Christmas Comes Early

Christmas has come early to the hospital this year.

A few weeks ago the hospital received two much anticipated and long awaited presents. But they were not made quietly in the dead of a frosty night by a man dressed in red, who arrived and left unnoticed. No, in contrast there was a great deal of curiosity at their arrivals and the accompanying entourage as they drew up to the gates of the hospital under the baking sun.

Two huge shipping containers, transported from America by ExxonMobil finally came to the end of their eventful and long journey. Having collated and packed the many generous donations, the containers sailed across the Atlantic to the shores of Cameroon, where they then embarked on a long journey by road to reach the borders of Chad many months later. Further long journeys by road were required to reach the capital city, on the outskirts of which is the hospital. Finally, we got the exciting news that, yes the containers were only 7km away!!!! Excitement and expectations rose, they were finally arriving. And then, no. The heavy rains that we saw over the months of July to August had left the roads impassable to such large vehicles and so further delays were necessary. So near yet so far! The anticipation was building.

A couple of weeks on, the rains had subsided and the roads had impressively quickly returned to sandy tracks and the arrival of the containers was once again expected any moment. It still however was a great surprise and joy to hear the roar of lorries and to look up and see an enormous crane type vehicle crossing the yard! This was then soon followed by the first container, having completed a 38 point turn in the road to get lined up for a run up to the hospital gate! With impressive speed given the size and weight of the vehicles and the comparative small space of the hospital, the first container was soon being lifted into the air and guided (extraordinarily, by hand of two guys pulling on a rope!) onto the its final resting place. 

One down, one to go. But it would seem the adventure and challenges were not quite over yet. The crane, in the bid to get out of the second lorry’s way, drove, and then promptly sank, into a patch of soft sand. While the unique ability of the vehicle to use its hydraulics to life itself out of the sand, thus allowing an ever increasing amount of wood, rubble and then whole branches of trees to be placed under the wheels, it only managed to dig itself deeper and deeper. An hour and half later, after much sweat, effort and frustration (on the men’s side, I provided water and took the photos!), it was eventually free. Twenty minutes later, the second container was in place and thirty minutes on, the lorries roared into the distance, crowds died out, the work of the hospital continued and our new containers were in place. They had finally, safely arrived!

After an Opening Ceremony, during which a governmental minister arrived to the resounding notes of the Alleluia chorus, speeches were made, a tour of the hospital given and then finished off with a mini feast of meat sandwiches and drinks (to the back drop of my drying underwear on the clothes line! Opps), the fun could start! Time to unwrap!!!

Stuffed full of generous and countless donations from people across America for the use of the hospital, from gauze compresses and drip stands,  to a new digital x ray machine, two generators, wheel chairs and theatre trolleys, unpacking them is proving to be a medical Christmas extravaganza!

The unwrapping begins

Life in the Desert

About 2 years ago, L’Hôpital de Guinebor II, was yet to be opened and looked like this:

Now, however, it looks like this:

The recent rains have transformed the desert, but as the hospital has opened up, it has also attracted businesses to capitalise on the captive audience, homes to be built and a little community is growing on a daily basis!

Of course, closer up, within the hospital, lives are also being changed (excuse the cheese!). This little boy is 6 days old in this picture and is just about to undergo major abdominal surgery.

Here, a month on, you can see that he is growing well and although there is still future surgeries ahead for him, he now has a future.

Moussa with his Mum

The Summer

From Administrators to Surgeons, Builders to Pastors, Students to Nurses, we have had a summer of many visitors coming and going through the great blue gates of L’Hôpital de Guinebor II, totalling 26! That’s a lot of trips to the airport, beds to make, mouths to feed and people to acclimatise to life and work here. But, it has also been good fun!

Many of the visiting doctors came to cover for Mark and Andrea who took a well-earned break and enjoyed a fantastic summer of sport in the UK. Not that I am jealous or anything! I managed to watch the last half of the Wimbledon final (having missed the first half thanks to getting stuck in the mud on the way into town, more on that later) and the brilliant Opening Ceremony, alongside others of varying nationalities. I felt proud!! We also managed to have a little sporting summer of our very own here, with the hospital staff playing football against the village. Not being a real football lover myself, I went along obligingly to offer my support to the hospital team. However, with the sight of the hospital team proudly wearing their new kits (footwear was optional and of varying styles!), watching the local children join in with their own version of encouragement (welcomed or not) and the most sophisticated referee I’ve ever seen, it was hard not to enjoy the game, despite the disappointing score.

The Hospital team and The Ref!

