What I Can Learn from an Apostle about Africa

“The Church is vibrant and growing in Africa,” said Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during his recent visit to Africa. 

see: http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/64160/Church-is-vibrant-in-Africa.html

There is an eagerness and light in the eyes of the African Latter-day Saints, he said. “This is a place where many people live challenging, difficult lives. They don’t have many of the temporal comforts and blessings that people in the Western world have. Many of these Saints are grateful to have one substantial meal a day. Yet, because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they have great light and hope. I learn a great deal from the people every time I visit the African continent.”

“Africa is an enchanting and inspiring place,” said Elder Bednar. “Africa is diverse and complex. There are highly industrialized and sophisticated communities and rural and simple villages. The gospel of Jesus Christ gathers all kinds of people into the gospel net. Even though there is a common strong faith among the Latter-day Saints, there is also a remarkable diversity.”

Africa is one of the most rapidly growing areas of the LDS Church. Referring to that growth, Elder Bednar mentioned that local leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have an unusual weekly challenge in sacrament meeting — finding enough time for confirmations. During a recent meeting, 18 new members were confirmed.

“This is a land, a people, and a place of great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “You can feel it as well as hear it when these Saints pray and when they sing.

“These members have a simple faith that is uncluttered. It is focused on Christ. And it brings many blessings and spiritual gifts into their lives.”

Elder Bednar affirmed, “Every time I have an opportunity to come and witness what the Lord is accomplishing among the people here, it is thrilling for me. Africa changes me.”

And Africa changes me. . .

Now it is time to return to Colorado. I am thankful to have met so many wonderful people here in Togo. I admire my Togolese medical colleagues for their professionalism and their desire to improve the care that they give to the mothers and babies of Togo.

When I get bogged down with the petty concerns of life, I will strive to remember that the sun rises and sets (at 6 am and 6 pm!) upon kind and caring people everywhere some of whom live in mud huts with thatched roofs across the world in Togo, and that they love and care for their children just like I do. I will return home with more gratitude to my Heavenly Father for my wife and children and for the spiritual and temporal blessings I receive from Him. How fitting it will be to return to commemorate the birth of His Son this Christmas. see: http://mormon.org/story-of-Christmas?cid=HPWE120413210

Thank you for your interest and for reading this blog, for “A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” Moslih Eddin Saadi

Merry Christmas to all!

Steven Grover, M.D.

Highlands Ranch, Colorado

The Morning Breaks, the Shadow’s Flee: Lo, Zion’s Standard is Unfurled: A Stake is Created in Lomé, Togo

In 1989, a young Togolese father was living in London while he was working in the Togolese Embassy there. His family remained in Togo, but he visited them often. He met the Mormon missionaries and was deeply impressed by them, their teachings, and the Book of Mormon, and he was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Hyde Park Chapel in London. When he returned to Togo in the early 1990's, he wrote to the Church offices in South Africa and asked if there were any other members in Togo. They sent him a list of 70 members. He wrote to all of them, but only 6 responded. He got them together to organize a group of members for meetings. Elder James O. Mason (my mother's first cousin) came to Lomé when he was a general authority serving in Africa and organized the first official group or branch in 1997. The young man became the first branch president. Soon his young teenage son and some of his siblings and cousins were baptized in a hotel swimming pool in Lomé. His mother was baptized 2 years later. This young man (the son) later served as a missionary in Ivory Coast and Benin and upon his return married his sweetheart in the Accra Ghana Temple. We have had the honor of being accompanied by this fine young man throughout our stay in Togo. He has been an invaluable member of our team.

By 2000, there were 117 Mormons in Togo. By 2007 there were 733 Church members. In 2007, Elder David A. Bednar  of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated Togo for the preaching of the gospel. In 2009, one of our Highlands Ranch neighbors who is now my son’s roommate was called to serve as a missionary in this mission. He spent about a year serving in Lomé. There are currently 2000 Mormons in 12 branches in the Lomé area.

Last year the modern pioneer who joined the Church in London supervised the construction of the first LDS Chapel in Lomé. Two local congregations now meet there, and the other 10 local congregations meet in rented facilities around the city.

Today, Elder Terence M. Vinson of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presided over the creation of the first stake in Togo. It was a wonderful blessing for me to attend the conference and feel of the spiritual outpouring that occurred. A stake (similar to a diocese) is a group of wards (similar to a parish). Members of the Church are to “gather” to the stakes of Zion. A stake will allow the people of Lomé to benefit from the full program of the Church. The newly called stake president paid tribute to his first branch president, the young man who had been baptized so long ago in London, who was his early mentor in his volunteer Church service when there was only one branch. The new stake president’s wife spoke in the conference and said, “My husband is a good man. He is full of love for his family, but he isn’t perfect. God chooses men with weaknesses, because they always look to God for his help.” (The calling came to him on their anniversary.) The stake president said, “If there is a task that I want to accomplish, it is to serve the Lord. I ask for your prayers; without you I can’t do anything.” A patriarch will be called who will give patriarchal blessings to local members in their own language. This historic day will be the beginning of many more blessings that will be poured out upon the people of Togo.

