Progress!

It has been a while since I have updated what has been happening at the clinic. We had been hoping to travel to Egbelu in January…then March…May… It now looks like we may not be able to get there until next year. This is very distressing, as there is so much to be done.

But, on the bright side, we were able to raise the funds to install solar energy in the compound. It was completed on June 22. This will save thousands of dollars a year in fuel costs we would have paid to run a generator 24/7. And it will make our campus safer and much more pleasant without the constant roar from the diesel motor.

Our container of medical equipment has finally arrived at the clinic! Project C.U.R.E. in Denver donated enough equipment and supplies to fill a 40 foot shipping container to the brim. We were able to help with the packing of the container just days before Colorado locked down due to COVID 19. The container then was taken to Oakland, California, where it began it’s long ocean journey on March 29. It arrived at Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on May 29. Then is sat on the dock for 25 days waiting for clearance from customs. We have learned a lot about how importing into Nigeria works (and doesn’t work!).

Finally, in the wee hours of June 23rd the container once again hit the road on it’s way to Egbelu. The trip of 60 miles took 16 hours and the truck arrived in a torrential downpour. The providential timing of the installation of solar lights made it possible for the men unloading the container to work through the night and get the container headed back to port. We have made arrangements with Collette Ikem, CNM, to oversee the set up of the clinic. Collette worked with us at the Center for Women’s Health in Greeley and has since moved back to her home in Asaba, about 1 hour from Owerri. We are very blessed to have her expertise in organizing all the supplies and equipment in the clinic.

We are now looking at the difficult task of hiring permanent full-time staff so we can begin operation as a full fledged Maternity Center. Once we hire a matron and doctor we will be able to get a license from the government and begin delivering babies! We had made plans to do all this in person, but due to the current state of the world with the novel Corona virus we will have to trust the ether to do Zoom interviews. We are learning a lot about trust in these past few months as we have been out of control of events.

We are forever grateful to everyone who has helped to bring us this far. We have a long way to go, but the hard work has been done. The dream is quickly becoming a reality!