tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79625613820841296132024-02-21T03:52:18.195+00:00Chad LifeA place where I can document what I'm up to in Chad, Central Africa!
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-80005504362427838152022-06-27T10:16:00.003+01:002022-06-27T10:16:39.832+01:00Cancelled visit<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Just to update this blog in case anyone was planning to attend - the following visit has been cancelled at the church's request:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wednesday 29 June - Lydbrook BC, Nr Ross-on-Wye - 2.30pm</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It's been great to see many people on this home assignment, thank you to those who've attended one of my updates :)</span></p>Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-31144357823334361632022-05-24T19:43:00.001+01:002022-06-27T10:17:03.658+01:00Updating the UK<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Hello! It's been a while since I wrote anything on here, the blog has unfortunately been side-lined by other communication methods. I got back to the UK for my 2022 home assignment 10 days ago. After 2020's 100% online home assignment, this time around it's pretty much business as usual and I'm touring the UK giving updates on the work at Guinebor II (G2) hospital in Chad. I thought I'd use the blogosphere (is that even a word?) to let you know where and when in the UK I will be speaking, in case you'd like to try and catch me and hear about the hospital in the desert.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Sunday 29 May - Upton Vale Baptist Church, Torquay - bring & share lunch followed by my update</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Tuesday 31 May - Westcliff BC, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex - 7.30pm</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Sunday 5 June - Mansfield BC - 10.30am</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Sunday 5 June - Darkhouse BC, Cosley, Bilston - 3.30pm</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Monday 13 June - Union BC, High Wycombe (via Zoom) - 8pm</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wednesday 15 June - Manvers Street BC, Bath - 11.30am</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wednesday 15 June - South Molton BC, Devon - 7.30pm</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Saturday 18 June - Folkestone BC - 4pm</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Sunday 19 June - Brighton Road BC, Horsham - 10am</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wednesday 22 June - Selly Park BC, Birmingham - 7.30pm</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Sunday 26 June - Mumbles BC, Swansea - 11am</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Tuesday 28 June - Griffithstown BC, Pontypool - 7pm</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wednesday 29 June - Lydbrook BC, Nr Ross-on-Wye - 2.30pm **CANCELLED**</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Sunday 3 July - Earl Shilton BC, Leicester - 10.30am</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in-person. Hope you can join me, I look forward to seeing you!</span></p>Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-12731417848390341032020-07-30T18:48:00.000+01:002020-07-30T18:48:40.195+01:00Ramblings from Chad<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that I do prayer letters more often, this blog has kinda
become redundant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I think it’s
morphing into more of somewhere where I can give you a small window of insight
into daily life in Chad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can’t start writing anything at this point in time without
referencing covid-19. Yes, it unfortunately
made it to Chad, much to my dismay. I’m
not sure how I thought Chad would be immune, but I lived in hope. Only for that hope to be dashed with the announcement
of the first positive case on 19<sup>th</sup> March. I have to say that I was impressed with how
the government here responded. Lockdown happened
immediately. We didn’t have full-on lockdown
like many other countries because, quite frankly, most people here can’t afford
to hunker down in their houses for weeks on end. They live day to day and so need to be out buying
food with whatever money that have available that day. However, churches and mosques were shut,
non-essential shops were shut, restaurants were allowed to operate a takeaway
service only, mass communal transport was stopped, you weren’t allowed more than
4 people in a car or 2 on a motorbike. Everyone
had to wear face masks. Hand-washing stations popped up everywhere. A night-time
curfew was installed. The airport was shut
to all but cargo planes. The list goes
on. I have to admit that the latter
point about the airport turned out to be one of the hardest parts of living
through covid-19 here for me. The knowledge
that there was no easy route out of Chad should I need it was hard to live with
when my family and many of my closest friends are all in the UK. Numbers of cases increased in the country. The first community-transmission case was
reported. Chad was heading in the same
direction as most of the rest of the world.
However, something happened. Or rather, didn’t happen. Yes, numbers increased quickly. We put many measure in place at the hospital
to deal with suspect cases and prevent spread of the infection. The government hospital down the road was the
designated treatment hospital. We waited
for what I thought was the inevitable deluge of patients who would need
isolating and referring to that hospital.
It never came. There was no talk
of mass death in the country. Our hospital
staff never got ill with covid. Writing this
4 months down the line, I am full of gratitude that covid-19, despite causing sad
deaths here, never escalated to the extent it has elsewhere. The healthcare system would have been
inundated and collapsed under the strain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here’s
a pic of me sporting one of my 5 facemasks.
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They’re a bit of a fashion statement here!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my work face mask.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wearing it during hot season wasn’t pleasant but
I am definitely pro-mask.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No debate.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my personal blog so I can give
personal opinions ;)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Was I smiling or not under that thing?!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m a bit annoyed with myself for not taking a picture of my
pharmacy colleague Audrey the other day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He proudly arrived at work sporting a shirt and trousers made out of the
same fabric.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing unusual in that
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, his face mask was also
made out of the same fabric.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His flipflops had been covered in the same fabric too!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was head to toe in purple tie-dye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brilliant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You’ll have to use my writing to conjure up an image of what he looked
like!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing about covid-19 that I’ve appreciated, and let’s face
it, there’s not been a lot to appreciate about it, is that it’s given me the opportunity
to connect in real time with people in the UK doing online things like church
services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks to much-improved internet
here, I was no longer the one who was far away and unable to participate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As was the empathy I now feel you all can
have with me in the fact that I was able to have my hair cut last week for the
first time in 9 months!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hairdressers
here aren’t used to Caucasian hair but a lovely Canadian friend who lives out
East was in the capital. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has hair-cutting
scissors and many previous experiences of cutting people’s hair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The offer was there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Alfresco hair cut!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check out the
hair washing facility in the picture below.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ecologically friendly as I was able to water the plants at the same
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simple hair-washing station!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Granted I was offered to go into the apartment she was
staying in and wash my hair but hec, this was quicker and as the water was cool,
pretty refreshing too! It was so nice to
have 3 inches lopped off I can tell you.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ta-da! The end result. Much lighter :)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Talking of water (my links in this blog are so slick today),
rainy season has arrived with a vengeance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ve have had some pretty heavy deluges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last week was particularly long and heavy and
like me, many Chadians were saying they’d never known such an intense rainstorm
that lasted so long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was so worried about the villagers around
the hospital and how their houses were holding up.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBK6yIxPzjVroz3FfiUKTUtwXU0ixOorzimMQF1G4ljiVsEqOr0-ZxDRk1dUGAS_t1txpficxdkAn5-4ZDtP_Js1NT1QUrj2ItaSg8zI2Ch3-kcbL5I4_IDOTYVAX6eBJiQVD1kr-Jp1n/s1600/IMG_20200723_183128594.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBK6yIxPzjVroz3FfiUKTUtwXU0ixOorzimMQF1G4ljiVsEqOr0-ZxDRk1dUGAS_t1txpficxdkAn5-4ZDtP_Js1NT1QUrj2ItaSg8zI2Ch3-kcbL5I4_IDOTYVAX6eBJiQVD1kr-Jp1n/s320/IMG_20200723_183128594.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My new temporary lake-side property</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh and finally, I almost forgot. Not sure how, because this last subject has
taken up a lot of time and effort since it commenced last December. I built a house! I know, right?! What else would a pharmacist working at a
hospital in Chad do? I’ve definitely got
many new transferable (hopefully?) skills.
Ok, so I didn’t build it with my own hands, but I was one half of the
design and planning team and then I oversaw the build, which was led by our
lovely and long-suffering hospital maintenance guy Alphonse. My BMS colleagues moved in two weeks ago! It’s so good to see it done and being lived
in. I’ve vowed never to take on a big building
project again. This is accountability right
there. Please hold me to this!! I’ll leave you with some pictures of the
construction phases and the finished product.
There are a lot, so stop here if you don’t want to be bored with
construction pics!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks for reading :)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikftXJm8F4-09i0JlvG6IH-84YQ1zr445Hq0L7mQD9KW5UMJ3jpbqEEPsW20ONAGH5iq2k_P8HnjrPra0i0uXdGtmXivK3ueC0OBmRmM6cCfWfmIQ4GD55HIkt7mnNRyQct-RJYCS5X2oU/s1600/1+house+before+start+18+Dec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikftXJm8F4-09i0JlvG6IH-84YQ1zr445Hq0L7mQD9KW5UMJ3jpbqEEPsW20ONAGH5iq2k_P8HnjrPra0i0uXdGtmXivK3ueC0OBmRmM6cCfWfmIQ4GD55HIkt7mnNRyQct-RJYCS5X2oU/s320/1+house+before+start+18+Dec.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">18th December 2019 - before anything started</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs7-HgJjTq4vzQL8dcVGRmba-ilvb-h91_XSyt335c62W2JudTMyUfQLHZVw6ecaN03esw_amxh9zHBtl0ZiPI8dV9jgYE3AZH8xzM8PF1oqtenzNiQmoyfjnA40W4UYtXCyLbKHQSRvIF/s1600/2+house+mark-out+20+dec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs7-HgJjTq4vzQL8dcVGRmba-ilvb-h91_XSyt335c62W2JudTMyUfQLHZVw6ecaN03esw_amxh9zHBtl0ZiPI8dV9jgYE3AZH8xzM8PF1oqtenzNiQmoyfjnA40W4UYtXCyLbKHQSRvIF/s320/2+house+mark-out+20+dec.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">20th December 2019 - marking out the site, <br />digging out the foundations (by hand)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5yy5bdTvsraPYSEnibH5VxHOKhS8MKRo5K99GFwPHbaBcjkm16dQoZuh0e7ElIZa5XLRLuZPre5LFgC1Py1bRTGiEQUYAn9-na6h1E-rdpSPS95UUkyKBFBD6VUb3HcFE71GJH9vY_P0X/s1600/3+house+foundations+2+jan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5yy5bdTvsraPYSEnibH5VxHOKhS8MKRo5K99GFwPHbaBcjkm16dQoZuh0e7ElIZa5XLRLuZPre5LFgC1Py1bRTGiEQUYAn9-na6h1E-rdpSPS95UUkyKBFBD6VUb3HcFE71GJH9vY_P0X/s320/3+house+foundations+2+jan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3rd January 2020 - foundations</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiYJzsV4OHRnkbS6VzpgVeqNJ3zq56ls_dAGA816RTCzbdC-EUN1mduOF2pPDtXlkRKz5RvaaJ5RG2jHNjMz8ieE6lMSeWCzGGsWo-21fKq22Wd8XOdjJ-jJTKZ_98C09Vy8QZP_xxSeBg/s1600/4+house+floor+laying+9+jan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiYJzsV4OHRnkbS6VzpgVeqNJ3zq56ls_dAGA816RTCzbdC-EUN1mduOF2pPDtXlkRKz5RvaaJ5RG2jHNjMz8ieE6lMSeWCzGGsWo-21fKq22Wd8XOdjJ-jJTKZ_98C09Vy8QZP_xxSeBg/s320/4+house+floor+laying+9+jan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9th January 2020 - prepping the base/floor<br />I've no idea what the right word is....I'm a pharmacist!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3u2LIECBk0h7VoxARP6zM8Lb9lDoBr5PeHBlsk_5MgFhNxlTxgyzUVbyEoo3ziEaq4wDEiKRnwNL1rT70iZ24Fv2MHacF9gPgXhKqWK8kC3F3ltlNMj8ZHB61JRXvR70UbYN0B5gc6IBl/s1600/5+house+20+jan+walls+going+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3u2LIECBk0h7VoxARP6zM8Lb9lDoBr5PeHBlsk_5MgFhNxlTxgyzUVbyEoo3ziEaq4wDEiKRnwNL1rT70iZ24Fv2MHacF9gPgXhKqWK8kC3F3ltlNMj8ZHB61JRXvR70UbYN0B5gc6IBl/s320/5+house+20+jan+walls+going+up.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">20th January 2020 - walls going up</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nIg3wCNK29brM3BJsAaK9WiUSzLS7PXvEjBh8xkZdvqcCR1lZNww-GXBcqjxth24yPAodfTMpYviOUtHJ6HwtkKnJHAvQs-tj7oQn9B9FWn4ja-_wN7pXC0Njv14mApfCgbMYAC7KeKJ/s1600/6+house+progress+7+feb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nIg3wCNK29brM3BJsAaK9WiUSzLS7PXvEjBh8xkZdvqcCR1lZNww-GXBcqjxth24yPAodfTMpYviOUtHJ6HwtkKnJHAvQs-tj7oQn9B9FWn4ja-_wN7pXC0Njv14mApfCgbMYAC7KeKJ/s320/6+house+progress+7+feb.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7th February 2020 - progress!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZiWdWF57pnE2XWnXTYpmLOGmDp5EnJSrrG9FNLH-WO3bSip2hPwgsDJCgviyNO1ZR7IG-n4o8B9aQEQ38mXiPzzyz7zik5Ewyj1TZd9LjMVTbS9mo8AZ3SgA4tLWm-C39brj3L72CgiV/s1600/7+house+roof+going+on+17+feb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZiWdWF57pnE2XWnXTYpmLOGmDp5EnJSrrG9FNLH-WO3bSip2hPwgsDJCgviyNO1ZR7IG-n4o8B9aQEQ38mXiPzzyz7zik5Ewyj1TZd9LjMVTbS9mo8AZ3SgA4tLWm-C39brj3L72CgiV/s320/7+house+roof+going+on+17+feb.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">17th February 2020 - roof going on</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDha2Zm_2PPIXy5K4qzXQvpDiRYKe2PZDbNXNScCMaxLYY2nEPkrC5fRfGXUh6j3nXZBa9eTdFx8S6TlagODdi5WEmmpKrpgXN0UMTvhHFllA2FZZDZh6Mt4R0kPkHzLORhpkCSl9_vvyO/s1600/8+house+more+progress+26+feb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDha2Zm_2PPIXy5K4qzXQvpDiRYKe2PZDbNXNScCMaxLYY2nEPkrC5fRfGXUh6j3nXZBa9eTdFx8S6TlagODdi5WEmmpKrpgXN0UMTvhHFllA2FZZDZh6Mt4R0kPkHzLORhpkCSl9_vvyO/s320/8+house+more+progress+26+feb.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">26th February 2020 - roof on, plastering being done,<br />front veranda going up</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZXmEngH_GctJIL5y2lkp-0z6vJJ8Y_gOYC3dIxZShkxr38-isSPbIK21DYO9dH_jFIbBLJ3vf8QEsU50jKZFdDi_gKjQN3-8TQTZ9SZbQD2D0wZ4hdGgmE6xqo-jDsSiOtPVEyi0siOgV/s1600/9+house+window+frames+in+6+march.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZXmEngH_GctJIL5y2lkp-0z6vJJ8Y_gOYC3dIxZShkxr38-isSPbIK21DYO9dH_jFIbBLJ3vf8QEsU50jKZFdDi_gKjQN3-8TQTZ9SZbQD2D0wZ4hdGgmE6xqo-jDsSiOtPVEyi0siOgV/s320/9+house+window+frames+in+6+march.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9th March 2020 - window frames in</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxNl3Qpd0r198StoYLxXT6S53s0LSnjyRT_m7bn0A2k1zL6WKTSixjtX33iTNxQ8RS3JQvCDjdKjFIEFBhGVQVFbXafiYGB1PXylRW6ycCSMC3Wq1LU8MO8snvQiDFGcouGz0AVHvuTSY1/s1600/10+house+front+veranda+going+in+10+march.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxNl3Qpd0r198StoYLxXT6S53s0LSnjyRT_m7bn0A2k1zL6WKTSixjtX33iTNxQ8RS3JQvCDjdKjFIEFBhGVQVFbXafiYGB1PXylRW6ycCSMC3Wq1LU8MO8snvQiDFGcouGz0AVHvuTSY1/s320/10+house+front+veranda+going+in+10+march.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10th March 2020 - more work on front veranda</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KjKLG8J0nvDPFaRhwFFunthyphenhyphenOqSP2ssaWvOnXgD_1IM_SEqFowvlePu2oEalHmxQ1xZ33SilyefTRyS5Y_lcrWRFNXV3gUW_htgFE1rujrpT1P7FkyTFFst4aa-Sn5AdcbdgvgeTp7fU/s1600/11+house+progress+3+apr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KjKLG8J0nvDPFaRhwFFunthyphenhyphenOqSP2ssaWvOnXgD_1IM_SEqFowvlePu2oEalHmxQ1xZ33SilyefTRyS5Y_lcrWRFNXV3gUW_htgFE1rujrpT1P7FkyTFFst4aa-Sn5AdcbdgvgeTp7fU/s320/11+house+progress+3+apr.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3rd April 2020 - more progress</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3klP9CFCQggXFFjX0Sh3JyHtuGm05hTN9FRoFQ-iHffUBHVwDqpZxz3xL75wIpyj7ONVv2gQsRAkHFbbTC-R6_6s7V5Be2oq9OmWMxAvH3zlOAyo5ojdWOHkvvfH8GhHabXavXkgEXFtD/s1600/12+house+exterior+painting+27+apr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3klP9CFCQggXFFjX0Sh3JyHtuGm05hTN9FRoFQ-iHffUBHVwDqpZxz3xL75wIpyj7ONVv2gQsRAkHFbbTC-R6_6s7V5Be2oq9OmWMxAvH3zlOAyo5ojdWOHkvvfH8GhHabXavXkgEXFtD/s320/12+house+exterior+painting+27+apr.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">27th April 2020 - exterior painting</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6kMUNUBvh5vY71DqTXim6kpmrMpvz-0BkmAK8ffFvtx9XqHXAkxnq55awnDz6RZbjhIxnTA5-MlIlLgG5NxnRDKIRT02qS7V_evEwuHCRct5BbM1fX06CcRc6w3HFBp775cVkhEraBNBs/s1600/13+house+more+or+less+done+27+may.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6kMUNUBvh5vY71DqTXim6kpmrMpvz-0BkmAK8ffFvtx9XqHXAkxnq55awnDz6RZbjhIxnTA5-MlIlLgG5NxnRDKIRT02qS7V_evEwuHCRct5BbM1fX06CcRc6w3HFBp775cVkhEraBNBs/s320/13+house+more+or+less+done+27+may.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">27th May 2020 - more or less finished</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KzmLmRsc4c6xPD91gg8ckYX97lF12DiWSwqwHHQeHZMT84dwVulRGJqogDZ9pFxhyphenhyphenJR_NylD98yDeAwnpg4vfr-LZJLCZSdnRY9U7izvv9LRU24k-mViAVRY9viebn47tvV8GedB7Bzf/s1600/14+house+being+lived+in+30+july.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KzmLmRsc4c6xPD91gg8ckYX97lF12DiWSwqwHHQeHZMT84dwVulRGJqogDZ9pFxhyphenhyphenJR_NylD98yDeAwnpg4vfr-LZJLCZSdnRY9U7izvv9LRU24k-mViAVRY9viebn47tvV8GedB7Bzf/s320/14+house+being+lived+in+30+july.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">30th July 2020 - house being lived in :)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span>Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-82002753749440133312020-05-22T17:21:00.001+01:002020-05-22T17:33:36.137+01:00How you know it's hot season in Chad<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We’re hopefully coming to the end of Chadian hot season 2020
and will wave a very happy goodbye to the 2-month stint of day-time temperatures
around 45C and night-time temperatures of 35C.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here are a few tell-tale signs that it’s hot season in Chad!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You prefer to sleep outside on a stringy camp bed than inside
on your roasting hot mattress</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZohjPkv0Je3lbJFwQwJlMsmEtdMHJqN_GH2d53UMnEM9bA0Q1-nNsW29e1RQRTKn661LKhgZBe6RRgIVYZGwuTMGK_IYClDw73cWmhT_Plhwx91xVFWnFhO6_yNzYjYob51SvEDo2D2ET/s1600/bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZohjPkv0Je3lbJFwQwJlMsmEtdMHJqN_GH2d53UMnEM9bA0Q1-nNsW29e1RQRTKn661LKhgZBe6RRgIVYZGwuTMGK_IYClDw73cWmhT_Plhwx91xVFWnFhO6_yNzYjYob51SvEDo2D2ET/s320/bed.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My trusty camp bed</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s not the most comfortable thing to sleep on but I find
it far better than sweating it out inside on a mattress that’s absorbed the day’s
heat.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The chocolate pieces in your yummy cereal, which you convince
yourself is healthy because it has the word ‘muesli’ on the box, melts onto the
packaging, rendering it impossible to enjoy the chocolate as it’s effectively
disappeared</b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8lrw1guyb5VzBzalmo0Yidjjr_4yPb5y5qd6GC5R9rhVit_AfKIfNNudUoBUpe2R7R_taYfejhws1hveNoUpk-rfkkcU0Eg1KYXgr1lOlCiv2RIV7YhOVx0cckHWgRUIddaS9kWofYuoe/s1600/cereal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8lrw1guyb5VzBzalmo0Yidjjr_4yPb5y5qd6GC5R9rhVit_AfKIfNNudUoBUpe2R7R_taYfejhws1hveNoUpk-rfkkcU0Eg1KYXgr1lOlCiv2RIV7YhOVx0cckHWgRUIddaS9kWofYuoe/s320/cereal.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Empty cereal packaging, the cereal rendered more<br />healthy than normal thanks to the automatic removal<br />of the chocolate pieces from amidst the muesli</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Your friends turn up with a boot-full of mangoes they bought
mega-cheap from the local mango farm</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPb_08CY7CBHPw7tkP84ESUeBekpoIeCoJVnmcIpcv4lcsbbPAH6IskOuCBZqoiRIhnfRtBn3o7v6uzxynO8RxEq3SzMrHg3KFYRDQO1F9Gd_9vl2UdevYnrI5gSd7ysFs3fxMb8G63W6z/s1600/mangoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPb_08CY7CBHPw7tkP84ESUeBekpoIeCoJVnmcIpcv4lcsbbPAH6IskOuCBZqoiRIhnfRtBn3o7v6uzxynO8RxEq3SzMrHg3KFYRDQO1F9Gd_9vl2UdevYnrI5gSd7ysFs3fxMb8G63W6z/s320/mangoes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I
never even knew this local mango farm existed!
