HI Courier The local community newspaper for Histon and Impington
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'Our Steve'
Africa Mercy, Histon Mercy Turn shopping... ...into swapping
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Making a difference
The Cheng family will not consider themselves heroes but they are and I'm sure there are many people in Africa who would agree. I recently spent a delightful evening enjoying the hospitality of the Cheng family and hearing about their experiences with the Mercy Ships charity. Over a lovely meal we heard much about the charity and its work and afterwards saw “before and after” photographs of some of the patients who had been helped. The one thing which made the most impact was the stories of the people involved; the charity's founders, the host of medical staff, the vital support staff – all of them volunteers – and, of course, the patients whose lives had been changed, in some cases so dramatically. Leo Cheng is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Each year for seven years he has given up two weeks of his annual leave to use his skills helping people in the poorest parts of the world. Not only does he give his services free of charge, he pays for his travel to and from the ship and his board and lodging, as do all the many other volunteers who work on the ship. His wife, Rev Hillary Cheng, has spent time on the ship as a minister. One of his daughters, Kat, has recently returned from the ship where she had worked as a catering assistant. His other daughter, Zoe is also due to work on Africa Mercy. It is a family affair. The enthusiasm of them all for the work of the charity is impressive and infectious. They do not boast of their achievements but feel privileged to be a part of the crew which perform such wonderful work. Mercy Ships began in 1978. Since then it has helped countless thousands of people in many
• Reporter: PAULA DEAN
Leo Cheng and daughter Kat. Meet them and hear more of their story on October 7th at Histon Methodist Church 7.30pm
countries in Africa, Central America and the Asian Pacific. The charity brings free medical care to some of the poorest people in the world. The Africa Mercy was first deployed in 2007. It replaced two older ships with new improved facilities. It has six operating theatres, beds for 78 patients, laboratory, imaging equipment and many of the facilities one would expect from a western hospital. It is the largest non-governmental hospital ship in the world. It also provides accommodation and facilities for over 450 volunteer crew. Some crew members are on board for months or even years so there are education facilities for their children. Kat Cheng spent six weeks this summer on Africa Mercy during its stay in Togo, overlapping with her father's annual two week visit. She
has clearly been very moved by her experience. The ship with its 450 crew is rather like a small town and many volunteers have vital roles in support of the more “glamorous” medical staff. As a member of the catering team Kat worked when others relaxed and socialised; 5.30am - 9.30am, 11am – 2pm and 4pm – 7.30pm. As well as preparing and serving food she had to wash 600 dishes three times a day! Nonmedical crew are encouraged to observe medical and surgical procedures and to visit patients, “adopting” one at a time. Kat loved this and became especially fond of a little girl called Balkissa whom her father operated on. It is not fully known how Balkissa came to have the damage and scarring to the front of her lower jaw but it is thought she might have had a “tongue tie”. This
September 2010 Issue 14 www.HIcourier.co.uk FREE
is where a baby is born with the front of the tongue anchored to the floor of the mouth instead of being free to move. It looked like someone unskilled had tried to correct the defect, slicing off part of the jawbone including the developing teeth and resulting in scarring and deformity of the tongue. This had happened a long time ago and as the little girl grew the scarring produced a swollen thickened tongue which would not fit inside the mouth. The tongue had a forked tip and she was nicknamed “snake tongue”. Turn to page 11
24 Pages Our Largest Issue Ever!
Free SOLAR ELECTRICITY for every village home? Free electricity? An 8% return on your investment indexed to inflation? Guaranteed for 25 years? It sounds like a scam but it's not. And, it's legal, ethical, and environmentally friendly! HI Courier editor Ken Doyle has been watching and encouraging this new development while investigating the possibilities for our village. "Look around you. There are thousands of roofs in our village that are perfectly suited to install solar panels. If every roof of every home was generating electricity it would provide about £3 million per year of extra income to village families and it would reduce our village carbon dioxide emissions by over 4000 tonnes." Can you really get free electricity and a healthy return on your investment that's guaranteed for 25 years? Yes, indeed. You need to be careful, however, since getting the details right will largely affect the benefits you receive. Here are the basics. In April 2010, the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) became law to encourage the switch from fossil fueled to renewable electricity. Electric companies, as part of their obligation to reduce CO2 emissions, are required to pay anyone generating power from renewable sources a premium for every kilowatt hour (or 'unit') of electricity they generate. The first part of this programme involves the placement of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on your roof to convert sunlight directly into standard household electricity. You are paid 41p for each unit of electricity you generate - even if you use all of that electricity yourself! Turn to page 3