Sue Wayne

Home again

2009-03-31T02:21:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back in good old Blighty yet again after a very challenging time in Bangladesh. There were good times and bad times and some very upsetting times but I am so glad that I went yet again to do some voluntary work.

It was very hot and humid, dirty,dusty, noisy and people everywhere all the time, and they all wanted to talk to you. To know why you were there, how long you were staying, why did my husband let me go there (!?!), What I thought of their country and they couldn't possibly understand that I was there and not being paid by anybody. The concept of volunteering totally flabergasted them!

There is no news of little Rashed's parents. CRP's social welfare team have made every effort to try and track them down with no success. So the poor little fellow will be at CRP for the rest of his days now. He will be fed, clothed, given all the correct medicine for his condition, educated and housed.

He will be surrounded by people who care deeply for him but he will have no past. He will not know his parents, siblings and village. He has been cast adrift and lucky for him has washed up at CRP, so much better than being abandoned on the streets.

CRP think that it will cost £50 per month for his upkeep, so I am trying very hard to raise a lot of money to help towards sponsoring him. An uphill battle - my husband reckons I will never be able to retire, I won't be able to afford to! Any donations are gratefully received. Please contact me wayne_sue@btinternet.com Thanks.

The evening before I left Bangladesh I was boiling some water to wash my hair (only cold water from the taps) and I was carrying the pot of water through to the bathroom and managed to spill it down my tummy.... Agh....... It was 8pm and I was leaving the following moring at 5.30am for the airport.

CRP's medical staff had gone home so I was stuck. I decided the best thing I could do was to stand under the cold shower for 20 minutes, it was very painful.

Fortunately I had 2 small Coke bottles full of water in the freezer that had frozen, so the following day on the way to the airport I had one of these tucked under my Shalwar Kameez trying to ease the pain and I managed to carry the second one on the plane so was able to rest it on the scalding until it defrosted!

Ever since I have been back home in Saltash I have been going daily to St. Barnabus hospital to have the scald dressed. After a week it has finally stopped hurting and is starting to look better. Thanks very much to the nursing staff at St Barnabus.

I find it very difficult to ease myself back into the ways of the Western world. To visit a supermarket and see such choice of fresh food, to see the orderly way which people drive on the roads without resorting to using their horns non stop and bashing each other in their cars and buses.

To not seeing beggars without limbs on the pavements. To being able to live in a house that isn't going to get flooded in the next rainy season, that has a proper floor, that has constant electricity and water.

HOW WERE WE SO LUCKY TO BE BORN IN SUCH AN AFFLUENT COUNTRY?

I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to visit Bangladesh twice now, I feel that I have learned so much as well as given so much.

The Bangladeshi's are a hospitable, proud and happy race. They might have next to nothing, but they are prepared to share that with you. Perhaps that is something that we can learn from them...

I'd like to think that I will return again next year. I have many friends there now who have asked me to go back. Who knows, maybe I will be able to.

Fame on Bangla TV

2009-03-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

Well there's been some excitement here this week.

On Monday morning myself and Janet were informed that a Bangla TV company was coming to interview us and our paper technology project at 10am.

Oh well, we thought that will probably mean that they may come on Thursday afternoon as time is very loose here.

If you are told that transport will take you somewhere at 9am you count yourself very lucky if it leaves by 11am!

So we had a big shock when they turned up 20 minutes early - we weren't ready!

Somehow we managed to answer all questions without sounding too tongue tied, but the one question we found very difficult was "What would you like to tell the people of Bangladesh" We both stumbled on this one as we had to be very diplomatic.

I said something along the lines of; they have a beautiful country and very happy and friendly people and that they should be very glad that there is somewhere like CPR looking after paralysed patients and build on the good work already started.

That seemed to satisfy the interviewer. As it is being broadcast on the Bangla TV I think I am grateful that I won't be able to see it!

It was also upsetting this week too. Someone managed to get into CRP with the recent intake of Mums and children and they abandoned a young boy amongst them.

