Another Visit

 

Me and two of my visitors from the University of Huddersfield Sue and Jan

My blogs are just like no.10 buses you don't see one for hours and then two come along at the same time but I must report to you my last visit from pals in the motherland
On the last Sunday in March I made my way to the Pavilion Hotel (a great little spot right in the heart of PP an old French Colonial building with lots of character and charm a great place to stay if ever you need somewhere in PP there I go digressing again) to meet up with Sue Julie Jan Graham and Ian from The University of Huddersfield they were on their way back from Kuala Lumpar where they had been presiding over graduation of students from their outreach top up degree there and were hoping to establish links with Cambodia very good news for me as I got to see some of my favourite academics show them my new world and catch up on all the gossip (Oh how I miss gossip!!!)
What great ambassadors for the University they were (That's if you exclude the rather unfortunate swimming pool incident!) after doing a bit of sightseeing around PP on the Sunday including my apartment The Royal Palace National Museum and the blue pumpkin and ta heir first Tuk Tuk ride through the city we got down to business early on Monday with Ian and Graham going off to do social work type workshop things and I took Sue Julie and Jan to PP's national training school for Nurses midwives and allied professions unfortunately as it was national final examinations week we could not have a tour of the building but were treated to a presentation from a very inspiratioal young nurse teacher about their new health academic learning centre a first for Cambodia and will be used to "train the trainers".
The following day I took Julie a senior lecturer in Midwifery to my clinic where both her practical and teaching skills were put to very good use we had a very good morning and I do not think that Julie will forget meeting those women and their babies in a hurry no one I have dragged oops! I mean taken there has failed to be impressed by the set up and commitment of the staff to the women and children who live in such poor conditions.
I cannot thank Sue and the team enough for taking time out to meet up and for all the things they brought for the clinic (and me I have enough deet to last me 20 years in Cambodia now) but most importantly I hope that "The Visit" leads to a long and sustained partnership supporting health and social care education in Cambodia

Sue Julie and Jan enjoying an evening boat trip on the Tonley Sap

  

A Toad in the Toilet

There is nothing dear blogger more able to guarantee constipation than having a toad in your toilet! I speak with authority on the matter after my recent visit to Ratanakiri Province in the far NE of Cambodia my knowledge about matters toad are limited but I am reliably informed that from my description of this creature who insisted on spending the entire 5 days in or around our toilet it was likely to have been a banana tree frog all I can say is that its time would have been better spent with the bananas rather than in trying to get to acquainted with my nether regions.

