Week 2 here we go!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but internet out here is really bad at the moment and I’ve also been up to my neck in the thick of things.

I can’t believe that today marks the start of our second week in Gambia, it also marks the departure of Dr Bella Noel who flew in last Wednesday and travelled up to Bansang with us and we will all be sorry to see here leave. As with most who come to Bansang Hospital (BH) I think it has touched her deeply and I’m sure she will be back…. Not least after a mere 24hours Bella was muttering that she would have to come for longer next time. BH has worked it’s spell once more.

Our other doctor, Tanya dived straight into the deep end the day she arrived by sitting in on a Caesarean Section on a 14 year old girl performed by one of the Cuban surgeons, who whilst very caring and skilled, appears to be lagging some years behind current practise in the UK with her techniques! Tanya will be here for about 8 months and a phrase that still echoes in my ears from Carolyn on the last Scoots trip come to mind; Baptism of Fire ! However I’m sure with her skills, talent and integrity she will be a wonderfull asset to the BH Staff and patients, she is also a very nice young lady who I think will endear herself to all she meets.

Work with the new operating theatre project is forging on a pace with me doing what I do best; being a right pain in the arse to all and sundry. As usual I think the so called maintenance team , who are doing a great job, will be glad to see the back of me by the time I leave in a couple of weeks… that’s if they don’t kick me out sooner! However in my defence, the work is progressing a a fantastic pace and Thursday should see us installing the first of the equipment into the Theatres; a bit of déjà-vu there then, as two years ago I was helping to install the new equipment into the newly completed Obstetric Theatre with young Callum at the end of the 2011 Scoots trip. By comparison, this project is huge, involving not one but two operating theatres plus a minor procedures theatre together with a complete suite on ancillary rooms all tiled and painted to a high standard by the boys from the maintenance team.

If I went on to list the other projects which Anita has tasked for me you’d still be reading this when I get home !!! Suffice it to say that Jeanette, Chris and I aren’t getting a lot of time for lazing around in the sun, which I should add has, now made a very welcome return to our skies. I have a trip to Banjul next week to visit the Uni with Sulayman whilst collecting a new team member, Nick Folley who flys in on the 5^th: a trip up to Basse to try to fix some equipment that I have never before seen and know nothing about… no challenge there then ! And a myriad of other things on my list, a list which Anita manages to add to on a daily basis. If it anyone else were to expect as much from us I would politely ( well not too politely!) suggest that perhaps they were expecting a little too much, but with Anita, I know full well that, were she here, all would be accomplished in half the time it will take me, with a serene smile, lots of laughter and better than I could ever dream of ! However, all we can do is to give it our best shot and pray that we don’t fall too short of her very high standards.

The maintenance guys should be back on the job in the theatres in about 15 mins and I will be there ready and waiting to crack my whip once more with words of encouragement and praise interspersed with lots of jumping up and down…….

Apologies for the lack of photos but the internet is so slow I can't even load the speed test to measure it!

Escape from the Snow!

Amazingly our plane took off from Birmingham International airport bang on time at 8am. My alarm had given me a very rude awakening at 3.30am, I quickly washed, shaved and stumbled bleary eyed down stairs with my bags to the kitchen to find Anita looking fresh as a daisy with tea and toast all ready for me… now that’s a really nice start to my morning! By 4am I was on my way to collect Jeanette and Chris together with Steve who was going to drive us to the airport and return the Pajaero back to Orlingbury. Once out of Anita’s lane the roads were mercifully clear of snow and of course at that unearthly time of the morning also more or less devoid of traffic, giving us an easy ride all the way!

Arriving at the airport, it didn’t take long for us to check in our immense heap of luggage (no less than 10 bags in all between us) and head off to use the 20% off voucher that Chris had downloaded to buy breakfast at Franky and Benny’s. It’s probably just me, but I couldn’t help contrasting the extortionate price of the breakfast (even less the 20%) with the poverty of Gambia. Yet again an illustration, if it were needed, of just how ridiculous the claims of hardship emanating from the UK are: Anyone who can afford to eat at the mediocre fare at these over priced, over hyped and it must be said over crowded purveyors of plastic food is quite simply not hard-up! Anyway it passed a reasonable proportion of the two hours we had to wait for our flight, the balance being spent shopping for toiletries and food in Boots as Thomas Cook fights do not include meals in the standard fare, so being tight we opted for a Boot’s Meal Deal !

8am saw us taxiing along the runway and heading due south towards the heat of Gambia and the wonderful warmth of it’s people. The six hour flight passed smoothly enough and I must confess after a couple of late nights, an early start and the stress of the previous couple of days of intensive briefings by Anita, I slept like a baby for most of the flights aided by a little Celine Dion on my iPod.

Security at the airport proved to be a little problematic as most of our huge bags received the dreaded white chalk cross from the man at the xray machine, meaning we had to report to customs for closer scrutiny of them… Fortunately the customs man got a bit fed up rifling through second hand clothes and medical bits and pieces before he got to mine…. And ushered us on our way. Bidding him a bright and courteous farewell,  we didn’t stop to look back!   Outside we were met by not one but two drivers and vehicles waiting to transfer us to our rooms at Luigi’s complex, so young Suteh got an early finish as we thought we might as well put everything into Kemba’s minibus which had to return to base anyway.  Pulling into the hotel complex, Mariama was there with her usual beaming smile to greet us and sort out our rooms, a quick shower and time to head down to the pool bar for our first, very welcome, ice cold Julbrew ! We had just ordered our second (the first having slid down rather well) when we were joined by Drs David Southall and Tanya Robbins whom we hadn’t expected to see until Saturday at Bansang. In fact neither had Luigi’s expected to see them as they were booked to arrive on 22^nd February…. However, Julie of course, worked her usual magic and managed to find them a room .

