and prayer support we have received. Please follow this blog on the Fall GGM trip in September/October. I will be traveling without additional team members on this trip as I will be making the travel arrangements for our next team visits in 2013.