Toads apart my visit to Ratanakiri was fantastic one of my best pals Janet a teacher is placed up there with her husband David played mine hosts for almost the whole trip and fine ones they were too. I together with 3 fellow volunteer travelled to Ratanakiri by service bus from Phnom Penh an 11 hour trip in total but time passed very quickly as we travelled through many Provinces Towns and Villages before reaching our destination which is very close to the Vietnam border. The country side was extremely interesting and varied a village barely touched since French colonial days which for some reason unknown was left untouched by the Khmer Rouge.
We encountered the usual hazards on the roads including chickens cows oxen small children on bicycles and every thing but the kitchen sink being carried on motto's.Sadly we saw the remains of several RTA's both coming and going the roads here can be treacherous as I have already documented on several occasions.
We arrived at "Tree tops" our home for 4 nights this is an Eco lodge comprised basic but comfortable log cabins/bungalows and contrary to what I understood we did have electricity and even toilet paper I shared one of their new mosquito proof bungalows with Chris which was set into a hillside surrounded by tropical fruit trees in particular cashew and jack fruit which were growing in profusion the sound if cicadas and other fauna was deafening  especially at night.
We had a veranda with I have to say a very comfortable line in hammocks!which was put to very good use over our stay (photo to follow)
The next day we met up with Janet and Dave who took us by motto to Boeng Yeak Laom a volcanic lake said to be a perfect circle and been in existence for 700,000 years.We walked the circumference and then spent a good part of the day swimming in the cool clean and very beautiful water.We were however the entertainment for the many Cambodians who were there celebrating Khmer New Year
In the afternoon it rather resembled Brighton beach on bank holiday Monday so we escaped the crowds and went in search of the Cambodian equivalent of high tea we were not disappointed the banana cake was fab!!
That evening Janet made a curry and invited all of us for dinner we had a great time thanks both.
The following day we returned to our lake for more swimming then in the afternoon we were invited to Narin  Janet's translator's house blessing ceremony.
This was a fantastic opportunity to share a glimpse of life in  Ratanakiri Narin had built the house himself and he was justifiably proud of it. 4 Monks from the local Wat came to bless it and it was a very moving but simple ceremony followed by a big party.
During the afternoon we visited local waterfalls but due to it being the dry season there was not a lot of water to fall only a lot of people and rubbish sadly!!
The following day we said our goodbyes to Wendy and Janet as they had other fish to fry and Chris Eileen and myself set off for the day to do a jungle trek organised by tour guide Narin (Yes Janet's translator) everyone has at least two jobs here in Cambodia.
For those of you who know me well I dare say that you are finding it difficult to believe that I would do such a rash thing and who could blame you for me a 10 mile trek through a tropical jungle represents extreme sport! but I did it slowly and not without incident but I did it.
We had a local Tampoon ranger who led the way and Narin spent a lot of time showing us the flora and fauna and explaining how the authorities were trying to support and encourage the indigenous people to care for the land particularly the trees as illegal logging is a big problem so that they can make a living from tourists and others who visit.
It was fascinating to see how the people lived we visited their houses which have changed little in centuries many now use mosquito nets and water filters but many still live very simply with almost all their belongings made from the land I learned a lot and it made me think very much about our very materialistic society and what is important
No trip to the provinces would be complete though without a journey from hell our return journey did not disappoint we decided to take a mini bus as it would be quicker despite buying 5 tickets we only had 4 seats great fun my sciatic nerve will never be the same again!!!!!! but the trip was worth it

Boeng Yeak Laom Banlung Cambodia

A big thank you to Janet  David Narin and my companions Chris Eileen and Wendy for making it such a great visit.

Well I guess its Easter over in the motherland I want to wish you all a very happy peaceful and sunny Easter no hint of an egg over here so enjoy!
Lea Howie
Kath

Half way through already

Apologies dear blogger for the lack of posts in March it has been a funny old month one way and another and I have had real problems with my blog particularly uploading photo's so here's hoping that they have been resolved.''
I am now half way through my time here and at last I feel that I may be getting somewhere at work thanks to the support I have received from VSO Cambodia and UNFPA the midwives now seem to understand why I am there and are being a bit more receptive.
I have been working hard on a proposal for securing more funding for them to develop further their work in supervising midwifery practice out in the provinces there are 23 provinces outside of Phnom Penh and a team of competent experienced midwives from PP go out for 1 week at a time and visit hospitals and health centres.
This is of course very labour intensive and demanding on only a few people and because of logistical reasons they just cannot reach all the remote areas where they are needed most I think that I may have found them another donor to support this work and help to translate it into a nationally recognised form of clinical supervision linked to registration so for the time being my star is ascending lets hope it lasts.
I am also now formally working with the Cambodian Midwives Council so I am now ideally placed to influence the above.
The Council is really motoring now and is establishing offices in the provinces to get registration of midwives in place by 2012 it will be a great privilege to help them.
Their other big task this year is to reach agreement on Midwifery competencies which is tricky here as there are two levels of midwives so getting these right is a huge task.
Last week CMA held a workshop in Prey Veng Province which is one of the poorer provinces right smack bang in the middle of the country we travelled by minibus and despite the language difficulties a great time was had by all the midwives were great fun and included me in everything after the first day of the workshop we had a little tour of the town and I will try to post some pictures.
The purpose of the workshop was to put together a plan for next years activity I did a presentation on some of Cambodia's new maternal and child health  of which eg fertility levels and  uptake of births in govt health facilities havestatistics some all improved however there is still much to do and I want them to grasp the concept of targeting CMA activities to the provinces with  the biggest needs as they do not have the capacity to do everything.
As a result we have a plan and managed to do some prioritisation.
On the social side I had another "visit" this time from Pauline and Mervyn who were on a tour of Asia and called in to Siem Reap to see the temples at Angkor Wat this gave me the chance to take a couple of days off and go back to Siem Reap one of my favourite places
I have known Pauline since I was a student nurse in Huddersfield she was a medical ward sister and a great role model for me so it was great to meet her and Mervyn. Unfortunately their schedule was changed at the last minute which meant that we didn't have much time together but as the saying goes its quality not quantity that matters thanks so much to both of you for a lovely time.
Last week my great ICT group were together again for our second lot of language training this time it was here in PP. Some of my chums I had not seen since October my X room mate Vicky was not with us as she has had to return home due to her husband's illness so I wish them both well.
The language class was harder this time with much more conversation I was bottom of the class but I still learned a lot and will try hard to put it into practice.
we had a young bright and enthusiastic teacher called Sopheak she was great and very patient!
In the evenings we did a "Cambodian version of Come Dine With Me" what larks Pip! I partnered with Janet for the last night for a dining experience with style and guess what we won! against very stiff competition I might add and despite Janet's husband Dave giving us his lowest marks ( that's loyalty for you!)it was great fun seeing all the film footage including bedroom scenes I will remember it forever.
One of the down sides of being a VSO volunteer is that volunteers come and go with increasing regularity and it seems that we are always having to say goodbye to someone whom you have grown very fond of next weekend we say goodbye to Danny who finishes his 6 month assignment with the Ministry of Education and returns to Scotland. He has been a great pal but on the up side he lives in Sterling a place David and I visit every year so we will certainly be dropping in to see him and Joan when we go in 2012.
The best news I have had though in March was that Sally and David have now booked their trip here in June they are coming to PP for 4 days then we are flying off to Malaysia for a 10 day holiday together which will be wonderful I cannot wait!!
Lea Howie
Kath

