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| Mother and Child- a present to Andrea from the midwives at Guinebor II |
Half way through August and nearly at the end of our whirlwind tour of
the UK up north to Lochgilhpead and down south to Penzance and then across west to Penarth and east to Eye too. Visits to BMS churches,
friends, medical courses and holidays have all been squeezed in. Meanwhile we
have been making plans for our return to Chad. We will return to Ndjamena on
the 16th of September and be based there whilst we learn Arabic.
Initially for 2 months and then afterwards in Amtiman practicing what we have
learnt.
After that the next challenge begins getting ready to move up north and
another language to learn. However as we
move on we thought we’d also look back one more time. On leaving our house in
Guinebor II we emptied it and put all the contents in a container rather the reverse
of our arrival where we had to empty the containers and sort out what had been
eaten by termites or melted by the sun. Hopefully that will not be happening this time.
Looking around at all the pictures we had collected over the last 5
years it gave us a chance to reflect and here are some of our thoughts.
The market scene just like the central market in Ndjamena where we or
our house help do the weekly shop. This was a picture Mark bought on a
roundabout of which there are rather a lot in Ndjamena he bought it soon after
arriving in Chad when he spent a lot of time driving the girls to school and
waiting around-before they could really speak French and we didn’t have our
reliable driver Dago it seems a long time ago.
The second is a picture we bought
at Dougia a small hotel with a pool where
we spent a quite few weekends relaxing. It is just south of Lake Chad on the river bank with Cameroon just 400m across the water. Sadly due to security advice we have been unable to go there for the past couple of years.
The artist sold us the picture, it shows a typical Chadian scene, a herd of animals in the desert reminiscent of cave paintings. The image glows as it did in reality the day we drove to elephant rock and again
not so long ago when we flew over the desert up to the North of Chad.
We keep this picture up of rice fields in Guinea as it reminds us of our
time and friends there. All that we learnt in Guinea has been so helpful to us
as we opened and ran the hospital from planning the pharmacy to knowing at least
a little about the French employment code. It also gave us all a great love for
rice with nearly every meal something readily available in Chad, although
Chadians prefer boule and we are taking our time to fully adapt.
These women walking towards us remind me of the Arabic women in our
hospital heads covered most wearing laffees (a long strip of material wrapped
around over your clothes) and reaching for their headscarves immediately they
awake from the anaesthetic or leave the consultation room. I remember when we opened the hospital and
wondered if anyone would come we have served so many patients since its becomes
hard to remember them all. I also begin to wonder if I will ever get used to
wearing a laffee as I hope I will in Amtiman and afterwards. I guess so as even
at Guinebor it felt strange leaving the house without a headscarf.
Another group of women this time in relief the surface is hard and Chad
can be a tough place to live heat and dust our constant companions not to
mention flies they are incredible in Chad everywhere you go they follow you
soon learn the value of a plastic fly swatter and mosquito netting.
Ruths picture from an old fort on the Isles of Scilly reminds us both of her and our
holiday there a few years ago a magical place to relax and all our good times
of rest in the UK away from the business of Guinebor.
A map of Chad made by women who have had fistula surgery in Ndjamena and are looking to start afresh
now cured. We look at this and think about our travels up to Bitkine over to
Abeche and Goz Beida and down to Mondou. The quiet of a morning at Zakouma
seeing a giraffe appear out of the trees. The sunset over the hills of Bitkine
and the fun rickshaws in Abeche. The whole of Chad such a mixture of people
with great needs for health, education and peace.
Women walking away from us-bought in a new craft shop in town this one
was one of the artists old style pictures which made the price much better!!
This is the last picture we bought and reminds us that we walk into a future
that will still involve caring for women and children just as we have done at
Guinebor and there is still work to be done.
