We met the military medical team at the Bangladesh level 2 hospital some months ago purely by chance. We bumped in to them when they were touring Juba Teaching Hospital in March and they were particularly keen on meeting Heidi because she could act as a back-up anaesthetist in their surgical unit if Parvez (their anaesthetist) became incapacitated. From then on the relationship grew and we spent time teaching the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) Cardiac Life Support with them and starting up the joint clinical meetings between Juba Teaching Hospital and the UNMISS hospital which started off very well, allowing both an educational and cultural exchange between the South Sudanese and the Bangladesh doctors.
The first joint session with BANMED and JTH
Us at Iftar
The SPLA house officer training
The panama amongst the berets outside of the teaching room
James entertaining the troups during the training
From then on a great friendship blossomed and we have been back many times and always been met with such warm hospitality and over-whelming generosity that time spent there has been nothing but a pleasure. Within seconds of walking in a spiced tea is in your hand and Bangladesh cuisine is soon to follow, anything from a snack to a full blown meal. I certainly never thought that I would come to South Sudan but learn so much about Bangladesh.
During August they were fasting for Ramadan and invited us to a big Iftar celebration one warm Saturday evening when they had invited all the Bangladesh community with the UN to breakfast. After arriving and sharing what appeared to be a full meal the whole party headed back to the mosque to pray, leaving Heidi and I alone to discuss how great the meal was and how full we were. Moments later they returned and announced that now we were to enjoy the main course! While this was enjoyed we sat down to a history video on the Qur’an.
The Bangladesh group donating some drugs to JTH
Dr Robert and Charity enjoying the food after the second joint meeting
Famous at last!!
A visit some weeks later was to celebrate the return of the Bangladesh troops from the border hostilities. A hall was packed full of the soldiers all cheering a band with bag-pipes playing at the front (yes, the Bangladesh army use bagpipes!) and what followed was a full cultural show- and we were escorted to sit in the sofas at the front with the head of UNMISS and other guests of honour.
The cultural show a comedy sketch
Us in our seats of honour with the hardworking soldiers behind
Evidence of the bagpipes, a kick back from colonial days! We have met some wonderful people here that have shown real hospitality when things were tough and this is really just a tribute to one of those groups that has helped shape our time here through both their kindness and their willingness to share their lives with us. It has also given us another holiday destination for the next year.
Gift exchange (don't worry we didn't just give them a book!)
The lovely drivers that often took us back and forth
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