1. 
   

some of my midwife colleagues at CMA 's planning workshop

Prey Veng Province

Some of Cambodia's finest Midwives'

     

"The Visit"

There is nothing dear blogger more able to gladden the heart of lowly volunteer than to get a visit from someone back home just to hear another northern accent is heartening [sorry Danny but Scottish just does not quite do it!] and so imagine my excitement when along with my pal Chris on the 18th of February I met up with Viv and Jim Howard where? Phnom Penh Raffles hotel cocktail bar no less. Viv and Jim were en route to see Angkor Watt Temples having visited their son in Hongkong and done some serious chilling out in other parts of Asia.
Viv is a choir chum [Vocal expressions] and it was great to catch up on all the gossip oops I mean news ! and to hear all about 'the doings' in Holmfirth Chris and Jim got on like a house on fire whilst Viv and I caught up.
We were forced into having a couple of Raffles special cocktails well one cannot be unsociable on these occasions and as Viv and Jim had only ventured out into PP briefly and were soon frightened back in doors at the thought of crossing the road (and who could blame them ) Chris and I took them out for dinner to a very nice Khmer restaurant by the river which had Aspara dancers and a very jolly French wedding party going on. They had their first tuk tuk drive and a good time was had by all.
The next day I collected them again by tuk tuk with Hak's brother doing the honors this time he took us on a tour of the city stopping off at the Royal Palace and then on to refreshments at The Foreign Correspondents Club after that we had a tour of my apartment which overlooks the national museum.
The heat at this time was at its worst so the choice was visit museum for more artifacts and culture or lunch and a dip in Raffles pool I will leave it to you to guess all I can say is Raffles do a very nice line in chips!!!!
As Viv and Jim were leaving early the next morning to fly to Siem Reap and after afternoon tea (what else) we said our fond farewells.
Viv and Jim thank you so much for being my first visitors it was a great privilege to show you PP and also thank you for your generosity in sharing a part of your holiday with me you will never know how much it meant.
In my next blog will update you on my second visit and will include updates from the clinic and other stories
Lea Howie!! all
Kath




PS For some reason I cannot download any photo's of my visit will keep trying

Highs and Lows and the bits in between!!!

Nearly a month has passed dear bloggers since my last entry and much has happened here in Cambodia now do I start with the lows and finish with the highs or the other way around?
I'll start with the highs I went to a TEDx event here on Saturday 5th Feb it was held in an international school on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

Here are my fellow TEDx pals setting off (photo's pinched from Sam/Gilly's blog!) It was held in a very posh school and as we went through the gates I thought I 'd entered a parallel universe what a place see below just one of the playgrounds and a an olympic size swimming pool! any way back to the script.

