Update

It's now 4 days since Anita's operation and she continues to progress well. She was on the phone to me Wednesday within about half an hours of returning home from hospital  still a little groggy from the anesthetic ! I don't know what drives her... but I wish I had some! By Thursday she was her usual chirpy, bubbly self, still fussing over Bansang rather than taking time out for herself... but then I guess that is part of why we all love her so much! I'll bet she is a lousy patient to have to nurse though! LOL

I'm still assembling bits and pieces which I have to take back with me in January, not sure that there'll be much room left for clothes. Cables, tools, computers, phones & photos to name but a few are starting to fill my bag already and there is still 6 weeks to go yet. I'm not sure how many will be flying out, but so far we four definite plus Mike White our dentist as a probable to do a survey of the Dental surgery ready for installation of the new kit he has managed to procure.

Having received a phone call from John Hunter our film producer a couple of days ago, I am hoping to catch up with him for lunch later this week and also for a chat about how the DVD is coming along. I know John has been working non-stop over the last few months but with the end of that project it is hoped some progress can be made on the Scoots project.

Meanwhile, I'm having a lazy weekend sitting on my arse with my foot up trying to get my ankle to stop hurting. Nearly three weeks has elapsed since I twisted it and I'm getting  little fed up now with my lack of mobility. Whilst I can walk OK, I can't walk too far or it aches like hell. perhaps that will teach me to watch where I put my big feet...

Home sweet Home!

I finally arrived home at about 6pm yesterday (Thursday) having stayed firstly with my niece Helen and her hubby and then with Anita for a night on the way back, to brief her on our stay at Bansang. So is it really Home Sweet Home ??? Hmm! need to think hard about that one. I'm obviously looking forward to catching up with friends and family over the next week or so, but to be honest, returning to a cold, empty house after the frenetic, emotional and love filled time in Bansang is most definitely a huge anticlimax. My thoughts are of course very much with Anita whilst she awaits her operation on Wednesday, but until we know that she is well on the road to recovery my life feels as though it is in limbo, I can't even contemplate planning any future travels or even begin to think about Christmas yet, with all thoughts focusing on next Wednesday and Anita

My only other thoughts are being directed towards my return to Bansang on 23rd January for 3 weeks, along with a doctor, a nurse and a handyman and a plumber! Hopefully, by then Anita will be well on the mend and my good friend Sulayman may have found a compound or two in Bansang for me to look at with a view to buying! All thoughts of property in Bulgaria having now been dropped in favour of possibly buying a small place in Bansang. I don't think I could live there permanently (yet!) but I do like the thought of having a little place there to call my own amongst my Gambian "family"... just have to watch that one or more of my Gambian "wives" don't move in whilst I'm away !!!LOL

In the meantime, I do however have to try to organise a meeting of possible participants in the 2013 Scooters in the Sahara adventure in the next couple of weeks. With loads to choose from it could well prove to be difficult making the final decision on just who I take along. I'm a little disappointed that I have not had more female applicants as I definitely do not want to take an all male team after last years debacle...too much testosterone makes a bad travel companion!

At the moment all I want to do is to crawl into a little hole and stay there until I hear that all is well with Anita.....

Sunday Morning 25th November – “The Bunker”

I didn’t sleep too well last night; just too many conflicting thoughts and emotions running around in what passes for my brain! Stays in Bansang are always a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but none has ever been more so than this! Now, as it draws to a close, both Glenis and I are torn between what I can only describe as the captivation of this “other world” where material possessions are few, wealth is counted in pence rather than pounds, but as the song says “ Love is all around” , and our imminent return to what I guess I must describe as “normality”. Now those of you that have followed my posts from Greece and Bulgaria will know well my thoughts on what passes for “normality” . Gambia, but more particularly Bansang, turns it all on it’s head once more!

Words to describe my feelings for these wonderful, loving, caring people fail me. It would take a poet of some stature, certainly a wordsmith of far, far greater talent than I to express the emotions running through my head last night and indeed this morning. Relief is in there somewhere; relief that we have finally just about reached the end of Anita’s huge list. Concern; certainly concern as to whether we have in fact managed to complete our given tasks to anything like the high standard that Anita sets in her own, inimitable way. Equal measures of bewilderment , happiness  and gratitude at how completely Bansang and of course, particularly the hospital staff have taken us to their hearts!  Love…. Oh yes, a deep love that will, I know keep me returning to my Bansang family until the day I cease to draw breath; a love for the people, for the place and of course for Anita, a lady whose selfless devotion to a cause she so fervently believes in knows no bounds and should be an inspiration to us all. Amazement, that Glenis and I have managed to co-habit in such perfect harmony for two weeks without so much as a raised voice or frown. We have laughed together and cried together, been eaten alive by mosquitos together and had a thoroughly wonderful time together, whilst all the while missing and worrying about our friend, Anita and just what she is enduring back at home in Kettering.  And last but by no means least a deep, deep melancholy at the thought of leaving it all behind to return to a cold, heartless world of greed, consumerism and a sefishness that pervades our so called civilized world from the bottom to the very highest echelons of  society, although that melancholy is of course tempered by a joy to be returning, albeit fairly briefly in my case , to family, friends and loved ones back home. And whilst these feelings and thoughts come from my heart, I a have a strong feeling that Glenis is suffering in much the same way.

