Handels Messiah has
probably been played in some improbable places , perhaps someone has it as a polyphonic ring tone? If not , why not?
Anyway I have it as musical
quote in a Rick Wakeman keyboard solo on a 1970's progressive rock album
which I always played it to celebrate
good news. Usually at a loud volume. So I shouldn't have been surprised when a
contemporary, presumably African, version of it
suddenly blurted out from our rather crackly rented PA system during a
ceremony at the hospital last Friday. How many of the assembled dignitaries
recognised it? Would Handel even manage it?
I don't know. More importantly what were we celebrating? The arrival of 2
forty foot shipping containers on a tide of black gold.
Crude oil, has bought many benefits to Chad. Although the
oil reserves had been located in the late 1960's it wasn't until 2004 that
Exxon-Petronas-Chevron managed to complete a 1500 km pipeline from southern
Chad through Cameroon to the Atlantic coast to enable oil exports to begin. It
can't be coincidence that since then the per capita per day income for Chad has
risen from about a dollar to nearly 3 dollars a day . In fact payments
by the consortium account for about 70% of
government revenues and has fuelled a major expansion of government funded
projects changing the face of N'djamena such as a huge parade ground with a
massive triumphal arch and lawns opposite the palace. Before we start to criticise
imagine the living conditions of the average Victorian Londoner when the great monuments
were being built, or for that matter the needs of the world when men walked on
the moon in 1969. Thankfully there are
also tarmac roads with storm drains
replacing for the simple tracks that
turned to mud each tear during the rains; new schools and a probably best of
all major new mother and child hospital
and medical school in the city centre.
It may only be trickle down development but it must be making a difference.
And so we come to our celebration, two massive forty foot shipping
containers filled with supplies by donors and volunteers at Cutting edge
Foundation, southern USA and transported as a gift by ESSO and partners all the
way from Houston to Ndjamena. The cost is one thing, the logistic capacity was equally important
and they organised it all right to
hospital compound. Shipping , customs, road transport through Cameroon and the
crane to finally lift them into place. All
done as a gift to the people of Chad. So we held a party to open the container
with the press, Ministry of Health, local village elders, local imams, national
church leaders and of course the head of EXXON Petronas Chevron Chad.
Ndilmbaye, our Chadian administrator organised it all, and very efficient it
was too. 
After the speeches were done, the Coca Cola drunk and the sandwiches eaten, what did we find in the containers. Treasure, such asan unusedset of WWII field surgery instruments in perfect condition, many other surgical instruments, about 15 drip stands , 2 theatre trolleys, wheel chairs, crutches, ECG machines and medical furniture for an office. Essential supplies,
much needed swabs, operating packs, gowns, clothes and much more besides. We
still have loads more to unpack. There is apparently even a lawn mower! (just
what every Englishman abroad needs after
a teapot.) A heavy duty one could come in useful after the heavy rains and
associated growth of the grass this year. Perhaps best of all saved till last ,
a portable X-ray machine plus accessories modified to use an up to date digital
system. So in the near future our patients won't have to drive 9 km for their
films.All these things will really make a difference to the way that we are able to deliver care, we still need to improve, but these things will help. So why not say 'Hallelujah' Praise God.
