6.30 pm Dinner - Speaker Debby Henery

At one of our meetings in March we were greatly entertained by our own Debby Henery telling us of her experiences whilst on a five week placement in Ghana, as a second year student nurse.  In January 2010 she set off, after bidding Peter and her family a tearful farewell, on her own admission scared stiff and with considerable trepidation.  Carrying a huge bag of supplies she departed for Ghana airport on an eight hour journey to her destination and, on arrival, was greatly dismayed by the primitive conditions she was expected to live in.

With a range of excellent photos she very quickly illustrated that her quarters were vastly superior to the ones occupied by the local people.  The toilet facilities were graphically illustrated and she made us laugh with her story of being accidentally locked out of her room stark naked.  Fortunately a handy piece of cloth covered her embarrassment if very little else!

Debby described the food, which mainly consisted of ground and pulverised cassava mixed with spicy sauces. She found it so appetizing that she lost twelve pounds in five weeks.  She showed us pictures of the ancient minibus in which she travelled round the area and of countless children all neatly dressed in school uniform, many made by a hardworking lady on an ancient sewing machine.  This same lady made Debby a couple of dresses at