Heart to Heart

The ICHA Blog

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My bags are packed, I’m ready to go… by Devon Watts on September 18, 2009 | 0 comments

It’s the night before departure and the feelings are familiar. I’m anxious to get back to the sights, sounds and smells of Africa, and to get to work. Part of me is kind of wishing we had another week to prepare! But I know, having been in this moment before, that this is only nerves – we’re as prepared as we can be, and we really are poised for success. 

Besides, all the preparation in the world couldn’t guarantee that we’d be able to anticipate every challenge we might come across. Establishing a participatory health awareness program on topic around which there is very little existing awareness will be difficult, to say the least, especially in a resource-poor environment such as the one we are stepping into in Elmina. But the work we have done over the past year has brought us to this point – where we have the tools, knowledge and connections we need in order to engage the community in the planning and implementation of such a program.

As my laundry rolls around in the dryer and I’m checking the last few things off my packing list, it’s finally setting in – we’re going to Ghana tomorrow. We are ICHA’s groundbreaking team of volunteers, and we’re going to start off with a bang!