flying in the rainy season ......

..... maybe not a fantastic idea
it's very romantic walking from a wee airport building, onto the tarmac and over to a propeller plane looking at a stunning view of mountains covered in tropical forrest. Taking off all you can see for miles are those beautiful mountains. Bliss
On the return flight this weekend we landed in a tropical storm, yikees, it was very bumpy, the wings seemed more vertical that horizontal and i was gripping the chair thinking if we fall out of the sky now will we survive!
I'm still here, so we landed, heaps of cheers and applause from all the passengers
And quite fun when we disembarked to be given a LaoAirlines umbrella! Couldn't see the mountains on the walk over to the terminal building this time, stayed semi-dry and almost managed a mary poppin's take off.
Had dinner with friends that night who had seen the plane landing, they confirmed the wings were vertical and said they had prayed for the passengers - thanks guys, the buddha was with us.

the visa process

i left the NHS to escape bureaucracy but you can't hide from it here either!
my visa, ...... where to begin
i've been to the immigration office 4 times, a slightly terrifying experience
i've needed to obtain letters from the Ministry of Health in Vientiane approving a working visa
i've had to leave and re-enter the country from a specific airport for one step, enjoyed that bit
by this point there are 3 pages of stamps in my passport and lots of official letters
currently my passport is in Vientiane, fingers crossed that's it and it makes it back to me soon

Chang Mai

It takes a little getting use to a bustling city after living in tranquil Luang Prabang, loved the excitement of having heaps of choice, yipeee - cocktails and rice free eating!
Great to spend the weekend with friends, chatted and relaxed with beautiful Clare and Princess Philip. We drank cocktails, indulged in bi-daily foot massages, walked in the mountains and made the most of the comfy sofas - it's so good to sit on things that are not made of wood or concrete! can someone please introduce squishy-squwashy cushions to Laos.
Loved having a weekend away, returning to Luang Prabang was great too, I realised it feels like home here.

Kenro Izu

Kenro Izu, the founder of Friends Without A Border, visited the project this week.

He was born in Japan, moved to Chelsea, Manhattan when he was 20 and is world renowned photographer.

20 years ago while visiting Angkor Wat on a photographic project his 12 year old daughter became ill, Kenro took her to a local hospital. There Kenro met the father of a similar aged girl who died because her family could not afford the $2 to pay for medicine. Kenro was struck by a lack of compassion, how could health professionals allow this girl to die because of poverty and he resolved to do something about it.

Kenro set up Angkor Hospital for Children which was designed to treat all children free of charge with compassion and dignity. Also to empower local health professionals to run the teaching hospital independently, in2013 this was achieved and Friends Without A Border handed over the Camodians. 

Having achieved this vision for Angkor, Kenro decided the next challenge was to do it all again in Laos, and here we are at Lao Friends Hospital for Children. Kenro is a remarkable man, speaks from his heart and it's a privilege to work with him.

Oh and to go out for dinner with him and the rest of the Laos team.

If anyone would like to donate please look at our website www.fwab.org 

on call

i don't think there any other western doctors in town

keep getting calls from the ex pats 'such and such gave me your number ........."

the hospital isn't built yet! i have no facilities to see anyone so it's open air medicine

there have been a few impromptu clinics at the temples during English lessons

have been searching for conventional creams to treat the plethora of skin conditions

i spent days asking for a treatment for scabies

the backpackers are shopping for diazepam and look at me horrified when I ask for a treatment for scabies

the chemist ask me to show them my rash

phew, i can say, oh no it's not for me

have been offered heaps of potions and none of them would have worked, one was bleach!

anyway, this morning i received a telephone call from one of the novices

he had had a fever for a few days and asked for advice

i cycled to the temple imaging this must have been what it was like when i was a lad in the good old days before the nhs!

we hadn't finished our consultation before the other novices were practising their doctor skills

these two would both like to become doctors, i might be asking for help you with their university fees!

Karen's last day teaching English to the admin team at Laos Friends Hospital for Children

and a few beers to celebrate after work!

visiting Chomphet district hospital

We crossed the Meekong to visit Chomphet district hosiptal, there was only one patient when we arrived, Dad had hitched a lift and travelled 20 miles with his sick one year old. Heaps of friendly staff to welcome us and show us around. I find it a little curious that in contrast the UK, Laos has statistically worse health but empty wards, in the UK where we enjoy better health the wards are full to capacity, waiting times are on the up and GPs receive urgent memos about bed crisis after bed crisis asking us to avoid admissions!

Wondering if anyone fancies having their baby on this birthing bed?

The kids weren't shy at all here, they come running to the clinic to say hello.

We travelled on to visit outlying clinics, the rain started, the road got muddier and slippier, i now know the Lao word for slippy, m'un, we had 3 rivers to cross, first a wee stream, the second was wider, the driver rolled down his window and shouter for a kid to test how deep it was, i suggested we turned back, we didn't need a child to be washed away in a sterling effort to visit more clinics, the river was waist deep (small child sized) so the driver persisted, at the next hill the wheels were spinning, the local women on foot were taking of their shoes, preferring the better gripping bear foot option, we skidded off the road into a ditch, luckily into the mountainside rather than over the edge! The driver then said the 4 wheels drive wasn't working an we'd have to turn back, hurray!