A FORMER Whitchurch resident and pupil at Kelly College is appealing to Times readers for help in her attempts to aid a hospital in desperate need of support.

Johanna Potter, the daughter of well-known Tavistock GP Duncan Gibbs, is currently spending six months working in the Masanga Hospital in Sierra Leone as a physiotherapist.

She and her husband, David, have taken a year out of their jobs with the Army and Royal Navy to work voluntarily at the hospital, which has needed extensive rehabiltation since the civil war in Sierra Leone — the hospital was ransacked by rebels in 1997, who subsequently lived there until the war ended.

Since then the hospital has been supported by several international charities — ultimately financial control of it will be handed over to the Government in 2016.

The hospital currently has 100 beds and five wards but is run on a shoestring budget — the electricity has had to be cut to pay the salaries of 14 members of the staff.

David and Johanna drove from England to Sierra Leone in a 1997 Toyota landcruiser called Rhubarb.

Johanna said: 'We had got married a month before we left so this was our "honeymoon" year, a trip that we had both always dreamt of doing, and after raising money to buy the car and do it up, we left in February. 

'The aim was to drive to Masanga Hospital, work there for six months and then leave the car with the hospital and travel onwards by foot or public transport down to South Africa.'

Despite the hospital having an excellent reputation for physiotherapy before the war, there have been no physiotherapy services operating there since it re-opened in 2006.

Johanna said: 'I was expecting a pretty low standard, having worked in various countries in Asia before and was not surprised on arrival.

'There was no physiotherapy department, no physio trained staff and only one guy called T-Roy who tried his best to carry out some rehabilitation with patients that a previous UK physiotherapist had taught him.

'All treatment was carried out at the bedside and for those poor outpatients who need help, it was done in the corridors or the labour room, often with a women giving birth beside us, which didn't help with the concentration!

'The main point that struck me was the appalling hygiene conditions.

'Despite a team of cleaners to clean the wards, money was not available for insect repellent so opening the medical notes with cockroaches crawling out was a common situation.

'Still, despite all this, people were happy, very welcoming and David and I were thrown deep into the daily melting pot of weird and wonderful goings on in the hospital.'

Johanna's time has been spent training four physiotherapy aids to take over the work.

She said: 'We identified a building as a new physio department which has been partially renovated, and despite not having any real equipment, we carry out basic rehabilitation there which has already helped many of the patients. 

'Ultimately we want to secure a fully renovated, fully equipped sustainable physio department that does not need international support.

'Materially this can be achieved but until such time when the Government can open a physiotherapy school, fully qualified physiotherapists will not be present.'

However, at the end of the three months' training, the physio aids graduated from their course and the future is looking good for Masanga Hospital.

The aids are now firmly embedded within the hospital, leading the care for the department.

Johanna said: 'They have a great rapport with the patients, and daily at 11, you can hear raucous laughter coming from the new physio department where the exercise class is going on.

'They have changed the face of rehabilitation at Masanga Hospital and the patients now look forward to getting back on their feet and returning to a functional life back in their home town and village.'

Johanna said one such patient whose life was being turned around thanks to physiotherapy is called Fatmata.

Johanna said: 'She is 16 years old and when she was 14, she contracted a disease just after her father died, which left her paralysed in both legs and her right arm.

'She was a bright student who loved learning English and she wanted to become a English teacher.

'She was brought to Masanga Hospital, her condition undiagnosed and effectively left to die, as she did not improve.

'She developed severe contractures (stiffening of the joint and muscle) and horrendous pressure sores over her bottom and knees from not being turned in bed.

'She lost weight and, as she described to me, "just gave up on life", thinking that one day her sores would get infected and she would die as a result.

'She looked forward to this knowing that she was a burden to her family who couldn't work as they needed to look after her in the hospital — all patients need a caretaker to look after them in hospital — the nursing staff only do medical checks and give out medication. 

'However, she is a case that emphasises how important physio is. After six months of slow rehabilitation — she couldn't even sit up for about two months — she now spends most of the day in a wheelchair, coming for an hour's rehabilitation daily after having her sores cleaned.

'She is being discharged to a local house in a week and will continue to come in for daily physio afterwards.

'I am teaching her to type with her left hand on a laptop that has been donated to the department and my plan is that she acts as a physio secretary until such time when she is strong enough to go to the secondary school that we have in the village.

'She is back planning to become a English teacher and life has resumed meaning and a future.' 

David and Johanna have just a month left at Masanga — and say their time in Sierra Leone has been 'emotionally significant'.

Johanna said: 'I am not shocked by many of the conditions or the poverty as these are not things which affect Africa alone.

'I am shocked, however, by the resilience of the people, their independent struggle for life and kindness shown for those around them.

'A village is a family and all are cared for by those who can. Widows are supported and orphaned children taken in and accepted as another sibling.

'The ten years of civil war has no doubt brought about some of these actions but the acceptance and love shown, I feel, comes from somewhere deeper. 

'On the other hand, attitudes towards life are different. My mother, who came to visit and who was a paediatric neuro physiotherapist, wanted to see whether there were any cerebral palsy children.

'There aren't, because if a newborn child is not strong or able to suck, there is nothing the mother can do and eventually they will die, from malnutrition or other common diseases.

'This is taken as a matter of course by many of the mothers and despite their visible sorrow, they pack their bags and return home, praying that they fall pregnant again soon and this next one survives.

'Survival of the fittest is obvious in every facet of life, despite the life expectancy being only forty-nine. 

'All in all, it's been a fantastic time, and when we leave I will miss the openess of the people, but be proud and happy for what has been created with them and what they can continue on.

'As always, volunteering is never a selfless endeavour and the genuine smiles and kindness of the people will be hard to leave and will no doubt lure me back again.' 

The total cost to fully renovate the physiotherapy department at Masanga to a basic standard is just £1,500.

Johanna is also trying to raise money for some essential pieces of equipment which will cost a further £3,217.

Johanna said: 'The new physiotherapy team here at Masanga Hospital would be enormously appreciative for donations to the project.

'We understand that financially, it is not just Sierra Leone that has difficulties but we plead for financial support.

'We assure you that all donations will be passed directly to the physiotherapy project as funds come directly into an account which only the Dutch Chief Medical Officer can access.

l If you can support Masanga Hospital's physiotherapy department, go to http://www.slaa.org.uk">www.slaa.org.uk or send a cheque to Dr E Cole made out to Sierra Leonean Adventists Abroad Masanga Leprosy Hospital at 56A The Crescent, Belmont, Sutton, Surrey, SM2 6BN.

Please state the donation is for the physiotherapy department.