I had spoken to David many time over the past few years as we used to print the manuals which his charity projects distribute whilst training midwives and traditional birth carers but we had never actually met. A larger than life character who exudes enthusiasm and charisma in much the same way as Anita, David works in many African countries, striving to improve maternal health and reduce infant mortality; no wonder Anita always speaks so highly of him. I took to his no nonsense but affable manner instantly and the five of us spent a pleasant evening discussing various aspects of his work over a few more Julbrews, although I must admit that unfortunately much of the conversation was way over my head, although I still found it fascinating. Think I might have to purchase a few medical volumes before we next meet….

D-day -4

I should be rushing around packing my kit ready to fly out to Gambia on Tuesday but instead I am sat here feeling rather melancholy and emotional, supping a small (well fairly small!) rum and listening to an itunes playlist of music I put together recently!

To be fair, most of my packing is done and with the weather set to do its worst, I'll be heading down to Northamptonshire in the Scoots Pajaero rather than on the bike so I can just sling it all in the back rather than having to pack it all neatly... It may well all have to come out again at Anita's, depending on how much more there is to take... I don't know about 30kg of luggage, I think I could do with 300Kg!

It's going to be a tough trip this time around; with Anita undergoing radio therapy and others in my life in a state of emotional turmoil, I think I may be in for a bit of a rough time. I won't have Glenis to lean on either, although hopefully Chris and Jeanette, with whom I fly out, should lighten my load somewhat. As I said before, Anita is a tough act to follow and having seen her in action so many times out in Bansang make one very aware of ones shortcomings. So much to do, so many people to see and in the midst of it all... Politics !!! Now anyone who knows me knows full well that I don't do "politics"

That Was The Year That Was!

With Allie in happier times!

So 2012 all done and dusted, it’s been quite a year one way and another…

The year when realisation finally got through my thick head that my marriage of 34 years to Alison, my wife, soulmate and best friend was actually over, finished, dead; It certainly took me long enough !

The year I started to put into action my plan which I have nurtured since about the age of 13, when I used to cycle down to Tilbury and sit on the sea wall watching the ships sail out of the Thames estuary, to see something of this wonderful world that we inhabit for oh so brief a visit and in doing so, I have made some amazing friends and traveling companions who I know will be forever in my life from now on

A Soggy start for Scoots 2012

The year which saw me lead the biggest and arguably most successful Scoots trip to Bansang. Delivering 12 scoots and 12 new disciples to the Bansang cause, many of whom are still working behind the scenes for the Hospital.The team also raised in excess of  £10,000 for BHA. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you all!

Yes, it’s certainly been a year to remember, and a year that has passed seemingly, in a blink of an eye.  

... but the usual Warm Welcome!

It certainly hasn’t been a “Buddhist” year! As the highs have been so very high and the lows almost as low as one can go.  A part of Buddhist philosophy is the belief that Buddhism smoothes out the highs and lows of life, making one calmer in the process!!! 

I’m not really too sure which category my climb of mount Olympus fits into, as undertaking it on the second anniversary of Sam’s death made it one very tough day. Whilst, when standing on the summit I felt as close to him as I have ever been and as I wrote at the time, he was with me throughout the climb… but then he is always with me anyway, in my heart and my thoughts!

 The Scoots Trip was very definitely a high, in spite of Steve’s early

Something in my eye !!!

departure following his crash and the usual spate of little “issues” I can honestly say I enjoyed every minute of the trip with such an incredible team. Thank you each and every one of you. And of course there was also the bonus, for the first time, of the return trip this year; fantastic!

Another high was the Horizons Unlimited meeting in Greece, at a time when the UK meeting appears (in my humble opinion) to have lost it’s way somewhat, the Greek meeting came in like a breath of fresh air, the venue, our hosts and of course most of all the participants all

On Mount Olympus

conspired to make this a meeting above all others in my book! From the second I arrived in Pramanta to be greeted by Hanno and dragged (not protesting too loudly!) into a bar for a cold beer with Dimitris the organiser, to meeting up once more with my dear friends  Taz & Joel , with whom I had spent the best part of a month travelling across France, Switzerland and Italy. Alex & Mila, Martin, Angel & Christos, Simon & Suzzane and so many, many more that I could think of, that made my time at Tzoumerka so very, very special. I simply didn’t want to leave. Thank you Dimitris!

Anita

Balancing that out of course was hearing the news, whilst I was out in Bansang with Glenis, that Anita CEO of the Bansang Hospital Apeal, and a very special lady in my life for over six years, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It came as one hell of a shock and it doesn’t get much lower!  However, fantastic news was to follow when at her follow up appointment after her surgery she was given the all clear so requires no more surgery and now awaits the start of a course of radio therapy. Anita, as always dismisses all and any concerns with her usual beaming smile and indomitable spirit and enthusiasm for life and just get on with it!

So what does 2013 hold in store I wonder? Well, one thing is for sure after my worst Christmas/New Year ever, it can only get better.  With a little luck and good fortune I’m reckoning that I should only be in the UK for about 4 months this year and most of that will be taken up with planning and meetings for the 2013 Scoots trip. The majority of the rest of my time will, I hope, be spent in various parts of Africa, either in Bansang, where I fly for 3 weeks at the end of January,  recceing the route down to Bansang for the next Scoots trip or of course leading a new team, hopefully with a few returnees, down to the hospital. It would also be great to find some time to meet up with some of my new and old, very dear friends!

With Taz & Joel

One thing I can guarantee for 2013 is that I sure as hell won’t be around here for Christmas !
Meanwhile a Very Happy New Year to all my Good Friends and Family wherever you may be and lets hope 2013 is good to you all!

Alex & Mila

Angel & Christos

Suzzanne works on Joel

Just one of the many reasons I love Africa...