Partnering With Mesa Sharing & The Agada Foundation
When living in the US, Western Europe, Australia, Japan or other “First World” countries, it’s easy to go about one’s normal routine without ever contemplating the numerous daily advantages to living in such regions – advantages that are unavailable to millions of other people around the globe. This is especially true within the healthcare industry, where a short trip to the doctor’s office is just a phone call or button click away, with the world’s most advanced medical technology and medicine awaiting you at your preferred physician’s practice. Yet what if such care wasn’t so readily available? What if you had to travel multiple hours to a different city or town just to receive treatment for an illness such as the common cold? Unfortunately for millions of people around the globe, these healthcare hardships are just some of the harsh realities of daily life. But what does any of this have to do with Harloff?
Towards the end of 2024, Harloff’s Director of Manufacturing at the time had a random encounter with Aron Boesl, president and founder of MESA Sharing. MESA (Medical Equipment Supplies and Aid Sharing) “…is a nonprofit of volunteers gathering and dispensing excess medical equipment and supplies to developing countries around the world.” MESA’s stated mission is to help alleviate suffering around the world through the gathering of donated medical supplies and giving these supplies to organizations in various countries that then offer medical aid to the local people, usually in extremely underserved or impoverished areas.
Our Director of Manufacturing and Aron hit it off quite well, as their topic of conversation eventually turned to what each other did for a living, as well as what each other did for hobbies in their free time. This chance meeting is how Aron became familiar with Harloff, and how Harloff in turn became familiar with MESA. One thing led to another and eventually their discussion turned to Aron explaining how MESA was in the process of gathering donations to fill a large shipping container for a project they were working on to assist four different medical facilities located in the heart of Nigeria.
With high infant and maternal mortality rates, Nigeria has one of the poorest health systems in the world, as the country has also been impacted by ongoing communal violence in recent years. With such limited resources, medical carts are somewhat of a luxury item for Nigerian medical facilities, especially in rural areas farther away from the country’s major cities.
Delighted to partner with such a terrific organization, our team jumped at the opportunity to contribute to MESA’s Nigeria support project and began scouring Harloff headquarters for some medical carts that were not only in good shape but would also be of great benefit to medical professionals at each of the four Nigerian facilities being assisted by the project. This internal search ultimately led to our team identifying four different medical carts for donation – one for each Nigerian facility that was to be assisted by the project. After a quick spit shine and some light testing to ensure everything with the carts functioned properly, we called Aron back to let him know we had the perfect medical carts ready to be picked up.
Within a week of telling Aron about the available carts, he and another one of MESA’s friendly volunteers drove up to Harloff headquarters in Aron’s pickup truck and loaded the four carts onto a single trailer. Aron informed us that MESA was hoping to get everything together to send their 40 ft. shipping container out by the first week of January, while also noting that the container would probably take about 12 weeks just to reach Nigeria. In the meantime, as the Harloff team excitedly waited for the container to ship out, MESA was kind enough to send a thoughtful gift card our way, which turned into free pizza for our entire staff – a gesture greatly appreciated by all our employees who instantly realized MESA’s generosity truly knows no bounds.
Another realization quickly came to us a few weeks after the donated carts were picked up though: sending shipping containers to Nigeria is NOT as simple as it seems! As we learned from Aron and his partners at the Agada Foundation –a Nigerian nonprofit with boots on the ground to assist with the donation project in their own backyard – sending such a large container to another continent requires copious amounts of paperwork. It’s also not as simple as it seems to book a spot on a cargo ship to actually take such a large container to Africa. So, the wait continued…
Aron and his counterparts at the Agada Foundation were great throughout the process, constantly keeping us updated with the shipping container’s status and letting us know that it would likely take around 40 days for the container to reach Nigeria. Days turned into weeks, and weeks slowly turned into months as we waited to hear some good news of the shipping container’s departure for its long trek to Africa. Then, on a Monday morning in early April, we received word that the container was officially on its path from Colorado to Nigeria.
