Friday 22nd March am

Hopefully Morro is back on the job today as his team seem to have slowed down almost to a stop whilst he has been missing. It may be of course that they are lacking supplies which he is bringing back with him or it may be the usual, while the boss is away syndrome …. Anyway my “boss” has found me plenty of other things to do to stop me from getting bored! But then she did take me to Paradise for dinner last night. It’s always lovely sitting right on the river bank under the sort of start studded sky that you only seem to find out here or at least in underdeveloped countries where there is little light pollution. We then went on a pub crawl around Bansang…. However as there is only one bar in town that didn’t take too long LOL!

^{And now for something completely different... I try my hand at a little Orthopedic Surgery!}

Today we will be moving a whole load of beds out of the Children’s ward  onto the strip of land between it and the road, which should at least make life a little easier for our Senegalese window opening man and of course they are going to have to be wash off to remove the dust and debris once the work is finished anyway. It is also hoped that we may be running up to Basse Sant Su for a meeting with the Minister of Health who is apparently at this end of the country at the moment. As a fairly new incumbent of the position Anita has to meet with him and it seems I am to be dragged along as well. Not sure that I will have much to contribute but it will be very interesting to meet such an eminent member of the government although I’m really not used to such political goings on.

Otherwise it will be business as usual plus sorting a few last minute bits for our sponsors who are arriving on Saturday afternoon. Gambia Experience are the foremost tour company operating in Gambia and bring many UK tourist out here. This year they celebrate their 25^th Anniversary and have made a variety of different awards and grants to projects in the region including The Bansang Hospital Appeal. The cash award has gone into the farming project, buying another two Oxen together with weeders and seeders, plus various other items to help increase the yield on this important sustainable resource. The plan is for the representatives to arrive with us in Bansang around tea time on Saturday for a quick tour of the hospital before heading of to Paradise for dinner and to spend the night. Then Sunday morning after breakfast it will be off to the farm at Galamander  to meet Serenity and Experience their two Oxen and to generally see and be briefed on the project by the chairman of the farming association. By lunchtime Sunday they will be on their way back to Banjul whilst we catch our breath! I just hope that they can see through the chaos of the rebuilding work just what fantastic progress has been made at Bansang Hospital over the past few years thanks to Anita’s vision and foresight.