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The joys of new teammates who find this stuff out.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I love mango and always say that they’re the
only positive part of hot season in Chad.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I bought 10 mangoes from my friends for the princely sum of 75p :)</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You get mega excited when a colleague presents you with a
cold coca-cola in the middle of the day</span></b><br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTwHg2MZkWiug5ilhIAatwCzg7XKU5PoMKgJahjQ69_Jpoebh9o3YogKiqaq8a9nkYyXPK21SZnJq4M_hlzs4XJpFEwFJXhjfykXXSFRyJNOvpSLlaMn_bzBLqHblPzYa9VYrIlbHQEE5/s1600/coca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTwHg2MZkWiug5ilhIAatwCzg7XKU5PoMKgJahjQ69_Jpoebh9o3YogKiqaq8a9nkYyXPK21SZnJq4M_hlzs4XJpFEwFJXhjfykXXSFRyJNOvpSLlaMn_bzBLqHblPzYa9VYrIlbHQEE5/s320/coca.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately, with my facemask on, you can’t tell I’m
smiling in this photo but trust me, I let out a little whoop of excitement when I was given
this!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While they’re watering the garden, you ask your friend to
hose you down even though you’re still fully dressed</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtduPY6jCSOD5md_-dxXyUrUyw85hCK1QqzTGkcDPY_W5JqctB7pmPRI50K2syW5ZWjUXFfWxJmyCVKhnIP5LLaWaVKRwkUAxwW0PcVBes8uK4DWrNxAoP9QRlQ87pIKW5NqClZM4u9ryA/s1600/hosedown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtduPY6jCSOD5md_-dxXyUrUyw85hCK1QqzTGkcDPY_W5JqctB7pmPRI50K2syW5ZWjUXFfWxJmyCVKhnIP5LLaWaVKRwkUAxwW0PcVBes8uK4DWrNxAoP9QRlQ87pIKW5NqClZM4u9ryA/s320/hosedown.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So refreshing!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I carried on wearing these clothes in my house after becoming
drenched. One way of staying cool! 90 minutes later they were bone dry.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Last minute meal ideas are easy – take two tortillas out of
the freezer and 5 minutes later they’re defrosted and ready to eat</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLYvd89uGfi8_BSyjSdrG0y657Am1eNtnm0hVwBN2Kx2P7vYHwG5xELpm163aa-VFh4dKgZ55Pdlz9z61Kco4a6dvyvmfq9rYHN8BUcijfsDdnPw1umCYtR9Bd_NMU6xnSquywCbGXCmJ/s1600/tortilla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLYvd89uGfi8_BSyjSdrG0y657Am1eNtnm0hVwBN2Kx2P7vYHwG5xELpm163aa-VFh4dKgZ55Pdlz9z61Kco4a6dvyvmfq9rYHN8BUcijfsDdnPw1umCYtR9Bd_NMU6xnSquywCbGXCmJ/s320/tortilla.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taken out of the freezer at 6pm, ready to eat at 6.05pm</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A local lady makes these.
They’re cheap (15p each) and make a nice change from eating baguette which is the most frequently available source of bread here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are probably other signs of hot season, but I can’t
think of any more right now.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other than
boring you with multiple photos of my thermometer.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My parents, sister and brother-in-law are the
only ones I force to see all those via WhatsApp! </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh yes, birthday cake candles have to be kept
in the fridge else they spontaneously melt and look pathetic.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That’s a good one.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I unfortunately don’t have an exciting photo
of a semi-spontaneously melted candle though, sorry about that.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh and then there’s the fact that you have to drink around 6 litres of fluid per day.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Can’t
really take a fancy photo of water bottles but yeah, that’s about the average
that I drink during hot season.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh and
that you need to add salt to food to replace what you’ve sweated out.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That’s pretty counter-cultural when you’re taught
growing up that you shouldn’t add salt to anything in order to be healthy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hopefully that’s given a little insight into the joys of Chadian
hot season! This has been my 5<sup>th</sup>
and they don’t get any easier. However, we’re
all in the same boat and everyone consoles each other and spurs each other on. It definitely builds camaraderie and solidarity! </span> </div>
<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-10283350201782770072019-11-28T11:20:00.000+00:002019-11-28T11:25:25.867+00:00The beginner's guide to driving in Chad<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Driving in Chad is most definitely an experience and adds to
the fun of living here!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to be
adept at driving in Chad you need the following aptitudes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 360-degree vision</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 100% alertness at all times so that you can
expect the unexpected<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- High anticipation of the (sometimes strange)
manoeuvres that everyone else around you is about to do<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- Quick hand reflex to sound the car’s horn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- Previous 4x4 off-roading experience desirable
(but not essential)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- A good sense of direction (alternatively, access
to GPS)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chad, like many countries around the world (except my
passport country and a fair few others) drives on the right.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So the first thing I had to get used to was
driving while sitting on the left and having the gear stick on the right.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, that and also remembering to drive on
the right!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chad does have rules of the road.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m not totally sure whether they’re written
down, I guess they must be, but there are also many ‘unwritten rules’ that you
just learn about as you go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In N’Djamena, the capital, the few main tarred roads are
theoretically mostly dual carriageways.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, the unwritten rule is that the lane on the right is for
motorbikes (motos), car/minivan taxis (the latter frequently stop to add or
drop off passengers) and the lane on the left is for regular cars and bigger
vehicles.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unless the bigger vehicles are s-l-o-w like fuel tankers or heavily-laden lorries.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then they are ‘urged’, by the sounding of horns
of vehicles following them, to move over.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I mainly stick to the left-side of the dual carriageway to avoid motos
and the start-stopping taxis.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unless
there’s a fast moving, often military, pickup tailgating me.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then I’ll politely move over to the
right.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, I am British after all </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">😉</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
Plus I’d rather the guys with guns are ahead of me!</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7GpRQaRuGlhZdMhH6sgfpOFyUbKgZ1AUqW2kRLne-hjNAK2kS33CvJwEIyJfkypcezHF0xHMazSi25f5CyCk5Pdz82HET7fMgyQW011FTqpKs1EtLfdljgSRaZrFq0n4yrPBJf2D3DIOg/s1600/IMG_2855.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7GpRQaRuGlhZdMhH6sgfpOFyUbKgZ1AUqW2kRLne-hjNAK2kS33CvJwEIyJfkypcezHF0xHMazSi25f5CyCk5Pdz82HET7fMgyQW011FTqpKs1EtLfdljgSRaZrFq0n4yrPBJf2D3DIOg/s320/IMG_2855.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Perfect example of moto on the right, bigger vehicles,<br />including the one I'm driving, on the left</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirE_LaYByIAlgHA-pktqEaEurwFoNVJSdPNWnCnXmI-a3BLqhHQ-pP7ZtQsbKDHbxEhpUDeDgo593Z0E6ynmm1cf0yrjPj_qdY6MEUnocltuJj-dgaQVKFXSdoxfSdTJFdKJbzLtpxIZW5/s1600/IMG_2860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirE_LaYByIAlgHA-pktqEaEurwFoNVJSdPNWnCnXmI-a3BLqhHQ-pP7ZtQsbKDHbxEhpUDeDgo593Z0E6ynmm1cf0yrjPj_qdY6MEUnocltuJj-dgaQVKFXSdoxfSdTJFdKJbzLtpxIZW5/s320/IMG_2860.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This road is actually only a single lane each side.<br />But, you know, there's always room for a third lane<br />down the middle</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">N’Djamena boasts three flyovers (over-passes for my American
readers). All of them are over
roundabouts. The rule is that motos
aren’t allowed on the flyovers, only cars are.
The motos have to go down to the roundabout and up the other side. So that frees up some space! It’s timely that I add in here that there are
more motos than cars here in Chad. They
are far more affordable, and you can still fit a family of four on it. Or yourself and two adult friends. Who needs a car when a moto will do at a
fraction of the cost?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next we need to talk about roundabouts. Ahhhh, roundabouts. Chad loves a good roundabout and they like
making features of them by building a small monument on them, or a piece of
abstract art. Many of them are used as
landmarks when giving directions. Most
of them have two names, the official one and the colloquial one. Chad has a strange, antiquated rule when it
comes to driving around roundabouts and it’s one that takes some getting used
to. When driving up to a roundabout in
Chad you have right of way and can drive straight onto the roundabout. If there’s already a vehicle going around the
roundabout, it must stop to let you enter.
That said, the rule never seems to apply to motos, and they rarely stop
on the roundabout to let a car enter! I
guess they’re small enough to sneak through on the inside.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhv8zC27LI9_BR_VeUPPG8fmMXsfkt-AybJ0qYFbAAvRMLeqBFZGfZlZuf-AjYegPpT4vD7TaXJrqUuDw9lTO9TPwiUh79mFfcBZkiJJj7QIZt0lyQH7cNsdPU54dYbS4Q1QdXSC3p7wb7/s1600/IMG_2865.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhv8zC27LI9_BR_VeUPPG8fmMXsfkt-AybJ0qYFbAAvRMLeqBFZGfZlZuf-AjYegPpT4vD7TaXJrqUuDw9lTO9TPwiUh79mFfcBZkiJJj7QIZt0lyQH7cNsdPU54dYbS4Q1QdXSC3p7wb7/s320/IMG_2865.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Here we are, entering a roundabout. Note the ladies on the moto and <br />the car patiently (ish) waiting. Also note the decorative roundabout, <br />with not-anatomically-correct hands holding a globe. What you can't see is that the globe <br />contains a map of the outline of Africa, with Chad painted, very large and not to scale, in the middle</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8mZ36nrYY56z_cVZgh566fwKC0T2P8VvMEQLAJjUdYMnEQxM-_b9XtNkLDcHOAeY7N3xiU-Ua1L3y5KeKUdrpP79Q9U2Y-yvOzYoCvf0LjI3XCJ_8k5Q9We7pJCReCHWeE2zlkcufUBW/s1600/IMG_2885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8mZ36nrYY56z_cVZgh566fwKC0T2P8VvMEQLAJjUdYMnEQxM-_b9XtNkLDcHOAeY7N3xiU-Ua1L3y5KeKUdrpP79Q9U2Y-yvOzYoCvf0LjI3XCJ_8k5Q9We7pJCReCHWeE2zlkcufUBW/s320/IMG_2885.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Entering another roundabout. This one is colloquially called<br />the spitting cow roundabout, cos those are cows heads on <br />the building on the roundabout. Sometimes they turn the water <br />on and water comes out their mouths. Hence the name! Note the <br />terrible car driver who is not giving way to me entering the roundabout. <br />Tut tut.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next we need to cover junctions. They exist in theory, but in practice, people
rarely stop at them. I can be driving on
the main road and there can be a feeder road on my left, for example. In most countries, the vehicle entering the
main road from the side road gives way to me and enters the main road once I’ve
gone past. This rarely happens in Chad. They drive straight out of the junction and
instead of coming across in front of me, they slowly drive up the wrong side of
the road for a while, dodging any oncoming traffic, until they can safely
cruise over to the correct, right-hand side of the road. It’s motos that perform this manoeuvre most
often but sometimes cars do it too. If
you’re a wary foreigner like me, and you’re coming out of a side street,
wanting to turn left and you’re waiting until the traffic on the main road is
clear, this will cause fellow road users behind some angst. No need to wait! They’ll pull up beside me and then pull out
at the same time as me, creating a temporary two-lane system until we’re both
on the main road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPezesAFE6PthZir8Ey1TBMwfUNPUrzvHjXQ9o7K_W3Q8yYI7_9f5x4HDVb-sPAEP3SVE-O3Edjig0LvE7wXS6xZKcvjJlbXAH2XAjeXNa88QwrJsjUcBK3b5dSALYtqkmn3owwIKmTFlx/s1600/IMG_2879.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPezesAFE6PthZir8Ey1TBMwfUNPUrzvHjXQ9o7K_W3Q8yYI7_9f5x4HDVb-sPAEP3SVE-O3Edjig0LvE7wXS6xZKcvjJlbXAH2XAjeXNa88QwrJsjUcBK3b5dSALYtqkmn3owwIKmTFlx/s320/IMG_2879.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Here I am approaching a main road from a smaller road.<br />I, and the car in front (using an indicator, rare occurrence)<br />want to turn left. So does the silver Hilux approaching from the<br />main road. A nice web of cars, but it all works out in the end</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8o74NT2AZO23fDISfs_h0tDhin3p2UbnHyBBlwjkur5c0cXFwHWVrGF2gjNtAX-eNE51C3RVDlEXNJ-8x4jCW2-2n3vwUUP0FAS8F4CFyYQ5jDfiM2iXnsbN_nI1Q-WZIj4LCmou3cjol/s1600/IMG_2880.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8o74NT2AZO23fDISfs_h0tDhin3p2UbnHyBBlwjkur5c0cXFwHWVrGF2gjNtAX-eNE51C3RVDlEXNJ-8x4jCW2-2n3vwUUP0FAS8F4CFyYQ5jDfiM2iXnsbN_nI1Q-WZIj4LCmou3cjol/s320/IMG_2880.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Car in front cuts across to the left, I wait for the Hilux and the next<br />car to turn in left from the main road, before I reach the main road and<br />dart across to the left before more cars appear</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are accidents in Chad.
But far fewer than I’d imagine given some of the unofficial rules. I guess most people are aware of them and so
it’s not an issue. That helps. As does the fact that people drive pretty
slowly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So there we have it, a little overview of driving practices
in Chad. Anyone want to come over and
try it out?!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Disclaimer: I wasn’t taking these photos while driving, my
wonderful friend and colleague Debbie did, from the passenger’s seat. So all photo credits to Debbie 😊
Thanks Debbie for being my official photographer for this blog post!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-59148780031558791002019-09-16T18:44:00.001+01:002019-09-16T18:44:23.892+01:00Handbags and gladrags<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Catchy title, eh?! It's the title of a song by British group Stereophonics. I'm not actually going to write anything about gladrags.....there are enough pictures on this blog of me wearing various Chadian outfits so we'll leave that part of the title there. So why am I writing about handbags? Well, I want to use my handbag as a simple (ok, very simple) illustration of how quick my life can change and what that looks like in very practical terms.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ten days ago, my handbag and its contents looked like this:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjY1ES7VB7XJKo3SA6RRSEXjTSe7LvpvP1jVRgT5rkgvJOTLxWwnd3RZrcfxIIbWUPraYhyRge6P9885-OrVvHLrAFxWYbhcuTeuBcDLbid1ft2wO1BYUoII5-n_BYolVxpxOEKywK9wT-/s1600/IMG_20190906_091506607.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjY1ES7VB7XJKo3SA6RRSEXjTSe7LvpvP1jVRgT5rkgvJOTLxWwnd3RZrcfxIIbWUPraYhyRge6P9885-OrVvHLrAFxWYbhcuTeuBcDLbid1ft2wO1BYUoII5-n_BYolVxpxOEKywK9wT-/s320/IMG_20190906_091506607.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Small brick-like dual SIM indestructible phone </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Insect repellent</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hand sanitiser</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sun cream</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fold-able fan</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tissues</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Purse with Chadian money</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, my handbag contains:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB9nRuojMfLuYZbPfvZLW5m8Jqk7YJUdeR6tU4tdz-P9-gpv5RKa2AUBC7Rfz86ndIU6M8AZn7yiax2V4qbdjj6GQPWELVa95c9YhDZLlPu2DPjTmS42Ypl6u6FPtEg1RGA84ynQpphyphenhyphend/s1600/IMG_20190916_171750384_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcB9nRuojMfLuYZbPfvZLW5m8Jqk7YJUdeR6tU4tdz-P9-gpv5RKa2AUBC7Rfz86ndIU6M8AZn7yiax2V4qbdjj6GQPWELVa95c9YhDZLlPu2DPjTmS42Ypl6u6FPtEg1RGA84ynQpphyphenhyphend/s320/IMG_20190916_171750384_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tissues</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Smartphone</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reusable bag</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pen</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Umbrella</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Purse with British money</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, it's home assignment time and I'm back in the UK! I will be speaking about the work of Guinebor II Hospital at various places around the country. Feel free to come along and hear all about it.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 22 September - 3pm - Upton Vale Baptist Church, Torquay</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 28 September - 1.40pm - BMS cafe event at the South Wales Baptist Association 'Association Day' at Bethel Baptist Church, Pontyclun. More info: <a href="http://southwalesba.org.uk/news-events/">http://southwalesba.org.uk/news-events/</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 29 September - 11am - Mumbles Baptist Church, Swansea</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 29 September - 6pm - Moriah Baptist Church, Risca</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 6 October - 10am - Redhill Baptist Church</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 8 October - evening - Desford Free Church, Leicester</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 13 October - 10.45am - Abbey Centre Baptist Church, Northampton</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 13 October - 6pm - Eastwood Baptist Church, Nottingham</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 15 October - 7pm - Griffithstown Baptist Church</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 17 October - 7.30pm - South Molton Baptist Church</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 20 October - Bluntisham Baptist Church </span></div>
</div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-35740721234082705082019-07-30T19:15:00.000+01:002019-07-30T19:15:40.000+01:00Rainy season - the positives<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Usually when rainy season hits, I’m blogging about increased
mud, dodgy (ok, dodgier) roads and heightened malaria risk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that is still true and an everyday
reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, there are some
positives of the rains hitting!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first rain at Guinebor this year happened on 27</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
May.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did my traditional dance in the
first rain of the year (ok, it’s actually a crazy run around with my arms in
the air) – it is SUCH a relief to feel the rain after the drudge of at least 2
months of hot season, where it’s continuously over 35C by night and over 40C by
day.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I get totally soaked and it’s
fabulous!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year I was joined by BMS
short-termer Dr Jon.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kudos to Dr Jon who
arrived for a 4-month stint with us at Guinebor at the height of hot season at
the start of April.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were watched
bemusedly by our friend Michaela, who watched the rain fall from the comfort of
her veranda!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6PLAp_RYMIJcqT8kV9zvLeLz4mmrivoANFepVnHkxv4q3UqIAgVvetwVNyIeiGQfo23z3M4UIBCzC6sc3dGg4iElFufLkuBwkwZnlT94CQSiq1WyxIo3unswRRxgsV27c8r5f3Qs-fV_/s1600/IMG_20190527_171624755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6PLAp_RYMIJcqT8kV9zvLeLz4mmrivoANFepVnHkxv4q3UqIAgVvetwVNyIeiGQfo23z3M4UIBCzC6sc3dGg4iElFufLkuBwkwZnlT94CQSiq1WyxIo3unswRRxgsV27c8r5f3Qs-fV_/s320/IMG_20190527_171624755.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After dancing like a fool in the first rain of 2019!<br />Note the brown ground in the background</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So 27<sup>th</sup> May was the first rain since October
2018!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s amazing that after just a few
rains, the brown, dry, dusty ground turns green.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The following pictures show the same part of
the housing area of the hospital compound at three different times at the start
of rainy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s so cool that the grass seeds
remain dormant under the ground all dry season!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdq3RYnHBGxElYSWWBcPV-Y41sx4CW-SZt_mw9WSx5FSqK3K8SFDP4yn3tUGvf-K_EdUD0os0iMDHr98OpWRgaqorXmlP18LOv_wCLfluWoKd5tsENbb8TCgzcwrVG_gjmtbRAHKejYriR/s1600/IMG_20190519_113854952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdq3RYnHBGxElYSWWBcPV-Y41sx4CW-SZt_mw9WSx5FSqK3K8SFDP4yn3tUGvf-K_EdUD0os0iMDHr98OpWRgaqorXmlP18LOv_wCLfluWoKd5tsENbb8TCgzcwrVG_gjmtbRAHKejYriR/s320/IMG_20190519_113854952.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">19th May 2019</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ZkuPCY5GDleCmMVbxOTC4BRMhX6-kIOlTCEdPH3ZluXbBnIYMK537tji4l-PhwS6i1KPc-SwTb2rLiMYXNNgEQRsQ_JuE828IkvdvPgij4o8KkFztHojARUIlYtbTO8sTOboUioerGmP/s1600/IMG_20190607_134839179.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ZkuPCY5GDleCmMVbxOTC4BRMhX6-kIOlTCEdPH3ZluXbBnIYMK537tji4l-PhwS6i1KPc-SwTb2rLiMYXNNgEQRsQ_JuE828IkvdvPgij4o8KkFztHojARUIlYtbTO8sTOboUioerGmP/s320/IMG_20190607_134839179.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7th June 2019</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJowfXLTbUk-hF-82MPhdS6ziVzjUnojTuJdosMcNtOoZ4HOcVYa-F0Dr3iTp98ViGRuCW4ZC00ZeZzzDNtrWtM0yxhGLu-XTGh84wE0VWrknCsXOvSj8s0rjA9l4VOiiTS04Zu3QUgq7O/s1600/IMG_20190629_133743174.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJowfXLTbUk-hF-82MPhdS6ziVzjUnojTuJdosMcNtOoZ4HOcVYa-F0Dr3iTp98ViGRuCW4ZC00ZeZzzDNtrWtM0yxhGLu-XTGh84wE0VWrknCsXOvSj8s0rjA9l4VOiiTS04Zu3QUgq7O/s320/IMG_20190629_133743174.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">29th June 2019</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtDWVhmw03brspJE96-p_LNBVrRh7lFlZazexJFWMzig-mrzA7XSkfJLQk91bg2naP_FTkHG6AW0-Sx8HOUqxNobgdlCKgAx9_hLNwqd7CfCo0Ec1uwDnbBcrRURxBMdqIhraeHKUJRczG/s1600/IMG_20190730_172841784_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtDWVhmw03brspJE96-p_LNBVrRh7lFlZazexJFWMzig-mrzA7XSkfJLQk91bg2naP_FTkHG6AW0-Sx8HOUqxNobgdlCKgAx9_hLNwqd7CfCo0Ec1uwDnbBcrRURxBMdqIhraeHKUJRczG/s320/IMG_20190730_172841784_HDR.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">30th July 2019</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have gardens, of sorts, at our houses here on the compound. During the dry season we work hard watering
them to keep some sort of greenery around.
