Friday sees me flying out from
Gatwick to Banjul to start a 2 month stint at Bansang hospital to oversee the
rebuild of part of the children’s ward.; me and my big mouth! Hopefully the local builder we have
chosen to do the work, Morro, will prove to be as reliable as he appears to be
from his regular updates and communications that I have had since my return a
couple of weeks ago. At any rate he has got to be a whole lot easier to work
with than my nemesis, Dembo!
The work, scheduled to take a mere 6 weeks, involves
demolishing and rebuilding about 1/3 of the length of the back wall of the
ward. This incorporates 3 bays each containing six beds and a complete shower
block, together with excavating the floor which has dropped about 3 inches
across half of the width of the ward… I think the problems that have caused
this to happen are various and many. Without a doubt the foundations (if any!)
put in by the original builder are nothing like deep enough given the sandy
make up of the ground. This has then been compounded by two exceptionally heavy
rainy seasons, the final straw was then the re-laying of the main Trans-Gambian
Highway which runs adjacent to the ward, when the contractors brought along
huge vibrating rollers to bed down the red laterite sub-base! Almost overnight
a large section of the ward just sunk, with great big cracks appearing in walls
and floor. It has now got to a point where we are afraid that another seasons
rain may well see walls collapsing, hence the urgency to seek a once and for
all time remedy.
However I have many other things which will also occupy my
time in Bansang such as the conversion of part of the ground floor of the Mite
house into two new staff accommodation units, working out how to reinforce the substandard
“charity quality” beds that were supplied by a British wholesale company ! The
box section steel from which the beds are made is so thin and of such poor
quality that the legs are simply collapsing as the steel just tears. My plan is
to take a pro-active approach and to try to reinforce the bed that are still
functioning by drilling and tapping the frames then bolting on additional
struts to help stabilise the legs… Well that’s the plan.
Firstly though I have a couple of challenges ahead before I
even get to Bansang. No 1 is to source some aluminium solar glazed windows for
the refurbishment of the Childrens ward to which ends I have an appointment in
Banjul with Ahmed on Saturday morning. A spot of shopping followed by a visit
to the American International University of West Africa to pay Sulaymans first
term fees will then lead on to the first REAL challenge… It seems that at the
moment they have no fuel available in Bansang, so may not be able to send the
4x4 to collect me from the coast !!! I haven’t quite worked that one out yet
but I’m sure it will all work out. I can always enjoy a few days of sun at
Luigi’s whilst I await Sutay’s arrival, or I could hop on a bush taxi !
So tomorrow I leave the haven of Anita’s suburban retreat
for the most hazardous part of the trip… yes, I have to brave the M25 enroute
to niece Helen’s home in West Sussex from where she and hubby Terry will
deposit me with my huge pile of luggage at Gatwick Airport very early on Friday
morning. I just hope the plane has enough fuel for the trip; if it runs out of
fuel we could be up there all day!
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