The baby a week after surgery

But back to our visitors. The doctors had a challenging summer of treating the vast number of patients, many suffering with severe malaria thanks to the high rain fall we have experienced this summer. The on-going strikes that hit the public services also had, and continue to, impact our patient numbers. The surgeons amongst them were busied with a long list of patients needing a variety of procedures, including prostate surgery, amputations and cleft lip surgery. And I also joined in the surgical fun, the most rewarding of which was assisting in the formation of a colostomy for a 6 day old baby.

Organising surgical instruments

The visiting nurses were real troopers as they took on the ominous task of cleaning, categorising and restocking cupboards on the wards, in the Operating Bloc and most impressively, two of the three shipping containers that serve as our stores. Entering these metal containers is no mean feat as they soon heat up under the Chadian sun and within hours closely resemble walk- in furnaces!! Although this does not sound particularly glamorous or exciting work, I am truly grateful for what they achieved in the week and a half they were here, as jobs like that we simply cannot do at the same time as the day to day running of the hospital and treating patients.

The builders amongst the team worked from dawn until dusk, erecting the roof on my soon to be home, or as I like to call it, my ‘Little Oasis’, and doing general maintenance around the hospital. Although it was yet another never ending list of tasks for them to do, and each time they saw one of us approaching them they ducked their head in fear of being given yet another job, they did everything with an enormous amount of joy and whistling!

Getting involved in the daily running of the hospital, taking regular administrative trips into town, assisting in the launch and initial weeks of a new triage system, encouraging others in their work, however each of these 26 visitors got involved this summer, they did so with energy, passion and enthusiasm which meant that the summer flew by in a whirl of activity and fun.

But (haha, you thought I had finished!), the visitors were not the only major feature of my summer. So too were the 3 cats and 4 unhouse trained kittens that I was left in charge of! And I feel, as a none cat person, that to say that at the end of the summer I had 7 cats to hand back over, all still alive and just about healthy, a major achievement!  

And the third, but by no means least major factor of the summer has been the rain. Chad has no rain at all for 7 months of the year and then over the course of the remaining 3 soggy months, 76% of the annual rainfall in Yorkshire descends.

Preparing to tow out the hospital ambulance stuck in the mud

This has meant that leaving the hospital and traversing what was just a few weeks ago sandy tracks into town, has now become a major test in guts and determination; puddles have now formed lakes, concealing large craters and the thick sticky mud risks you getting stuck. I have many a time now driven into puddles that have then flowed right over the bonnet and waved up the windscreen leaving me with a view, not of where the puddle ends, but just more of the puddle! And one of our visiting surgeons, after a long long flight here from America paid the ultimate price for my moments hesitation, when the 4 wheel drive Toyota got completely stuck in thick, stinky, insect ridden mud. I know the mud was like that because I saw it…. as I watched Jim descend bare footed, knee deep into it ready to push the vehicle out!!!!! Ooops, not my proudest moment… but then, it was also one of those moments when I didn’t mind pulling the “I’m a girl” card!!!! After much revving, rocking, pleading and praying, we got out and Jim clambered back in covered in the thick, stinky, insect ridden mud having thoroughly earned his long awaited shower and successfully passed The Chadian Initiative test! I feel though that I redeemed myself, when on the trip back to the airport (during which, can I please note, we did not get stuck) and I asked Jim what his highlight of his 3 weeks had been, he replied “Getting stuck in the mud”!

Food Glorious Food

Food is very much a part of daily life worldwide, and with any venture into a new country, the different cuisine is always a source of entertainment, surprise and sometimes, regret! Here the national dish I affectionately term as ‘Boule and Gruel’, is basically a solid white tasteless lump of paste with a slimy green sauce made of okra and containing either meat or fish. It’s more the consistency I struggle with rather than the taste.  Needless to say, I don’t cook this for myself.

However, in my first few weeks at working at the hospital, I was struck by the blessing I have of being able to choose what I do and do not eat. Malnutrition is a real issue in Chad affecting thousands of children and killing many. 

Chubby Cheeks!

On my first day working at L’Hôpital de Guinebor II, a little 18 month old boy with severe malnutrition, weighing at just over 4kg was bought by his mother. He was skin and bone and looked terrible. The chances of him living looked slim. However, after just two weeks of treatment and being fed enriched milk, he piled on the pounds and looked like a different boy; he had a fuller face, he smiled to those around him and even, occasionally, when he was feeling particularly brave, he would wave at me! He was discharged at the end of his third week over 2 kg heavier and has been returning each week for follow up checks and a refill of enriched milk, each time looking plumper.

My first few weeks at the hospital have been busy, tiring, frustrating, exciting, overwhelming and many other emotions, but throughout it, it has been the contact with patients and especially the little children such as this boy and another little one who has had surgery to release scarring tissue from around his neck following a severe burn, that has made my time here so far so enjoyable and fulfilling.