Every now and again a plant will flower in dry season, but not too
often. However, in rainy season –
flowers abound!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3d5sfzUbB-VfKfgh0cideNW-HSaVVBneurTs7CTqx7Iub-QmGZcSJEtpbGh4rcRWwbXuvEK1x0NF-f_2PAhNvuEoi7as9qa0gFImEC3yOhFZDCUnsns5yjVrVwbvw7tstfVEiL7oCrs-9/s1600/IMG_20190730_172234527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3d5sfzUbB-VfKfgh0cideNW-HSaVVBneurTs7CTqx7Iub-QmGZcSJEtpbGh4rcRWwbXuvEK1x0NF-f_2PAhNvuEoi7as9qa0gFImEC3yOhFZDCUnsns5yjVrVwbvw7tstfVEiL7oCrs-9/s320/IMG_20190730_172234527.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wildlife also seems to abound more in rainy season. There are often small birds around our compound
but this rainy season we’ve seen a lot of sunbirds. Or maybe it’s just one that we’ve seen a lot?
Beautiful creatures that have iridescent
colours. The colours of their feathers
change depending on the angle of the sun on them. Totally amazing! Unfortunately, they’re quite elusive and I’ve
never had my camera around when I’ve happened to see a sunbird on a small tree
outside my front door. So you’ll have to
do with a stock photo I pinched off the internet (thanks Google).</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMWVSSS3mEMfln6WnbDrSK0exIrlsFsu3cDW9onIQFjjolJjxLmGs6vuUfvtYLZfblDdaWvZuz_5_oI76mY0jupLLbWshzIFh1gCdeGMFzoR0rStRvjmktpYy35X0gSDHTavYFDUwtXvV/s1600/double-collared-sunbird1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="800" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMWVSSS3mEMfln6WnbDrSK0exIrlsFsu3cDW9onIQFjjolJjxLmGs6vuUfvtYLZfblDdaWvZuz_5_oI76mY0jupLLbWshzIFh1gCdeGMFzoR0rStRvjmktpYy35X0gSDHTavYFDUwtXvV/s320/double-collared-sunbird1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, I saw something for the first time ever a couple of
Sundays ago on the way back from church.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A rainbow behind clouds!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d
heard about this phenomenon that happens during rainy season and seen pictures
from a few years ago when it was last seen here.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was great to witness it with my own eyes.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The picture below doesn’t do it justice
really, but you get the idea.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGQH1egHqW5vhdlzhkcNNRXkCl5hQGy99_i8ClPpLQdNulSS2L7eycNjmiYTlevBfRjCO0_fhQByy2STyN7nOPI4nh00AyhJ5-_HC98HiNIYQQn_jCZVBUog9qqxQLP_y1xHetDdvr5CER/s1600/IMG_0505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGQH1egHqW5vhdlzhkcNNRXkCl5hQGy99_i8ClPpLQdNulSS2L7eycNjmiYTlevBfRjCO0_fhQByy2STyN7nOPI4nh00AyhJ5-_HC98HiNIYQQn_jCZVBUog9qqxQLP_y1xHetDdvr5CER/s320/IMG_0505.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beauty in the desert and a privilege to see :)</span><br />
<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-72002251571056573272019-05-01T14:51:00.003+01:002019-05-01T14:51:24.386+01:00Fête du Travail 2019 - Labour Day 2019<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Today, 1st May,
is a public holiday here in Chad as it’s Labour Day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am sat here in my house at Guinebor, early
afternoon, reflecting on the fun (but VERY hot) few hours I just spent with my
Chadian hospital colleagues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All organisations
are invited to celebrate Labour Day by marching in the streets of N’Djamena and
into a stadium in front of dignitaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
security reasons in previous years, I’ve never done the march on Labour Day,
but today I did!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As a hospital
we all wore the same t-shirt with the hospital name and logo on the front and ‘1er
mai 2019 fête du travail’ on the back.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We
each had one of two fabrics to make a skirt or trousers from.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It was great to see how different people had
come up with different designs and we all looked great marching alongside each
other!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At 7am this
morning, I drove into N’Djamena with a short-term doctor from the UK and six
members of staff.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We parked up at the
pre-arranged place and met other members of staff there.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We took a few photos as we waited for the staff
who had started the march earlier to get to where we were, near the stadium.</span></div>
<br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4HmRLJ5fjLuBOWw0OYpFESk46cln7mWaA6oJvnQ_5m6EPuv6PUHbTMMUoafwOUEVl95xTxOyVpGTVfqZJihqg7qcudQ1EAXArsJ-N7HLyWLG_KBizaQipNwVcGS2JrgXPLBGQ9Q7XfuP2/s1600/DSC01089.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4HmRLJ5fjLuBOWw0OYpFESk46cln7mWaA6oJvnQ_5m6EPuv6PUHbTMMUoafwOUEVl95xTxOyVpGTVfqZJihqg7qcudQ1EAXArsJ-N7HLyWLG_KBizaQipNwVcGS2JrgXPLBGQ9Q7XfuP2/s320/DSC01089.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo while we wee waiting for the others</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Altogether,
there were 45 members of Guinebor Hospital staff marching behind our banner,
which was a great turn out. It was a fun
atmosphere! As we joined the rest of the hospital staff, loads of people were trying
to get in their organisations into correct order, which caused some amusement
(to me). Guinebor Hospital had been assigned
to march in third place, behind a couple of other hospitals. I think that’s where we ended up, but I’m not
totally sure. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofB47pb13rjDQi6e0YDrPhLHDja9I86fWYJmfgL2sZ4uqXjKWQLInidQqIfLeq3Bu7Pczlj2tDoJeqsGG3UchY7R-GLtUgO8F1MBwfvoqEZXzAGfj2sCqbU90Dpv-baWGTmtedq-RJJPw/s1600/DSC01102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofB47pb13rjDQi6e0YDrPhLHDja9I86fWYJmfgL2sZ4uqXjKWQLInidQqIfLeq3Bu7Pczlj2tDoJeqsGG3UchY7R-GLtUgO8F1MBwfvoqEZXzAGfj2sCqbU90Dpv-baWGTmtedq-RJJPw/s320/DSC01102.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting organised behind our banner</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWYUJnUL-52StQf1baLJzgykliXuqk1eZnjwEmOMGGMewkVlRm_MaNm0vJ3pVUilm3T6j0lW2jr6YV2cksrzMf__zkVZe0WO6uvu0WvqzXomlmU7Ry24aSprg6CjuIjy4fN23g21OS7cV/s1600/DSC01114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWYUJnUL-52StQf1baLJzgykliXuqk1eZnjwEmOMGGMewkVlRm_MaNm0vJ3pVUilm3T6j0lW2jr6YV2cksrzMf__zkVZe0WO6uvu0WvqzXomlmU7Ry24aSprg6CjuIjy4fN23g21OS7cV/s320/DSC01114.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lined up and ready to go!</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH3afQCfUyUnLg_OHsSZ_6mkkCQjNipQq2pVZpIOV8LLj8F-v2a8rSsDWAcezOk7MbN3a78SAHjXBmbSAKdi8tTWvqBoOxzhzGoGaZc_IjZafjIfWMChOm3s1bDhIjzRvpxRV4UVyo2m61/s1600/DSC01115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH3afQCfUyUnLg_OHsSZ_6mkkCQjNipQq2pVZpIOV8LLj8F-v2a8rSsDWAcezOk7MbN3a78SAHjXBmbSAKdi8tTWvqBoOxzhzGoGaZc_IjZafjIfWMChOm3s1bDhIjzRvpxRV4UVyo2m61/s320/DSC01115.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a few starts and stops on the road leading to the stadium, we eventually
made it inside. A guy on a loud speaker
introduced us ‘et voici l’hôpital de Guinebor II’ (and here is Guinebor II
Hospital). We marched past the
dignitaries who were sat on satin-covered chairs in a tiered pavilion with shade-cover. Then we stood underneath some canopies as we
watched everyone else file in. There must
have been at least 50 organisations altogether, so that took a while.</span></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9RznjbNXdnCsW-C2H_-j3YFcF7qzL_lUEbW-DjeQmiqheb2TgRQAzL1WgcbOckuVyeJo-pEGbXgBOsjJMMTqMePwJ0okgZegokKZwomdcC6tDbSwi05Z7RT7RX8deTvFHlXz1Ew8Tn60/s1600/DSC01143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9RznjbNXdnCsW-C2H_-j3YFcF7qzL_lUEbW-DjeQmiqheb2TgRQAzL1WgcbOckuVyeJo-pEGbXgBOsjJMMTqMePwJ0okgZegokKZwomdcC6tDbSwi05Z7RT7RX8deTvFHlXz1Ew8Tn60/s320/DSC01143.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watching the other organisations march in</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8P8HbGwyq4_Q0Jp2aXZsSvJNz7WjFxUpj7U_sPVwW_1AONcO-ECOBs_ztykb6Vfq6C5hQCEq-RbRMcBAUpnXRUc1jKymdx4qip6aVmYA_NDUbazMke7BEf1Kdo0t-4iWrTHEXQMxy0knY/s1600/DSC01130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8P8HbGwyq4_Q0Jp2aXZsSvJNz7WjFxUpj7U_sPVwW_1AONcO-ECOBs_ztykb6Vfq6C5hQCEq-RbRMcBAUpnXRUc1jKymdx4qip6aVmYA_NDUbazMke7BEf1Kdo0t-4iWrTHEXQMxy0knY/s320/DSC01130.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-AIjABUW6lytLXCixS6ADkpiy1PaGZrcgMUjcQw-50KTiotGrOsa4amQiBXVBxlc0J4lnubb75nuxK8njXmraHoss8Td2IcWJQELEpT3ZOGOwQpgkxwHoGvo_kHqMpr1Bm9LRdkoKJYPQ/s1600/DSC01132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-AIjABUW6lytLXCixS6ADkpiy1PaGZrcgMUjcQw-50KTiotGrOsa4amQiBXVBxlc0J4lnubb75nuxK8njXmraHoss8Td2IcWJQELEpT3ZOGOwQpgkxwHoGvo_kHqMpr1Bm9LRdkoKJYPQ/s320/DSC01132.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">By this point,
it was starting to get hot.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But we had
to listen to a few speeches first before we could head to a restaurant to eat a
sandwich and drink a coke altogether.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkimzg_ohoIsh7nArNYxiWXVJHPO0JThsNQuC4S7RhoIsG-Hlydy3pK4gd4EDmgCuxer1ahI5znVzGd6edgmsE52FsaPKLRi4C-m1UMvvlMIEi1Nd-yo4zonmDWeEiqN2yR1nyI8BSTJu8/s1600/DSC01151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkimzg_ohoIsh7nArNYxiWXVJHPO0JThsNQuC4S7RhoIsG-Hlydy3pK4gd4EDmgCuxer1ahI5znVzGd6edgmsE52FsaPKLRi4C-m1UMvvlMIEi1Nd-yo4zonmDWeEiqN2yR1nyI8BSTJu8/s320/DSC01151.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying a sit-down with a coke, waiting for our sandwiches</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNZILFmTmUbI6T5IG-Q2EIUoaFjzBm2AcxXExDQqln5oLdHTDvB84EAKk9nIrpUedki9b-4clsjXHMxG7kwQB6GBzRHpV7uH1uuMvEvdYObS9DnJ0lyVJV1Ng6UyVPI7giBEMM-3MRSbI/s1600/DSC01156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNZILFmTmUbI6T5IG-Q2EIUoaFjzBm2AcxXExDQqln5oLdHTDvB84EAKk9nIrpUedki9b-4clsjXHMxG7kwQB6GBzRHpV7uH1uuMvEvdYObS9DnJ0lyVJV1Ng6UyVPI7giBEMM-3MRSbI/s320/DSC01156.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Such a fun
morning celebrating our work at the hospital with my work colleagues!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-544481505363113612019-04-17T18:53:00.000+01:002019-04-17T18:53:17.655+01:00A Jacqueline* of all trades?<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*I know this is usually Jack, but I’m female so I thought I’d
make it a more relevant phrase for me 😉</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have spoken in previous blogs about some of the ‘other
jobs’ I do here at Guinebor II Hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Despite being a pharmacist, and that being the main reason I’m here,
long term mission work always lends itself to opportunities for learning a
whole gamut of other knowledge and skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some of which I’d have preferred not to have learned, but you know,
needs must.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Solar energy production and system maintenance<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’re not on mains power here, so the majority of our power is
harnessed from the sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Including for my
house, which is where I’ve learned the bulk of my solar power knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Panels, regulators, inverters, batteries are
all words I’ve learned in both the languages I speak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it a 12v or a 24v system?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should we have an inverter?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many watts should the inverter be?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many watts are each panel? Which
direction should we put the panels facing so they get the most of the sunlight?
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is the inverter alarming?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Has it fried with the heat and dust?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or is it because the regulator has died?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or worse (because: cost) have the batteries
died?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slight panic arises when it’s
cloudy for more than two consecutive days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Especially when that’s in hot season, or rainy season, when it’s hot
and/or humid and you could really do with cool water from the fridge and a
fan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two or more consecutive cloudy days
often means there’s not enough sunlight to charge the batteries, meaning a
potential lack of electricity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cue lots
of washing of the panels to try and harness as much of the cloud-blocked
sunlight as possible!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Septic tanks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether it be the pit latrines at the hospital or the septic
tanks for each house, I’ve learned a lot about how to ventilate them to a)
dissipate the smell and/or b) stop a build-up of nasty gases that could theoretically
cause an explosion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve also learned
the process of finding a septic tank emptying service (process: go into N’Djamena,
find where the tankers are parked, copy the phone number from the side of the
tanker, call the number and arrange for the tanker to come to the
hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be prepared to pay a high
price for your pit latrine or septic tank to be emptied)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]-->Construction terminology<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My French vocabulary in this arena has soared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cornières, contreplaqu<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>, ciment (ok, some of them are
easier than others), vices, raccourt, perceuse, planches, sable, gravier, fils
d’attache to name a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sure if
this knowledge will ever become a ‘transferrable skill’ but you never know!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Chadian labour laws<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With almost 90 members of staff, there’s almost always
something cropping up from an HR perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some of the laws here are truly baffling to me but as a visitor to this
country, I have learned to accept them, as there’s nothing I can do to change them,
and we need to comply with the law of the land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Basically, the labour laws here are extremely pro the employee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which if there is a rogue employer is great
and needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However sometimes these laws
can get a bit frustrating in certain circumstances!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Staff uniforms<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We try and ensure each staff member gets a new uniform each
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This involves asking someone to
buy rolls and rolls of fabric in the market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Arranging for one of four staff members who do tailoring to come and
chop of a length of it and make scrubs for individual staff members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh and don’t forget the yearly negotiation of
how much we’re going to pay for each set of scrubs made!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last year this literally took weeks to
negotiate……<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Management training<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that we have department heads for every department in
the hospital, it’s giving good opportunities to guide and coach some of our Chadian
staff in both change management and staff management and empower them to take
charge of the development and progression of their departments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is an exciting stage for the hospital as
we develop our Chadian staff to be leaders and for me, learning to delegate to
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope that’s given a bit more insight into some of the many
things I’ve learned and continue to learn here in Chad!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It leads to a very varied life 😊<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-11206638058348504062019-02-25T16:29:00.000+00:002019-02-25T16:29:57.055+00:00A patient update and something quite unbelievable (but true)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I thought people
who heard me speak on my last home assignment would be interested in an update
on Abderamane, the man who had a fractured leg and arm after a motorbike
accident and who had sought 7 months of treatment with a traditional healer (which
didn’t work) before coming to be treated at Guinebor.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When I returned to Chad last November,
Abderamane had already left the hospital after receiving surgery on his leg and
subsequently his arm.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Apparently, all
had gone well.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It wasn’t until the start
of February that I saw a guy on crutches at the entrance to the hospital and I
thought to myself ‘I recognise that guy’…..It was Abderamane!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Full of smiles and walking adeptly on his
crutches, he told me he had come for a check-up with the surgeon.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He welcomed me back to Chad (well, he wasn’t
to know I’d already been back 3 months!) and asked if I’d had a good time in
the UK. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A few days later, a Wednesday,
we were going around the inpatient wards praying for patients as is our habit
on a Wednesday morning.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We go around in
twos or threes offering to pray for patients and I was with one of the male Chadian
staff members. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There in one of the beds
was Abderamane.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Turns out that he needed
further surgery on his leg.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He was happy
for me to pray for him and I did so.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
guy is amazing, always smiling despite his ongoing health issues with his leg
(he broke it back in September 2017, so 18 months ago now).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Fast forward to today and I bumped into
Abderamane in outpatients!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Zipping along
nicely on his crutches, he told me he had come for a dressing change.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He thanked me for all we’d done for him and I
told him it was no problem, it’s what we’re here for.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’m so glad to have had these further brief
catch-ups with Abderamane and to hear that he is on his way to recovery and is
extremely grateful for the care he received here at Guinebor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Early the other
morning, I called across to Christophe, one of our nurses working in the
emergency room, asking if he’d seen Kalbassou (my Cameroonian nurse-surgeon
colleague).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘No’ he replied, ‘but I need
him in the ER, we’ve got a young girl here who has been bitten by a panther!’ ‘Really?!’
I exclaimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christophe shrugged his
shoulders ‘I’m not sure if it’s exactly true but she’s been bitten by something’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I continue on my way, find Kalbassou and ask
him to go to the ER.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then get busy in
the pharmacy for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few hours
later, I leave the pharmacy and am stopped by one of the guards ‘the local
mayor and his team are here and want to see the girl who was bitten by a
panther, can we let them in?’ I’m not sure that this is really a wise idea,
that a hospital is not an entertainment theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I do what I always do in these situations
– I went to ask Kalbassou!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Of course, they
should come in’ he says and so I pass that message to the guard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fifteen minutes later I see a gaggle of our
staff around the entrance to one of the wards, an unusual sight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask one of them what’s going on ‘oh, the
mayor was here because there’s a girl in there who was bitten by a panther’
(visiting officials always attract a crowd).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At this point, I’m starting to suspect that there’s some truth in the ‘bitten
by a panther’ saga.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask one of the nurses
if it really was a panther ‘oh yes’ he replied ‘the military killed it and
brought it by the front of the hospital earlier in the back of a pickup and
lots of people have photos of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ask
Allamine (another nurse) to show you’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
find Allamine but he says he doesn’t have his phone on him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m still inquisitive and curious and I think
it showed on my face!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bamon (another
nurse) says ‘I’ll take you to the patient’s bed, her father has a video of the
dead panther’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bamon asks the father to
get his phone out and show me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure enough,
he has video footage of a soldier in the back of a pickup with a dead leopard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I now believed the story!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been living here long enough now that I
should’ve realised that it was probably true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stories that seem too far-fetched rarely are here!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>News filtered out on Chadian online news
outlets about the leopard attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It apparently
hurt 10 different people in the next-door village to Guinebor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure why only one person ended up
with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rest all ended up in another
hospital in N’Djamena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The girl we took
care of was taken to theatre to have her wounds (mainly on the back of the head)
cleaned and packed and dressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As well as
having a visit from the local mayor, she was also visited a few days later by
the Minister of the environment, water and fishing (cue another crowd of staff
around the ward entrance).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She left
hospital a few days later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw her
this afternoon; her Dad had brought her back in to have her stiches out and all
the wounds seemed clean and well healed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>None of those the leopard attacked died I don’t think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This story could easily have had a worse
outcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I know the question
everyone will be thinking: why was there a leopard on the loose on the
outskirts of N’Djamena?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are two
different stories circulating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will
leave you to decide which (if any) is true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve got my suspicions as to the real answer! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One story is that an army general kept it in
his compound and it escaped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other
is that it came over the border from Cameroon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">For those of
you who read French (or who want to take the time to put it through Google
translate), here are a few of the online news articles about the leopard attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t read them unless you’re happy seeing a
photo of a dead leopard……<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://tchadinfos.com/faits-divers/faits-divers-la-bete-qui-a-blesse-une-dizaine-de-personnes-appartiendrait-a-un-general-de-larmee/">https://tchadinfos.com/faits-divers/faits-divers-la-bete-qui-a-blesse-une-dizaine-de-personnes-appartiendrait-a-un-general-de-larmee/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://tchadinfos.com/tchad/tchad-faits-divers-les-victimes-de-lagression-de-la-panthere-sont-toujours-a-lhopital/">https://tchadinfos.com/tchad/tchad-faits-divers-les-victimes-de-lagression-de-la-panthere-sont-toujours-a-lhopital/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://tchadinfos.com/tchad/tchad-la-panthere-arrive-certainement-de-kousseri-selon-le-ministre-de-lenvironnement/">https://tchadinfos.com/tchad/tchad-la-panthere-arrive-certainement-de-kousseri-selon-le-ministre-de-lenvironnement/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">There’s rarely a
dull moment here at Guinebor II Hospital!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-39332181787789452652019-02-21T17:10:00.000+00:002019-02-21T17:10:09.913+00:00More questions about life (in Chad)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcome to my latest blog where I’m going to answer the questions
that people have sent me about life and work in Chad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How long do you see yourself
working in Chad?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No idea!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m now into
my fourth year of working at Guinebor II Hospital and in many ways, I feel like
I’m only just getting to grips with life and work here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s so much to learn in terms of language,
cultural practices and hospital management (to name a few things).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To leave now would in some ways feel like a
waste of all that I’ve learned over the last three years, as it’s now that I’m really
putting that learning into practice – and obviously I’m continuing to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I
type, I’ve no plans to leave but who knows what God will want me to do in the
future?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s in His hands at the end of
the day!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you need help/advice,
where do you go/who do you go to?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That depends on what it is I need help or advice on. If it’s something related to cultural
practices I will ask a trusted Chadian colleague like Audrey (the pharmacist I
work with) or Allain (our administrator).
If it’s how to manage a sensitive personnel issue, where I need human
resources advice and cultural advice all wrapped into one, I’ll ask my Cameroonian
missionary colleague Kalbassou. If it’s
something personal to me that I need help or advice on I will ask either my
parents or one of my close female friends (many of whom are not in Chad, praise
God for WhatsApp!).</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you seen many people
come to faith since you have been at G2? If so, do new Chri$tians get
problems having become Chri$tian in a predominately Mu$lim society?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I obviously can’t write too much about this on a public website,
but the short answer is yes and yes.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you think Manchester
United will win the Premier League?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Haha!!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have
absolutely no idea, I don’t follow football apart from World Cups and I don’t
want to risk saying the wrong thing on this subject, given that I’ve friends
who support many different Premier League teams </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">😉</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
will say though that football is a universal sport and there are many Chadians
who love playing and watching football.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They
enjoy watching football matches from different European leagues (mainly Italian,
Spanish and English).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other day
Allain, who I mentioned above, was looking a bit bleary eyed first thing in the
morning (we start work at 7am).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I asked
him if his 6-month old son was keeping him awake at night.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He replied ‘no, I was up late last night
watching the Barcelona v Real Madrid match!’</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></b></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do you go about spreading the good news of Je$us in your everyday work?</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My work is very practical – essentially helping to run a
hospital that provides high quality, low cost healthcare to the local
population.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was training with BMS
to become a long-term mission worker, we were taught the principle of ‘integral
mission’.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Micah Network defines integral
mission as ‘the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel’ and more on this can
be discovered </span><a href="https://www.lausanne.org/networks/issues/integral-mission" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What integral mission essentially
means is that we can’t just </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tell</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
people about Je$us but we must </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">demonstrate</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
our faith too.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can’t have one
without the other.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So my hope and prayer
is that through my interactions with staff and patients in my day to day, very
practical work, the love of Je$us will shine through.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This will, I hope, tie in with the work that
our Chaplains do.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s a team effort!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do your Chadian
doctors, nurses and other professional staff gain their qualifications? Do they
have to go outside the country for training or are there places at University
within the country where staff are trained?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Great question!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is
possible to train as a doctor, nurse or midwife in Chad.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Medicine can be studied at the University of
N’Djamena and it takes a minimum of 7 years to qualify as a junior doctor.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nurses and midwives train at specialist
nursing and midwifery schools.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
training for nurses and midwives is essentially the same and the only thing
that defines whether you end up as a nurse or midwife are the practical ‘stages’
(internships) that you do while you’re training.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People can also train to be pharmacy
technicians, lab technicians and physiotherapy technicians within Chad.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other than that, it’s training outside of the
country (e.g. to be a ultrasonographer or radiographer).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our ultrasonographer at Guinebor II has been
trained ‘on the job’ by visiting specialists from outside of Chad.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s always a hunger for learning here and
in an ideal world, we would love Guinebor II Hospital to be a teaching
hospital, to train local people in certain specialities, but that’s a bit down
the line yet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those are all the questions I received, hope they give some more
insight into my life and work here!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are some photos to brighten the blog and show you some of
what I’ve been up to and helping with in the last few weeks and months:</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOdPcj7xHpEXkOiqMpuM7sSR4FSRg_upGbrRTINnVxg26ldJ8KY_62mAJL8sTdIVNAW3kXRLlU5BeJyT8n-DOyCDM9kFYhDQ7Vb0gcXvI3KMbl_07P8Dwrzjg41xYmGrgad1GBz4pTjEpl/s1600/IMG_20181116_153854222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOdPcj7xHpEXkOiqMpuM7sSR4FSRg_upGbrRTINnVxg26ldJ8KY_62mAJL8sTdIVNAW3kXRLlU5BeJyT8n-DOyCDM9kFYhDQ7Vb0gcXvI3KMbl_07P8Dwrzjg41xYmGrgad1GBz4pTjEpl/s320/IMG_20181116_153854222.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the wedding of one of our nurses</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAqXdxgfdxbOg9Uoj7rUNYJ7Zv65I44f63npPDrB2K1fDTvTTR1oadyU97Ssfyr0hGX_r7mQH5T0UXNL2-2dRM1IWV8YMK2O_8ppiNurdiWCLaxfPvufag9d0hCyGE0RToRCq4qEINr-_G/s1600/IMG_20181116_171519287_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAqXdxgfdxbOg9Uoj7rUNYJ7Zv65I44f63npPDrB2K1fDTvTTR1oadyU97Ssfyr0hGX_r7mQH5T0UXNL2-2dRM1IWV8YMK2O_8ppiNurdiWCLaxfPvufag9d0hCyGE0RToRCq4qEINr-_G/s320/IMG_20181116_171519287_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enjoying a sunset over the River Chari</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fIO19rHQsA60BFP6WdK9AT-_GRa8A69UQixOBBoWovM-tZbSmU4dLhr-qTcyX8wUpI86YslV6aNoBcvXjzPYaETg_Lcfm21WwOa9mfYiuHOTPBGzxLN-fxvn6-HGMccprD679lDonMfT/s1600/IMG_20190124_142512569.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fIO19rHQsA60BFP6WdK9AT-_GRa8A69UQixOBBoWovM-tZbSmU4dLhr-qTcyX8wUpI86YslV6aNoBcvXjzPYaETg_Lcfm21WwOa9mfYiuHOTPBGzxLN-fxvn6-HGMccprD679lDonMfT/s320/IMG_20190124_142512569.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Helping to oversee the remodelling of the lab</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiieje-aI7_HIa9pjnu3OHA8tklSNCLClnRdS0_eKKn-QegGFSgVUsYdqQvouXcHDsSa54IaMF882Dvkj5QVjYO1iN45fqDvT0h3e5cE0HZIUtOaC7uX9MBuEhc4_xjJvVQ2NjWHuAX4vNl/s1600/IMG_20190124_142541256.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiieje-aI7_HIa9pjnu3OHA8tklSNCLClnRdS0_eKKn-QegGFSgVUsYdqQvouXcHDsSa54IaMF882Dvkj5QVjYO1iN45fqDvT0h3e5cE0HZIUtOaC7uX9MBuEhc4_xjJvVQ2NjWHuAX4vNl/s320/IMG_20190124_142541256.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pharmacy remodel all finished :)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyawjEs6XU5sQ1Npu5CKmNZyZDsPI0gAG3k4vNBJRSez0W0MXvgvyqVU4Bn-CGSyWzsZ4xdlenpAshr1_8p2DktoAoWLJgn0Dn1Y7M5m48wcX2nu6pqLgJ4iH11qZ4Rg6ujrxuosD-Whb/s1600/IMG_20190124_142817033_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyawjEs6XU5sQ1Npu5CKmNZyZDsPI0gAG3k4vNBJRSez0W0MXvgvyqVU4Bn-CGSyWzsZ4xdlenpAshr1_8p2DktoAoWLJgn0Dn1Y7M5m48wcX2nu6pqLgJ4iH11qZ4Rg6ujrxuosD-Whb/s320/IMG_20190124_142817033_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remodel of old operating theatre into a new dressings room<br />and a new emergency room</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj74Ono4V1XnfaCkzjxyIiQ__loM1nwWcCUT_jZId4amJorZORmS0JqfngovBkL85Gn3UQbiXqnkYKS5l0xZ8PyZim8OaQABLUF5qS1yVCklQmADgh6pVsVlexf5MMJX37_mcHSUP0mrs_y/s1600/IMG_20190124_142930332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj74Ono4V1XnfaCkzjxyIiQ__loM1nwWcCUT_jZId4amJorZORmS0JqfngovBkL85Gn3UQbiXqnkYKS5l0xZ8PyZim8OaQABLUF5qS1yVCklQmADgh6pVsVlexf5MMJX37_mcHSUP0mrs_y/s320/IMG_20190124_142930332.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inside the new ER <br />(5 beds now, old one had 2 beds)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-56919789226965871482018-12-26T16:58:00.001+00:002018-12-26T16:58:42.567+00:00A blog about a dot<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">‘Really?!’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hear you
say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Why is she writing a post about a
small circle?!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A-ha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, you need to know that in French, the
word dot translates as ‘dowry’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here in
Chad the dowry system is still alive and well in all households whether Christian
or Muslim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once a dowry has been paid,
the couple are legally together, and the man has many more rights over any
children the couple already have than the woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes the dowry is paid on the same day
as the couple marry at the mairie (town hall), other times it’s paid years in
advance of the wedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It often depends
on how much money the two families have. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the end of November Nemerci, the house-helper of my American
colleagues Bert and Debbie, announced that her dot ceremony was going to be on
8</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> December and that we were all invited. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately, Bert and Debbie were going to
be away, but I decided I would go as I’ve known Nemerci since I was here back
in 2013.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A week later Nemerci told us the date had changed to 15</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
December as her family needed a bit more time to prepare.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nemerci said she would bring in the fabric that she had
chosen for us ladies from the hospital to wear.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So I duly paid up and bought the fabric so that I could match everyone
else going.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I gave it to one of our lab
technicians who’s also a tailor and asked him to make anything he liked, as
long as I had a skirt, top and head wrap.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I knew that this was a bit risky, as he could literally do *anything*.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And they love flamboyant frilly clothes!</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here’s the end result, I look a bit like a ruffled
marshmallow but lots of Chadian ladies exclaimed how good I looked (!)</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKeebw4LmHKeBEWqxx4LdE0BauCYZsdcMVZfV5j8VFE5l5Ptg2NxD4lRS-qk2dOQ3sGv4oQ22GdiSgxf3WPc5lLeZNg13pCM-XSq0UOo-dIJU8C8OKfUondOwXFi4VjoYOMjzxvpl4UA1t/s1600/IMG_20181214_182750478.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKeebw4LmHKeBEWqxx4LdE0BauCYZsdcMVZfV5j8VFE5l5Ptg2NxD4lRS-qk2dOQ3sGv4oQ22GdiSgxf3WPc5lLeZNg13pCM-XSq0UOo-dIJU8C8OKfUondOwXFi4VjoYOMjzxvpl4UA1t/s320/IMG_20181214_182750478.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In my ruffled outfit....</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few days before the event, I asked Nemerci what time the
dot ceremony was to start. ‘Oh, between
8am and 8.30am’ she said. I was
dubious. Nothing starts on time
here. I asked one of our nurses, who
lives near Nemerci and was going to meet me to show me the way, what time I should
get there ‘oh about 9am or 9.30am should be fine’. I then asked another nurse what time she was
aiming to get there. ‘Oh about 10am’. I
decided to aim for 9.30am and leave the hospital around 9am for the half-hour
drive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9am arrives and I go to get in the car. One of our female guards is waiting (in her
dress made from the same fabric as mine, naturally). She asks if she can travel with me as she’s
no money for the bus. I tell her of
course she can. She then asks if a lady
who lives near her can come with us too.
‘Sure’ I say. She goes to get her
neighbour while I start the car and open the internal compound gate. We all get in the car and I’m starting to
drive out of the hospital when another female hospital member rushes up ‘please
can I come with you too?’. ‘Sure’ I
reply. ‘I just need to go and get in my dot
outfit’ she says as she turns to walk quickly to her house. Fortunately, she lives in Guinebor! We wait for 10 minutes outside her house
while she gets changed into outfit made from the same fabric as the outfits me
and the female guard are wearing. Finally
we leave Guinebor. It’s already 9.30am. Oops. The best laid plans! We travel to the other side of town and I
park up next to the main road and ring the nurse who says she’ll come and meet
us and guide us to Nemerci’s house. We
wait by the side of the road for a while. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqT4gFCyRyM1jYXaGyxfoCtpyguNceGIm_CrVlG88d6z81l7GkoutPLHF8IPws37uKwQ3Kv0kTIx2lGQNj6ebnqG3fZv2gif9bNeqxbnhv9VR5xyod669BLcYVNsg2B_xNO9gZiXppw_Ep/s1600/IMG_20181215_100221862_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="577" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqT4gFCyRyM1jYXaGyxfoCtpyguNceGIm_CrVlG88d6z81l7GkoutPLHF8IPws37uKwQ3Kv0kTIx2lGQNj6ebnqG3fZv2gif9bNeqxbnhv9VR5xyod669BLcYVNsg2B_xNO9gZiXppw_Ep/s320/IMG_20181215_100221862_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the car with my passengers :)</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacP2vcsQJX9E7wcy6Lgg_rbCrDDbOABqjS370U5sYOexuCYYiqC5_02qeRU3jM7KEQg7QxCVWzEyhfMT3BWPNw2B2Xsf9H54W4_8UJ0we4AqsfUthjIvOTKlR_5imnR59IVQZSivwB99Q/s1600/IMG_20181215_102850286_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="433" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacP2vcsQJX9E7wcy6Lgg_rbCrDDbOABqjS370U5sYOexuCYYiqC5_02qeRU3jM7KEQg7QxCVWzEyhfMT3BWPNw2B2Xsf9H54W4_8UJ0we4AqsfUthjIvOTKlR_5imnR59IVQZSivwB99Q/s320/IMG_20181215_102850286_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Waiting by the side of the road </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Confusion ensues as she can’t figure out where exactly we
are, plus someone in my car spots another one of our nurses on the back of a
motorbike, wearing the same fabric as the rest of us and obviously heading to
the dot ceremony too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We call her, and
she says she’ll wait further up the road for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cue another 5 minutes of phone calls and
confusion and others sounding their car horns at me because I’m driving at a snail’s
pace trying to find at least one of the nurses we’re looking for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then spot both of them at once and we are
guided to the house where the dot ceremony is taking place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are lots of people.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m not totally sure where in proceedings they are (it’s now 10.30am,
oops) but we’re ushered into a room where we find a very smiley Nemerci
surrounded by female family and friends.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We all give her a hug and sit down on the mats on the floor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We’re presented with a plate of snacks and then a load of
yoy-yoyying starts (it’s a weird sound that Chadian ladies make when they’re celebrating
something!).</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The man’s female relatives
start entering the room to greet Nemerci.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of them is his sister, Missi, who I work with in pharmacy at the hospital.</span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUg5s8cmJZxsMqxI9YiLYdW6szODEDYZX-WGuz9hV-sRRKHaYISOl1Ww-28x-cY_i-O59Y4NIQ8QZJ2Co5V4LFgWrhY15vJXadbBYWEnrwpOk_BgIzavTKysGMuvxY8p8KLuzNiiaDXKvP/s1600/IMG_20181215_105219803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="577" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUg5s8cmJZxsMqxI9YiLYdW6szODEDYZX-WGuz9hV-sRRKHaYISOl1Ww-28x-cY_i-O59Y4NIQ8QZJ2Co5V4LFgWrhY15vJXadbBYWEnrwpOk_BgIzavTKysGMuvxY8p8KLuzNiiaDXKvP/s320/IMG_20181215_105219803.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Snacks on arrival</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">About 50 ladies file in, hug Nemerci, lift her up off the
ground, yoy-yoy a lot and leave the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I ask someone next to me if the dowry has already been paid. ‘Yes’ they
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So yep, we managed to miss the
main event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was consoled by the fact that some people from
the hospital arrived even later than us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Plus Nemerci didn’t seem at all bothered that we could’ve turned up a
tad earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man’s family then all
left to go to their house for food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turns
out that once the dowry has been paid and accepted, the two families celebrate separately.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We were then given more food and a fizzy drink full of
e-numbers that are common fare at any party worldwide.</span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWWJTqjSULDmjLvKfduYC4jA6H0mR6HWfdW-JW2-_EW_nr02z96V8HWhOJt3I82Z7zHgsA4Z1aP4_x_50wnrxIicysaV0kjdGMJJumQcvffCCZkzmLh2wMxXKcRtb8hvf67zsJ-zFSlki/s1600/IMG_20181215_111553017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="433" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWWJTqjSULDmjLvKfduYC4jA6H0mR6HWfdW-JW2-_EW_nr02z96V8HWhOJt3I82Z7zHgsA4Z1aP4_x_50wnrxIicysaV0kjdGMJJumQcvffCCZkzmLh2wMxXKcRtb8hvf67zsJ-zFSlki/s320/IMG_20181215_111553017.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More food</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once we’d eaten, there was a move among the people I’d
arrived with to leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turns out that
because we know the man’s sister, we need to go to their house too to say hello
and congratulate them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we say goodbye
to Nemerci, I greet her Mum and Dad, we take some photos and then we pile into
the car to drive another 20 minutes to the man’s house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIzC2y2Li-6mfgHmcCn2NS3w7eW1eC_qlC5Ok_plB1C-H-oR8J89VshpjzPQreclv0cKkHdos8G7AEEyZByFIoB9Tx2-GPkad4GIFzQRNhzJLyK5PGA_3sI_gA55XwKbE6ijx3OrwBtCJU/s1600/IMG_20181215_114723009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="577" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIzC2y2Li-6mfgHmcCn2NS3w7eW1eC_qlC5Ok_plB1C-H-oR8J89VshpjzPQreclv0cKkHdos8G7AEEyZByFIoB9Tx2-GPkad4GIFzQRNhzJLyK5PGA_3sI_gA55XwKbE6ijx3OrwBtCJU/s320/IMG_20181215_114723009.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Selfie with Nemerci</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Again, none of us know where the house is so we drive to the
vague vicinity and call someone we know who’s already there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Twenty minutes later a random guy on a
motorbike taps on the car door, saying he’s from the house we’re looking for
and that he’s been sent to show us the way.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMCmWJ-DsB7w8sDyHFOUbz-GTdjcNRG3mdr0tj0qWMnDmkvh8mWreROOkiNZsxvw3v6vBosw0jp1uy_PTuPR5TkJ2nzkJ4yU7dJZAeT6u9TQwjrxksTsipmk0oWhjNt782mubhIaq2RkZP/s1600/IMG_20181215_121750539.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="433" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMCmWJ-DsB7w8sDyHFOUbz-GTdjcNRG3mdr0tj0qWMnDmkvh8mWreROOkiNZsxvw3v6vBosw0jp1uy_PTuPR5TkJ2nzkJ4yU7dJZAeT6u9TQwjrxksTsipmk0oWhjNt782mubhIaq2RkZP/s320/IMG_20181215_121750539.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">View while we waited</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On arrival we greet Nemerci’s fiancé and sister (our
colleague) and are shown some seats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Twenty
minutes later we’re presented with even more food.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZzgbWTufL-l9xzgd8q1aRpIye49jTiMj35wF5dvPOqQ_9hI-XIfCvsLOirGNMLrkK3LDlk692UQpsgsvWvajhtexFnVWnuSI9_wQHP8kXkuV9YUtqDjdrfqKcNH083lOwfShIiOPFkUqo/s1600/IMG_20181215_124516635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZzgbWTufL-l9xzgd8q1aRpIye49jTiMj35wF5dvPOqQ_9hI-XIfCvsLOirGNMLrkK3LDlk692UQpsgsvWvajhtexFnVWnuSI9_wQHP8kXkuV9YUtqDjdrfqKcNH083lOwfShIiOPFkUqo/s320/IMG_20181215_124516635.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even more food, <br />we couldn't eat all this despite it being yummy</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We washed the food we managed to eat (we couldn’t finish it)
down with a coke and then just hung around chatting for a while and enjoying that fact that it wasn't hot (yay for cold season).</span></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5tKMTf8xD8vHs1vFmr2s7d0kkUnIEVgPWcMZ-Zg_lUgUTpK_uuFPly7ry930f9W0xpjmFEtDgS6XJ5na3ICx-9PJcuitGFCifzT9OgvKeyAIVlRIYxC-XGtn0hbJuRqvS67EGcpYF-9O/s1600/IMG_20181215_134037602_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="433" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5tKMTf8xD8vHs1vFmr2s7d0kkUnIEVgPWcMZ-Zg_lUgUTpK_uuFPly7ry930f9W0xpjmFEtDgS6XJ5na3ICx-9PJcuitGFCifzT9OgvKeyAIVlRIYxC-XGtn0hbJuRqvS67EGcpYF-9O/s320/IMG_20181215_134037602_HDR.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Food prep area, look at all the washing up!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once we’d spent ample time at this house, we left and made
our way home across town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was great to be able to celebrate with Nemerci and also
be part of a ‘dot’, something I’ve not previously done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully I’ll get invited to another one at
some point, so that I can turn up on time and actually see the handing over of
the dowry (oops again).</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-81813988753161727462018-11-12T14:55:00.001+00:002018-11-12T14:55:08.848+00:00Return to Guinebor: dust, patients and ‘cold’ season<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Greetings from Guinebor!
