This is a course of frustration

Life Award 2013

25th January 2014

We return to the hospital and me (Dave) and Watson visit other parts of the hospital plumbing systems and find more jobs completed with unsuitable fittings as the right materials are unavailable.

Mark identifies that many electrical jobs cannot be done properly due to lack of materials and tools and equipment. This is a course of frustration for plumbers and electricians.

As the team do not normally work at weekends, we go off into the bush in the late morning with the blood collection team. This is a project to encourage UK blood transfusion type blood banks. We meet the village chief, the Imam and his deputy, the leading woman councillor and what appears to be everyone else from the village. The women are in the forefront of donating blood and some have even walked over the border from neighbouring Senegal to give blood.

After welcome speeches from the chief, Imam and the harvesting team leader we are asked to speak but only say enough to tell them we are privileged to be welcomed to their village to work and help. We are once again humbled by these people who have very little when they give us gifts of pumpkins which they can little afford to part with.

Mark being the only one who can, then donates a pint of blood. He also passes onto the harvesting team a donation from one of his customers which will fund several more blood harvesting sessions.

We return to Bansang and receive a tour of the back streets which really drives home how little the locals have and we meet very many that live in houses that are literally falling down but they are proud to invite you into their houses.

Finally we meet some of the hospital staff who are off to play football against a team from a nearby village. The ball they have is in poor condition and the referee has to bang a stick on a tin can as they have no whistle.

Watson and I pay for a couple of footballs and whistles for them. They are so pleased that we have given them what equates to less than £11 each that it makes us wonder what UK youth expects to receive.