Local ministry assembling mobile clinic to benefit women overseas

PERRY, Ga. — If you have gone by Perry United Methodist Church (PUMC) here recently, you have likely seen a shipping container in one of their parking lots, decked out with a sign reading, “We are building a mobile health clinic for Africa! Stop by and see what we are doing!”

Buddy Roper, one of the leaders of the men’s ministry spearheading this project, spoke with The Journal on how the project came about along with who and what it will go to serve overseas.

“It’s to help young girls and ladies that don’t have any type of care at all to be able to have a baby properly or have a doctor’s clinic in an area where there’s nothing like that,” Roper said.

Roper said the idea for the project came from Bobby Gale, a minister who leads a ministry known as “Unto the Least of His.” Gale explained that this one being built in Perry is part of a larger project of even more containers being prepared and sent.

“We’ve sent seven of them already,” Gale said. “We’ve got one right here, we’ve got over in Dublin and one in Dexter that’s being built.

“And then when they get through with them, we’re going to fill them up with medicine on the inside — anywhere from a million to $5 million dollars worth of medicine on the inside, pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical supplies — and then we’ll ship it over to Ghana.”

Roper said this project has been possible thanks to supportive leadership at the church and generous members of the church and community itself.

“We’re raising money for it; to get it completely set with the [water] well is around $40 to $50,000,” Roper said. “We’ve been able to get some really nice donations, and we still need some — but we’ve gotten some materials donated from local people.”

He said the crew expected the project to be complete sometime in September. The interior walls and frame are nearly complete, but the unit still needs wiring, insulation, cabinetry and shelving.

The ministry has had two work days so far, receiving the container the week after Easter. They now have regularly scheduled work sessions for every Thursday evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and a planned Saturday session for 8 a.m. to noon to take place soon.

“We’re going to put paneling on the walls, we’ll put tiling on the ceiling, we’re going to paint, put our flooring down,” Roper said. “We’ll have to take the interior walls, take them back apart and strap them to the sides because when the container gets to Atlanta and gets pharmaceuticals in it, they have to get a forklift in there. The solar panels go inside of it; we close it up with them in it.”

He spoke through how something like this travels from their neck of the woods in Perry to across the ocean and thousands of miles away.

“When we get through with all the construction part of it, we send it to Atlanta to a pharmaceutical company who fills it up with loads of pharmaceutical drugs for the clinic — and it goes from there to Savannah, and we put it on a freight liner going to Africa,” Roper said.

The container will feature a reception room, examination room, birthing room and a section featuring solar panels and solar-powered batteries. The container will also feature around six windows, multiple doors and a concrete slab outside for the solar-powered equipment. Also, the water well outside will pump 10 gallons of water a minute.

The container will feature certified specialists on staff and a midwife as well. Roper said the clinic will likely go on to assist around six to 10 people a day in the western region of Ghana, with the closest town being Enchi.

Several other villages that house these clinics already include: Limonkrom, Adjoum, Musa Nkwanta, Camp 4, Asuoklo, Chichiso and Dadiaso.

Roper and fellow church member Steve Gray will travel to Ghana in November following the arrival of the container to make sure all the final touches are completed, including finishing a pole barn to go above the container and placing the solar panels appropriately.

“If we had one superstar born out of that clinic, one life saved — that’s what it’s all about,” he said.

Roper said anyone interested in helping or donating to the project can contact him at (478) 412-1999, call PUMC Office Manager Emilie Sheffield at (478) 987-1852 or visit perryumc.org.

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