a new epoc

As I head to Luang Prabang to work with Friends Without A Border my overwhelming feelings are of excitement and it being the right thing to do. People have said I'm brave, maybe I'm naive but I don't feel brave, I feel fortunate to have this amazing opportunity to do something worthwhile.

I will miss things, mostly my pals, friends are very important to me and I have wonderful friends who I admire and love, but the world is a small place now and if I get my head around technology you won't be able to escape!  and when you visit please bring chocolate and Neil's Yard! I have left  a fabulous lifestyle working 3 days a week with heaps of time for friends, godchildren, yoga, holidays, London's culture, cooking and vino collapso! After eight years in a practice you build up so much trust with loyal patients, it gets easier and more fun, I didn't realise quite how much loyalty and trust until I left, the last couple of months I've been hugging patients and getting tearful when they have thanked me for being kind and compassionate or saying I had become a friend as well as their doctor.

Life is short, I loved having six months away last year, I was so happy getting to know the Burmese at Maela Refugee camp and the novice monks in Luang Prabang. The people of Laos are gentle and generous and the culture is geared around the community, sharing and looking after each other, living day to day calmly and gracefully. I want to experience more of that and  at the same time share my experience of teaching, doctoring and dentisting. Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world and there is little healthcare so I think even small changes will make a big difference. It's great to be able to get involved with a project building and equipping a hospital in Luang Prabang and developing outreach clinics to improve healthcare and to teach Laotian doctors the values of quality improvement in patient care and life long learning.

It was incredibly romantic arriving yesterday in the late afternoon sunlight on a propeller plane descending into the valley of limestone mountains carved by the Meekong and to be met by a familiar face in a red tuktuk, I just smiled broadly and thought yippeeee.