High Speed Vessel Swift Brings Africa Partnership Station to Ghana

High Speed Vessel Swift (HSV 2) made a brief stop in Ghana to deliver goodwill materials and medical supplies that will be used for the upcoming bilateral medical exercise MEDFLAG 11 in support of Africa Partnership Station (APS) 2011, June 29-30.

Swift’s one-day stop in Ghana allowed for the offload of cargo bound for multiple destinations throughout the country.
Ghanaian and U.S. forces will work together in this year’s MEDFLAG, which will be hosted in Ghana and will include lectures and supervised training in tropical disease management, medical disaster preparedness and humanitarian assistance. The exercise will also feature humanitarian civic action projects at three sites.

“The exercise furthers relationships, trust and cultural awareness between our countries,” said U.S. Army Maj. Craig Hillig, bilateral affairs officer with the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana.

Project Handclasp, a U.S. Navy program that accepts and transports donated educational; humanitarian and goodwill material, supplied the rest of the cargo offloaded in Ghana.

Materials delivered in Ghana through Project Handclasp included water purifiers and sports equipment.

The water purifiers will go to assist services in Bukino Faso while the sports equipment is bound for the Rush Sports Club to supply Ghanaian after-school youth sports teams with proper gear.

“We are very happy about this program and greatly appreciate the donated items,” said Nana Owusuoseibembing, director of the Rush Sports Club. “We are very grateful to the U.S. Navy for bringing the items to us.”

MEDFLAG is an annual training exercise initiated in 1987 as a means to facilitate an exchange of medical information and techniques with militaries in Africa.

APS is an international security cooperation initiative, facilitated by Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, aimed at strengthening global maritime partnerships through training and collaborative activities in order to improve maritime safety and security in Africa.

[mappress]
Source: navy, July 3, 2011;