We have put this blog together to let all our friends and family know what we are up to this coming year.
When we first met, one of the things we wanted to do was spend some time volunteering in a developing country together. We have spent the last six months deciding and applying to various organisations which we have an interest in and where our skills could best be used.
We are currently in Canada and the States to visit friends and family during September. We are in the midst of visiting Vancouver, Kelowna, Fort Wayne (USA), Edmonton and finally Calgary for a wedding, and return to the UK on October 1st.
Our next destination is Malawi. We leave London on October 11th and fly via Nairobi to Blantyre in the southern region of the country. We will be working in the Beit Trust CURE International Hospital.
Malawi has a population of just under 13 million people. It remains one of the poorest countries in Africa and the life expectancy is 40. This is mainly a result of the high incidence of HIV and AIDS. One fifth of the children die before the age of 5. Healthcare is very poor.
There are only 4 orthopaedic surgeons and two medically qualified anaesthetists in the whole country. The country is currently undergoing a programme of training doctors over a 15-20 year period. Many NGO’s and volunteers are part of this work and there is plenty of opportunity to be involved.
The CURE hospital is a 66-bed teaching hospital that specializes in treating the orthopaedic needs of children and adults. The facility was opened in 2002 and serves children with physical disabilities regardless of their ethnic background, religious affiliation or ability to pay. Eighty percent of the surgery is for children with a wide range of orthopaedic conditions including clubfoot, burn contractures, osteomyelitis and other acquired or congenital conditions. The hospital also has special expertise in total hip and knee replacement surgery, one of the very few places where this surgery is available in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The CURE hospital has 3 orthopaedic surgeons along with 2 clinical officers who provide the anaesthesia. It maintains an orthopaedic and anaesthetic clinical officer-training program. As a visiting anaesthetist, Nigel will work full time alongside the clinical officers in a supervisory and teaching role. Currently they perform very few regional block techniques that enhance recovery and pain relief. The medical director, Mr Jim Harrison, one of the surgeons, is keen to have visiting anaesthetists to update and help train the current clinical officers. Michal will be taking her painting gear and will probably spend some time volunteering in the hospital or a nearby orphanage.
We return from Malawi on the 23rd of December in time to celebrate Christmas with family in the UK. We will then prepare to go out and join the Africa Mercy, an NGO hospital ship, while it is docked for 6 months in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We join the boat in Tenerife in the Canary Islands on January 21st and sail with it to Freetown, arriving around February 3rd.
Sierra Leone is a country broken by civil war. Over a 10-year period rebel forces raided towns and villages, using rape, terror, amputations and brutal murder as weapons of war. Child soldiers were recruited and trained to fight against their own villages and people. Most of the violence was fuelled by an attempt to take control of the rich diamond and gold resources of this beautiful country.
The rebels were disarmed in 2002 by the United Nations, however the country remains scarred by the events of the past. Sierra Leone is ranked second to last on the Human Development Index, a guide used by the World Health Organisation which takes into account life expectancy and health issues.
The Mercy Ships have been working in West Africa since 1978. They have completed a total of 223 port visits and perform over 1000 operations during a visit lasting 6 months. The Africa Mercy is their latest vessel and has six operating theatres which will double their capacity to perform operations.
Michal will be working as an assistant cook in a team catering for 400 crew on board along with several patients. Nigel will be one of 3 anaesthetists on board working in the operating rooms. Some of the main procedures carried out include cleft lip and palate repairs, cataract and squint operations, operations for limb deformities and trauma, maxillofacial tumours followed by reconstructive surgery, and childbirth and rape injuries such as vesico-vaginal fistula repair. Most people with any such deformity or disability are treated as outcasts by their society, regarded as possessing evil spirits. Following their surgery, which would normally be impossible to obtain, they can begin a new life and become a functioning member of society once again.
Here are the websites of the organisations we are travelling with if you are interested in finding out more:
www.cureinternational.org
www.mercyships.org
Keep in touch!
Love from Michal and Nigel
Our next destination is Malawi. We leave London on October 11th and fly via Nairobi to Blantyre in the southern region of the country. We will be working in the Beit Trust CURE International Hospital.
Malawi has a population of just under 13 million people. It remains one of the poorest countries in Africa and the life expectancy is 40. This is mainly a result of the high incidence of HIV and AIDS. One fifth of the children die before the age of 5. Healthcare is very poor. 
There are only 4 orthopaedic surgeons and two medically qualified anaesthetists in the whole country. The country is currently undergoing a programme of training doctors over a 15-20 year period. Many NGO’s and volunteers are part of this work and there is plenty of opportunity to be involved.
The CURE hospital is a 66-bed teaching hospital that specializes in treating the orthopaedic needs of children and adults. The facility was opened in 2002 and serves children with physical disabilities regardless of their ethnic background, religious affiliation or ability to pay. Eighty percent of the surgery is for children with a wide range of orthopaedic conditions including clubfoot, burn contractures, osteomyelitis and other acquired or congenital conditions. The hospital also has special expertise in total hip and knee replacement surgery, one of the very few places where this surgery is available in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The CURE hospital has 3 orthopaedic surgeons along with 2 clinical officers who provide the anaesthesia. It maintains an orthopaedic and anaesthetic clinical officer-training program. As a visiting anaesthetist, Nigel will work full time alongside the clinical officers in a supervisory and teaching role. Currently they perform very few regional block techniques that enhance recovery and pain relief. The medical director, Mr Jim Harrison, one of the surgeons, is keen to have visiting anaesthetists to update and help train the current clinical officers. Michal will be taking her painting gear and will probably spend some time volunteering in the hospital or a nearby orphanage.
We return from Malawi on the 23rd of December in time to celebrate Christmas with family in the UK. We will then prepare to go out and join the Africa Mercy, an NGO hospital ship, while it is docked for 6 months in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We join the boat in Tenerife in the Canary Islands on January 21st and sail with it to Freetown, arriving around February 3rd.
Sierra Leone is a country broken by civil war. Over a 10-year period rebel forces raided towns and villages, using rape, terror, amputations and brutal murder as weapons of war. Child soldiers were recruited and trained to fight against their own villages and people. Most of the violence was fuelled by an attempt to take control of the rich diamond and gold resources of this beautiful country. 
The rebels were disarmed in 2002 by the United Nations, however the country remains scarred by the events of the past. Sierra Leone is ranked second to last on the Human Development Index, a guide used by the World Health Organisation which takes into account life expectancy and health issues.
The Mercy Ships have been working in West Africa since 1978. They have completed a total of 223 port visits and perform over 1000 operations during a visit lasting 6 months. The Africa Mercy is their latest vessel and has six operating theatres which will double their capacity to perform operations.
Michal will be working as an assistant cook in a team catering for 400 crew on board along with several patients. Nigel will be one of 3 anaesthetists on board working in the operating rooms. Some of the main procedures carried out include cleft lip and palate repairs, cataract and squint operations, operations for limb deformities and trauma, maxillofacial tumours followed by reconstructive surgery, and childbirth and rape injuries such as vesico-vaginal fistula repair. Most people with any such deformity or disability are treated as outcasts by their society, regarded as possessing evil spirits. Following their surgery, which would normally be impossible to obtain, they can begin a new life and become a functioning member of society once again.
Here are the websites of the organisations we are travelling with if you are interested in finding out more:
1 comment:
Hi - Looks like I am the first to read your entry - it's 2:09! It is great to read about your plans. I am eager to go to the 2 websites to find out more. Your year is sure going to be one filled with new experiences and challenges! Bon voyage - Jane
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