How time flies........

How time flies dear blogger and indeed how does a body keep up?
I am now way behind on my blog and my personal e mails (so sorry to all my chums) so this entry is going to be succinct and will try to get you all caught up with my exploits here in Cambodia since my visit to Stung Treng
Work well work has gone from bad to so much better some of my more astute bloggers will have gleaned that I have had a bit of a struggle with CMA since last October may be all down to me of course but capacity building when no one comes to have their capacity built was challenging even for the most able and experienced OD expert (which I am not) and it was very frustrating and demoralising hence my defaulting to other activities like the clinic and setting up the Health/Related professional network so after several meetings with VSO and thanks to our new VSO health programme manager Clare my placement was switched to work with the Cambodian Midwives Council. As we share the same office there was no big upheaval but I do feel a sense of failure in that I could not persuade and inspire the CMA executive to develop and strengthen what they do but I guess you cannot "win em all" We have though parted friends which is good
Onwards and upwards since 1st July my working life has been so much better the Council want me and have already responded to some ideas and suggestions they are  a very committed group of women trying to get to grips with putting in a regulation system to make midwifery safer in Cambodia is a tall order especially with so few resources  its a pleasure to help them.
The network is also going well attendance has been excellent at some meetings with some interesting presentations we were a bit thin on the ground last Friday because its holiday time and I have been asked to be an external assessor on an interview panel so am very busy at the moment.
Last week too I spent most of it in a village called Thmar Puok in the far NW of the country only 15kms from the Thai border I was invited by Olly another VSO volunteer there working as hospital management advisor.
I went to take up some learning resources for their midwives and to do a bit of teaching. Thmar Puok  is 60kms from the town of Sisophon along a dirt road the only major dirt main road left in Cambodia and it makes for very hard traveling especially in the rainy season with pot holes the size of craters imagine what it must be like if you are in labour and need transferring to better facilities the rains often wash away the bridges and the mud acts just  like black ice.
The hospital has had a lot of international investment it has a new children's which Olly and Alison (a VSO child health advisor)and some other education volunteers have decorated and made more child friendly and they have raised funds to buy toys below I am outside the new ward with some of the children

Me outside the new children's ward Thmar Puok

I stayed with Olly and his partner Katja in their house in the heart village with a small market just around the corner where we wandered after work to buy fresh provisions they are both great cooks and I ate really well if I can find it I will post Olly's pumpkin curry on my next blog
Their house was a typical Cambodian one and I have to say the only place I have stayed in Cambodia not surrounded by a high metal fence barbed wire and locked gates just a little wooden fence marking out the boundary.
They had a fab balcony with a hammock which I took advantage of as you can see below

Visiting the maternity unit on the first day was interesting and eventful it was extremely busy and chaotic but the head midwife was not there in the labour ward a women recently delivered was attempting to get off the labour ward bed and promptly fainted in front of Katja and I so we went into nurse mode laid her back down quickly she was bleeding although not too badly but no midwife in sight mind you neither was her baby so in my faltering K'mai and with the help of Sophal Olly's translator I suggested that the midwife should bring back the baby and help mum to breast feed which amazingly she did not bad I thought for a very rusty old midwife when we went back later in the day mum and baby were both doing well
The next day I went onto the ward the head midwife was there and it was in pristine condition by Cambodian standards any way I presented the books and learning .materials and Lineka the HM could not have been more pleased as you can see below

Lineka the Head Midwife at Thmar Puok a great role model

I just want to take this opportunity to thank once again the fantastic staff and students of the midwifery school at the University of Huddersfield who held a coffee and cake morning and raised over £400 to buy the books which are now in 4 different locations in Cambodia and being used by many midwives and students across the country 

Some participants in the training session

On the social front I cannot let this post get published without mentioning the great reunion I had with my family David and Sally arrived in Cambodia on July 27th we had not seen each other for 10 months open displays of affection/ emotion are rare but we did not care all the Cambodians waiting at the airport must have thought we were mad.
During their stay in PP we visited a lot of my favourite haunts and where I live VSO office work and some of the sights of PP they loved it especially riding around in the tuk/tuk's.On one of the evenings some of my VSO and work colleagues and their partners joined us at the Khmer Surin Restaurant where we sat on the floor in the traditional Khmer manner it was a very memorable evening pictures to follow.
From there David had arranged to fly to a wonderful island off Malaysia called Pangkor Laut what a paradise 5 days doing nothing except be pampered it was a location in a James Bond film not sure which but I can certainly see why.
We completed our trip with a couple of days in Kuala Lumpar not my favourite place I have to say but some good shopping and it rained all day every day too but we were upgraded to suites at the hotel and the food was fantastic so it didn't matter as we had so much to catch up on.
Saying goodbye at the airport was not as hard as I thought (not like last August ) as we all knew I would be back home in a few months and as I said at the start how time is flying by!!!!........
Next episode will include......................
An update on the clinic mums and babies and our trip to the Kirirom national park where Chris and I had a real adventure...........
Lee Howie   Kath