 

Meanwhile, today we head north once more, across the little ferry to visit Alhargie, his wife and newborn baby at their compound. This time we will be travelling by Scoot so it might be a somewhat different experience than Thursdays trip in the Landcruiser, particularly for Glen ! Before that we have a couple of brief local visits to make; to Abdouli and new wife, and to Kaddi’s ( not Caddi, as I usually spell it!) family compound.

Tonight we will be taking Wandifa and Abdoul Karem to dinner at Paradise Lodge where I am sure it will turn into a discussion of work done and still to be done… but before them we need to confirm our return flights, pack most of our kit away, take an inventory of what is left in the larder and do a little housework…. Hey Ho! No rest for the wicked.

Sadness & Prayers

Anita relaxing on the way back from Bansang overland in March 2012

Last night we received the news that both Glenis and I had been dreading, a reminder once more, if it were needed of how our futures hang by a single silken thread, blown by the winds of fate/God/Allah or whatever. Anita had an appointment at Kettering General Hospital yesterday to receive the results of last weeks breast biopsy;  the results were positive and she is now due for an operation to remove the cancerous tumours on the 5^th December followed by 2 weeks of radio therapy. I know in my heart that Anita has strength, courage and determination to say nothing of downright stubbornness and will beat this terrible disease and I also know that she will have the prayers of countless thousands of people not only at home in the Uk and of course in her second home, Gambia, but also worldwide such is the  universal love for Anita. Somehow today Glenis and I will continue with the tasks Anita has asked us to carry out for her at the Hospital, and rest assured that we will do our damnedest to complete them all , even though at this moment in time, all we both want to do is to jump on a plane home to be with our dearest friend as she faces her life’s toughest test.

Yesterday was another long, tiring day with a long ride out into the bush, north of the river Gambia, almost up to the Senegalese border to take the mattress and rice we had bought to Eddrissa and his family. This involved not just a ferry crossing on a hand pulled boat but also over an hours drive on some of the worst dirt roads I have encountered in Gambia and then a drive on sandy tracks to end up at Eddrissa’s village where we received a wonderful welcome from everyone and a spectacular send off from the children.  Eddrissa, who suffers from severe hydrocephylis is wonderfully cared for by his loving parents and inspite of his terrible condition which prevents development and leaves him unable to control most of his normal functions, remains alert and turned to see what was happening when our photo flashes went off. He also seemed to recognise Sulayman who visits him regularly to monitor his condition and deliver his much needed drugs. We arrived back at the ferry just as darkness fell after a spectacular dash to try to beat the sunset due to the vehicles poor lights. We then all where we spent an uncomfortable hour being feasted upon by the myriad of Mosquitos on the river bank… neither Glenis nor I had thought to pick up our Mosi deterrent sprays although we had both applied them liberally in the morning.

Eddrissa's father with new mattress and bag of rice

 Today I must try once more to get hold of the illusive Dembo. Head of maintenance ,for an inspection of the children’s ward and to get prices for painting some of the staff accommodation blocks… I knew full well when I first looked at Anita’s email that this was going to be my most difficult task. Meanwhile, Glenis will be visiting Isatou, the accountant, to try to obtain the pile of receipts we need to bring back with us for the BHA accountant Richard. We also have to try to visit Boy Bah and Ismalia to hand over the sponsorship money, and visit a few staff in their compounds. Then this evening I am off to visit Sulayman at his home to chat about the Scoots and a few ideas I have. Although in the light of last night’s news, that as well as my other imminent travel plans, may well have to go on the back burner for a while as I think I may well be heading back here at the end of January to try once more to sort various jobs for Anita… a poor substitute for the hospital I know, but unless someone else steps up to the mark, I might just  be the only option!!!

