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Special contributor More than 100 people travel this red dirt road each day across the hot, humid African savannah. When they arrive at the collection of clay buildings with grass roofs that make up Shekhinah Clinic, they know they are in good hands. After all, the word means, in Hebrew, “the presence of God.” They come from all parts of Ghana and surrounding countries to seek help from the one many call “the Mother Teresa of Africa.” “I performed the first operation for my clinic under this mango tree,” said Dr. David Abdulai, pointing across the yard to the tree. The facilities hadn’t yet been built when someone needed emergency surgery. “When the patient fully recovered, I knew God wanted me to do this,” he said. That is how, in 1989, Shekhinah Clinic began. Shekhinah, in a village called Tamale, offers free medical care for anyone who needs it. “Provided you are a human being, you automatically qualify,” Abdulai said. Seeing about 120 patients a day, the clinic provides care for the poor, abandoned, mentally ill and AIDS patients. He showed off his operating room—a bare room with a metal table, a fan and a light bulb hanging from the ceiling—and said, “The poor, elderly and those under 5 years old are supposed to receive free medical care in the hospitals, but in reality nobody will see a patient without them first paying 10,000 cedis (the equivalent of two days’ wages).” The clinic is renowned for its care for HIV/AIDS patients. “We house people with AIDS,” Abdulai said. “We can’t treat them. The medicine is too expensive.” Ghana, which receives HIV medication through a one-year pilot program funded by the United Nations, distributes it to pregnant women infected with HIV to help prevent the spread of the disease. “To let people die in peace is why I’m here. It’s the last incident of your life that matters. If, at the end, a person is destitute and an outcast, they think they had a miserable life. We can give people the feeling that their opinion matters, that they are respected. We want to give people a real feeling of love, of God,” he said. With that, Abdulai dashed off to greet a patient who was sitting outside. “How are you today, Abdul?” he said with a laugh. Maybe “Dr. David” can’t cure all of his patients, but there is something that could help—a diagnostic laboratory. That’s where St. Sabina comes in. “We wanted to do something in honor of Black History month this year,” said Father Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Parish on Chicago’s South Side. “We wanted to have an action that followed up on the usual celebrations. As we talked, we thought about the AIDS crisis, not only here in the U.S., but also in Africa.”  “HIV is at the five-percent rate in Ghana,” said Rick Nidel, Catholic
Relief Services representative in Ghana. “This is the point where
it can go either way. If the infection rate is kept under five
percent, that’s a good thing. If the rate gets any higher, the
disease will spread extremely quickly and we’ll be facing a huge
problem.”Catholic Relief Services worked with St. Sabina parishioners to identify several programs dealing with HIV/AIDS in Ghana, where CRS has worked to prevent the spread of the disease since the first cases were reported in that country in 1986. One project stood out. “There was a doctor who stepped out in faith to begin a clinic called Shekhinah,” Pfleger said. “We liked that the clinic was already established and had some history. What was missing was the lab for HIV testing.” St. Sabina held special offerings in January, February and March for the Shekhinah Clinic lab. Parishioners donated $15,000, school children raised another $1,000, and $5,000 was donated by the Today’s Black Women Expo. Construction on the lab began on June 7, and is expected to be complete by the end of July. “The lab will save time and money and make it easier to diagnose patients,” Abdulai said. He said many of his patients won’t go to the local hospital for tests. “They can’t afford to get (there). Once there, they can’t afford the fees. … The poor are not treated with respect. Here, everyone can experience God’s free and unconditional love.” Abdulai’s vision includes virus testing equipment, a blood bank, an x-ray machine and counseling center. St. Sabina hopes to help with this, too. “We are looking for donations of medical supplies from pharmaceutical companies,” Pfleger said. Pfleger also hopes that people trained in the medical field will volunteer to spend three or four weeks at Shekhinah Clinic once the lab is built. That’s just fine with Abdulai. “I’d like to have some medical volunteers to help care for the patients,” he said. In addition to helping HIV patients, Abdulai has several other programs that take him and his wife Doris into the community. They offer a daily food program to the mentally ill in Tamale that feeds about 130 people each day. He visits prisons weekly to provide medical care and clothing. The Abdulais even have a soap-making program for the poor who sell soap for a small profit to live on. Despite relying on donations from CRS and a few individuals, Shekhinah is growing. Abdulai opened a second clinic across town. He built a dam and water tanks and installed a water purification system for the clinic. How do the Abdulais provide all of these services without a steady income? “When you have an idealism to work and fight for the poor, nothing can stop you!” said Doris.
To donate directly to Shekhinah Clinic, contact Front Page | Digest | Cardinal | Interview |
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