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St. Luke’s Heart Valve Team (left to right): Stephen Olenchock, DO, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery; Jeffrey Veluz, MD, Cardiothoracic Surgeon; Jamshid Shirani, MD, Cardiologist and Director of St. Luke’s Echocardiology Laboratory;

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8 JULY/AUGUST 2012 | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | SENIOR LIVING

By Jennifer LaderEditor, HAKOL

Ed and Janice Kay of Bethlehem spent the 2010-11 school year in Ghana thanks to a Fulbright Fellowship for Ed. They lived in the capital city of Accra, a developed and major metropolitan area on the coast of Ghana, where Ed taught at Asheshi University.

While there, the Kays met many Israelis whose companies first entered Ghana around 1950, corporations stimulating good will in the process of building roads and working on water projects. The Israelis occasionally spoke of a remote village of people of Ghana who were said to be Jewish. In December 2010, the Kays set out to find it.

“These people live in a place called Sefwi Wiawso. This was a rural area,” Ed Kay said. The village lies 150 miles inland, the equivalent of an 11-hour journey on roads that are little more than beaten paths.

“The oral tradition of this group explains where they came from,” Kay said. “There was a migration out of Spain after the expulsion in 1492. A number of Jews went to Africa, especially Mali. Then, 400 years ago a group went to Cote d’Ivoire. From there, 125 years ago, this group came to Ghana.

“They eat no pork. They say they once knew how to slaughter cattle but had forgotten, so now they aren’t able to eat beef,” Kay said. Originally, the villagers didn’t realize there might be other communities like themselves.

Then, half a century or so ago, one of the people of this community was able to obtain an education and, in the process, learned there might be others like them. The group has received 300 to 400 visitors from all over since the 50s, drawn by stories of the Jewish observances of the group.

“The people we visited were adamant that we should arrive before sundown on Friday and not leave until after sundown on Saturday,” Kay said.

The Kays stayed in the compound of Joseph Armah, headman of the group. He is a farmer, with cocoa trees -- a lucrative crop there -- and palm kernel nuts for making oil and plantains.

The home was built of concrete blocks and had no running water. The outdoor kitchen consisted of large pots over an open fire.

“[We ate] plantains and yams boiled and then pounded into a mash,” Kay said. “It takes about one hour of pounding, so you have these kids with poles that are rounded on the bottom, pounding as the women turn the mash.”

This mash is eaten in a soup with chunks of fish or chicken. “Everything is spicy,” Kay said. “The spice probably has some antibiotic action as well as stimulating the appetite. It was pretty hot there and you otherwise might not feel like eating much.”

In the late afternoon, the Kays were on their own for a few hours. “I brought a deck of cards with me, so I went outside and played with the children,” Janice Kay said.

As Shabbat approached, Armah came with his family and said the blessings in English and in Hebrew.

“One of the kids was proud to do ha motzi,” Ed Kay said. Then guests and family enjoyed a kosher meal of fish in a tomato sauce. On Shabbat morning, the Kays walked to the synagogue, a one-story building painted white and light blue with a mezuzzah on the doorpost.

“They have prayer books and prayer shawls,” Janice Kay said, “mainly brought by visitors.” The services progressed in a mixture of English, Hebrew and Twi, the local language.

At the proper time, the leaders of the service brought out the Torah and read a passage. About 35 people attended Shabbat services, although perhaps 70 are part of the community.

“They celebrate the holidays and believe themselves to be special,” Kay said. Their steady stream of white visitors apparently reinforces this status within the larger village in which they live.

“It’s hard to take it all in,” Kay said. “The people have a semitic look [but] I think, in the long run, they will have a mass conversion to Judaism.” This was what happened for the Ethiopian Jews.

“On the other hand, they observe the Sabbath a lot more strongly than many of us do in this country,” Kay said. “They just treat it as a day of rest.”

Jewish Destinations: Ghana

Janice Kay with Patrick Armah in front of the community synagogue

Mezuzzah on doorpost of synagogue. "Surely a gift from a visitor," Ed Kay said.

Joseph Armah in our guest room.

Ghana

SENIOR LIVING | HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | JULY/AUGUST 2012 9

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By Monica FriessSpecial to HAKOL

Eva Levitt’s basement is stocked with medical supply equipment and duffel bags full of new and gently used stuffed animals.

“There’s always room for more,” Levitt said. As Patient Relations Coordinator, Levitt will bring all these goods with her when she accompanies her son, Dr. Marc Levitt, on his next trip to Ghana.

Dr. Levitt, a pediatric surgeon at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has, together with his mentor and partner Dr. Alberto Pena, organized an overseas group to perform a highly specialized surgery for colorectal malformations, where a baby is born without a rectum. The defect occurs in one out of 65,000 births worldwide. Pena developed the corrective procedure.

Dr. Levitt has made one pro bono trip per year -- once to Honduras, once to Ethiopia and twice to Ghana. His mother accompanied him on both trips to Ghana and will return to Ghana with him next year.

The funding for the staff and procedures is provided by education funds and donations. That’s because the ultimate goal of the doctors is to train pediatric surgeons in Ghana to perform this procedure.

Eva Levitt’s goal is to make the children and their families as happy and as comfortable as possible. She jokes that the job description of “patient care coordinator” is handing out stuffed animals and Mike & Ike candies,

but she knows these acts go a long way.

“It’s a heartwarming experience,” Levitt said, “to see how these gently used stuffed animals can be so wanted and cherished by the children.”

Recently, Levitt expanded her job description to include the refurbishing of the mothers’ hostel, where the moms stay while their children are in the hospital. Ronald McDonald House of Cincinnati donated $10,000 for this project. Volunteers did the rest.

The entire building was painted, appliances were replaced and all of this was overseen by Levitt. When two washing machines and two refrigerators were delivered and left on the curb with no dolly, she enlisted some local help.

“It took several trips,” she said, “but we got them into the building.”

For children receiving the surgery, a typical hospital stay is a few days. The children, who have had colostomies since birth, recuperate with a colostomy in place which is then removed and repaired after three to four months by local surgeons.

Levitt met a girl who is able to attend school for the first time and now has a chance to lead a normal life. “There are no words to describe the feeling of knowing you’re doing something for these kids,” Levitt said.

Levitt plans to accompany her son as often as possible, always bearing gifts, lovingly donated by friends and family in our community and beyond.

“It’s rewarding to know that so many people are willing to help,” she said. “People in the Lehigh Valley donate very generously. I often return home to find bags of stuffed animals at my front door.”

Levitt also collects items for the mothers’ hostel such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, bed linens and towels, soap, deodorant and shampoo.

“The things our kids may not think twice about have such great value to the children in Ghana,” Levitt said. Thanks to her and, of course, to her son and his colleagues, the children’s lives are enriched in so many ways.

To donate items for Eva Levitt to take to Ghana, contact the JFLV at 610-821-5500.

Ghana mission corrects birth defect

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Make a quick and easy gift.

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QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

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Use this planned giving quick reference guide to help determinethe best strategyfor achieving yourphilanthropic andfinancial goals.

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