Hi everyone,

Finally had a moment to upload some pictures! It's not that easy on here but the full lot are on my Facebook page :)

Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored me!! We had an amazing and productive trip... The team saw approximately 200 patients in clinic and performed 72 major operations on women who would not otherwise be able to afford healthcare. Most of the women we saw were from the outskirts of the city or from the rural areas, and many told us they had walked over 6 hours to reach the hospital. One patient's relative owned a car, and they had driven over 11 hours to see us - all from a word-of-mouth recommendation! Many just needed simple medical treatments or advice. Unfortunately, we also saw many patients (young and old) with very advanced cancers. We were able to provide accommodation and food packages (e.g. for 6 months) for some of the particularly vulnerable and malnourished women, to help them recover from their operations. Many only weighed 30kg pre-operatively, yet we removed wombs, big ovarian cysts and fibroids weighing up to 3kg!

The patients, families and hospital staff were all lovely and hugely grateful. We managed to do lots of teaching with the junior doctors, and in return they helped us translate and find our way around. The nurses on the ward and in the operating theatre also took on many of our recommendations, hopefully making things safer for patients in future. Some of the practices instituted on the last visit had stuck - such as counting surgical swabs before and after an operation, to ensure none get left behind in the patient.

We also visited the orphanage sponsored by Wings of Healing on our day off. We played girls vs boys football (1-1!!) and they treated us to some very well choreographed song and dance. Each child got a personalised bag or rucksack containing a hat, sunglasses, funky socks/tights and a treat! It was amazing to see their bond together - no fighting or jealously over gifts or food, just smiles all around! We then had our first taste of real Ethiopian food - a take-away in fact - Soured pancakes, curries and noodles!

Thanks again for your generous donations and support.

A full report on our trip is being written at the moment and will be published at wingsofhealing.org.uk.

The team are returning to Bethel Hospital in November and May 2016... watch this space!

Marianne x

The team outside the hospital

The operating theatre

Thank you so much to everyone who has sponsored me so far - a third of the way to my target already, that's amazing!! Please continue to share my link with your friends as well as it really helps get the word out :)