Today after the conference, our team was welcomed for a lovely Togolese meal at the home of our friend and team member where we met his father, the man who had been baptized in London years ago.

With people like this wonderful young man with whom we have served this week and his family, the future is bright for the Church here in Togo and for all the people of Togo.

“Angels from heaven and truth from earth

Have met, and both have record borne;

Thus Zion’s light is bursting forth.”

The Morning Breaks            see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usbMQ8bLeFw

Text by Parley P. Pratt

Music by George Carless

Languages of Togo

Togo is about the size of West Virginia, but there are 36 languages spoken here. All these people with different local ethnolinguistic backgrounds communicate with each other in French. The main languages around Lomé is Ewe (900,000 speakers), and the main language in the north is Kabiyé (700,000 speakers). Some of the other languages that have >100,000 speakers include: Gbe-Waci, Gen, Gourmanchéma, Ifé, Ikposo, Moba, Nawdm, Nitcham, & Tem.

Togo Health Statistics

(Rank=country comparison to the world)

Population growth rate: 2.73%   rank=21 (US=0.9% rank=124)

Birth rate: 34.9 births/1000 population   rank=27 (US=13.7 rank=147)

Maternal mortality: 300 deaths per 100,000 live births   rank=40; 14x US rate (US=21 rank=137)

Infant mortality: 48 deaths/1000 live births   rank=43; 8x US rate  (US=5.9 rank=174)

Physician density: 0.05 physicians/1000 population  (US=2.42)

Hospital bed density: 0.7 beds/1000 population  (US=3)

Obesity: 4.3%   rank=169  (US=33% rank=18)

GDP per capita (PPP): $1100   rank=213 (US=$50,700  rank=18)

HBB Closing Ceremonies

We completed our second “Aider les Bébés a Respirer” course on Friday. All of our courses were taught in French. My oldest son gave me a priesthood blessing before my departure, and I am grateful that I was able to speak French beyond my natural ability—it has been 31 years since I returned home from my mission in France!

In the afternoon we held the closing ceremonies where, along with the Société Togolaise de Pédiatrie (SOTOPED), we presented the certificates to each of the 100 participants. Our team leader asked me to give the closing remarks on behalf of LDS Humanitarian Services/LDS Charities, since I am the only French-speaking member of our team. I explained that the motto of LDS Charities is “Strengthening Families” and that we hope that by saving babies through HBB, families in Togo will be strengthened. I thanked UNICEF, SOTOPED, and each of the participants and encouraged everyone to teach HBB to their coworkers. I explained that the equipment that was distributed was purchased with funds donated to the Humanitarian Aid fund by donors around the world—all this because of our belief that we are all children of God.

see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOrcqqpHCt8

 &

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xglz6kryORQ

Next we took a group photo and then distributed the teaching kits and resuscitation supplies including the cleanable/reusable bags and masks to each participant to take back to the 100 different hospitals and health centers. (For further information about the resuscitation equipment, visit last year’s blog: www.congodoc.blogspot.com  see Meet "Neo-Natalie")

Following the course we visited the CHR (Centre Hospitalier Régional) Dapaong and an OB/GYN physician who works there (one of the instructors we trained to help us in our HBB courses) gave us a tour of the hospital. He is the only OB/GYN in this city. The hospital has about 325 deliveries including about 75 Cesareans per month. He personally performs all of the Cesarean sections and all of the GYN surgeries. The Cesarean rate is quite high due to the fact that it is a referral hospital for smaller hospitals and health centers in a 40 km radius. Any patient who needs a Cesarean in the area is transported to this hospital. My OB/GYN colleague is from Lomé. His wife and children live in Lomé, and he visits them when he has time off.

I wonder what it would be like to personally perform every Cesarean section that is done at Sky Ridge Medical Center? (We have over 100 OB/GYN’s who have hospital privileges at Sky Ridge.)

