
Experiencing an International Rotary Outreach Project
Reflections on why global giving is important from Ghana Team Member and Rotary Club of Dallas Board Member Ted Fields,DDS
When I was a kid, the world was a small place. I knew the space from my home to my school; from my backyard to the closest creek. While in college in Atlanta, this world expanded. I was no longer a novice at understanding the bigger world around us. And unfortunately, I experienced a bit of U.S. history right there in Atlanta that by that time, should have only been in textbooks.
I befriended international students and shared meals and conversation with these friends who didn't grow up as I did. It helped me to realize I needed to stop trying to understand my part of the world so well while ignoring the rest of it: that's a career, not a life well-lived.
Now as I jet across the Atlantic bemoaning a long layover in London, I am aware how easily I am annoyed by the inconvenience. The delay is mandatory but the frustration is a choice.
As we land in Ghana, I examine my new surroundings and a new perspective sweeps through me. It's hard to believe I was annoyed by waiting several hours among Rolex and Tiffany shops in Heathrow. Here, not a soul owns a ring or a watch and very few have appointments or specific time commitments at all.
I'm often asked, "Why do you need to go to Africa to serve when there are so many people who need help here?" Perhaps I once thought that way too, but I now understand things differently and welcome the responsibility to explain this to others so they don't limit their good works just to those within arm’s length.
My first answer is that I do help people in our local community on a regular basis. Helping others isn't a special occasion activity, as Rotarians it is our motto, Service Above Self.
In Ghana, we are fortunate to have a dedicated team of local volunteers who enhance our efforts to a magnitude we could never do alone. These
wonderful partners provide on the ground logistics coordination and transportation, and act as our translators, which allows each doctor to treat many more patients than ever would be possible in the U.S. The health care we provide is significant – many people we see here live in dire conditions - but the hope that we bring may be the biggest gift. With our arrival, these villagers know that they are not forgotten by the rest of the world: we are bringing them hope and reaffirming their self-worth as fellow global citizens.

No one would choose to be born into a poor African village. If you were born in the U.S., as a well-traveled South African pilot once told me, then you have won the life lottery. I reflect on his words often. You may have worked hard to become an attorney or the CEO of a bank, but you have a lot less to do with your professional success than you think. You could have been born in many places to a lot of other families where these dreams would have be virtually impossible, no matter the effort. The local resources, governmental assistance and educational systems here are all severely limited which sets the foundation for terrible conditions to lift themselves up and onto a better life. It could easily have been you in that African village swatting flies and searching for your next meal. I can think of nothing better than to help those with little opportunity see real hope for their future.
Our last clinic day in Ghana
When we got on the bus to leave, the children began placing their palms on the bus window waiting for me to reach out the window for one last high five. Then as a goodbye, several of them gently pressed only a thumb on the window awaiting my thumb. Just before tears welled up, our bus began to roll away. My last thought was that I hoped that we had brought them something as meaningful as they had given me.
Ted Fields, DDS
May 31, 2017
Dallas, Texas