Chiropractic, not Cocoa, in Tema

At 9AM the crowd was attentive and waiting. VERY well behaved children and a GREAT crowd

Tema is large port community located about 45 minutes outside of the bustling capital city of Accra. All the exports, via sea, for Ghana come in and out of Tema. The primary export, cocoa, has the large and obtrusive “Cocoa Board” offices and storage buildings here. I admit to being a lover of the cocoa product; however, it was not that temptation that brought me to Tema this weekend, instead it was a large orphanage known at SOS Children’s Village.

Dr Hunter checks out a little boy for subluxation.

SOS Children’s villages, based out of the UK, are in 132 countries and each village is home to somewhere between 50 and 150 children. This weekend you helped bring Chiropractic and Wellness to nearly 100 children and somewhere around 40 adult volunteers and staff.

How strong are you now boys?! WHOA!!

This children’s village was very unique and quite different from the other orphanages I have seen around Ghana. They are clearly well organized as we started promptly at 9AM with introductions and a brief history of the doctors. A local American expatriate (Doctor Cox), who has a for-profit clinic in Accra, was vital to helping organize the weekend for Dr Hunter and me.

Dr. Cox spoke a little about his clinic before I spoke with the children about what their health meant to them and how chiropractic and the adjustment would make them stronger.

It was new and exciting to them; just plain old exciting for me!

It was a large crowd as you can see from the photos, and just as we were heading outside to adjust under a large tree, we noticed the national news showing up. This was a brilliant way of getting the message out to the people of Ghana (those that watch a TV at least) that there are alternative ways to tend to your health besides drugs and surgery. The photos speak for themselves as children from the age of 2 up to adults 65 years young, received adjustments without being asked for compensation. Just as when Christina and I spend time at HardtHaven, all the payment necessary was a smile and a “medasi paaa” (Twi for “Thank you”).

Working those abs!

Adjusting into the afternoon, we saw a total of about 140 people and then had a Q&A session afterwards. They were as interested to ask about their spine as I was to talk about it. Everything focused on how the adjustment helped them that day to how to sit better, eat greener, think positively and exercise daily to carry this strength forward.

Who loves Chiropractic?!

Later in the week, I received a call from a school that I frequent in the north (about 5 hours from Accra), and they wanted to know if I was the same person they saw on TV that week. When I returned to them this week, I returned a minor celebrity… I guess we all get our 15 minutes of fame, right?

Thank you for making this a great week for us because of your donation. Please remember your donation counts, and that each donation of $100 is sent a complimentary hand painted Ghanaian bracelet. Published by Dr Jay Breitlow, photos by the author.

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