I arrived safely back on the evening of 2<sup>nd</sup> November, with, surprisingly,
both my suitcases on the same plane as me.
I was astounded but grateful! As
I shuffled along the plane aisle towards to exit, I took off my hoody and my
cardigan, leaving just a t-shirt. I was
preparing myself physically and mentally for the wall of heat to hit me as I
left the plane to go down the steps to the bus.
I was surprised to feel nothing but a bit of warm air around me. Hooray, cold season had arrived! This girl, fresh from almost-freezing Britain,
was relieved. It was ‘only’ 30C at the
time we landed (9.30pm). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hadn’t even left the airport building before a Chadian porter,
helping me with my luggage, had exclaimed his surprise and disapproval at the
fact that I wasn’t yet married and had no children. Nothing like a swift welcome back to the
culture…….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rains have long since finished and already all the green
I left behind in August has disappeared.
The hospital lawnmower has been packed away for another year. The dust has returned. The last rains were late October and it won’t
rain again now until next May/June. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I joined the ward round with the Chadian doctor
on Thursday morning. That was a shock,
as it hit me once again what the Chadian people go through that would almost never
happen in the UK. Malnourished
children. A possible attempted murder of
a teenager with a poisoned drink.
Psychosis triggered by a night-time household burglary. Just three of the 40-plus inpatients in our
hospital that morning. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpCRvJdN5aQltfEUWeBEqXvqGB1evHkzqPtBFHbZsXSz7t4ZVISqyhxlLAzKKmAHKpvvm9w1fyL05wOCeCg939t7pKbqVuDaD9y6BnWkm20xrgYT3fcjcmc24N99gvBSC-TCANmr0uT9mi/s1600/IMG_20181108_100411415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpCRvJdN5aQltfEUWeBEqXvqGB1evHkzqPtBFHbZsXSz7t4ZVISqyhxlLAzKKmAHKpvvm9w1fyL05wOCeCg939t7pKbqVuDaD9y6BnWkm20xrgYT3fcjcmc24N99gvBSC-TCANmr0uT9mi/s1600/IMG_20181108_100411415.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Women's ward at Guinebor Hospital</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another patient was a young girl of 17, in the bed at the top left of the photo above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She and her father had been travelling in the
back of a vehicle (probably a hilux) with their legs hanging out over the side
of the vehicle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see this so often here,
as people make the most of any form of transportation to get them from A to B.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, on this occasion their vehicle
was hit by another and the legs of the girl and her father were crushed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They both underwent surgery at Guinebor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the father’s legs was so smashed up it
had to be amputated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other was
fixed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The girl had her broken leg fixed
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, the father had post-operative
complications and passed away :(<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lady in the next bed looked a lot older than her family
said she was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to them she is
48, but she looked nearer 60.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To prove
how old she is, they told us that her oldest child is 23.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given that most women have children young
here, that’s considered enough proof of a lady's age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This lady was stick-thin, vomiting and couldn’t
get much food or drink down, so was also dehydrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On symptoms alone, the Chadian doctors had
diagnosed some sort of oesophageal or gastric tumour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She may possibly be able to have a camera
down her throat (at a clinic in N’Djamena) to see if that diagnosis is correct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she’s not well enough to tolerate it at
the moment and can the family even afford to have it done?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be honest, it would only be to have a more
definitive diagnosis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no cancer
treatment here in Chad so whether it’s confirmed as a tumour or not, treatment
will remain the same: treat symptoms, ensure hydration and keep the patient as comfortable
as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are just a few of the hundreds of patients that
Guinebor Hospital will treat this month, doing the best we can for the Chadian people
with the resources we have available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
fact that patients keep coming to us is hopefully a sign that we’re considered
reputable and that we treat people with dignity and respect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something that anyone can do, even with minimal
resources.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-16678654640066743572018-10-29T19:22:00.000+00:002018-10-29T19:22:07.310+00:00Heading back to the desert<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After having spent a lovely two months in the UK, my thoughts are now turning to returning to Chad on Friday 2nd November. I am looking forward to getting back to my 'normal', despite that not actually being too 'normal' for a girl from Devon! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been great to see parts of the UK I've never been to before, while doing my home assignment Church visits and talking about the work of Guinebor II Hospital. Thank you so much to the Churches, groups and individuals who have welcomed me, given me a meal and/or a bed for the night, and overwhelmingly told me of your ongoing support of both me and the hospital. It's been great to meet so many people who are interested in the work of the hospital.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's also been great to see family and friends while I've been here, as well as experiencing my first autumn for three years. I really miss the changing seasons and it's been good to see the beauty of the leaves changing colour:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, as the weather here in the UK is getting increasingly colder, I am now preparing both practically and mentally for returning to the heat and dust of Chad. As of next January, I will have been in Chad as a long-term mission worker for 3 years. The culture shock has largely worn off but I read a really good article recently that a friend shared on Facebook about culture stress. It's a slightly different phenomenon than culture shock and is constantly part of my life. If you'd like to read this short article on culture stress and learn another angle of my life in Chad, <a href="https://omf.org/thailand/2018/10/09/something-worse-than-culture-shock/" target="_blank">click here</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks for following my life and work in Chad. My next blog will be sent from Chad, so keep an eye out for it!</span></div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-17647840319321912062018-09-07T08:36:00.000+01:002018-09-07T08:36:04.336+01:00A change of scene<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The air is relatively dust-free. There's very little mud on the ground. I am wearing multiple layers of clothing. I am eating exciting things like bacon, cheese and berries. This can only mean one thing: I am no longer in Chad! </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I landed back in the UK a little under two weeks ago to start a two-month period of home assignment. I am enjoying not sweating and catching up with friends and family who I've not seen in over a year. Tomorrow I start my home assignment Church visits. Below is a list of all my speaking engagements over the next two months, should you wish to hear more about the work of Guinebor II Hospital from me in person.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 8th September, 7pm, Upton Vale Baptist Church, Torquay</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 15th September, 10am, Ampthill Baptist Church, nr Bedford</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 16th September, 10.15am, Union Baptist Church, High Wycombe</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 23rd September, 10.30am, Prince's Drive Baptist Church, Colwyn Bay</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesday 25th September, 7pm, Griffithstown Baptist Church, nr Cwmbran</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday 27th September, 7.30pm, South Molton Baptist Church, North Devon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 30th September, 10.30am, Mansfield Baptist Church</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 7th October, 10.30am, Brighton Road Baptist Church, Horsham</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday 13th October, 9.30am, BMS cafe event at Bethesda Baptist Church, Rogerstone, Newport (click <a href="https://www.bmsworldmission.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Newport-Cafe-programme.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> for more information about this event)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday 14th October, 6.30pm, Barnstaple Baptist Church</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I look forward to seeing you!</span></div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-4483401400884748402018-08-22T16:45:00.000+01:002018-08-22T20:09:50.080+01:00The day sixty military and two government ministers came to Guinebor II Hospital<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Last weekend started out like any other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I relaxed at home on Saturday morning after a
busy week at the hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I went
to a friend’s house to have lunch and watch a film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lunch included some bacon that I’d stored in
my freezer since February.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, you read
that right!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bacon isn’t available here,
so I’d squirreled it away when my Mum and Dad brought it out when they visited
in February!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned to my house on
the hospital site around 6pm before it got dark.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was just thinking about what I was going to eat that
evening and how I was going to continue my relaxed weekend, when my phone
rang.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Allain, our hospital administrator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Claire, I just received a phone call from the (network cut
out and I didn’t hear title of person) at the ministry of health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Network cut out) is coming to the hospital tomorrow
at (network cut out)’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I go next door to my Cameroonian colleague Kalbassou’s
house and together we call Allain back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Turns out an inspector at the ministry of health had called Allain, at
7.30pm on a Saturday evening, to say that the first lady of Chad was going to
visit the hospital at 7am tomorrow (yes, Sunday!) morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was all part of ‘citizenship week’ that ran
from 13 – 19 August here in Chad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We ask Allain to ensure he’s at the hospital before 7am the
following morning and then go up to the hospital to make sure things are as
clean and tidy as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all knew
*something* was going to happen on Sunday morning, but we weren’t totally sure
what.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or exactly when.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or even if the first lady *really was* going
to turn up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sunday arrives and I must admit, I had to drag myself out
of bed to go up to the hospital for 7am.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Allain, Kalbassou and I continue cleaning.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I’m looking slightly overdressed for the
task, having decided to already wear my ‘special clothes’.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kalbassou, being more culturally aware than I’ll
ever be, knew that nothing would actually happen at 7am and turned up in house
clothes to do the cleaning and then went home and got changed!</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">As the first lady was supposedly visiting, I
decided to wear my ‘women’s day 2018’ outfit.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It was nice to </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">wear it to a special occasion, because I was ill on women’s
day itself (8</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> March) and didn’t get to wear it then.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I thought it would look good to wear this as
I heard that the first lady helps design the women’s day fabric each year.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I may be wrong on that.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">But hey, I thought it would show female
solidarity with the first lady, in a male-dominated society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">8am arrives and Allain comes looking for Kalbassou and I
who’ve returned to our homes, somewhat dubious as to whether anything was
actually going to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Come, quick,
the military have arrived’ he says.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kalbassou, in his freshly pressed smart outfit, emerges from his house
as I pass by and the three of us go to greet the military.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were *loads* of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We shake hands with the more senior looking ones
and they tell us that, as part of citizenship week, they’ve come to ‘clean the
hospital’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What they actually meant by this
was that they wanted to pull up all the grass and anything else green they
could see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because, according to them,
it’s not good to have grass around the hospital as it attracts mosquitoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We white people quite like the grass to be
honest, as it’s only here for 3-4 months in rainy season and then it dies and
the ground is brown again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought it
was a bit ironic though, that 30 minutes after the army general told us it wasn’t
good for the hospital to have grass as it attracts mosquitoes, about 10 soldiers
are discreetly smoking cigarettes……<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPpe22oT1wl6BxhSvoXQikgrdbPeWVYwlrEVqRjZSV1IkrqNmQtDxdakmCScZXz4_resPAvUbnhUDTf7A_oxETCsyVialnDp8fsc7_cRuSUZJMYWCc5KDHmVpN2NYqr5PMTiQNrSVDwcG/s1600/some+of+the+military+vehicles+parked+outside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPpe22oT1wl6BxhSvoXQikgrdbPeWVYwlrEVqRjZSV1IkrqNmQtDxdakmCScZXz4_resPAvUbnhUDTf7A_oxETCsyVialnDp8fsc7_cRuSUZJMYWCc5KDHmVpN2NYqr5PMTiQNrSVDwcG/s320/some+of+the+military+vehicles+parked+outside.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some of the military vehicles outside the hospital</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There must’ve been at least 60 military in the hospital
grounds, armed with shovels, wheelbarrows and rakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They set to work ‘cleaning’ the hospital and
making it look tidy and brown again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
this point, I must interject and tell you that our hospital groundsmen mow the
grass that appears in rainy season and generally attempt to keep the place
looking tidy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not like the grass
was 6 feet tall and looking a mess!</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNsNvhUnnuE5Po82TFAvztb2Wnq3BSPJHWweN9kJRKMzDq_KpqgN4FwWA2yqPzXLVlWYjdG3u7j-fAprTqaoSIQ_Aox27re0rElQoiOubURzDug51c6QTn4s6EZA4E28pYs-q7K5uiXYP4/s1600/starting+the+clean+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNsNvhUnnuE5Po82TFAvztb2Wnq3BSPJHWweN9kJRKMzDq_KpqgN4FwWA2yqPzXLVlWYjdG3u7j-fAprTqaoSIQ_Aox27re0rElQoiOubURzDug51c6QTn4s6EZA4E28pYs-q7K5uiXYP4/s320/starting+the+clean+up.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The soldiers starting work</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFcOr104Kqgy-w60sQE6fzgqKFm-KH1Rz0JQluG893-QjEstgyknnLiOOFsdc5emHJX85QVlbqFt1E0euW1tnTqI2qptKBHuyqrI7xkrkX89w05as7Cd4KMA0laLmS5hPzrBLQUSFm_LLu/s1600/starting+the+clean+up+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFcOr104Kqgy-w60sQE6fzgqKFm-KH1Rz0JQluG893-QjEstgyknnLiOOFsdc5emHJX85QVlbqFt1E0euW1tnTqI2qptKBHuyqrI7xkrkX89w05as7Cd4KMA0laLmS5hPzrBLQUSFm_LLu/s320/starting+the+clean+up+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More soldiers starting work</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP97S4VYpLCCPd-Oi8b6DEJL5kj-lAYX7bjIyi7UjgQk0QdCcievPQUc_iGgpkRVxr2VBDZaNc5IVJiS9nEkpCZG0DbRInLwDBzkLxM_anppe-2Y3c6R2BDdQTU8M2sXCTrYOp5Zwn_Sel/s1600/after+finishing+first+part+of+work.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP97S4VYpLCCPd-Oi8b6DEJL5kj-lAYX7bjIyi7UjgQk0QdCcievPQUc_iGgpkRVxr2VBDZaNc5IVJiS9nEkpCZG0DbRInLwDBzkLxM_anppe-2Y3c6R2BDdQTU8M2sXCTrYOp5Zwn_Sel/s320/after+finishing+first+part+of+work.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After finishing the first part of the work they did</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEian5mJpm0c_r-J3v8oi3dBD-jXcctLgpzXBVL5eYWWDoxeavkRfXdfheHJWd5NBYJmw35-IDyCW9FrnCtNasFt3w-82_1HOm-fC5jGCl7BpHkdpyv7DsakhGd4CTrU7HWiiCUwCQATW6N2/s1600/selfie+with+military+at+work+behind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEian5mJpm0c_r-J3v8oi3dBD-jXcctLgpzXBVL5eYWWDoxeavkRfXdfheHJWd5NBYJmw35-IDyCW9FrnCtNasFt3w-82_1HOm-fC5jGCl7BpHkdpyv7DsakhGd4CTrU7HWiiCUwCQATW6N2/s320/selfie+with+military+at+work+behind.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Selfie with military in the background.<br />Decided there's unlikely ever to be another time when I can<br />take this kind of picture without having a gun<br />pointed at me or my phone confiscated!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Allain is told by one of the generals that he’s waiting on
a call and maybe the first lady *and* president are coming. I’m thinking that that’s a bit far-fetched
but, this is Chad, anything can happen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">After the military have
‘cleaned’ the main area in the hospital, they decide it’s time to plant a
commemorative neem tree.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Where should
they put it?</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">All eyes are on me.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I remember that we had to uproot a small dead
tree next to the men’s ward a month or so ago and so decide we can plant the
new tree there.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">They all want the nasara
(white person) in the photo of the planting of the commemorative neem tree, so I
oblige, under some duress, to show willing.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Planting the neem tree (photo taken after I'd already<br />posed near it, pretending to help plant it)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Selfie with Allain (left) and Kalbassou (middle) while<br />the soldiers took a break</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">After a snack and water break, the generals then get wind
of the fact that we have a caregiver village and so decide they want to go and ‘clean’
out there too.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">To be honest, this was
actually a great thing they did because the grass does get a bit unruly out
there.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The military get started and around
11am the call comes in to one of the generals.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The minister of health and minister of defence are on their way (so no
sign of the president or first lady, after all).</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The military continue to work hard clearing
the grass and weeds, watched by some bemused caregivers, who are there
preparing food for their family members who are inpatients at the hospital.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thirty minutes later the call comes in that
the ministers are two minutes away.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The generals,
Allain, Kalbassou and I all go to meet them at the main hospital gates.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ministers' convoy arriving</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We shake hands and are introduced to the two
ministers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The generals then give a
whistle-stop tour, literally, of the hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>None of us who work there are actually asked anything about the hospital
and the generals just lead the ministers around the buildings, showing off all
the brown they’ve created, the rest of us trying to keep up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0qe4d3DrWgtPt-UKr-UEzyRWg00MMHZ555p1kcu6_LM9pvN58IDPlxqvSauRTweIXR2wmRXuetzb2XYkoOd4m9BTBKQ8YEciEFfxXe-kpX7by6eNj3u6Q6B2H1JiCrsMOMjeP8Yg7dFf/s1600/ministers+walking+around+hospital.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0qe4d3DrWgtPt-UKr-UEzyRWg00MMHZ555p1kcu6_LM9pvN58IDPlxqvSauRTweIXR2wmRXuetzb2XYkoOd4m9BTBKQ8YEciEFfxXe-kpX7by6eNj3u6Q6B2H1JiCrsMOMjeP8Yg7dFf/s320/ministers+walking+around+hospital.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Start of the whistle-stop tour with the Minister of Health<br />(in the middle with white t-shirt) and the Minister of Defence<br />(almost out of shot on the left next to Kalbassou)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We arrive out in the caregiver village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rest of the military are still there
finishing off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The generals and ministers
punch the air in solitude with the soldiers and as a way of demonstrating their
appreciation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ministers are then photographed
wheeling a wheelbarrow of pulled-up weeds, which they promptly empty outside
the hospital gates, in a puddle, to try and ‘dry it up’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBi9dQA9wl99JxajVjEax459ewLOYzXAtn3IPzWvpSTFpYIOJ6ajyri9s9_p2V9X_QrH2Ps2X2S-wOQB3SU7UhezYDKFMz1dx2NrT8rl4UIJwl9MM0WXZqU1KIgn7kVREEgtCmRxzj_ZB/s1600/moh+wheelbarrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBi9dQA9wl99JxajVjEax459ewLOYzXAtn3IPzWvpSTFpYIOJ6ajyri9s9_p2V9X_QrH2Ps2X2S-wOQB3SU7UhezYDKFMz1dx2NrT8rl4UIJwl9MM0WXZqU1KIgn7kVREEgtCmRxzj_ZB/s320/moh+wheelbarrow.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Minster of Health helping with the tidy-up</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We then pose for a photo with the ministers before they
drive off again, no more than 15 minutes after arriving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEify3kQMSLS_LS7odrZ_vw9djfHjIoEQ2sXT4r6i2DJPOfgkZfSsjX0DhPjEeL7fi1GvxEP3imQu3-v8kuPZYueNlcbZZalc4j0OLgHRaBXYpiRgGTbG3snag7EDjLsdlET9Vk-hx-Wioqk/s1600/photo+with+minsters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEify3kQMSLS_LS7odrZ_vw9djfHjIoEQ2sXT4r6i2DJPOfgkZfSsjX0DhPjEeL7fi1GvxEP3imQu3-v8kuPZYueNlcbZZalc4j0OLgHRaBXYpiRgGTbG3snag7EDjLsdlET9Vk-hx-Wioqk/s320/photo+with+minsters.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Allain, Kalbassou and I with the <br />Minister of Health (in white t-shirt next to me)<br />and the Minister of Defence (next to Minister of Health)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The military, who by now have been at the hospital for four
hours, are still going for it and are in good spirits. After another thirty minutes they decide they’ve
thoroughly ‘cleaned’ the hospital and are ready to take off. Not before, however, we pose for yet more photos. Then a small group of military form a circle
around yours truly and ask for a speech. One of them is pointing a mobile phone in my
face, ready to film. I look at
Kalbassou, who knows I’ll be slightly panicking inside (I was a tiny bit, but
not as much as I would have been when I first arrived in Chad 2.5 years
ago. I guess I’m learning to expect the
unexpected). He tells me to just say
thank you and that we’re grateful that they came. I did just that, even saying some words in Arabic
(it didn’t seem to impress them though).
