“Where is Madagascar?” was my first reaction and “I want to be there” was my immediate answer! My dream came true after the almost 30 hours of traveling from Singapore to Madagascar, via Bangkok, by commercial turbo-jet, twin-engines propeller plane and a bumpy and dusty two-hour bus ride into the edge of civilization. The nearest source of telecommunication is two hours to the town in Morondava and the feeling of being uncontactable is weird and refreshing. It only proved that life goes on with or without you!
Living conditions were better than expected. There were proper beds with mosquito nets and bare toilet facilities in a half-built “resort” with empty door and window frames in a nature reserve in Analabe, along the western coast line of the island. Time stood still here as I could see equipment and machineries like an old steam engine farm vehicle built in the 1940’s.
From here as our base camp, we set up the clinic about 5km away in an old abandoned air-field beside a disused hanger. We set up medical and dental out-patient clinic, pharmacy, operating theatre cum resuscitation room, recovery room and a minor surgery suite in a “toilet”. The team of 8 dentists,5 doctors and 2 nurses worked tirelessly in the hot and arid conditions treating numerous conditions from chronic diseases to surgical removal of lumps and bumps, cleft lip repair, filled and removed countless rotten teeth and roots for more than 2000 villagers.
After each day of hard work, most of us looked forward to our river bath which was the highlight of the day! The villagers showed their appreciation by giving us live chickens and a turkey together with a song and tribal dance beside a fire in the middle of nowhere under the moonlight like a scene from National Geographic documentary. We did some nature tour to view the unique fauna and flora of this island that broke away from the African continent millions of years ago and thus many of its wildlife have evolved independently to become endemic and found nowhere else in the world.
The camaraderie of the group of volunteers was fantastic despite slogging away to our heart’s content for the tribal people. Bonds were forged and strengthened with new and old friends. This 12-day adventure trip makes returning home to reality plain and boring and I’m glad I could relive my memories by watching the “Madagascar” cartoon movie screened in cinemas right now. I am definitely looking forward to the next mission trip.
Living conditions were better than expected. There were proper beds with mosquito nets and bare toilet facilities in a half-built “resort” with empty door and window frames in a nature reserve in Analabe, along the western coast line of the island. Time stood still here as I could see equipment and machineries like an old steam engine farm vehicle built in the 1940’s.
From here as our base camp, we set up the clinic about 5km away in an old abandoned air-field beside a disused hanger. We set up medical and dental out-patient clinic, pharmacy, operating theatre cum resuscitation room, recovery room and a minor surgery suite in a “toilet”. The team of 8 dentists,5 doctors and 2 nurses worked tirelessly in the hot and arid conditions treating numerous conditions from chronic diseases to surgical removal of lumps and bumps, cleft lip repair, filled and removed countless rotten teeth and roots for more than 2000 villagers.
After each day of hard work, most of us looked forward to our river bath which was the highlight of the day! The villagers showed their appreciation by giving us live chickens and a turkey together with a song and tribal dance beside a fire in the middle of nowhere under the moonlight like a scene from National Geographic documentary. We did some nature tour to view the unique fauna and flora of this island that broke away from the African continent millions of years ago and thus many of its wildlife have evolved independently to become endemic and found nowhere else in the world.
The camaraderie of the group of volunteers was fantastic despite slogging away to our heart’s content for the tribal people. Bonds were forged and strengthened with new and old friends. This 12-day adventure trip makes returning home to reality plain and boring and I’m glad I could relive my memories by watching the “Madagascar” cartoon movie screened in cinemas right now. I am definitely looking forward to the next mission trip.
