(Oct. 27, 2016 - by Harold Goerzen)  While this summer’s interns in Ghana were younger and fewer in number than in the past, their flexibility, work ethic and heart for the Ghanaian people more than compensated for any lack of experience.

In four weeks this summer, the Akoma Ntoso (Linked Hearts) interns joined 10 additional team members, seeing over 1,800 patients in 12 villages, conducting medical screenings and treating maladies ranging from malaria to high blood pressure.

They served alongside local pastors and partner Theovision International—an organization that translates and records the Scriptures in hundreds of African languages—to share the hope of salvation in Christ.

“We had another wonderful group of interns this year—perhaps the two youngest (recent high school graduates Parker Bamback and Zachary Harbin) we’ve ever had—but they were up to the task and did a great job of adapting to a very new life experience,” noted missionary physician Dr. Steve Nelson who serves at Reach Beyond’s Hospital Vozandes-Quito in Ecuador.

“We also had three other students (Grace Hayes, Sarah Larson and Morgan Kruse) who were further along in their medical careers, and everybody fit together nicely,” Nelson added. “In fact, our second-year Ecuadorian family practice medical resident (Dr. Gabriela Quingalombo) also melded nicely with the interns.”

“It was a highlight to see how the interns grew in their abilities to relate to one another and, more importantly, to see them become more confident and comfortable in interacting with the Ghanaians,” added missionary physician Dr. Joe Martin. “It was great to see how intentional many of the interns were in sharing Christ and wanting to help the people.”

Hayes, a biology student and volleyball player at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., said in a school press release that the internship was grueling but rewarding. Team members spent a week in each of four areas of the country, setting up free temporary clinics, seeing 100 to 150 patients a day, sleeping in hotels and traveling via dirt roads.

Hayes focused on taking vital signs for patients, educating Ghanaians on how to take their medicine, and assisting the three doctors. “We would usually work until about 4 p.m., and then we would drive back to the hotel, eat dinner and then have a Bible study or debriefing time before going to bed,” she explained.

“My favorite part of the trip was sitting with the doctors and shadowing them,” Hayes continued. “They were really knowledgeable, very willing to teach us and tell us things that we wouldn’t have known otherwise. They really involved us in the patient care.”

She said it was encouraging to work with Theovision that has started Bible-listening clubs nationwide. “Each night they would play a chapter of the Bible and discuss it,” she added. “We got to attend one of those which was really cool.”

Larson, a nursing student at North Park University in Chicago, said her favorite memory was praying with the mothers of children who had high fevers due to malaria. One Ghanaian pediatrician said the average child in Ghana has malaria about 10 times a year.

She added that prayer was a recurrent theme throughout the internship. “I got to pray with at least two patients a day, and I got to experience the powerful spirituality of the locals as well.”

Sometimes the team encountered patients with potentially serious diseases such as the Buruli ulcer, prompting additional prayer. Although fairly common in the region and relatively easy to treat, the remedy for the disease is time-consuming, and some patients arrived having dealt with open ulcers for years.

“With each case it was easy to feel hopeless as there was no guarantee they would go to the specialist or be able to pay for the treatment,” Larson said. “Each time, though, we gathered and prayed for a long time for their health and wisdom in what to do next.”

Larson added that the experience transformed her worldview on treating people holistically. “Though we offered medical help to these people, they had so much to offer us in how to live for Christ,” she said. “You may not always know what to do in regards to medicine, the new culture or what to say, but if you let yourself live and love humbly—letting God lead—He will do much more through you than you ever could have done on your own.”

For more information on summer internships, visit reachbeyond.org/go/internships or contact Andy Mazzella at [email protected]. Application deadline is March 1.