The military all seemed happy with my short speech. As we waited for them to load up in the back
of their Toyota pick-ups, I quietly asked Allain if what I’d said was ok. ‘It was ok’, he said, ‘but a bit short’. Thanks for the encouragement Allain! I say to him that I’m not great at giving
impromptu speeches. He told me that I
need to always be ready to give a speech.
Great. I’ll bear that in mind for
the next time……<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We stand at the hospital gates and cheer and wave the military
off as they drive away, swerving around the puddles of water that are a feature
of the roads here right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">A crazy but kind-of
fun morning. In all honesty, overall, it
was a privilege to have the Chadian military and government officials here at
the hospital.</span></span></span></div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-69248950419154112192018-07-25T16:57:00.000+01:002018-07-25T16:57:13.886+01:00An update on my random life<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yesterday was a great day!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may recall from my blog
entry last month (<a href="http://clairebedfordchadlife.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-random-blog-that-attempts-to-reflect.html" target="_blank">click here</a> to read it) that we had a visiting maxillofacial
surgeon with us for a short while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>During his clinic on the Saturday, we saw a baby girl (we’ll called her
Ache, not her real name) with a haemangioma on her face that covered her left
eye and a lot of her left cheek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s
how Ache looked when we first saw her:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaxYSkLOn1OtlCnFn88Fi8cDcR3LbfbKar3OvXYr_VZbzc_s8yNVjgBApHcv-XZ_ad4T8am-qb-wss1PEVLvi0ARf_kRR_7CRuqvoqj8JP3kloPZZ170cyTFMls-g2X1SAi6h-iYpQFEfe/s1600/DSCN0060+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaxYSkLOn1OtlCnFn88Fi8cDcR3LbfbKar3OvXYr_VZbzc_s8yNVjgBApHcv-XZ_ad4T8am-qb-wss1PEVLvi0ARf_kRR_7CRuqvoqj8JP3kloPZZ170cyTFMls-g2X1SAi6h-iYpQFEfe/s320/DSCN0060+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ache - 23rd June 2018</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Well yesterday, her parents came back in for follow
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a bit of a fluke (or was it?)
that I bumped into them while they were here, because I’m often not in the
consultation clinic and don’t see patients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However we crossed paths as they were leaving the hospital and they came
to show me the baby’s face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The simple
treatment of propranolol is working!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was so great to see how much the haemangioma has reduced already in just one
month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s still a lot of time and
medication required until it disappears completely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the parents are overjoyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mother, a beautiful young Arab girl
dressed in colourful clothes, bracelets and necklace, was beaming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The father, an older Arab man, couldn’t stop
saying ‘shukran’ (thank you).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With my
limited Arabic I couldn’t really converse with them, apart from replying
‘afwan’ (you’re welcome) and ‘da adil’ (that’s great).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gratitude was evident despite us not exchanging
many words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a humbling experience
to know that a simple treatment such as propranolol was making such a
difference to this young girl’s life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The father gave me the rest of the tablets he bought last time and I cut
more up for them to take home and continue the treatment for another couple of
months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We urged them to come back and
let us know how Ache is getting on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
I’ll be on home assignment when they come back, I handed over the propranolol
dosing and tablet-cutting to my Chadian pharmacist colleague and introduced him
to the family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This will mean they can
get more tablets cut up when they return for follow-up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the tablets are 40mg and the child
only requires 1/8<sup>th</sup> of a tablet per day at the moment, the box of 50
tablets which the father bought on their first visit is lasting a long
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bargain treatment, as the whole
box of 50 tablets cost around £3!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKEO27nzT0WjUpkBrZeJCbb-tGahlLxBDbQREXAU8zu8qib6goamCZnY1yiXNGmszNG1NyxSt52Jh9QpalRrPDX1me4co5YHZwN0I9mzNYx6hz1BSxAJHjNJs1Bwibl_2OkKFvBhXTsEl/s1600/DSC01031+%2528600x800%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKEO27nzT0WjUpkBrZeJCbb-tGahlLxBDbQREXAU8zu8qib6goamCZnY1yiXNGmszNG1NyxSt52Jh9QpalRrPDX1me4co5YHZwN0I9mzNYx6hz1BSxAJHjNJs1Bwibl_2OkKFvBhXTsEl/s320/DSC01031+%2528600x800%2529.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ache - 24th July 2018</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Carrying on with my update of my last blog, I’m sure you’re
all riveted as to what happened in the end with the pit latrines!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, all the bottles and nappies got removed
(by hand using shovels) and buried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A local
septic-tank-emptying company came and emptied the pit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alphonse our hospital handyman, along with
two guys to help him, re-laid the floors in each of the 3 latrines and put a thin
metal bar across the hole down into the long-drop to try and stop people
pushing bottles and nappies down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We can but hope…..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Oh, and I managed to curb the enthusiasm of the physio and
we just ordered 30 pairs of crutches rather than the 95 pairs he wanted!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">They’ve been made and delivered to the
hospital ready to help with the rehab of our orthopaedic patients.</span></div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-23299112529553146512018-06-28T17:31:00.000+01:002018-06-28T17:31:42.213+01:00A random blog that attempts to reflect my random life<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s often hard to explain what I ‘do’ here at Guinebor II
Hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My role has changed a lot
since I arrived and I’m not just responsible for the pharmacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a myriad of other roles too, that are
required in order to keep the place functioning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My American colleagues are currently on a
break in the States and so a bit more than normal falls to me right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Here’s an example of a typical hour and a half for me, all
this happened to me this morning:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">6.45am – staff prayer/devotion time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">7am – I’d already planned to speak with Michaela, a
recently arrived short-termer, working part time at the hospital with her
husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked Michaela if she could
give me 15 minutes to catch up with Kalbassou, acting hospital director, before
his busy day starts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">7.15am – Patrice, triage technician, comes up to me while I’m
talking with Kalbassou, to say a patient has arrived who has been sent for an
outpatient consultation with Kalbassou by a mission worker from another
organisation in N’Djamena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d already
been informed that this patient was coming this morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was to pay all his fees and the mission worker
in town would reimburse me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I go and
find the patient and sort out paying his consultation fees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I apologise to Michaela who, fortunately, is
very easy going and goes off to do another task.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">7.30am – While helping the patient through the
triage/payment process in the outpatient area, I notice the pharmacy isn’t yet
open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spot the staff member due to
start work at 7am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask why she’s late.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">7.45am – I go to find Michaela.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alphonse, our hospital-employed handyman,
stops me on my way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re having serious
problems with the pit latrines that the patients use (I won’t go into too many
details!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many patients shove empty
plastic bottles and nappies down the hole into the pit, rather than putting
them in the bins provided, and the pit is now full of all of this stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meaning that the general level in the pit is
high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is causing problems with the
plumbing in another area of the hospital. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the bottles and nappies need removing from
the pit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alphonse has found someone who
is willing to do this job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have to
pay him well to do it, which is fair enough. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chat with Alphonse about the price, and we
both go and tell Allain, our administrator, what’s going on with the pit
latrines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">8am – I go to find Michaela again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spot her and we start walking to a quiet
area to chat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m stopped on the way by
Matthieu, one of our physio’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says
we’re running out of the locally-made wooden crutches and please could he order
95 pairs?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suggest that 95 pairs is a
bit excessive and where would we store them all?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After ten minutes of discussion about the cost
of making the crutches, how much we ask patients to pay for them, how much the
patient gets reimbursed if they bring them back in a useable state once they’re
done with them, and how many pairs we actually do need to order at the moment,
he agrees to go away and think about how many pairs we actually need to order
of which size.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">8.20am – Michaela and I finally get chance to chat and
catch up about hospitality for the three sets of short-termers arriving
sequentially in July and August!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And now for something that’s actually pharmacy related.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Warning:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>don’t scroll down any further if you’re squeamish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This week we’ve had a visit from a maxillofacial surgeon
from the USA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s been to Chad multiple
times before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did an outpatient
clinic on Saturday morning and I went to sit in on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not thinking that I’d need to use my pharmacy
skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A couple bring in their 3 month old girl who has a growth on
her face, right around her left eye and on her cheek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This couple has travelled from the Lake Chad
region to seek treatment for their baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s a long way, on terrible roads that aren’t really roads (Google a
map of Chad if you’re interested!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1NeF5fUJ5Q5rhFarFpzUK_-wPoNCh6rOd347zTeLwaJPhltzbx1qAYJ_epiaLfOzemCp9UuuUB8ylj_cVhksPIvsUrZJLhLR8oTZ1YIx_Fn1_KpmDQDcqYzwLcCDorbjD_U_NbEh8DfLH/s1600/DSCN0060+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1NeF5fUJ5Q5rhFarFpzUK_-wPoNCh6rOd347zTeLwaJPhltzbx1qAYJ_epiaLfOzemCp9UuuUB8ylj_cVhksPIvsUrZJLhLR8oTZ1YIx_Fn1_KpmDQDcqYzwLcCDorbjD_U_NbEh8DfLH/s320/DSCN0060+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The surgeon knew straight away that this was a haemangioma
and that it’s not treated by surgery but by a drug. Cue some searching to find the drug
and dose – propranolol 1mg/kg/day. Here’s
where I came in, everyone was looking at me!
Propranolol is available in Chad but unfortunately we didn’t have any (a
long story I won’t go into). So the baby
was given a prescription and the father was asked to go and find it in a
pharmacy in town. We see some other
patients and little over an hour later the father is back. Good news: he’s found and bought
propranolol. Bad news: it’s 40mg
tablets. Pharmacy and medical people
among you are probably wondering ‘why didn’t they prescribe a liquid?’ We can’t get propranolol in anything other than
40mg tablets here in Chad. The surgeon
and some others were now turning the sorting of this out over to me. Patient weighs 4kg. So she needs 4mg per day. We decide two divided doses will be
fine. Ok, so those who are quick with
maths will be thinking – chop the tablets into 10! Yes! However
they are round and about 1cm in diameter.
Fortunately in the pharmacy we have a pill splitter that I brought back
from the UK. Also
fortunately, the tablets were scored into four parts. I decide (with agreement from the surgeon)
that I’ll chop the tablets into 8. So
that the child gets 5mg per day if they take one piece per day, half of it in the
morning and half of it in the evening. I
reasoned that by the time the Mum has ground the tiny shard of tablet down to
get it into the baby, some will go astray anyway and the baby wouldn’t actually
get 5mg per day. They are due back for
follow up in a month. Hopefully they’ll
come back. This kind of ‘thinking out of
the box’ and ‘making the best of the situation in hand’ is typical of my life
here in Chad. Trying to help people with
the little resources available to them and us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-49166496224270054562018-05-23T19:41:00.000+01:002018-05-23T19:41:24.426+01:00Celebrate good times!<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As most of you
know, I am a pharmacist and part of my role here at Guinebor II Hospital is to
oversee the pharmacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I work most closely
with a Chadian pharmacist called Audrey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Audrey (pronounced Aud-ray) is actually a guy and not a girl…..I know,
confusing, ask me about my ‘funny story’ about that from when I interviewed him
for his job back when I was here short term in 2013.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Audrey is great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get on really well and I can basically
leave the everyday running of the pharmacy to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alongside Audrey, there are three other
members of the team: Elisabeth who is the ‘mama’ of the pharmacy, Cleopas and
Missi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These three are pharmacy assistants
and have worked at the hospital for many years, they were all here when I was
here short-term in 2013/14.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Missi is a
fairly recent addition to the pharmacy though, having been redeployed from
elsewhere in the hospital when we needed an extra staff member.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was trained mainly by Audrey and the
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These four are effectively my 'Chadian family' in a lot of ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get on
well, work well together and often eat together on the floor of the pharmacy at
lunchtime (off a tray, not the floor!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We know a lot of what’s going on in each other’s families.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It was a joy to
learn at the end of last year that Audrey was getting married!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His fiancée lived in the south of Chad at the
time (where Audrey’s originally from) and so he got married down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This meant that unfortunately the rest of us
couldn’t go because of the distance and some security issues (for me). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cleopas went to represent us at Audrey’s
wedding and took a typed greeting from the rest of us in the pharmacy – which he
told me I needed to type for him to take about 10 minutes before he was
leaving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who know me well know I
like lots of notice of things, but you just have to roll with these things
here! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Ever since
Audrey got married to Priscilla at the end of November 2017, we’ve been saying
in the pharmacy that we needed to meet her and have a small celebration here in
N’Djamena. Priscilla and their daughter
Angela moved to N’Djamena at the end of January 2018 once things were arranged for
them to move. Cue another four months of
staff holidays, sickness, travel and we found ourselves at the start of May
still not having done our celebration!
Finally though, last Friday afternoon after work (work on a Friday
finishes early afternoon here in Chad), we made it! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Elisabeth,
Missi and I had bought Audrey’s ‘wedding fabric’ – the couple choose a fabric
for their friends to wear and once made into clothes at the tailor’s, those
clothes are then known as the clothes from that couple’s wedding.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We’d had the fabric turned into skirts and
tops and headscarves but hadn’t yet had opportunity to wear them!</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Now was our chance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We piled into
my car and headed across N’Djamena to Audrey and Priscilla’s house.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We were greeted by Priscilla and took photos
of the team together.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Audrey and
Priscilla also showed us their wedding photos which were lovely to see. </span></div>
<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxpYCueXpohfhojpUgeSUSDQlXUBu6-UL0I4tUQj14NOyIfCrIUmX30fsgxqP9I7eJKoYRp7C0ZFuj4i5zZq_dp8q3tRMTAABXGkP3bU5pf6ITOUiufIzSQ1OBxMyk2GSYOuWuBiUgjc5/s1600/IMG_20180518_160913653%257E2+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxpYCueXpohfhojpUgeSUSDQlXUBu6-UL0I4tUQj14NOyIfCrIUmX30fsgxqP9I7eJKoYRp7C0ZFuj4i5zZq_dp8q3tRMTAABXGkP3bU5pf6ITOUiufIzSQ1OBxMyk2GSYOuWuBiUgjc5/s320/IMG_20180518_160913653%257E2+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pharmacy team (L-R):<br />Me - if you'd not guessed ;) Cleopas, <br />Missi, Audrey, Elisabeth</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk6ACk3iNTpWuEY4p2X6lKBFpdbbjo1iU0zStBRKKJ-8tG3rQ0ikJAw-omk0BdiUDkxsJpBqnt_q1kt8fSBaWBwCyzd7_R7ni0oshAsfYysiaT6qEn64VcrjKK9xv73QdEYlWAHm-ed56v/s1600/IMG_20180518_161128568+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk6ACk3iNTpWuEY4p2X6lKBFpdbbjo1iU0zStBRKKJ-8tG3rQ0ikJAw-omk0BdiUDkxsJpBqnt_q1kt8fSBaWBwCyzd7_R7ni0oshAsfYysiaT6qEn64VcrjKK9xv73QdEYlWAHm-ed56v/s320/IMG_20180518_161128568+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With Missi (L) and Elisabeth (R)</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ92cr2YsbV6ZibaFwiucuWYYMc6JgoeZ1FBRnhTSU-dT5KtQkNgGlD_mGpS4e1IcdA_DtDzkOCMn48Fbz_mMJksr75LOZC0dG7jAww3FV9GpVbiKanQRrhL4tQobcGcE7vPBtU7gGpfBi/s1600/IMG_20180518_161627961%257E2+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ92cr2YsbV6ZibaFwiucuWYYMc6JgoeZ1FBRnhTSU-dT5KtQkNgGlD_mGpS4e1IcdA_DtDzkOCMn48Fbz_mMJksr75LOZC0dG7jAww3FV9GpVbiKanQRrhL4tQobcGcE7vPBtU7gGpfBi/s320/IMG_20180518_161627961%257E2+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With Cleopas (L) and Audrey (R)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The pharmacy
team had all clubbed together to buy them a wedding gift, which was presented
to Priscilla by Elisabeth and Missi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSDQ7NElD75s2N24svrItl1kFp6RLRLkcYY3DtTKojL5odBeVEsrF7wp7pfS-kjGpAC8wDZ4Z3wury9g5pJ1jp6z0NAjZ_g244NF3cPvezM4cMOHD9waB2X6QgAi0_EiKcMKRAYpOfGVy9/s1600/IMG_20180518_161257375%257E2+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSDQ7NElD75s2N24svrItl1kFp6RLRLkcYY3DtTKojL5odBeVEsrF7wp7pfS-kjGpAC8wDZ4Z3wury9g5pJ1jp6z0NAjZ_g244NF3cPvezM4cMOHD9waB2X6QgAi0_EiKcMKRAYpOfGVy9/s320/IMG_20180518_161257375%257E2+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Handing over our wedding gift<br />of thermal food storage containers, tray and fabric cover</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">While we were
all busy at work, Priscilla had been busy cooking up a storm for us! She served us fish, plantains and vegetables,
washed down by the obligatory coca cola.
