My Sukuta Home

My Sukuta home

I have now been in The Gambia for 10 days and time does fly here!

I arrived on Friday the 27th April approx 15.30 and was taken to my "home from home" in Sukuta, a small village approximately 35 minutes away from Banjul, the capital.

Living room

My bed!

The beautiful Fatima

I am staying with a very lovely couple and their 8 month old daughter at their compound. I am very lucky as the house is like a mini mansion with lights and electricity, but no running water! Taking a shower can be an interesting experience....and the water is cold!! They family have been incredibly hospitable and accommodating making sure that I am thoroughly well fed with local food!!!


Over the last week I have been attending The Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul and getting involved with the Medicine department, especially the Diabetes clinic.

It is a small but very busy hospital with 4 main departments, medicine, surgery, gynaecology and paediatrics,


Unfortunately due to constant staff changes at the top of the hierarchy the running of the hospital has suffered. There is no continuity of care to the patients, they lack basic equipment such as oxygen (there is ONE oxygen concentrator for the whole of the medical department!!!), there is a lack of case notes so no patient can be identified correctly, blood tests are not routinely done due to lack of funds and lab equipment, all scans cost money that the patient and their family have to fund (if the machines are in working order!), mortality rates are high and due to this the enthusiasm and morale of the staff suffer.

Front entrance to the hospital after going through secured gates

On a more positive side the people here are truly welcoming and are so grateful for any help they receive at the hospital and despite low morale the medical staff are very accommodating for the huge number of patients who turn up at the door needing medical attention.


Every Wednesday is Diabetes clinic. The number of patients per clinic can vary from 150-300 in one day!! Incredible!! They arrive at approximately 06.30am and sit outside on a very small wall to wait their turn with very little complaints.

Looking onto the security gates
 Gambian flag and garden

Far left is head matron of medicine's office,
Directly in front -  Sawec ward (female medical)

It really is unbelievable how patient these people are when you compare an average UK clinic of approximately 20 patients sitting inside with comfortable facilities and they complain if the clinic is running late by 20 minutes!

My alarm clock!!!

During my spare time I have been finding my feet around the area and have regularly been at Serrekunda market.

Relaxing on the porch
My bedroom to the left

It is heaving with every material, food stuff, shoes, clothes, bags, spare car parts you can possibly imagine!! It is chaos......and not organised chaos either!! It really is an experience!!


A trip to Serrekunda involves taking at least two local taxis, if you can find one with a spare seat! If you are lucky enough to flag down a yellow and green cab with a spare seat you get in with 4 other people and get out at a junction before entering another car!

One evening it was not possible to get a local taxi so I got a ride in a "banjul banjul".  It is basically a clapped out mini bus with about 10 seats but holds up to 30 passengers carrying their shopping, buckets of mango, raw fish, breast fed babies and animals! How the vehicle moved is beyond me, but it did! (photos to follow!)