Dinner in Paradise

Gansery

Ooo heck! The days don’t half fly by out in this amazing place! I’m finding it really hard to believe that it is already a full week since we arrived from the coast and that in just a few days time, on Monday, we will be heading back to Luigi’s… I really don’t want to leave; and NO that isn’t just due to my euphoria after an evening spent in the company of the most beautiful young ladies I have ever had the privilege to take to dinner!!!!!  I’m still reeling and wondering why me? HaHaHa But hell if I was 30 years younger…….

Gansery was an absolute delight to spend the evening with and Glenis was amazed when I returned to the bunker at a very respectable 9pm, but to be brutally honest as gorgeous as she most certainly is, I felt as though I was dating my grand-daughter…. So we parted  still very good friends… Another time, another place, who knows? She could well have ended up as my first Gambian wife!!!! Like they say… no fool like an old fool!

After a good night’s sleep ( I didn’t even hear the first cock crow!) I sit contemplating the day ahead and thinking of what we had managed to achieve yesterday; it certainly didn’t all go to plan, and yet we did manage to tick off a good few more boxes on Anita’s never ending list. I did manage to get to the Physio dept for 9.30 and in fact I’m back again this morning for some more treatment on my ankle. We managed to catch up with some more of the people we have been asked to contact; I didn’t manage to get hold of Dembo for the inspection of the children’s ward and then at 2pm we headed off into the bush along with Sulayman and driver Lamin to take some aid to a little invalid boy, 7 year old Mohammed. Although apparently “normal” at birth and until 2 years of age, he then suffered a deteriorating condition which saw him confined to a pushchair and unable to feed himself, indeed unable to take solid food at all. So we had instructions to take the family a bag of rice and to purchase a milking nanny goat along with her kid.

If you will excuse the blasphemy, I felt a bit like a disciple and in a way I guess we both are, spreading  the gospel according to Anita, and for this week at least,  doing her good works. Heading back to Bansang we stopped to purchase a mattress for another child and his family although due to the long ride out to Mohammed’s compound we had run out of time to get across the river to see Eddrissa, so hopefully we will tick off that one today.

Also today I hope to finally nail Dembo’s feet to the floor, we will be visiting one of the local schools, seeing Eddrissa and his family and I will also be going to the SEN school with Caddi to see about sponsoring her there. So once more busy, busy, busy… but we are getting there and the list is getting shorter, at last we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

A phrase from a 1970s song by Clive James and Pete Atkin keeps running through my mind this morning as I saw Gansery off on the bus to her mother's ….. And she got up and walked like a princess away from my life !    LOL

Visitors and chickens !

Our week has continued to be very busy and it reinforces that feeling of awe I always have when watching Anita working her magic here in Bansang. Whilst we seem to almost blunder from meeting to meeting, Anita would be simply floating calmly through it all with a serene smile rather than our looks of confusion and bewilderment ! We have managed to distribute the vast majority of the money we brought out for Anita….and quite a bit of our own! But that always happens out here; there are so many things tugging at your heartstrings ( and at your pocket! ) Only the heartless manage  to leave with any money in their wallets.

Dr Theo & Matilde Keller with Sulayman

The pending arrival of a Swiss couple on Monday had been giving us sleepless nights as the Dr and Mrs Keller are huge sponsors of both drugs and equipment to the hospital and we knew how highly and their donations were valued both by Wandifa and Anita. However they had also assumed something of a reputation for being very punctual and somewhat tough to deal with as everything had to run to their timetable like clockwork rather than to the more usual African formula of “it happens when it happens!” but from the very first moment we that we met, all fears were gone; their warmth, humility and passion for Bansang shone through the Swiss precision and was both a joy and an inspiration to behold. After tea and biscuits we spent the afternoon with them wandering gently around the hospital grounds, showing them all the improvements that had been made and also the works that were still awaiting funding.

The new fruit farm within the grounds was very well received by them as was the solar project . we looked into some of the staff accommodation both originals and refurbished, saw the scoots wall as well as the section that has collapsed; the new, although incomplete Audiology department. Popped our heads into the records office and finally as with most tours of the hospital ended up at the Children’s ward, all the while enjoying gentle conversation with our two wonderful and generous guests as if we had been friends for years. Around 4pm we headed off to our respective accommodations to rest and freshen up before heading down to Paradise for a meal at 8pm. Back at Anita’s house or “the bunker” as it is known, Glenis and I wasted no time in resting our injured ankles, Glenis’ broken in 5 places back in March and mine newly sprained which was very swollen and starting to throb somewhat… The meal itself was well received, with Wandifa the acting CEO and head of nursing together with his deputy Abdul Karem joining us. It was fascinating and inspiring, listening to the conversation about the hospital and it’s future between Wandifa and the Kellers. I like to think that Anita would have been quite pleased with the way the first day had gone…

Back once more at “the bunker” Genis and I relaxed with a small but very welcome Scotch which had arrived from Luigi’s courtesy of Sutay the driver, (He had recovered the bag containing it and various other items which I had managed to leave behind on Thursday) whilst we discussed the days events. It wasn’t long however before we were heading for our beds exhausted but satisfied with a day that had vastly exceeded our expectations.