It was so good!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu2mNSggoD75-JLcrf2R73i-1mJ5_f6GBrbxytF2lFLiZVcuxgLa-IlMvGis98bu0MCqHCpeamMIsSKUXxYodgs_r-aL836EIJ5s_2mXhEpgSC4lZe4DTymQBm2ZZokbBIbm2wDCcOQbP5/s1600/IMG_20180518_162551118+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu2mNSggoD75-JLcrf2R73i-1mJ5_f6GBrbxytF2lFLiZVcuxgLa-IlMvGis98bu0MCqHCpeamMIsSKUXxYodgs_r-aL836EIJ5s_2mXhEpgSC4lZe4DTymQBm2ZZokbBIbm2wDCcOQbP5/s320/IMG_20180518_162551118+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yummy Chadian food :)<br />I kindly left the head of my fish for my colleagues,<br />cos I'm nice like that ;) The Chadians consider the<br />fish's head the best, most nutritious part. I'm always<br />very happy to leave them that part!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">It was good to
finally meet Audrey’s wife and daughter who we’d heard so much about but who
we’d never met! It was also good to
celebrate their marriage as a team and hang out together outside of the
pharmacy as this is a rarity! I’m so
grateful to work alongside these four hard-working, kind and hospitable people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-86409140459562625012018-04-12T18:16:00.001+01:002018-04-12T18:16:47.229+01:00Who did I find on the children’s ward?<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I thought a lot
of people may be interested to hear the types of illnesses that some of our
patients are hospitalised for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here’s
a snapshot of some of the children on our children’s ward one day this past
week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All names have been changed to
preserve anonymity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Warning: there is
some medical talk in this blog, so don’t read on if you’re squeamish or prudish!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wC2PBmxCj-IeBtBFuG4W0A10UIyMioZvweQr76u4XHZJsU2pMKjJnUfB5u5j_MJ3QT5oMX0QifX_mPgGqS1G5ebhuTFPhyn5Wuo9ceDgkQVol2rTw4tLdH2NYLOpkXvYiaeuG1WIm5cg/s1600/paeds+apr+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wC2PBmxCj-IeBtBFuG4W0A10UIyMioZvweQr76u4XHZJsU2pMKjJnUfB5u5j_MJ3QT5oMX0QifX_mPgGqS1G5ebhuTFPhyn5Wuo9ceDgkQVol2rTw4tLdH2NYLOpkXvYiaeuG1WIm5cg/s320/paeds+apr+2018.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ward round on the children's ward - <br />Dr Augustin one of our local doctors in the white coat, <br />Emilie a short-term French nurse <br />and Moussa one of our local nurses</span></td></tr>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Child 1<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Mariam, aged 3,
had been admitted two days previously for malaria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not really peak season for malaria at
the moment (it’s not rained since October and so there’s very little standing
water around, which mosquitoes need to breed in).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However it’s still possible to get
malaria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately Mariam’s malaria
had not been properly treated in the recent past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often, before ‘resorting’ to coming to the
hospital, people try and treat illnesses either at a local health centre, or by
traditional medicine, or they buy products from street medicine sellers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of these methods are much cheaper than
coming to the hospital but they’re not always successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After admission to us, Mariam received
injections to treat her malaria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was
much improved and was being discharged on oral medicines to complete her
treatment.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Child 2</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hassan, aged 7,
had been admitted a few days earlier with trauma to his abdomen after falling
from a camel.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He is from a nomad family
and they all own camels to transport their belongings and families.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After undergoing an x-ray and an ultrasound,
it was proven that he’d not done any major damage internally which was good
news.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He had blood in his urine though,
which showed that he had done a bit of damage inside.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So he had been catheterised and monitored to
make sure that he wasn’t losing lots of blood.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A few days previous to this ward round I’d seen Hassan very sleepy on
the bed and not alert at all.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But this
ward round he was sat up, smiling and alert which was good to see.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">His urine was flowing clear and so his
catheter was removed.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">His father was
told that as soon as he passed urine normally, he could go home.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Smiles all round :)</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Child 3</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Ali, aged 9, had been
admitted a few days earlier with an abscess on his outer left thigh. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It is unclear how he got the abscess.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Maybe he’d been given an injection in another
health facility and it wasn’t done in a clean way?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Maybe he’d cut himself somehow and the wound
just didn’t heal properly or quickly?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We
end up working with a lot of unknowns!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Ali was two days post-op, having been to the operating theatre to have
the abscess opened, drained, cleaned out and dressed.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He was now on painkillers and
antibiotics.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The dressing was due to be
changed on this ward round and so he was given a small dose of sedative to help
with the pain of that, as the wound he’s left with is pretty deep.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Child 4</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Abakar, aged 5,
was hospitalised for osteomyelitis (bone infection) in a bone on the side of his
left foot near his big toe.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I asked how
he could’ve ended up with osteomyelitis, as this is a deep-seated infection
that takes a while to develop.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The doctor
said he’d probably injured his foot maybe playing football or kicking a stone.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The wound may’ve appeared to heal over but
actually inside the ‘healed’ wound, it wasn’t clean and infection kicked
in.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Abakar had also already been to
theatre and had the wound and the infected bit of bone cleaned out. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He was on antibiotics and painkillers.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He had his dressing changed after having been
given a bit of sedative too.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He needed
ongoing dressing changes but he was discharged, to come in as an out-patient to
the dressing clinic to have these done.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This
is fine but ideally he should’ve stayed on the ward a while longer to ensure
adequate pain relief and antibiotic dosing, but his family didn’t have any more
money to pay for his inpatient care.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So the
doctor had no choice but to discharge him.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Despite not being ideal, as long as he comes to dressing clinic, he
should be ok and heal up well.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Child 5</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Saleh, aged 10,
had been admitted the previous night after having been bitten by a snake.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This is a pretty unusual occurrence here in N’Djamena,
there a fewer snakes than you may imagine.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He’d been given ‘anti-snake bite’ treatment and painkillers and was
being discharged as he was doing well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">This is just a
snapshot of some of the patients we’ve had as in-patients at Guinebor Hospital
in the last week. Watch out for another
blog in the future where I’ll describe some other cases we’ve seen here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-35049482672637230662018-03-20T16:53:00.000+00:002018-03-20T16:53:46.665+00:00We're all in this together<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">You may or may
not know that BMS currently only has three mission workers here in Chad –
myself at Guinebor II Hospital in N’Djamena and my colleagues Mark and Andrea
Hotchkin, who are Doctors at a hospital in the north of Chad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we’re a small BMS team, geographically
divided by a huge land mass called the Sahara desert!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes three days to travel by land between
our respective Chadian homes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It was a joy
and privilege to go and visit the Hotchkins last week for a quick two-day trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two days (?!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I hear you cry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does that
compute, when it takes 3 days to travel up by road and 3 days to travel
back?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A-ha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s where the title of this blog comes in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">We may presently
only be a small BMS team-of-three, but we’re part of a much bigger team of
mission workers in Chad, from various organisations and from various countries
around the world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re also part of an
even bigger team of local Chadian believers who have a heart for reaching their
fellow Chadians with our faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It was a real
treat to be able to fly up north on a MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship)
plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>MAF have two planes here in Chad
and do a fantastic work in transporting various people doing various vital roles
around the country, often to places difficult to access by road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was my first time on a MAF plane and the
first time I’ve ever known, and been on first name terms with, the pilot flying a
plane I’m travelling on!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A journey that
takes three days by road (that should be ‘road’ because it’s mostly desert)
takes just 5.5 hours in the marvellous MAF plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hurrah for MAF!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I wasn’t alone
on the MAF plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way up there
were 7 of us on board from 5 different organisations and 4 different nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way back there were 9 of us on board
from 5 different organisations and 5 different nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nations represented were the UK,
Switzerland, Chad, The Netherlands and the USA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The people travelling were all travelling for a reason, not just
tourism!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some were there to see the
hospital up north and give professional insight (this included the Chadian guy
who came with us who’s a biomedical engineer), others were returning to/from
living up north, others were on a visit from their organisation’s main office
in Europe, to see where their mission workers are currently living and working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was good to connect with these people,
some of whom I already knew and others who I previously didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We instantly bonded on our little trip up
north.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The one thing
that’s striking living and working here, and for which I am grateful, is that despite
being far from my UK home, with only two colleagues from ‘my’ organisation in
country, I have a massive support network of like-minded individuals around
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They come from all over the world,
including Chad, and we all have the same objective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all support each other and help each other
in a way that I think is probably only found when you’re away from ‘normal’
life in your passport country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone’s
in the same (foreign) boat and you instantly have the bond that you’re ‘not
from here’, ‘stand out a mile’, ‘struggle with the heat’, ‘struggle with the
language’ and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re all in this
together!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Here are some
of the many photos I took from the plane and on the ground up north.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chad is such a varied country in terms of scenery,
especially up north!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was amazing to
be able to see a different part of this amazing country.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2K2TUvbS_B-m-VNFzvC_hh0Tw9vBKRwIuCoMwItmWYnIoJmWACdSCowLCuVaIGaCtXrSfdzj3jky16OEhKch-lnnu_NTpSC2s8Zc0lzebBXgIt7JOIsdVF27Y3d_iGQ6jZnoigaxGgfW/s1600/DSC00751+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2K2TUvbS_B-m-VNFzvC_hh0Tw9vBKRwIuCoMwItmWYnIoJmWACdSCowLCuVaIGaCtXrSfdzj3jky16OEhKch-lnnu_NTpSC2s8Zc0lzebBXgIt7JOIsdVF27Y3d_iGQ6jZnoigaxGgfW/s320/DSC00751+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taking off from N'Djamena at 6.30am</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR56AZaK3ssJhdelkKEBdclucEkPJAFqw3BElOM8XAT1hcvfOwTOp2IYZ7ZVE5JCLJRIi07mXBvUNKphVqxbYUm0rAS2g_Prst14KIzFu6OO2QK698dxIRYhzImx2v5s4VpEFIu2eFtS1H/s1600/DSC00777+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR56AZaK3ssJhdelkKEBdclucEkPJAFqw3BElOM8XAT1hcvfOwTOp2IYZ7ZVE5JCLJRIi07mXBvUNKphVqxbYUm0rAS2g_Prst14KIzFu6OO2QK698dxIRYhzImx2v5s4VpEFIu2eFtS1H/s320/DSC00777+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Coming in to land at Faya, three hours into the journey, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">for a refuelling stop.<br />Faya is quite literally an oasis in the desert</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifd-HVbPd8PYOY1jDBFZt4smYEyVjIClyVX-nI9GYQ2D4es1SHiFtPLmfa6CkgPWgo9hiUY1bAoH48HVoV8WgsG-gB0fpycqQJArPFRL5gzxZcVl9htuXJftPLGaAf0WqrwJ6AdJS4_zSm/s1600/DSC00801+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifd-HVbPd8PYOY1jDBFZt4smYEyVjIClyVX-nI9GYQ2D4es1SHiFtPLmfa6CkgPWgo9hiUY1bAoH48HVoV8WgsG-gB0fpycqQJArPFRL5gzxZcVl9htuXJftPLGaAf0WqrwJ6AdJS4_zSm/s320/DSC00801+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Circling around Emi Koussi, Chad's highest mountain <br />(Google it*, it's fascinating!)<br />*other search engines are available</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qdISD59HRwxQFLYRxAR6mcm39OMgNyVdxavP-OPmzsNZgWmCWVp1tg4xP-9WKkkd1uuD3iMmuLgDoNP2u6LsD00SLxaFceGow2mTdHsvsJ0XDwaZ38mKLLxs-J-x7_ztCRrU8a8-ws5X/s1600/DSC00823+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8qdISD59HRwxQFLYRxAR6mcm39OMgNyVdxavP-OPmzsNZgWmCWVp1tg4xP-9WKkkd1uuD3iMmuLgDoNP2u6LsD00SLxaFceGow2mTdHsvsJ0XDwaZ38mKLLxs-J-x7_ztCRrU8a8-ws5X/s320/DSC00823+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The landing strip at our final destination in the north</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDnQl4QJFl25wqOtzPY4pTvsiQadMCfJpBCxpeSmS3h7hLA8E8nvAeW2JZL_r4VjALo7Cs6qozj6NukmAEkLprK7365QNiSTw-7qA5Q8hA0jDpyUusAeGFphMnbIu-m1IdqUoAwF1weOU/s1600/DSC00824+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDnQl4QJFl25wqOtzPY4pTvsiQadMCfJpBCxpeSmS3h7hLA8E8nvAeW2JZL_r4VjALo7Cs6qozj6NukmAEkLprK7365QNiSTw-7qA5Q8hA0jDpyUusAeGFphMnbIu-m1IdqUoAwF1weOU/s320/DSC00824+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Andrew the fab MAF pilot unloading the plane</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4eqYT9XnA-75HgIDaT4_J4pnobi1DEI9p9DakH_KtARmsOB3V-xjm46YR9yE8oJ6EImy8JiU1wJn9TOeoFBBxfMa23Xz5KvJZahaXQ0pikto9uS5uDXHQ8PkuiMI86toSxq4gRKEJCcnI/s1600/DSC00845+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4eqYT9XnA-75HgIDaT4_J4pnobi1DEI9p9DakH_KtARmsOB3V-xjm46YR9yE8oJ6EImy8JiU1wJn9TOeoFBBxfMa23Xz5KvJZahaXQ0pikto9uS5uDXHQ8PkuiMI86toSxq4gRKEJCcnI/s320/DSC00845+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fun drawings on the nearby rocks of the town up north. <br />They're thought to be at least 4000 years old. <br />Amazing. <br />Anywhere else they'd be behind railings with a fee charged to see them, but not here! <br />You're free to look around as you wish. <br />The downside is that some have been defaced with graffiti :(</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIUVCQ8DCWJ9td4YJLIDY8E5A30RyRjhA7iuWatbCOPO_dt4W-mvQkPosaVaFLhQDhWh2s7c2jDIRWQAMHMqbeormU1hAt5O8yy0wshLIDBEWU2h3BojFNDGuAZgYCrLcqeO5JFp1irKo/s1600/DSC00877+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIUVCQ8DCWJ9td4YJLIDY8E5A30RyRjhA7iuWatbCOPO_dt4W-mvQkPosaVaFLhQDhWh2s7c2jDIRWQAMHMqbeormU1hAt5O8yy0wshLIDBEWU2h3BojFNDGuAZgYCrLcqeO5JFp1irKo/s320/DSC00877+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With my BMS colleagues Mark and Andrea, <br />on the way down to the hospital from their house.<br />Look at that scenery! <br />And it was cold too. <br />I'm wearing a cardigan, but that didn't last long!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl4PKQiSzw15AIinoaSj3_eRrCNQLODXVeV97L8JTRBioWiRt8yW_XfbucKbXt0cJyV5THhvg7Evr_KqSsFFryhnS9EO7e0n5dheAZuxCcrN_2ZW48tBQPtHLS7PY2UVHIOMwRyi1gSKb5/s1600/DSC00923+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl4PKQiSzw15AIinoaSj3_eRrCNQLODXVeV97L8JTRBioWiRt8yW_XfbucKbXt0cJyV5THhvg7Evr_KqSsFFryhnS9EO7e0n5dheAZuxCcrN_2ZW48tBQPtHLS7PY2UVHIOMwRyi1gSKb5/s320/DSC00923+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Circling the 'Trou au natron' in northern Chad, <br />on the way back to N'Djamena.<br />Another fascinating sight of Chad</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeiQDZF-bi-rEb6-aMNvOdXqiRUGiD2yl0RUwFvKSUNvEr5UT8SfrEuiKYcToULdcrPU5qc6dbqgD0btUd-TgwBphS_psuaaHLzHZ3P9hkELDhOf-30-2BRa9j2QrBpLXIYrNzMk00r4S/s1600/DSC00964+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeiQDZF-bi-rEb6-aMNvOdXqiRUGiD2yl0RUwFvKSUNvEr5UT8SfrEuiKYcToULdcrPU5qc6dbqgD0btUd-TgwBphS_psuaaHLzHZ3P9hkELDhOf-30-2BRa9j2QrBpLXIYrNzMk00r4S/s320/DSC00964+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Coming back in to land at N'Djamena <br />- one plus of knowing the pilot is you can ask if he can fly <br />by your house on the way back to the airport!<br />(Guinebor is not geographically that far from N'Djamena airport). <br />I guess you need to know where to look, <br />but centre (ish) of this photo is the compound of Guinebor II Hospital :)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoog_QROI5uwg-0wFvBDXQ5KiQB26ItTXYJCOf9iA_3oPts_yGPAD362RvNjQkX-9O5zL8FOyAB1Ktjlbb3CYNyP9zp3hDxnu0DpQ_hpdAJWmQxYJOlD36I_RAsKjDYjURWtQUNkeRdf9V/s1600/with+arrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoog_QROI5uwg-0wFvBDXQ5KiQB26ItTXYJCOf9iA_3oPts_yGPAD362RvNjQkX-9O5zL8FOyAB1Ktjlbb3CYNyP9zp3hDxnu0DpQ_hpdAJWmQxYJOlD36I_RAsKjDYjURWtQUNkeRdf9V/s320/with+arrow.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ok, I'll help you out ;) Here's a helpful arrow pointing out<br />the Hospital compound</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-88918140057423951332018-02-19T17:42:00.000+00:002018-02-19T17:42:05.303+00:00The parents' perspective on life in Chad<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first week in February<span style="text-align: start;"> my parents
came to visit! Along with two friends from my home church in
Torquay. It was great to have them here. Visitors always have a
fresh perspective on things that have become 'normal' to me, so I asked my Mum
and Dad to document some thoughts on their time here in Chad at Guinebor II
Hospital. Below is their account. Enjoy reading about life here
from a different perspective!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are Steve and Marilyn, Claire’s parents, and
we have just returned from an amazing week at the hospital at Guinebor ll (G2).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went as part of a team of four – Rachel
and Ailsa, who are from Claire’s home Church in Torquay, went too.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What follows are our impressions of the
country, the people and the hospital itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Upon landing we were met by Claire and Kalbassou
(a Cameroonian mission worker surgeon at G2 – it is unsafe for Claire to travel
alone at night) outside the airport building, as non-travellers aren’t allowed
inside. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The heat at this point was not
too bad as it was 10.30pm, but it was quite warm.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We travelled in the BMS 4x4 to G2 and were
shown into the hospital guest house, a very nice two bed building on the
site.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting under a mosquito net to
get into bed was a new occurrence for us, but necessary, and having windows
open and curtains open at night seemed the ‘wrong way around’ to us Westerners!
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Sleep was a bit more of a difficult
commodity than at home, what with the heat and a call to prayer from the local mosques
at 4.30am.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were up at 6 am each morning to join some of
the hospital team who gather for prayer.
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was interesting as it was in French, which neither of us speak.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Claire and Rachel kindly interpreted for us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On our first morning - Monday, we were taken to
the police station as apparently we needed to get our passports stamped and
ourselves registered. Claire seemed to
know a lot of the people there!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Travelling around was a unique experience –
lots of motorbikes, and folks just seemed to appear from nowhere!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The horn is used a lot in Chad!!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Drinking lots of water – at least 3 litres
per day was impressed upon us by Claire, or we would soon become
dehydrated.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With this heat it was easy
to do, and carrying around a bottle of water soon became the new norm for us.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A tour of the hospital site followed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Tuesday morning prayers, Pastor Djibrine,
the hospital Chaplain, invited Steve to go around the wards with him, praying
with the patients – very few declined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He also heard Pastor Djibrine’s story of becoming a Christian, which is
so different to our Western one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marilyn
was invited to go into the operating theatre and found this experience very
different from in the UK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the
operations were the same as at home, but the equipment and treatment seemed
very out-dated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the care,
expertise, respect and dignity afforded to each individual patient was to be
admired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What this hospital does with
its resources is absolutely AMAZING, they do a fantastic job with such limited
resources. Rachel and Ailsa went to the dressing clinic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the afternoon we went to a ladies meeting.
It was a social event and we met with ladies who had come from many different
countries to either work as mission workers themselves, or to support their
husbands in their jobs in Chad. One of
these ladies was the head teacher of a school for mission workers’ children,
others worked for MAF and AIM among other organisations. Steve stayed outside with other men and kept
an eye on the children. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday morning is different – no prayer
meeting as such, but prayers on the wards with all the patients instead. This was a very interesting experience, and
no one refused prayer. A litter pick
outside the hospital then followed – there is minimal refuse collection in
Chad, so there is a lot of litter around everywhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the afternoon we were taken to the Acacia project,
where Claire’s friend Naomi works with vulnerable women. This project offers a Christian rehab
programme for the women and once they’ve successful completed it (it takes
around 3 months), they become part of a group that makes goods to sell – soap,
bangles and bags mainly. What they
produce, to a very high standard, from a rented room is remarkable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Thursday morning Steve had been asked to
speak at the morning prayer meeting.
Claire had to do the interpreting for her Dad. There was a strike in Chad by the public
sector workers on this day, as they had not been paid for 5 months. The temperature hit 41 degrees today – seriously
hot! In the evening we were invited to supper at the home of Elisabeth, who
works in pharmacy and lives in Guinebor II.
We caused quite a local stir as there were five white people walking
about in the evening! This was an
interesting evening, as we had not visited a Chadian home before. It was a concrete construction, with a tin
roof, so very, very hot. After washing
our hands Chadian style with soap and cold water poured from a kettle, we were
given a typical meal of boule, okra sauce and goat meat, sat on a rug on the
floor and eaten with the right hand.
When we had finished our meal the remaining food was given to her
children, who were outside. This appears
to be part of the reason that children are sometimes malnourished, as sometimes
they only get to eat what the adults leave.
The older female children also clear up and wash up afterwards – in
preparation for being married in later life. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPWOvgIyff43BU7FFWqRE2U_QXkAAApPosHEIdxRAUpSWRylHpVZJ0IrJS9SUJQ0TdDstFpJYD8T2P_zdXHUdVVOKTYP11TMbNb9-2s3ttZ0rxq8UAcd2z4bitCJoSRTaw7lKczwzqtTm/s1600/IMG_20180208_171927441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPWOvgIyff43BU7FFWqRE2U_QXkAAApPosHEIdxRAUpSWRylHpVZJ0IrJS9SUJQ0TdDstFpJYD8T2P_zdXHUdVVOKTYP11TMbNb9-2s3ttZ0rxq8UAcd2z4bitCJoSRTaw7lKczwzqtTm/s320/IMG_20180208_171927441.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Eating boule and sauce at Elisabeth's house</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friday, after prayers, Steve went with Pastor
Djibrine to the wards, and Marilyn went on the ward round with the Chadian
Doctor.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We saw children with malaria
(and it’s not the season for it yet), and fractures from falling from a
tree.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adults and children had many of
the same problems as we have at home, but because of the local cooking
facilities, burns from stoves as well.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqg7T0vVdINs3rLEg_xwLUEkUl-scaxH3MbnxfAae_GSWqSVTNo6HLPp0IjuB8h-TxGa0q0qn7cL355jqVt9qkhoovjl-GB7qzWKsGjDff4SnWuW6K5q8BsdWanW8dFGloPg-x_vL32Hiy/s1600/P2090072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqg7T0vVdINs3rLEg_xwLUEkUl-scaxH3MbnxfAae_GSWqSVTNo6HLPp0IjuB8h-TxGa0q0qn7cL355jqVt9qkhoovjl-GB7qzWKsGjDff4SnWuW6K5q8BsdWanW8dFGloPg-x_vL32Hiy/s320/P2090072.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve with Pastor Djibrine</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went to arguably the best coffee shop in
town for lunch, followed by a visit to the artisan market, where all manner of
things are sold – art work, jewellery, key rings, furniture, and various
crafts.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All stall holders wanted you to
see their wares, so we had to visit them all so as not to cause offence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Saturday Claire took us to the local golf
course for a camel ride – yes, a golf course!
Complete with golfers and at one point, a flock of sheep! This is very different to what we are used
to, and a wonderful, if uncomfortable, experience. After this we went to the mission school and
met the head teacher again, and were shown around the premises. It appeared that the children of mission
workers were getting an excellent education at this facility. After this we went to visit one of Claire’s Chadian
friends in the town. It was interesting
to see another Chadian home – this one was a little more salubrious, with
carpeting, a fridge and television.
