For the fourth time, Ghanian Presbyterian leader Alice Kyei-Anti will visit the Capital District to speak about her experiences in Africa as a pastor and public health advocate.
Kyei-Anti is the only woman to be elected as a presbytery chairperson in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, where she is known respectively as Mama Alice. She was a teacher for five years and an ordained minister for 42 years, during which time she did charity work to help better the lives of impoverished people throughout Ghana and Africa.
At the age of 70, she has retired as a minister but is continuing her work to educate those in her country about health care. She is also working to advance Ghana’s efforts to reach the United Nation’s Millennium Development goals that range from battling poverty, to promoting education and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.
“While I’m here, I’ll be visiting many churches to share my experiences with those who want to know more about Africa,” she said. “I’m also here fundraising for the Donkorkrom Hospital where I worked when I was younger.”
Kyei-Anti is visiting through the mission efforts of Albany’s Westminster Presbyterian Church. The congregation in recent years has raised money to create scholarships to send children to school, while missionary volunteers have gone to Ghana to help build a new chapel and plant trees to prevent flooding.
This year, Kyei-Anti is speaking in part to raise funds for Donkorkrom Hospital, which has been taken over by the Presbyterian Church. In 1987, the hospital had just five beds and five cots for children. Now, conditions have vastly improved and the center has grown to hold 105 beds with a laboratory and X-ray services, HIV/AIDS services, immunization care and family planning services.
To help with disease prevention, Kyei-Anti is working to raise funds for industrial-size washers and dryers and treated nets to prevent malaria. The hospital is also looking to expand to provide quarters for the staff and a security wall. The goal is to raise around $10,000.
“We live in a global village,” said Kyei-Anti. “Sometimes we develop in the world thinking everyone is wealthy, especially those in America. People should come and learn more about the social and economic issues faced in Africa. … People need to see the other side of the coin.”
A majority of women in Ghana are still living in poverty, and Kyei-Anti said some of her talk will center on her work to end domestic violence, high rates of prostiution and childbirth mortality rates.
During each visit, Kyei-Anti seeks out new health care methods to brings back to her country.
A major interest to health care providers in Africa is more knowleged on senior issues. Kyei-Anti said in Ghana seniors are cared for by their families, but many rural and tribal communities do not know how to handle dementia.
“They think they are out of mind or being bewitched,” she said. “We need education to let people know it is normal, so the children don’t abandon their parents and give them the necessary love and support they need. Anything deemed not normal can be associated with witchcraft.”
The Presbyterian Church in Ghana is now working to hold educational and recreation programs for seniors and their caregivers.
Lois Wilson from Westminister Presbyterian in Albany said Kyei-Anti’s congregation put on a senior festival that they are now copying in Albany. They are continuing their partnership to work together on similar social justice issues.
“When Alice is here, we look at the issues facing the U.S. in new ways. When you talk about issues in Africa, you also see more clearly what is happening here,” she said.
Kyei-Anti said the first time she visited America was in 1981 when she came to Houston to give a sermon. She was shocked to see slums and people living on the street.
“I thought only in Africa there were people with no place to sleep. It goes to show that poor spans the globe and the gap between rich and poor is widening throughout the world. We are trying together to end that, but it will take time.”
Kyei-Anti will preach about her experiences in Africa on Sunday, Oct. 14, at 10 a.m., at Delmar Presbyterian Church. After the service, she will speak again at 11:15 about Ghana’s efforts to reach the United Nations’ Millennium Development goals.