They think he is around 3 years old and they have named him Rashed. He has cerebral palsy and is very tiny and thin. He looks about 18 months old.

He has a very floppy head.

When we got him sat in a special chair and were talking around him and to him, a great big grin broke over his face, revealing a mouthful of rotting teeth.

He is currently being housed in the special needs department and receiving treatment from the paediatric unit.

He is a lovely happy little boy. The social welfare team are on the case and are trying to track down the parents, no doubt it will be a very sad story.

If he has been totally abandoned I will find out if I can sponsor him so that he can stay at CRP and pay for his keep, medication and education.

I will let you know more about this sad case as and when I hear. Life really is a bitch at times isn't it?

Safe and sound

2009-03-06T05:39:00.000-08:00

Well here I am safe and sound after a week of not being in touch.

The situation out here has been a little hairy to say the least. After the mutiny of the army rank and file against their officers last Wednesday and then three days of mourning all communication systems; telephones, mobiles and computer emails were blocked by the governement to prevent the troubles spreading around the country.

Here at CRP in Savar we were totally safe and sound. The only side effect to us was that we were unable to contact home and CRP's Open Days were cancelled after the first day. This was a shame as CRP use this opportunity every year to throw the doors open to dignitaries, foreign embassies, businesses and local people to see for themselves what we do here and it is a golden opportunity to gain sponsorship and donations. We managed to have at least one full day so it wasn't all lost.

I have been busy in the paediatric unit and have just handed out the first batch of photo's to the mums and children. Every two weeks a batch of twenty one children are admitted with their mothers for intensive treatment. They are assessed, seen by one of the paediatric doctors, given occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and all sorts of advice to the mums; nutrition, feeding consistencies, how to combat back problems etc. They come from all over Bangladesh, many travelling hundred of miles on rickety old buses. They come from all walks of life from families with good incomes to the poorest of the community. Some pay more than others for treatment and some don't pay anything at all. It costs 1400 takka = approx. 14 pounds for a child and mother to stay here and be treated, fed and given a bed for the fortnight. Not much to us in the UK, but to someone that only earns 300 -400 takka a week, that's 3 -4 pounds, its a lot of money.

Some of these mothers have never seen a photograph of themselves or their children so I thought it would be a nice idea to take a picture of each mum and child, develop it and get a frame and give to them at the end of their stay. I managed to get a small photo printer at home and a friend, Ann Jourdan, bought the photo processing paper and ink, so I was able to do it all myself. I managed to find a shop selling photo frames in the local bazaar and ordered 63, enough for 3 blocks of 21 children.

When I gave out the first batch some of the mums cried with joy. Even if they were fortunate to have a photo of their children at home, they would not have a photo of this child with cerebral palsy. It is such a simple idea and brought a lot of happiness to their lives.

I have also been working hard in the paper technology department with a friend Janet Ivin. We have been making children's chairs out of cardboard and newspaper held together with flour and water glue. These chairs are exceptionally hard wearing, they last for years and can take the weight of a full grown adult. The children use these chairs to improve posture and also provide them with an upright sitting position for "safe" feeding. Stopping the food from going onto their lungs rather than down into the gut. They are very successful. We are making as many as we can and we are training the Bangladeshi students in the art of paper technology too so that when we go home we will know that they are still being produced for the children.

We make educational toys too. Toys to encourage limb movement and cognitive processes, to learn colours, shapes, sizes and be able to manipulate different size objects into shapes in boxes etc.

It's Friday, day off today as its a religious day for the Muslims. So I am taking the time to catch up on all my emails, doing my laundry and getting some shopping. I''m getting a bit fed up with curry everyday!

More next time ...

Noise, traffic and people everywhere

2009-02-21T03:04:00.000-08:00

Well I am finally here in CRP after a long but smooth journey. I had a short moment of aprehension when waiting for my suitcase at Dhaka airport.

