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| International labour day 1st May 2016 spot the 2 Chadian flags |
A time to arrive and a time to
leave,
A time to work and a time to
rest,
A time to teach and a time to
learn,
A time to laugh and a time to
weep,
A time for greetings and a time
for goodbyes.
(adapted)
‘’I know that there is nothing better for people to do than to be happy
and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction
in all their toil - this is the gift of God’ Ecclesiastes 3 (12-13)
Farid meowed at the door on Saturday
morning, it must have seemed a normal day to him, a good night out hunting and now he could now look forward to his day job of lying around the house and
being fed some delicious left overs. This is all he has ever known, but things
were about to change. Firstly he was enticed into a box, then put into a car
(did that really bring back unpleasant memories of a trip to the vet?) and off
we set to a new home on the far side of town, a small walled compound in the
middle of nowhere. With our departure he
can no longer stay at GII, so we are very happy to have found a place for
him with Dia, our head midwife. She needs a new cat to keep the mice under
control and to replace their much loved cat Princess who died recently. So long
as he can adapt he has fallen on his feet, as cats tend to do. We will miss him.
Monday morning 7am and here I am in bed writing a blog, Andrea is making
a cup of tea and Rebecca is still fast asleep on the veranda. Something new? This
time last week the usual rhythm of the last 6 years was still there but change was in the air. Rebecca
had already set off in the car with Dogo for her last week at school to write her first
exam paper, Philosophy, and Andrea and I were getting ready for our final few
days and nights of work at Guinebor II.
The Friday before that (3/6/2016) a bit in advance so that it was before
the first day of Ramadan, we had officially thanked the hospital staff and shared a meal
together. Speeches were made and we received some fine gifts, amongst them a
new leather briefcase for me and a mother and child statue sculpted in wood for
Andrea. Really thoughtful and generous. The mayor came thanked us for our hard
work, wished that we could stay and jokingly asked what we had done that we
might be sent to Bardai (not a sought after posting by most Chadians)
By the following Friday, 10/6/2016 all was said and done. Bert Oubre, (CEF
President and new Medical Director), his wife Debbie (Obstetric nurse) and Kalbassou Dabassou ( Surgical
technician/nurse) had arrived on Tuesday, handovers had been made and then by
5pm on Friday our time here was finished, only the packing up of the house left to do. The day will always
be remembered, Ruth got very good results from her first year at university and
emailed them from her holiday travelling around Eastern Europe with friends.
Rebecca sat her final paper for her Bac, and is now waiting upon results. It was Andrea’s birthday and also 33 years
since we got engaged to be married. A life changing day for our family.
I did say goodbye at the Friday morning staff meeting from Andrea and me,
and being the last day did make it seem a bit more real than the week before.
We thanked them again for working with us as a team to serve our patients, each
of them had played their role, nurses, midwives, doctors, cleaners, guards, pharmacy
laboratory administration, health care assistants and sterilisation. Everyone
depended on each other and will continue to do so, but we will miss the
pleasure of serving with them.
And then I said goodbye, and yes I said it in English. Au revoir just isn’t
the same, although till we meet again is a fine sentiment, I preferred my
mother tongue to really express my feelings. Goodbye a contraction of the old
English ‘God bless you’
Good bye Guinebor.
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| Our last management team meeting May 2016 |