They were eating when we arrived and we were invited to join them in
having bread, okra sauce and fish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHQSpefD-Z7k3rQ4l4rYEmO0dBCTengf-sJy0EnMPuKZJpG0ZJWx1okhBgX2hGvNUgs7SF7T59Yf7A4sKjyc_Be3KJ0mXwT7FyMHs2UHaefOdvOEWf63sNFewIZBDOR1nFUjxiuK3Z3cEE/s1600/P2100104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHQSpefD-Z7k3rQ4l4rYEmO0dBCTengf-sJy0EnMPuKZJpG0ZJWx1okhBgX2hGvNUgs7SF7T59Yf7A4sKjyc_Be3KJ0mXwT7FyMHs2UHaefOdvOEWf63sNFewIZBDOR1nFUjxiuK3Z3cEE/s320/P2100104.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Camel riding on the golf course!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday was our last day in this hot, dusty
country. We attended the International
Church in the morning, where Steve had been invited to speak. Thankfully it was all in English! What an experience that was, with so many
nationalities represented, doing so many different things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our overall impression of this visit? We were told before we left about the value
put on family life, but to see it in practice is something else. We often noticed a shift in attitudes when we
were introduced as Papa Claire and Mama Claire.
We were held in high regard and a few times given gifts just for being Claire’s
parents. I wondered if the kind people
doing this could afford to do it, but it would have been classed as rude to
refuse. What a friendly, family
orientated people they are and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of all it was a pleasure to see Claire in
her now ‘home’ environment, to savour a piece of the culture of the country and
its people, and to see Claire in her role at G2.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-39535288758453201442018-01-19T15:27:00.002+00:002018-01-19T15:27:59.343+00:00All in a day’s work at Guinebor II Hospital<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Monday 8<sup>th</sup>
January 2018. Just another standard day
here at Guinebor II Hospital. I thought
I’d paint a picture of my day in words, so that you can glimpse a little bit
more into my world here at the mission hospital in the desert!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">5.30am</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – my alarm goes off and I dozily press snooze. The temperature is currently ‘cold’ for Chad,
around 15C in the mornings, and it’s so nice to be under my blankets at this
time of year and I want a few more minutes under the covers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">6am</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – I finally drag myself out of bed, eat a bowl of muesli
(imported from France by a supermarket in N’Djamena) and drink a strong cup of
coffee (imported from America by friends!).
I read my Bible and commit the day to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">6.45am</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – I walk the 200 metres from my house to the staff room
where we hold our morning devotions.
Pastor Djibrine the hospital chaplain leads some (slow and out of tune)
singing and gives a short talk. We share
prayer requests and one person is allocated to pray for the prayer
requests/praise points and someone else is requested to pray for the day ahead.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">7am</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – all the staff working that day congregate for our weekly
staff meeting. It’s here that we share
information together and hear important news.
Information about patient charges is discussed. The hospital director reminds staff that two
important meetings regarding the running of the hospital are planned for Friday
and Saturday and that the heads of department need to pass their reports for
2017 to him as soon as possible. Christophe (nurse) sadly informs us that his
uncle, who he’s been responsible for caring for during illness, had passed
away. Stephane (accountant) announces
that his wife had their first child the previous Friday, a boy. ‘Now I’m a Dad like the rest of you’ Stephane
proudly says.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">7.30am</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – I head back to my house to grab a bottle of water to
carry around with me during the day. I
still drink a lot of water even though it’s colder. Just not the 6-7 litres that I drink in hot
season. Tabitha, my house helper, has
arrived and has started running the water into the big laundry bowls. Monday is laundry day at my house and Tabitha
meticulously washes all my week’s laundry, by hand. I point out a pair of thin cotton trousers
that I’ve been wearing in the house in the evenings and ask Tabitha to wash
them carefully and not with too much exuberance, because else the elastic will
break (Chadian-made clothes tend to be from tougher fabric and with little or
no elastic involved, so can withstand the rough hand-washing that’s common
here).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">8am </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">– I spot Eric (one of our regular visitors from the USA) in
the distance and I walk over to him to ask him a maintenance question. One of the wholesalers we buy medicines from
has recently given us a gift of some signage for the pharmacy (a nice black
sign adorned with ‘Pharmacie’ and the green pharmacy symbol). I ask Eric whether he could please attach it
to the wall outside the pharmacy. Eric
enthusiastically agrees to do so later that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">8.30am</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – Audrey (our Chadian head of pharmacy) and I discuss what
stock is running low. I ask him to order
some more iron syrup from one of the wholesalers in town, as we’ve run out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">9am</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – I pop into the administration office to say hello. Dieudonné (Chadian administrator) is busy
typing up his report for our annual board meeting planned for Friday. He asks me to remind him of the names of the
visiting doctors we’ve welcomed to the hospital in 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">10am</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – it’s time to drive into town (N’Djamena) to run a few
errands on behalf of the hospital. Steve
(from BMS in the UK) arrived a few days ago and one of his suitcases didn’t
arrive. We’re expecting it to have
arrived on the flight that came in last night.
So first stop is the airport.
After being security-scanned, I enter the baggage reclaim area. I speak with a few airport officials about
the missing bag and then wait in line behind a local Chadian soldier, who is
still waiting for his suitcase to arrive from when he travelled on 23<sup>rd</sup>
December (poor guy). Eventually it’s my
turn and after searching through the bags stored under the stairs (the storage
room is literally ‘under the stairs’ – mind your head!) we find the suitcase
and the guy tells me that my boss will be pleased that I’ve done a good job
today! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Next stop is the Post Office, to
see whether there’s any mail for us. We
chat with the staff there about the possible strike they’ll go on soon if they’re
not paid (apparently it’s been 4 months).
We come away with a Christmas card and a medical journal but alas, not
the parcel we were expecting to have arrived. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Next job is to buy local mobile phone SIM
cards for Eric, so that he can access the internet and speak more easily with
his family. This involves speaking to
the guy we regularly buy mobile top-up credit from (Abakar) who eagerly helps
us out. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Next up is a quick stop at the
biggest supermarket in town. The reason
being that it’s currently the cheapest place to buy hydrogen peroxide from, for
use at the hospital. I buy 10 bottles,
ensuring I get the necessary receipt for reimbursement. We hop back in the car and head back to the
hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">On the
dirt-track portion of the road back to the hospital, we think we spot the nomad
family who we befriended last year, but who had moved on during rainy season. Is it them?
We’re not sure. We stop and get
out to see if it is. It is! With my limited Arabic and their limited
French we ascertain that they arrived last night but that the rest of the
family is coming to join them at some point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">1pm</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – after a quick bite to eat, I pop back to the hospital to
see how things are going in the pharmacy.
A member of staff from the operating theatre comes to the pharmacy with an
order for supplies, ready for a busy day in the theatre tomorrow. I get together all the things he’s requested
and then ensure that I document it down on our manual stock records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">On seeing that
I’ve returned from town, Elisabeth (Chadian pharmacy assistant) calls me
over. She’s succeeded in repairing a 500
CFA note that was given as change to Debbie (my team mate from USA) by a shop
in town, but that was basically in two halves.
Elisabeth is a pro at gluing the money back together with the aid of a
glue stick! Voila, the note is usable
again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I pop into the
administration room to hand over the receipt for the hydrogen peroxide I bought
in town. Dieudonné tells me that he had
a call this morning from the ministry of health – our partnership document was
finally signed and ready for collection!
Great news (we’ve waited since February 2017 for this document).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">2.30pm</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – I head back to my house to check my work emails and
respond to anything urgent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">3.30pm</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – I head out to the washing line to pick in the last few
bits of laundry that Tabitha did this morning.
Most of it was dry before she left at midday and was already off the
line, but the towels take a bit longer to dry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">4pm</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – I hear the noise of goats close by. Teammates bought some goats in the rainy
season to eat some of the grass that grows up in the area of the hospital where
we’ve not yet built. Someone had left
the gate open and they were roaming our gardens! I quickly shoo them back to where they’re
supposed to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">5pm</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – I go and visit my teammates at their house across the
way. On coming back to my house I hear
another teammate’s voice outside and then some light gunshots! He’s got a BB gun and is try to reduce the
pigeon population around our houses (they make a right noise). I later hear that he’s successfully reduced
the pigeon population by one – that’s tonight’s dinner sorted for him then!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">6.30pm</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – all the visitors and us long-termers at the hospital eat
together. It’s good to all be together and
chat at the end of another long and busy day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Thank goodness
it’s only a maximum of 30C at the moment!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">9pm</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – I fall into bed and sleep, in preparation for another
5.30am alarm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-2130325169815408502017-12-13T15:33:00.000+00:002017-12-13T15:33:07.994+00:00Questions (and answers) of my life, 2017 edition, part two<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Here’s part two
of my Q&A blog entries. Thanks again
to those who asked questions and I hope the answers help to give you a bit more
insight into life and work here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">What could any of us in UK actually ‘do’
for you…..in addition to prayer and parcels and emails! Would you find a visit
positive or would all the arrangements etc. be too much?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Receiving
emails and parcels is always a highlight for me! Prayers are always needed too. Visitors are always welcome! There are very few people willing and/or able
to come and visit Chad so I’d never turn an offer of a visit down. Yes, there’s a lot of work on both sides to
arrange a visit but it’s so encouraging to me to see people from home (plus
they bring lots of treats!!). Also, if
people actually come, it gives them a much better insight into my life
here. There’s only so much I can portray
in words and photos. It was great to
have a team of six, from two churches in South Wales, here for a week at the
end of October. In February 2018, two
people from my home church in Torquay, along with my parents, are visiting for
a week, which I’m really looking forward to.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
know that a few people are visiting you in Chad early next year - what would
you REALLY LOVE us to give them to bring out to you? Obviously nothing
too heavy!!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This
is going to sound really bad, but from experience, it’s always a bit dangerous
answering a question like this!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Not in a
bad way, I’m obviously really grateful for treats and gifts from home :) I’ve
learned to give a range of things rather than just one, else I end up with 20
packets of cheese sauce mix!!!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Not that
that’s a bad thing.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It’s just that it
takes me a while to get through it all and I’ve a limited repertoire of recipes
calling for cheese sauce mix! (Feel free to send me some simple ones by
email).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For the record, I’ve enough
cheese sauce mix and fajita mix to last a while!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hmmm, ideas of things to send:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">those really small concentrated fruit squash
bottles (Robinson’s squash’d is one brand) as when you’re drinking many litres
of water, it’s nice to have something to flavour it with<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">a packet of jammie dodgers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">some face wipes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">a pot of chilli powder<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">handwritten letters or cards<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">a magazine</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">cheddar cheese (strong)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">any Cadbury’s chocolate (Cadbury’s is my
favourite!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">bacon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">car air fresheners<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">DVDs of recently released films (I’m mainly into
mindless chick flicks as a form of escapism!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Thank
you :) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Do they celebrate Christmas in Chad and if so what
does a typical Christmas dinner look like?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Yes,
Christmas is celebrated here. December
25<sup>th</sup> is a public holiday (but 26<sup>th</sup> isn’t, so it’s back to
work!). In Chad, both Christian and
Muslim holidays are celebrated through the year and they’re all public
holidays. On the Muslim holidays, the
Christians just have a day off at home and rest (some may visit their Muslim
neighbours). On the Christian holidays,
the Muslims just have a day off at home and rest (some may visit their
Christian neighbours). Christmas is
extremely low-key here. No commercialism
means you can really focus on what’s being celebrated. I’m typing this at the start of December and
there is one supermarket intermittently playing Christmas songs, there are no decorations up and
in the shops there’s very little for sale that’s Christmas-related. Christmas will arrive and go the next day and
life will carry on as normal. It never
‘feels’ like Christmas here to me. It’s
hot for a start which is bizarre. But as
I say, it does mean you can focus on the ‘reason for the season (day)’. For a Chadian, Christmas dinner will depend
on how much money the family has. Those
who can afford it will get a sheep or a goat and kill that to eat with the
wider family and neighbours. Others will
just eat standard Chadian food. For us
missionaries we try and do something a bit different than the rest of the
year. Last year we had cheese fondue on
Christmas Eve for example!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwjPRCGX0_zRlRxZ4C-7vxDvf3Wbn3PBnvWwHGIDXH5Z3vlW9FfIPsLy8pox-VHosqN5g1_cDlLkfSNH7Gc8FwQX5yGJQ0MQuOKfTmIDQPV2drvfqXKfcdgHh7uN2le97Oz2gVmvxdntp/s1600/christmas+stock+in+supermarket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwjPRCGX0_zRlRxZ4C-7vxDvf3Wbn3PBnvWwHGIDXH5Z3vlW9FfIPsLy8pox-VHosqN5g1_cDlLkfSNH7Gc8FwQX5yGJQ0MQuOKfTmIDQPV2drvfqXKfcdgHh7uN2le97Oz2gVmvxdntp/s320/christmas+stock+in+supermarket.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The selection of Christmas merchandise <br />in one of the bigger supermarkets in N'Djamena</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How do you keep your spiritual side fresh?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be honest, often with difficulty. I attend a Bible study in English most weeks and international (English speaking) church every-other week. I go to a local Chadian church the other Sundays. I'm glad to have now found a good, sound, solely French-speaking Chadian church to attend. A lot of Chadian church services can be a mix of French and a local tribal language, so I've no hope of understanding anything in those services. As English is my 'heart language' I feel I can engage with God better when the worship and teaching is in English as opposed to French. A lot of the time in French services I'm too busy concentrating on understanding what's being said for it to properly permeate, if that makes sense? I have sermons in English downloaded that I can listen to on my computer. I have good Christian friends here who I can chat to if needed, and thanks to the wonders of technology, I can chat via WhatsApp with friends and family back in the UK too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What specific things can we pray for you at the moment?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This leads me nicely to let you know that I recently published a prayer letter! If you've not seen it, <a href="https://www.bmsworldmission.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/1712-Bedford.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a> to find it on my page on the BMS website. You can sign up to receive my future prayer letters by email, by clicking <a href="https://www.bmsworldmission.org/get-involved/pray/prayer-letters/" target="_blank">this link</a> and filling in the form.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and new year!</span></div>
Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7962561382084129613.post-76585361549934088192017-12-01T14:30:00.000+00:002017-12-01T14:30:10.269+00:00Questions (and answers) of my life, 2017 edition, part one<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thanks to those
who sent me questions about life and work here in Chad. I was sent too many questions to answer in
one blog post, so here’s part one. Part
two will follow in a while. Hope my
answers give you a bit more of a flavour and idea of life here :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Can you give us an update on your solar
fridge?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Indeed I
can! Wednesday 8<sup>th</sup> November
2017 was a big day for me here. I was
able to decommission my (semi) trusty gas-powered fridge and plug in an electric
fridge! The gas-powered one worked of a
fashion but never got really cold and in hot season, hardly worked at all,
meaning that at the time of year when I’m drinking 6-7 litres of water a day, I
was having to drink tepid water.
Yuk! We’ve not got mains
electricity here in Guinebor and so, thanks to generous people at my home
church, I was able to buy solar panels and associated kit in order to generate
electricity via the sun (we’ve an endless supply) to power an electric
fridge. I was literally jumping up and
down with excitement when I plugged it in and I am still grateful every day for
a fridge that works well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsRsYoiQ6_e5sFI5ia_DnR5GyVRbtSqwUd-cVGBZX45awDgieNsKpSzK6PoNXmE2bFI8PNsgQ7Kgy-5_a3LLedRmIiuD-leIEw6cP32M0OoVcY5ZXNbooK02fp3sxpsdieWaaoCqvXq3TB/s1600/posing+with+fridge+%2528450x800%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsRsYoiQ6_e5sFI5ia_DnR5GyVRbtSqwUd-cVGBZX45awDgieNsKpSzK6PoNXmE2bFI8PNsgQ7Kgy-5_a3LLedRmIiuD-leIEw6cP32M0OoVcY5ZXNbooK02fp3sxpsdieWaaoCqvXq3TB/s320/posing+with+fridge+%2528450x800%2529.jpg" width="180" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Posing next to my new fridge</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How’s the French and Chadian Arabic
going?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The French is
going well, I’d say I’m probably almost fluent now. I definitely speak a more basic French than a
French person would and I have a very anglicised accent. However I can communicate well in French now
and only have to consciously think about what I’m saying when I’m trying to say
a grammatically complicated phrase such as ‘if he’d have done that, it would’ve
have been much easier’. That kind of
thing. The Arabic on the other hand has
kind-of stalled for the moment, which I’m frustrated about. I’ve only had one lesson since coming back
from home assignment, for a variety of reasons.
I’ve been out to the village of Guinebor II twice, with a member of
staff, to visit someone in their home so that I could hear Arabic being
spoken. I understand more than I can
speak myself but it’s still something I’d love to get a better grasp of. Ciyya ciyya (little by little).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do you feel the lack of Arabic is an
issue? You are, no doubt, very comfortable in French now, but do you
often feel limited, perhaps particularly in being able to communicate more
deeply with patients?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every. Single.
Day. I can communicate with about 5% of
patients in French. That’s it. So yes, it can get really frustrating not
being able to communicate in Chadian Arabic with people. But I remind myself that I used to feel like
that with French. So one day, hopefully
I’ll get there with the Arabic!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>What is the most difficult thing about your daily work?</b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There’s
no one thing to be honest. Often the
thing I find most difficult changes from day-to-day. In hot season (March to June) it’s the heat
that’s the most difficult thing. Other
times it’s my lack of Arabic. Other
times it is frustrations linked with differences in culture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What is the best thing about being back
in Chad – what is fun/who is special?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The perpetual
blue sky (now that rainy season is over) is always a delight. It’s great to be back with my Chadian
hospital colleagues and work alongside them and hear about their lives. My Chadian pharmacist colleague got married
last Saturday and it’s been interesting to hear all about his wedding plans and
associated stresses (it all falls on the guy and his family here). Unfortunately he got married in a town a long
way away and a lot of us couldn’t attend, but he’s probably going to have
another celebration in N’Djamena in a couple of months’ time that we can go
to. We’re currently in the process of
all buying his ‘wedding fabric’ so that when we go to the celebration, we’re
all identified as being part of the wedding, as we’re all wearing the same fabric! It’s interesting that at a wedding here,
you’re expected to wear the same fabric as everyone else. In the UK, women especially are mortified if
someone else turns up at a wedding in the same dress as them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What's the hardest thing about life during the wet
season (July to October)?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
mud and all the swamps and lakes that suddenly appear on the road into town,
making the drive ‘interesting’. Also,
the risk of malaria.</span></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How many people live in the vicinity of the
hospital and how do they provide a living for themselves?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are a
lot of people living in the vicinity of the hospital. It’s hard to quantify but probably 200 – 300
people. They provide a living by one of
the following means:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- Running a small shop selling basic staples</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- Selling cooked meat from a little stall</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- Selling sandwiches and tea from a little stall</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- Selling vegetables at the local market</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- Rearing goats and/or sheep</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- Operating a motorbike taxi or car taxi</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">- Working at the hospital</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What do you have against Ziploc bags?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Haha! Those of you who read my blogs will know that I've joked about my American friends just loving Ziploc bags and it amuses me! They store just about anything that will fit, in a Ziploc bag. I can kind-of understand if they travel and it's a liquid. It's a good idea to store your bottle-of-whatever-liquid in a plastic bag in case of spillage. However my American friends seem (to me) to take it a tad too far. See picture below. Why would you need to store packets of tissues, where the tissues are already in plastic wrappers, in a Ziploc bag?!</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGafwx_uTlSh5eVAXjyGgO5uploAiAwav9QAFL-Q5f9Y6zOkKVlk2bghKlHZDwcm7KF25zkrgipuqe1VYV-OQ5CebYxNdd2XnC-WJ5lNnzdHqvgLXPte5OEqj4vXE-OCKK0qVFiVFH69Y9/s1600/tissues+in+ziploc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1199" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGafwx_uTlSh5eVAXjyGgO5uploAiAwav9QAFL-Q5f9Y6zOkKVlk2bghKlHZDwcm7KF25zkrgipuqe1VYV-OQ5CebYxNdd2XnC-WJ5lNnzdHqvgLXPte5OEqj4vXE-OCKK0qVFiVFH69Y9/s320/tissues+in+ziploc.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Tissues safely stored!! ;)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What do you think God is doing in Chad today and where have you seen visible expressions of God's Kingdom in your work?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">God is definitely working here in Chad in a variety of ways. We often hear of one or two people in different areas of the country, from the majority faith, becoming Christians. It's often through friendships built up, that people come to a realisation of who Jesus really is and what He has done for them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">At the hospital, we see people being healed when the situation looks dire. We've seen a lady healed from mental disturbance as a result of prayer. We see the expression of God's love played out in the way our staff welcome and treat patients. Some relatives get irate at the hospital gate, if they want to visit their sick relative in hospital and it's not yet visiting hours. The guards have to show immeasurable patience with these people. We try and instil in our staff that we're here to be different than other hospitals, to work well together as a staff team, to give the best care possible in a clean and tidy hospital and to treat people with dignity and respect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">That's the end of part one. Watch out for part two of this blog coming soon :)</span><br />
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Claire Bedfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389242739642609339noreply@blogger.com2