No suitcase - Had they transferred it at Doha airport? Was it transferred to another airport?

No, it finally arrived, last and all on its own being kicked around the broken carosel by a helpful Bangladeshi!

There was no problems at customs and my CRP driver Cochan was waiting for me. So began my one and a half hour drive through Dhaka rush hour and the countryside and villages to CRP.

Noise, traffic and people everywhere. Every car blaring its horn constantly, children, some very young banging on the windows trying to sell anything and everything. You name it and they are selling it, the child beggars darted between the congested traffic, and old men and women tapped on the window of our vehicle for money.
I have the choice to enjoy luxury when I want to, and to eventually return to a comfortable life in the UK, whereas they have no choice and are destined to the streets for their living.

On arriving at CRP there were lots of familiar faces waiting to greet me, friends made last year and of course the founder of the Trust, Valerie Taylor who was waiting to greet me too.

This morning we set off back into for Dhaka for a sponsored walk; many wheelchair users came as well, which included children from the special needs school, some patients, and some staff. It was a very happy occasion. The walk took place in Gulshan Park, which is the area where all the foreign embassies and high commissions are based, and therefore was a picturesque and clean venue. We did seven laps around the lake in the park,which we were told, equalled five miles. Starting the walk at 8.30am meant that we had finished before the heat set in, and afterwards we were served a chapati and chickpea breakfast washed down with Coke donated by a local company. It was a good occasion.

Being a Friday means that it is a day off, a religious day for Muslims so I have a chance to catch up with some of the other volunteers that are here and generally have a restful day.

Tomorrow is a Bank holiday, this time it is National Language Day, which is held to commemorate all those who lost their lives in the fight with Pakistan to preserve the Bangla language (the Pakistanis were forcing Urdu upon them). It will be quiet at CRP so I am going to take the opportunity to catch up on my emails.

More news next time...

Sue

The day before

2009-02-16T02:40:00.000-08:00

Well here I am the day before leaving for my next trip to Bangladesh. I have had all my jabs. I’ve got my flight tickets, passport, visa etc. and bought everything that I am taking with me, transferred my pounds into Takka and have several piles of clothes and equipment on every flat surface in my spare room of things to pack into my suitcase and hand luggage at the last minute.

My friend Esther Willcox and I (Sue Wayne) went last year to do some voluntary work at CRP (Centre for the rehabilitation of the paralysed). We were in a town called Savar, which is approx an hours drive from the capital Dhaka.

The centre has a 100 bedded unit for spine injuries and the paralysed (due to illness or accidents), a school, a paediatric unit treating 21 children with Cerebral palsy, a training school for Physio’s, OT’s and Speech Therapists. On the large site CRP also train in-patients a means of making a living when they go back to their villages. That may be learning how to mend TV’s in the electronic shop, learning how to sew garments and embroidery, how to paint, how to be a shopkeeper and many other choices…

CRP was started by a British Physio called Valerie Taylor way back in 1979, and it has grown and grown. It is a charity and is all run on donations. They are always worried from one month to the next about money, but they somehow survive.

Last year we got involved in making Paper Mache chairs for the Cerebral Palsy children in the paediatric unit. Strange thing to be making I know, but these small children were being fed in a horizontal position so food and drink were settling in their lungs rather that going into their stomachs!

This caused all sorts of nasty problems like: Chest infections, malnutrition etc.

So we set about making small chairs from cardboard, newspapers and used a flour and water as glue and tins of paint to make them cheery.

A very successful project – the chairs were exceptional strong, able to take the weight of an adult but most importantly got the children into a good position for feeding.

These skills were passed onto locals in the workroom so they could continue making them when we returned to the UK. Teaching the mothers good feeding practise was also shown.

Unfortunately I am going on my own this year and I shall only be going for four weeks.

What I will be doing this year is anyone’s guess; I just know that I shall be doing something to help these wonderful, happy and welcoming Bangladeshi’s.

I shall let you know...