My little friend

At Long Last, the day is here

 Two years ago this month, I was accepted by BMS World Mission to work with them at L’Hôpital de Guinebor II, in Chad. Tomorrow, Monday 21^st May 2012, I start!!!

Some of the friends I've
made along the way

Following two years of pre- overseas service training in Birmingham, a Diploma in Tropical Nursing in Liverpool, an intensive summer French course in Paris and then 8 months of French lessons, as well as lessons in life in the culture and climate of Chad, the day has FINALLY come- I am joining the team at the hospital! While the last 2 years have been ones of preparation, unpacking and repacking, frustrations, excitement and dreaming of what it might be like, tomorrow marks the end of the waiting and the beginning of a new, much anticipated adventure.

Thank you to all of you for your support and encouragement over the past two years and I look forward to sharing with you all that lies ahead… whatever that may be….!  

Some of the nurses I'll be working with
(looking glamorous at a party)

Some patients of the hospital

Holiday under the Chadian Sun

Last week I had the immense pleasure and joy of welcoming my Mum to sunny and increasingly hot Chad. Before coming here, I spent much time trying to convince people that Chad really is the next up and coming tourist attraction so they should really come here to visit. I suppose my Mum is biased as she’s the only one that has fallen for it and arrived with two suitcases stuffed full of goodies and letters!

Having shown her all the top tourist attractions in the city (the main square, the impressive selection of roundabouts, the hospital, my neighbourhood, friends and very excitingly, the newest ‘supermarket’ and patisserie), we headed off to a little hotel not far out of the city for the night. The next morning (after an eventful night of broken air con and scorpions!), we went in search of Elephant Rock,

The track to Elephant Rock

which does what it says on the tin-it’s a rock that looks awfully like an 

elephant! We drove there “en brousse” (through the bush) along a track which quickly descended to a path, and then to an indistinguishable, rough direction towards another bit of space, occasionally interrupted by a camel caravan. This proved to be, as well as being extremely fun (I had the Top Gear theme tune running through my head much of the time!), afforded us with some beautiful sights of Chadian village life; women in bright red scarfs riding donkeys laden with fire wood, women gathered around the scarce wells drawing water, chatting away and children playing in the sand on the outskirts of the occasional village made up of groups of round mud and straw huts.  

Then suddenly, from the seemingly endless flat, a group of rocky looking elephants emerged! I climbed up with my self- appointed guide, a little girl from the nearby village, and took in the view of infinite sand. We learnt after that boats on Lac Chad used to be tied to the elephants trunk. It would be another 45 minute drive by tarmacked road to reach the shores now.

Following all that intense physical activity, the only thing left to do was to spend the rest of the week by a pool, catching up, relaxing and jumping into the cool water to escape the 47C heat. We had a wonderful time together and I can’t thank my Mum enough for her love, support and encouragement.

International Women’s Day.

Le 8 mars… there was an ever increasing rumble of expectation and excitement as the day approached. After many discussions as to what the official material would look like, it suddenly burst onto the scene in vivid pink, yellow, green or blue, complete with flowery statements on the worth and role of women in ‘rebirth’ and ‘progression’. Then followed the flurry of activity as the tailors of N’Djamena rustled up an extraordinary variety of designs. And suddenly, it was upon us. In all its vibrancy and celebration, International Women’s Day had come to Chad and La Place de la Nation, the impressive centre of the city, was to be the location for a grand parade, of which the workers of Hopital de Guinebor II were to be a part.

While this photo (left) would win no prize for artistic skill, I enjoy it because it sums up for me the whole spirit of the day. First and foremost, some of the astonishing fashion statements that were being made; never before have I seen a lady wear, with such pride (or without come to think of it), a head scarf, plus a baseball cap, finished off with a pair of diamanté encrusted sunglasses! The tailors of N’Djamena did themselves proud; in the throng of thousands of women, I did not see 2 identical styles.

The second reason I like this photo is the women in the background. You can’t tell, but they are surrounding a car full of men and refusing to let them through. Amongst good nature cheers and only semi- serious arguments, the car was surrounded and held hostage for a good 10 minutes as it tried to cross the road packed with empowered women, ready to march.

These intrepid men were not the only minority that found themselves in the marching mass. For as we approached the dignitaries, flanked by brass bands, journalists and thousands of spectators, while being directed with curt whistles and the barked orders of 2 officials, whose aim was to install such fear in us that we would not dare to let the presence of long flappy skirts and flip flops inhibit our marching, I looked up and saw a cow too had joined the parade. Draped in the official material, of course!

The day was rounded up over a feast of fish, potatoes, dancing and singing. Amongst all the sights, sounds, activities and antics of the day, it was great to be a part of such a celebration as this with my future colleagues in Chad.