From Denver, the container made its way to Chicago, then Norfolk Virginia before hitting the open ocean on its way to Algeciras Spain, and slowly but surely making its way from Europe to port in southern Nigeria. Our carts’ adventure was far from over upon reaching Africa’s western coast in late June however, as the container still had to go through customs on the way to its final destination. The container was unloaded in the city of Lagos, where it sat until mid-July awaiting to be released by customs. Unfortunately upon getting through customs, yet another unforeseen problem arose as there was a payment dispute with the truck drivers tasked with taking the container across the finish line. Thankfully the disagreement with the drivers was hastily resolved, so the container could finally undergo its final trek of the journey to the city of Abuja in central Nigeria. By the time the container was eventually unloaded in Abuja, it was mid-August of 2025.
While we were delighted to hear of the carts’ deliveries, we were even more overjoyed to hear all the positive feedback that was quickly relayed to us through the Agada Foundation from staff at each of the four Nigerian medical facilities, including the Masaka Central Hospital, Johepz Medical Center, Jikwoyi Medical Center and the Nguher Clinic and Maternity.
As the Agada Foundation explained to us, the carts had instantly become very beneficial to the four facilities involved in the project and were being used daily to improve patient care offered at each location. We also received a heartwarming personal letter from the president of the Agada Foundation Diana Agada, sharing her personal gratitude for our contribution and detailing how it will impact numerous Nigerians in the era. One small excerpt from the letter read:
“Your donation of top-quality medical carts to each of the 4 clinics, namely: Masaka Central Hospital (Dr. Anthony Adikwu), Johepz Medical Centre (Dr. Kla Ponmwa), Jikwoyi Medical Centre (Dr. Emeka Anene) and Nguher Clinic and Maternity (Dr. Geoffrey Tolough) is a significant contribution to improving the care received by the poor patients that seek care at these facilities.”
Needless to say, it was extremely gratifying for us to take part in a project that has already made such a positive impact within some of the most underserved communities in Nigeria. Our products are designed to help save lives and assist the caregivers saving them, however it’s hard to put into words how truly rewarding it is to offer such assistance to people in some of the most dire communities on Earth. This rewarding feeling was only strengthened by the concluding remarks of Diana Agada’s letter, which read:
“The Agada Foundation and MESA Sharing are thankful for your contribution to this effort to serve the poor in Nigeria. The value of the container sent to Nigeria is estimated to be $250,000.00 and projected to have an immediate and long-term impact on 500,000 low socioeconomic persons in Northern Nigeria.”
While we were only responsible for a small portion of the $250k amount mentioned above, it was still nothing short of an honor to be involved with such an amazing project. The process was long and nerve-wracking at times, but in partnering with MESA and the Agada Foundation, the ends certainly more than justified the means.
Honoring Ralph Metzger’s Memory
We would also be remiss if we didn’t mention Ralph Metzger in this post, as Ralph played an essential role in helping to establish MESA’s Nigeria support project. According to MESA, Ralph was introduced to the organization in 2022 as he possessed expertise in training physicians on how to establish and manage their own medical practices. At the time of his introduction, Ralph was in the process of training 12 Nigerian physicians whose offices he hoped to help better supply through partnering with MESA Sharing. Thus the original idea for the Nigerian support project first came to be in 2022, while Ralph was traveling to Nigeria approximately every three months to conduct his training sessions. Unfortunately in early June of 2023, Ralph returned from Nigeria and fell extremely ill as he was diagnosed with a severe case of malaria. Tragedy soon followed Ralph’s return home when he eventually succumbed to his illness and sadly passed away on June 29, 2023.
After Ralph’s tragic passing, the Nigeria support project was temporary suspended out of necessity until eventually getting picked back up in early 2024, thanks in large part to the generous efforts of the Agada foundation. The foundation provided substantial funding for the project along with individual donations from friends of MESA and a local church in Pueblo, CO. The four Nigerian physicians mentioned above with the names of the four different medical facilities assisted by this project were the only individuals who completed the training program provided by Ralph.
The renewed Nigerian support project was dedicated to the memory of Ralph Metzger, and we’d like to send our most sincere thanks and condolences to his surviving family members.
Moving forward, we hope to continue assisting MESA, The Agada Foundation and similar non-profits trying to offer improved healthcare solutions to underserved communities around the world. If you would like to get involved, volunteer or make a personal donation to either MESA or the Agada Foundation, just click on the hyperlink above to get in touch with a member of MESA’s team!