Our Second HBB Course Begins

Today our second 2-day course began. UNICEF is sponsoring a 2-day child health course that is being held in the same facility here in Dapaong. The 50 midwives we taught Tuesday and Wednesday today started the UNICEF child health course. The 50 midwives who took the UNICEF course first joined us today for the Helping Babies Breathe neonatal resuscitation course. These 100 midwives come from 100 different hospitals and health centers around four regions of northern Togo. We learned that 70 of the 100 midwives have never resuscitated a baby. Thirty have had some previous experience with resuscitation. Last year, the 2012 LDS Humanitarian Services team trained 96 midwives and doctors. After 6 months, those 96 providers had trained almost 2000 of their colleagues, primarily in southern Togo. We are hopeful that each of the midwives we have taught will train 6-10 of their colleagues.  Overall, LDS Humanitarian Services volunteers completed neonatal resuscitation projects in 48 countries in 2012 and about 40 countries in 2013. Donations to help support this program can be made at www.ldshumanitarianservices.org.

Our First Group Finishes HBB Training

Today our first class completed their training in Helping Babies Breathe. As part of the training, they practiced teaching a concept to those at their table. They each planned how they are going to teach HBB to their colleagues. Some work at small maternity centers like this one, and some work at hospitals that deliver as many babies per month as Sky Ridge Medical Center where I work (300-325 babies per month). Some have only 3 coworkers to train, and some have as many as 33. One participant is over a whole district of maternity centers and has 29 people to train. Our in-country representative will call each participant in 6 months to ask: 1) How many people have you trained in HBB? 2) How many babies have you resuscitated? 3) Do you have any stories to share as to how HBB has helped you in your patient care? This information is reported to LDS Humanitarian Services headquarters for each neonatal resuscitation project around the world.

One of our youngest participants familiarizes herself with the bag and mask.

Local Village Visit: Malaria Prevention Project

 This week UNICEF is working with the Togo Department of Health to complete this year’s project designed to prevent malaria in children. This initiative is funded by Japan.

Those included are children from age 3 months to 59 months. Malaria in this region of Togo is quite seasonal. Here in the north, there is a rainy season from July through October. There is lots of standing water and hence lots of mosquitoes. Children are quite susceptible to malaria during this season, and it is a major cause of death for children. This project is being carried out in 4 districts of northern Togo. So far, results are encouraging.

A three-year project began this year wherein children are given a 3-day course of a combination of 2 medications to prevent malaria: sulfadoxine-pyrmethionine and amodioquine. The 3-day course is repeated one month later and then again a month after that. Prior to receiving treatment, families are asked if the child has been having fevers. If so, immediate on site malaria testing is done, and if positive, treatment is started. Children who have not had fevers or who have a negative test are eligible for the preventive protocol.

Today after finishing our teaching, our UNICEF colleagues took us out to a village east of Dapaong where they are carrying out this program. Local health workers met us there, and we accompanied them as they administered the medication to several children in the village.

Villagers gathered to welcome us. We shook hands with all the men of the village. A few speeches were made and a ceremonial bowl of water with flour mixed in it was passed around. We could either drink some or pour out a little on the ground for our ancestors. I chose to pour some on the ground!

Then we went to the first home.

 

A health worker explains the process to the mother of 2 small children. The pills are given to the mother who gives them to her daughter to swallow.

The local chief is on the left in the shirt with yellow and maroon swirls.

The bitter taste is just about to hit her. 

She washes it down with some water, and then is given a sugar cube to suck on.

The completed dose is marked on the child’s card.

The health worker marks an “X” on the home in chalk to indicate that that the children of that house have been given the preventive medication.

 A few of the older children watch the process from nearby.

We move on to the next house.

For this little one, the medicine is wrapped in a scrap of paper and crushed by an empty bottle.

The medicine is placed in a cup and mixed with water and a sugar cube.

The medicine is given to the toddler.

Big brother receives his medicine and sugar cube.

The house of this family is marked with an “X.”

Cotton Harvest

Today we visited a village several kilometers outside of Dapaong. On the way, we saw some farmers preparing and loading cotton that they had picked to be sent to the market.

This cotton field has been harvested.

Preparing Teaching Kits for Donation to Local Hospitals

LDS Humanitarian Services shipped in advance about 25 large boxes of equipment to donate to the hospitals of this region. The neonatal resuscitation materials were purchased with funds donated to the Humanitarian Aid Fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by some of the 15 million Church members and other generous donors. Most of the donations to this fund consist of only a few dollars, but when we put all our small donations together, significant projects around the world can be accomplished.

 After the course today, we packed up the teaching kits to send with the attendees after the course. They are encouraged to take the kits to their own hospital in order to teach their colleagues how to resuscitate a newborn with the bag and mask. The 50 participants today work in 50 different hospitals or health centers in 2 local provinces.

Monsieur Le Maire de Dapaong (The Mayor of Dapong)