Fr. Paul’s Tanzanian surgical suite project to be highlighted via local man’s media work
Local natives Fr. Paul Fagan (left) and broadcast journalist Ryan Skaife (center) joined forces in Nkololo, Tanzania, in late May, to record video and tell some of the stories of the Songambele Health Center that Fagan has spent years fulfilling.
By Correne Martin
Some $395,000 in medical equipment is needed to open the Songambele Health Center surgical suite and serve over 150,000 inhabitants of the Shinyanga Region in Tanzania. These people currently drive over 10 hours to the nearest surgery/trauma center.
Father Paul Fagan, a Patch Grove native and Catholic missionary priest who’s served 57 years of his life in Tanzania, has infinitely given himself toward this effort in Nkololo, Tanzania. The construction of the center is complete, yet supplies and equipment are needed to outfit the surgical suite, located inside the largest hospital in northern Tanzania.
Late last month, Ryan Skaife—who grew up six houses from Fr. Paul, once lived in Prairie du Chien and now lives in Onalaska—journeyed to Tanzania and met up with Fr. Paul. As someone who has worked for 14 years to end hunger among Tanzanians in the country’s Morogoro Region, Ryan decided to spend this summer helping raise funds for Fr. Paul’s project, for the surgical suite to be opened. Skaife is a communications professional by trade so he also gathered hours upon hours of video to use in spreading awareness in Wisconsin and Tanzania about what Fr. Paul has done.
“It’s all about connections and roots. Tanzania is shaped like Wisconsin. Like our bluffs, where we live at the base, they sit at the base of some of the oldest mountains in the world,” Ryan informed.
Ryan’s trip began May 23 and lasted two weeks. Most of the time, he was in Morogoro catching up on what’s happened since his previous visit. But, then, he spent May 26-28 with Fr. Paul at the hospital, filming the health care stories happening there, along with plenty of footage of Fr. Paul emersed in the culture and music of the region.
“I’m working with Adam Schrager, of Channel 3, and using his video. We worked together 24 years ago at Channel 8 (La Crosse),” Ryan said. “There’s going to be a series airing on all CBS Wisconsin stations. I’m also working with Tanzania media to tell what this amazing 81-year-old man has done. I feel it’s the best story in Wisconsin and I went to Tanzania to bring it back. This is the best gift I can give Fr. Paul, to see the [surgical suite] open its doors.”
In addition to Ryan and Adam, 16 others from Wisconsin were in Tanzania helping with this mission.
Furthermore, since Ryan has culturally engaged with friends and dignitaries in Morogoro for over a decade, he also took time this trip to record film of Tanzanian people and their lives, the beautiful terrain and culture. He hopes to use such promotional video for his Tanza-Nights Touring Company.
“Tanzanians are hard-working, blue-collar families whose mainstay is agriculture. Their family is most important. They’re kind, like to have a good time and joke around and they love American country music,” Ryan shared. “My profession is journalism. I want to use media to turn it into curiosity. Because I know the region, I want to take people there and show them this developing region.”
Ryan has expanded his connections in Tanzania by going there about a dozen times in his lifetime. During this recent visit, he helped bring governmental resources to Fr. Paul, as a means of improving the deficient rural conditions such as no food, electricity, training or technology.
“These people are proud and they want to do it on their own, but anything we have here, sitting on shelves, could make a difference there,” Ryan said.
Currently, the Songambele (move forward) Health Center provides primary and emergency health care, obstetrics, basic laboratory services, surgical procedures, imaging and an ambulance service, according to Roads to Life Tanzania, Inc. (roadstolifetanzania.com). The existing facility includes a dispensary, a laboratory, a maternity ward, a surgical ward and a 35-bed inpatient ward. An average of 560 outpatients and 110 inpatients are treated per month. Upon completion of the suite, surgical procedures provided will include caesarian sections, appendectomies, hysterectomies, and hernia removals, etc. Donations thus far have provided money for the construction of the surgical suite building as well as jobs for 84 people in the Nkololo community.
Anyone considering donations to these efforts can visit roadstolifetanzania.com.
Fr. Paul will be in Prairie du Chien this summer giving presentations about his work in Tanzania. His schedule will be provided soon.
Viewing dates for the video Ryan shot in Tanzania will be released in the coming month.
