Sierra Leone on ABC News...

A couple of weeks ago, ABC featured a story concerning child health in Sierra Leone, focussing mainly on the prevention of neonatal tetanus. The clip emphasizes once again the high child mortality rate in the country and shows some of the daily occurrences including a child death and pictures of malnourished children. To see the video click on: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6817290 (you'll have to watch the ad first and then you can see the clip).

Last zip-line shots...

Some final zip-line shots. Our guide doing one of his crazy stunts. Which makes my zip-lining look a little boring. A view from the ground, looking up at the last platform. And then our zip-line team- working in the Middle East, Uganda, Cambodia, Sierra Leone. This is definitely a great team-building activity for those interested, and who happen to be near Chiang Mai!

Tree top views...

Needless to say, the views from the platforms were amazing. Surrounded by jungle. Trees immensely high. The ground far below. The sound of birds. Fascinating. Honestly, the pictures just don’t do it justice. My favorite view was from the third to last platform. A beautiful bridge linking two platforms and then a zipline from there to the last platform. The last platform was anchored to an amazing tree! From there we were lowered to the ground.

Zip-lining backwards...

There was variety in the zip-lines which made it extra fun. Some were short, others were very long. One we could do in pairs, and one especially was suitable for going backwards. I of course wanted to be daring and went backwards as well. How exciting! I didn’t even look behind me as I was approaching the platform. I just lifted my feet up when our guide yelled ‘Feet up’, as they did. And made it smoothly onto the platform. A couple of times we were lowered from one platform down to the next, which was also quite an experience!

A few of the zips required us to use a bamboo v-shaped brakes to slow our approach to the next platform and so the guide would yell out ‘Brake’ as we were approaching. Good laughs. I must say though, I was happy when we were done with the brakes as I felt I had more freedom (of releasing my grip) without the brake.

Zip-line take off...

Two guides joined us for the ‘ride’, ensuring our safety and entertaining us with their jokes; making us laugh, bouncing the zip-line up and down, but never threatening our safety. One would go ahead of us to lead the way, while the other one stayed behind to ‘send us off’ and follow behind. We were always connected to either the main zip-line or to a tree when on the platform, they made sure of this. Initially I was a little nervous and afraid, but after a few zip-lines that soon changed. Mind you, if I wouldn’t have been continuously connected I would have been very scared on the platforms. But this way, I could peak over the edge and not be shaken when looking down. Ellen (working in Uganda) and I had signed up together, so it was only appropriate that we did one of the zip-lines together. That was quite funny.

Flight of the Gibbon...

Zip-lining has got to be one of the most exciting activities I’ve done yet. Initially I wasn’t so sure if this was something I would have the guts to do, seeing as I am afraid of heights. But after persuading a friend to sign up and paying immediately as not to back out, I started telling myself that I wasn’t going to regret this decision.

Sunday afternoon rolled along and we were picked up by a van to take us on a very windy road right into the jungle. After 1 ½ hours drive we found ourselves surrounded by rainforest.

The Flight of the Gibbon is a unique way to experience the rainforest canopy; on zip lines and skybridges. From high above the forest floor you view life from a perspective once reserved only for a select group of scientists.

The rainforest is 1500 years old and situated just outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand. There are 18 platforms over a 2 kilometer stretch, which includes 2 skybridges and 3 lowering stations. It is probably the highest of its kind in the world with the highest platform said to be 120 meters from the jungle floor. The longest zip-line was 100 meters long.

In Thailand...

Yeah, I’m in Thailand! The reason for being in Chiang Mai is to attend a medical conference hosted by the American Christian Medical and Dental Association for continuing medical education. The conference is especially for doctors working on the mission field and is geared towards those working in Asia. I went to a similar conference in Kenya in 2006 focused on Africa. Since the Kenya conference was cancelled last year due to political unrest, I decided to come to Thailand this year.

So far my time here has been great. I have met some interesting people working all over Asia, some in Africa and some in the USA (lecturers). I also caught up with some people I met at the Kenya conference (fun!) and some people who have worked on the ship. The resort is amazing! It’s big – no walls, no razor wire! – lots of Thai huts and houses, pavilions, even some shrine type deals which just add to the whole cultural atmosphere. And there’s a pool and they sell amazing chocolate cake (among others) which I have yet to buy! The days are long with breakfast at 7am, worship & sermon at 735 and then full on lectures from 845 till 4pm. Then in the evening we have another meeting from 75-845pm. And in between there is lots of food. There are 3 buffet lines and places inside and outside to eat. The food is great- a large variety- especially a lot of Thai food. It’s funny that for dinner you can often have pasta, rice and potatoes! And the best is the vegetables (Broccoli! Cauliflower! Bell peppers!) and fruit (mango, pineapple, guava, banana, watermelon, papaya – which of course I get in Salone too, but it’s still excellent). I really can’t complain about the food. There really is such a huge selection each time and always fruit. Every breakfast there are eggs (fried or scrambled), bacon or ham, pancakes, french toast, yoghurt, cereal, toast, etc. I love breakfasts like that! Maybe I’ll gain back some weight I lost over the past 6 months!

The lectures are really good as well; some topics being more useful than others. So far I have been to a wide arrangement. Let me give you an idea: Adult and pediatric case presentations, Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease (useful as just had child with this in clinic), Dermatology, Preterm labor, Management of anemia, Dengue fever, Basics of clinical ultrasound, Fine needle aspiration, Fever of unknown origin, Leprosy, Malaria & HIV, Spirituality & Health, Malaria in Asia (some relevance to Africa), Tropical neurology, Malnutrition. And there are many more lectures to come!

It’s time for bed as I have an early start again tomorrow. But I’ll try to post pictures soon. More lectures Friday all day and Saturday morning. Then it’s off to see an elephant show, go elephant riding, visit a snake park, enjoy a thai dinner and experience thai dancing and last of all venture out to the night market till midnight. Not sure about Sunday yet, but I am sure it will be good!

Thailand journey...

The journey was long but uneventful. I left Middelburg by train at 2pm, was checked in at the airport very quickly and then spent a couple of hours wondering around. The first flight was 10 ½ hours. Long but not too bad. I didn’t get restless thank goodness. I slept a lot actually. The last few weeks in Freetown were very tiring- with very long work days and very short nights (probably averaging 6 hours a night the last week) due to all of the packing and sorting I had to do since we are moving house. I then had a fairly long lay over in Bangkok and roamed around being amazed at how big the airport was and how modern everything looked. While sitting in the waiting area I was looking around for people that might be going to the conference, but just couldn’t tell. The second flight with Thai Airways was only 1 hour or so. And fortunately, there was a gentleman holding up a CMDA sign who helped arrange a taxi to the center. Even better was the fact that I met up with another lady who was also traveling to the conference. So we were able to share the cost of the taxi, as well as the 45 minute drive in the dark to the outskirts of the city. I was happy not to have to make that trip alone!

We arrived at 8pm. Exactly 24 hours (keeping in mind 6 hours time difference) after leaving Middelburg. So a total of 42 ½ hours of travel from Friday afternoon till Monday evening. The introduction meeting was already in progress so we just slipped in and joined them. My journey to Thailand was over and my experiences began. YAY for adding a NEW COUNTRY to my list!!!