Goodbye!

Hello

I am sorry that my Blog is a little late this week. I have not been able to get a decent connection. I am presently with my sister in law and family in Abu Dhabi on my way home to the UK. A chance to soak up a bit more sun before the big freeze!

Although I set out for Siem Reap with much trepidation 14 weeks ago, I now have to say what a wonderful experience it has been. The best part, well that has to be the warmth and friendliness of the Khmer people themselves.

I will never forget the floods. I recall my despair on turning the corner, having waded through calf high, dense dirty brown water to see my Guest House in total darkness as a result of one of the many power cuts. That feeling of wondering just what on earth I was doing there! 

If this was my despair imagine how it was for those who lost members of their family, farmers who lost their crops, the tuktuk drivers sleeping in their cabs, those dependent on the non existent tourists for income and those everyday people who faced weeks of plodding to work in the water and returning to their flooded homes at night.

However, we all got through. I knew I was really part of the community when the tuktuk drivers began to shout out ‚lady, you want to go hospital‘ rather than ‚lady, you want to go Angkor Wat‘!

I have so much admiration for the staff at AHC who worked tirelessly for the children. For those who haven’t visited the hospital, some days there would be 400 waiting at the gates to be seen.
In my own department, a big thank you to Rani, Kimlay, Sethy and Theresia for their patience whilst I got the hang of it, their support and their willingness to accommodate my many requests.

Finally thank you to Angkors Kinder, the unsung heroes, for the financial support to ensure that the physiotherapy department at AHC is probably the finest in the country.

And will I return next year……I am working on it!

Alison

A busy week

This is my last full week at work. It has been a busy week with lots going on at ACH.

Photographer, David, and his wife, Anna, have been at the hospital this week taking pictures of us treating the children and anything else that they spotted of interest. A quick preview of the photos looked amazing and I am looking forward to seeing the final few selected for Angkors Kinder. I was of course very reluctant to be photographed at first but was soon enjoying myself and nudging the children out of shot!

David and Anna are presently at the Lake Clinic as part of their schedule.

I have been treating babies in ICU with Danny, a visiting Respiratory Therapist. His regular job is working full time in the ICU in the USA, where they provide 24 hour chest and respiratory care. As well as doing chest physiotherapy he advises on best practice use of ventilators and other ICU paraphernalia. I have really enjoyed working with him and have learned a lot.

We have one special baby that we have cared for together, a tiny premature girl who is special as unlike all the other patients, has no carer with her.. She had a heart defect which has been repaired but following the operation needed mechanical ventilation. Ten days later she is now breathing for herself but still needs a lot of support. There have been some sad losses recently in the Unit so her doing so well is extra special.

As a fundraiser, a shadow puppet show was performed in the grounds at ACH. It was traditional Khmer and well attended. There were a lot of children present many of whom I am assuming were siblings of the patients. They delighted the audience by sitting themselves down amongst them.

Yesterday evening my daughter and I took my colleagues out for a farewell dinner. I shall miss them all so much.

I will write my final Blog next week so don’t tune out just yet!

Thoughts from Battanbang

This week was a short one for me as I, my daughter, Caroline and a colleague from the hospital, are spending a few days in Cambodia’s  second city, Battambang.

We have done the touristy things, gone out in the tuktuks and dutifully spent our money in the shops and cafes but the highlight was a display from students at a sponsored performing arts school. It was a brilliant mixture of acrobatics and dance which depicted the Khmer genocide.

You cannot live in this country without being moved by the verbal accounts, books, reminders and museums concerning the atrocities. Cambodia is a country of young people. Unlike other developing countries it is not because of the increase in the birth rate but because so many of the older generation, people my age, were killed.

There is a video shown at the AHC Visitor Centre introducing the hospital. It says that before the genocide there were 4000 doctors in Cambodia and afterwards only 40 remained alive.  AHC is a testament to this where the dedicated doctors, nurses and other staff have an average age of around 30 – 35.

Back to lighter things…Rani is taking a well earned few days off and next week Kimlay is away in Phnom Penn on a course. This means we are very busy especially with out patients. We have had a Respiratory Therapist from America volunteer for two weeks.  It has been interesting to learn from him and compare his ways of working with our own.

On my return I have one week left to work. I am so looking forward to going back to England to see my family and friends but there is so much I shall miss here. Despite all the recent history,  this is such a happy place to be.

Alison

Volunteers at Leisure!

Hello
I am sitting in a colonial 1950s style cafe writing my blog. I feel like the original foreign  correspondent!

This has been a short week, two days work and five days leisure. Since leisure predominates, I thought I would list the top five pleasures that In my opinion Siem Reap has to offer it’s hard working volunteers.

– 60 minute state of the art massage and a cup of green tea ($5)
– ice cream at a fine french hotel, eaten horizontally on a huge black bed ($2)
– latte and vegemite toast (it’s the Aussie in me) for breakfast ($4.50)
– frozen strawberry marguerita at a Mexican restaurant ($1.50)
– best of Khmer dishes served by the best of Khmer staff ($3 each)

or you could always visit the Temples!

Alison