 The TEDx event comprised inspirational speakers from the fields of technology entertainment and design on the theme of building bright futures for Cambodia.There were some truly remarkable people taking part including Teth Sambath famous for his documentary film "Enemies of the people" and Kung Rai a folk singer and national treasure who entertained us at the beginning.My favourite though was Ploen Prim who movingly described his work in bringing back to life Cambodia's traditional arts and crafts through ensuring that the young generation are taught the skills before they die out

The web address if you are interested in finding out more is http:/tedxphnompenh.com .
It was a truly great day and I met some remarkable people.
Also this month I went to my first classical concert by mistake I might add I was supposed to be seeing a film about the damming of the Mekong river but happened upon this trio of  Cello violin and flute and  with Bach and Haydn on the programme which would you have chosen?The musicians were German and visit Cambodia to teach music here to young musicians they were fab.
Talking of music most of you will know that I love singing and belong to a choir Vocal Expressions (Hi Girls!)at home and really miss it well I have found a choir its called the international choir and it truly is.They rehearse on Tuesday evenings in the Japanese school and have 2 concerts a year the next one in May which I hope to sing at.The range of music is very similar to what I am used to and the people are very friendly so I am a very happy bunny on Tuesdays
The lows well work is not great my beloved midwives are also very elusive and have very little time to support CMA business so I am doing very little capacity building just keeping the office ticking over.
On the plus side though I am helping the Cambodian Midwives Council albeit informally at the moment and I am planning to set up a network of maternal health professionals who are working in isolated posts for peer support and learning.
Also I have been back to the mother and baby clinic which I love we had a 77 year old lady turn up last week with the blackest teeth I have ever seen she had painful hips but roared with laughter when we asked her if she was pregnant. We gave her some paracetamol and vitamins and she hobbled off happy enough. It could only happen in Cambodia.
Another low has been David and Sally postponing their trip due to David's mother being ill but fingers are crossed for a May reunion.
So all in all many more highs than lows who can ask for more?

I love this building and took it for any lawyers who may tune in as it is Phnom Penh's Ministry of Justice

Not me Lea Howei
Kath

A Breakthrough!

So sorry dear bloggers that it has been some time since I updated my blog I'm not sure where the time goes
Since my last post much has happened particularly on the work front hence the title of this blog. Up until now CMA has been very reluctant to tell me what it expects of me and how I can best help the senior team here.
Trying to analyse the reasons for this and find ways of overcoming the blocks has been exercising much of my ageing grey matter and occupying a lot of my thoughts and I have come to the conclusion that I have to ignore my in built paranoia and look at things from the perspective of these women in CMA
All are busy full time midwives working in local hospitals and clinics and now that I have visited a few more of these institutions I can well see their difficulties which include poor facilities and equipment far too many students to train and very poor pay (The head midwife in one hospital told me that her pay was less than $100 per month about £75)many like this lady are the sole breadwinners and therefore take on private patients as well as their government jobs
Most of the exec team and a few more experienced midwives from Phnom Penh undertake supervision and teaching visits to midwives and clinics in referal hospitals all over Cambodia there are 24 Provinces in total and CMA went to 8 last year and intend to go to the remaining 16 in 2011 This is a massive undertaking given that there is no infrastructure support to help them organise these trips which they fund themselves and then get back (eventually ) from the MoH so to have someone like me come along with loads of bright ideas there is no which they have no capacity to take on its no wonder they have given me a wide berth (excuse the pun!) but following a seminal meeting things are taking a turn for the better and I am to accompany the teams on their provincial visits and that will enable me to do some work with the branch leaders.
I have also got agreement to work with branch leaders on rewriting the constitution for CMA in return I have agreed to do a funding proposal to send to our health development partner NGO's and any one else I can think of to ask if they are able to support CMA financially over the next few years.
In addition through making contact with midwives working for WHO I went to work [yes bloggers you read it correctly actually do hands on work] in a clinic run by a christian charity in one of the poor districts of PP It is held mainly for ANC and a baby clinic but they also seemed to get a collection of other conditions turning up including a lady with a sprained ankle and a nail in a foot so despite my limited indeed rusty clinical skills I was able to take B?P's test urine and generally help the staff there. I have to say  it is the most useful I have felt since arriving in Cambodia and therefore want to return on a regular basis and they want me to go back too!!!!!
So am busy updating my clinical skills
They rely totally on donations of equipment to stock the clinic they always need clinical gloves syringes needles hand gel common medicines used in pregnancy and for new babies and so on so I may well be calling in a few favours from all my old pals working in NHS hospitals.
they also need baby and toddler clothes many of the babies and children coming to the clinic had no clothes on it was very sad to see but the place was so happy and cheerful despite the hardship and conditions it was wonderful to be a part of.
The clinic is free to the patients who use it and the charity also can help the very poor meet hospital expenses when they have their babies it also gives contraceptive advice so all in all a very comprehensive service.
Socially I gave a dinner party for four /five if you include John who turned up just in time for pudding not easy though when you only have 4 plates but it went well and every one seemed to enjoy it Gilly and Sam were the guests of honour as they had to come down from Kratie as Gilly had fallen and managed to break two fingers including one with a dislocation too so poor her I hope she is on the mend.
My social secretary Chris is on holiday at the moment with her family so my social calendar is a bit quiet i have had a couple of meals out with friends and got a busy weekend planned as I am going to a TED event on Saturday so that will be something to tell you all about next week
Take care all
Lea howee
Kath  