Tuesday morning saw us up bright and early and preparing breakfast for Dr and Mrs Keller as well as ourselves at Anita’s house, as requested, for 8am sharp! However, inspite of the request for “8am sharp” it was quite a leisurely affair and time once more for gentle general conversation as well as of events of the day ahead. We walked over to Wandifa’s office at about 8.45 where we were greeted and then handed over to Abdoul Karem for a tour of the hospital’s facilities and wards; which were once again well received by our guests with many observations and happy comments being made, photographs being taken and a great feeling of optimism in the air. 10.45 saw us back at Wandifa’s office for a final chat before we bid a very fond farewell to Matilde and Theo Keller who were heading back to Banjul for yet more meetings about other projects that they support. Such people as the Keller’s give one hope for the innate goodness of humanity. Their generosity, humility and drive are certainly serve as an inspiration to us all. The afternoon was spent in more meetings, this time with all the heads of departments and covered a lot of ground on the lists from Anita….and so to evening.

Amongst the usual stream of visitors we had a visit from Lamin, the Riders for Health mechanic that has looked after most of the scoots ever since our first visit in 2006. Lamin is a lovely guy, always wearing a huge, beaming smile and ready with a big hug to all he greets. I’d never known his age, not even when we first met him but it transpired that not only is he 32 years old but has a very beautiful wife and 3 children ranging from 12 down 2 ! For reasons know only to Lamin and his wife, he informed me that she wanted to meet me and had a present for me, so it was arranged that they would call round later the evening. Meanwhile we spent an hour or so chatting about the so called charity, Riders for Health; the bikes that they use; the way they operate and the money they pay their mechanics.

It’s always an emotive subject, examining the workings of charities, particularly the large, wealthy ones! It is my long held belief that far too many of them have become huge corporate businesses, with the amount of aid they actually distribute, far too small a proportion of the donations actually given to them. This is exacerbated by legislation requiring a stupidly small percentage (I think 38% but will confirm later) of their revenue to be given to charitable causes. The rest gets swallowed up in administration and expense accounts for the executives. Riders for Health compounds this model by then charging the recipients of its aid for the use of its vehicles and believe me they are not at heavily subsidised rates. In my view, that is not running a charity it is most definitely a business, where the huge amounts of money given to it by bikers the world over is simply not doing what the people giving it so willingly think it is doing !!!!  It may not be illegal, but again in my personal view, it is most certainly unethical.

It is also just one of the many reasons why I continue to work so closely with Anita Smith and the Bansang Hospital Appeal, I know that every possible penny of the money given to it ends up where the sponsors expect it to; helping the patients and people of Bansang. There are no huge salaries or admin expenses taken out, there are no expense account junkets at posh restaurants, no plush city centre offices (in fact no offices at all, Anita runs it all from here home)  Indeed it is run as I strongly believe a charity should be run, first and foremost for the people it is set up to serve NOT for the executives.

Then an hour or so later a knock at the door saw us greeting Lamin and his very stunning wife with their youngest son. His wife was clutching my present, I hope my face didn’t show what I was thinking, as I was wondering how the hell I got out of this one without causing offence!!

Held tightly in her right hand was a tethered but very live and alert white cockerel ! I was as speechless as I have ever been ( something that those of you who know me well know doesn’t happen very often!) ,  my mind racing through a variety of different ideas as to what I could do with a live chicken. I had a strong feeling that Monarch Airline would frown upon it as hand luggage! I didn’t have my axe with me to despatch it quickly and cleanly and besides cleaning up all the blood from Anita’s kitchen floor would have been very time consuming! I could accept it and give it it’s freedom…but I was afraid that the neighbours cockerel would attack it! I even thought (for a split second!) of leaving it in Anita’s bathroom as a gift for her…. In the end I grasped the metaphorical nettle and after thanking them profusely simply said that I would appreciate it if they would keep it for themselves. It seemed to go down OK and after much laughter and a few photos they left still holding the poor Cockerel !

9.30 this morning sees me heading off to the hospital’s physiotherapy department to see if they can improve my sprained ankle. Then it is off to see my nemesis, Dembo, head of maintenance,  to try to get some sense out of him with regards to the new chairs and the items that need attention in the childrens ward; then tonight I’m back to Paradise for a dinner date with my very beautiful Gambian wife number 1, Gansery!!!!