On New Year's Eve it's always a good time to stop and think about where we are,
what we've accomplished, and where we have done less than we hoped or wanted to do.
P9 as an organization is not just frozen in time. It's a work, doing things, being
actively involved in the world and especially in the work of our friend John in
Ghana, who has struggled for so many years to make life better for the people
there. So this is a good time to think back on what has happened there and to see
where we stand.
In the first place, no one has died. Considering the circumstances, this is a major
accomplishment. John is working with the absolute poorest of the poor in the slums
of Accra. When people come to him asking for help they are not people who have
options, they are not people who will be all right even if we do nothing. They are
absolutely desperate and they have no place else to go. P9 has developed a
reputation as an avenue of last resort. The people who come there are, for the most
part, clinging to life by their fingernails.
Of course that is not to say that they will inevitably die if we don't help them,
but they might. And in many cases even with the help we are able to provide they
could still die. That has happened in other years. But this year it did not. So
that is a good thing.
For the most part we make a special effort to help children, pregnant women, and
parents of small children. In some ways this is unfair. Old people, grown adults
with no children, and adolescents need help too, and they can suffer just as much
as the little ones. But we have very limited resources and we have to do the best
we can with what we have. The thought of suffering babies and little ones who might
die if we turn them away, is simply unacceptable. So this has been most of our work
this year.
Anabel, our little orphan girl, is making it. Children brought her to John when she
was three years old. She had her fifth birthday this year and she has started
school. Because John has moved to Accra, some distance from the care center where
she is staying, there are sometimes difficulties with communication and it is not
always possible to react immediately when a problem comes up, but basically she is
growing and thriving. Because she is the only child we have been trying to help who
is an orphan with no parents to fall back on we have been absolutely determined to
provide what she needs. She simply has no place else to go. And several donors have
been very supportive and generous. For this we are deeply appreciative.
Little Donald, who was born shortly before 2024 began, had his first birthday this
year and we managed to give him a small party. If there is anyone to deserved to
celebrate it is this tough little boy, who had to fight all year just to stay
alive. He was caught in a fire that burned down the entire neighborhood when he was
barely a month old. He was rescued by a neighbor, may that man always be blessed
for saving his life.
Donald's mother, Favour, is a teenaged girl with no real support system and no one
to teach her how to care for a baby. She has no way to make money. She has often
gone hungry herself trying to keep her baby fed. Favour and Donald are living on
the edge every day but they are alive. They made it through. So that is another
good thing.
We didn't intend to take on Donald as a continuing commitment, originally we
intended simply to help Favour through pregnancy and to make sure she had a safe
childbirth in a hospital setting, but our heart has gone out to both of them. We
will do what we can to help them and to help Donald get the care, education, and
opportunities he needs to have a successful life.
Our latest baby has not yet been named. His mother, Belinda, gave birth just a few
months ago. Again, we did not intend for this to be a long-term commitment but the
child had many health problems from the very beginning and we cannot simply walk
away when his life hangs in the balance. He needed emergency heart surgery
immediately after birth and has had some other problems, including an eye infection
that might have damaged his vision. Belinda is staying with her baby at her
mother's place, a village outside of Accra, making it difficult to keep in touch
and to react with any speed when emergencies arise. They have become a continuing
responsibility but we will do our best for them. The child is still not out of
danger by any means.
Aside from these three children there are three others we have a continuing
responsibility for, though not so directly. Vicky, Melbourne, and Gofred are small
children we have done our best to help, to varying degrees. Vicky has both parents,
though they are very poor. Melbourne's father is in prison and his mother has
virtually abandoned him. We will try to help them as soon as we can in the coming
year. And Gofred's father has left him in a village some distance from Accra while
he travels around Ghana looking for day labor to earn what money he can.
A great deal of our effort his year has gone into taking care of John's health. He
has serious, continuing problems that are sometimes life-threatening. If John goes
down all of our work in Ghana will collapse. Though we know other people there and
are in communication with them as a part of the work of P9, John is irreplaceable.
So far he has made it through all of his health emergencies, but it is a continuing
concern. But he is still alive.
And we have helped many others on an individual basis, mostly to provide emergency
funds to keep them from being evicted and becoming homeless. These tend to be one-
shot emergencies, though some of the people we have helped in this way have become
a regular part of our small P9 community there.
So it has been a challenging year but a good one. Stressful and demanding, but when
it seems overwhelming, as it often does, we remind ourselves of those who are alive
because of our efforts and that makes it seem worthwhile.
The need is great and we are limited only by the resources we have to help.