Me and My Big Mouth



Sunset over PP on Christmas Day magical!

 Well dear bloggers I tempted providence in my last blog and was not let down since bragging about how to stay safe and well in Phnom Penh I have had
 3 very nasty mossie bites on my leg it seems the little bugg....s can read as well as spot rich pickings at 50 paces....
I broke a tooth and have had to have some very expensive dental work done....
Had a tummy bug the details of which you would not wish me to share.....
and now to cap it all off have got the worst cold I've had for years with violent sneezing fit to blow my head off and a very tight chest so just hoping that doesn't progress into any thing worse so a great way to start the New Year and a lesson in how not to brag in future.
Well since we last spoke the weather here has been a little cooler on the whole it has been very pleasant especially walking down by the river where there has been a breeze most times temperatures I would say averaging 28oC we have not had any rain since the 16th of December and its unlikely now to see any more before Sept The temperatures will start rising after February and I've been told to brace myself as once April comes the temp will rocket into high 30's I can feel a trip to Ratank kiri coming on by then.
We have just had two more public holidays the one we shared for New Year and last Friday January 7th was "Victory Over Genocide Day " This was the day that the notorious Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown In the papers reports about this event seem very divided should the date be celebrated or not ? as there is a view that it just marked the invasion of Cambodia by yet another country Viet Nam. but no one disputes that to be rid of the KR and putting an end to the genocide was a great step forward for Cambodia.
Since December when we had CMA's annual conference not much has been happening on the work front write ups have been completed on the event and I am waiting for our President to organise an exec meeting so that we can agree how to take members views forward into the future. Since then I have attended a few interesting meetings one called the 'Quality Improvement Working Group' Now where have I heard that before ?that meeting was in K'mai so I struggled a bit there although the power point presentations were in English so that was OK and another involving NGO's in health which was extremely interesting as they were talking about things like workforce planning and strengthening education I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!!!!!  somethings just come back to haunt a body
I do wish sometimes though that I had trained to be a plumber I would be far more use to this country is it too late to train do you think?
At the weekend going to have my hair done always a very stressful experience here last time my hair was coloured I asked for light brown and got vivid almost fluorescent red!!!! they had to pick me up off the floor Carmen my hairdresser at home would have had a dicky fit but its all part of the fun
Next week I'll tell you about Cambodian food Oh  on the subject of food I managed to find some weighing scales in a chemist last week I have lost about 22llbs!!! beats weight watchers any day
Kath


Here are some fellow volunteers at the Khmer Surin for Christmas Lunch

 





Christmas morning at Chris's house just before opening my presents thanks again to my old SHA buddies and Denise / Vicky whose parcels made it through

Dressed to the nines Anna Chris and myself setting off in our tuk tuk for Christmas lunch

 PS Thought that I would post some pictures of Christmas here in PP