Helping at Salmaniya HospitalSt Christopher’s students were invited to accompany volunteer, Dreena Rogers OBE, on her regular visits to the Children’s Wards of Salmaniya Hospital, Bahrain. In the half-term break twenty Sixth Form students and five teachers volunteered to spend three hours of their day talking, playing, painting and singing with the children. Dreena enlightened the students and teachers in terms of the needs of the children and the benefits they feel when they have visitors on a regular basis. We are privileged to have been asked to help out. This, we hope, after some training from the Sixth Form students, will be a regular event for our Year 10 students. Our mission now is to collect, donate, recycle and fund raise in order to brighten the lives of the children who are not as lucky as may others. We wish to thank Dreena Rogers for giving up a week of her time to educate and accommodate us in Salmaniya – we will be back, very soon, to show our continued commitment to the children. Should you be interested in making a donation to the children’s ward, or donating your time to be with the children, please contact me by email: kirsty.mckay@st-chris.net.

Bhanavi Kinger, Year 12, reports: Hospital… Paediatric Ward… interacting with children… me? What could I possibly offer to these children? However, after spending a few hours there, I realised that my fears were baseless. The smile that brightened the children’s faces on seeing that they had visitors made every minute of this visit worth it. I made a new friend, Ali, a 3-year old boy. Even though he spoke fluent Arabic whereas my Arabic ended at ‘wahed’, he allowed me to play ‘Kitchen, Kitchen’ with him where I ate plenty of plastic machboos for a good 3 hours whilst expanding my Arabic vocabulary. This visit gave me many splendid memories and it made me realise how grateful I should be for my good health. It gave me the drive I needed to hopefully become a doctor one day.