Recent support and help from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the African continent came from members working closely with their community to identify the things that were most needed.
And the leaders in those communities say the donations will bless lives for years to come. Below are two of those efforts.
Church donates food and medical equipment for Ghana hospital
As the Accra Ghana Madina Stake Relief Society presidency looked for opportunities to serve, they talked about mental health issues and the impact especially on women.
Stake Relief Society President Yvonne Tay mentioned it during a meeting with stake President Samuel E. Eghan, and he explained that the Accra Psychiatric Hospital lacked funds and needed help.
They worked together on choosing a project and determining how best those in the Relief Society could help the hospital’s patients. Then, Tay visited the hospital and learned more than 200 patients are fed, clothed and cared for on a daily basis.
“They took us to their food storage room and there were only two bags of rice left in the room,” Tay said. “Two bags to feed over 200 people daily.”
Funding in the hospital had been reduced, and thus supplies were extremely low. Almost all options had been exhausted, including feeding the patients one meal a day.
The Madina stake leaders and the Church’s Humanitarian Services department worked together to provide food and medical equipment for the hospital. The donation is three different installments and totaled $50,000, reported the Church’s Africa Newsroom.
The hospital officials were grateful for the donation. Hospital Director Julius Kuusaalesuo thanked the Relief Society and the Church.
“We have never received this much assistance at one time,” he said. “We deal with mental-health stigma and oftentimes we are the only home patients have. For many once they are here, some will never leave.”
Church helps renovate maternity center in Uganda hospital
Over a period of six months, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints funded professional renovations of inpatient maternity and neonatal building of the Mukono General Hospital in Mukono, Uganda.
The renovations improved health services for mothers and babies, by providing nearly $30,000 worth of critical equipment to the maternity center, explained the Church’s Africa Newsroom.
Items include an operating table, delivery bed, infant warmer, fetal Doppler ultrasound machine, 10 patient beds with lockers, and other needed items.
At a handover ceremony on Nov. 24, Kampala Uganda North Stake President Frederick A. Kyambadde told how the project grew out of a connection local Church members made with the hospital officials when they volunteered to clean it a few years earlier.
He spoke of how the Church not only supports the community but also builds strong spiritual foundations for families and homes.
