So what has been happening over the last few months?

I always find summer months more pleasant than autumn. I guess it is the lighter days that seem to extend forever. Everyone is just a little bit more upbeat during this time. As summer is officially over, I thought I would blog.

For me personally, a lot has happened during the summer months and I felt it was appropriate to share now rather than earlier!

In my last blog, I had mentioned that I had been presented with a fabulous opportunity from one of the consultants that I work with at St Mary’s hospital, London. I would have never imagined this in my wildest dreams.

Let me tell you how it all began.

It was 29th March 2022. I had just finished a gruelling training session (all my sessions are tough even if they are easy) with my personal trainer on Zoom. I was trying to urge myself to get up after cooling down and post stretching but felt unable to command my limbs to manoeuvre myself upright, when suddenly, my mobile phone pinged. It was a text from one of the Foot & Ankle consultant’s I work with.

The text read “BOFAS team would be delighted for you to join the team on the principles teaching course in Kenya and we would like you to be part of the Teaching Faculty team and could you present on the principles of orthoses?”

This text not only made me sit up, but it made me jump up at once too. I no longer needed to command my body anymore, it was like my brain was leading the way!

I actually had to read it a few times to digest the news and to re-check that I had read it correctly. I was being asked to go to Kenya (the country I was born in and called home) to present on a part of my profession that I was immensely passionate about – insoles/orthoses and the need for them to orthopaedic doctors.

How did I feel?

Oh wow! As I ran into my husband’s study to share the good news, I had a million thoughts running through my brain.

My reply to the consultant was much more down to earth - “shall we speak about it tomorrow?” - rather than my excited brain which was like YES YES YES! Of course, we are doing this! And it is going to be an amazing opportunity. It was an honour to be asked.

I have always wanted to give back to Kenya in some form or another. I was born there and I feel this incredibly deep connection to my home country and to my fellow brethren. Here, I was being asked to achieve my lifelong ambition.

And then, the Indian side of me kicked in, I am going to make this a memorable trip for all parties concerned and I must make sure they all try the different cuisine available – ooh this was very exciting. I wanted them to meet my mother and I wanted them to come to my town (I live away from the city) and my family home too where I grew up. I have previously mentioned that with this consultant I won some brownie points on trying our cuisine that I would bring back from Kenya, dragging a box through the airport terminal in Nairobi – always wondering if I will meet his expectations.

There was this nervous part of me thinking about how I am going to present and whether I will be able to do a good job. There was another part of me that said this is in the July so I have three months to prepare and I can do this and I will execute it well. I just needed to practice.

At no point, did I think that I would be with other Foot & Ankle consultants as part of the team and I already get tongue tied with my consultant so how will I cope with the others? It was probably a good thing I did not think that far, as I might have dropped out.

Background

To give some background on BOFAS (British Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society), present on the principles courses annually, in collaboration with COSECA (College of Surgeons of East, Central & Southern Africa). This course was due to occur in Kenya in 2020 but this was postponed due to COVID until July 2022. This time the faculty consisted of 5 foot & ankle consultants from various parts of the UK and their team administrator and myself. The conference was going to be held in Nairobi at the national hospital (Kenyatta Hospital) over 3 days in July.

The next day

The next day was Wednesday and I would be working with my consultant. I calmly (it was hard to not show how I really felt as I was well excited but I did not want him to think that I was a giggly school girl who could not stop smiling like she had been asked to go to the moon) asked him how it would all work and offered to help him or the administrator in any way possible. He put me in touch with admin and we began to plan how I could help her with this trip. She had already done a number of them but I guess it always helps having a local to guide you plus again being a savvy Indian, I could save money on the hotel and taxis by asking family/friends to help arrange all of this.

To say that the administrator was prepared for trip, that would be understatement! She was really well organised and had thought of every eventually. She had been to several countries in the region and realised that things run on a different time to British time and she was well equipped to deal with it.

Apart from the consultant who asked me, I didn't know anyone else. I had seen other members including the administrator who I have mentioned is ultra-efficient, when I had attended the annual BOFAS conference in the UK but had no other knowledge and I knew which allied health profession worked with them but other than that, I did not know much else. Though, I did realise that they are all Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle legends. I knew them by their faces as they were always on the panel at the annual conference in the UK. I felt like I was going to be in the presence of celebrities of the BOFAS world. At that point, I felt some pressure but it quickly slipped away from my brain as I was too busy planning everything else and wild horses could not tear me away from this experience.

I did not even share the news with close family/ friends, afraid that it might actually jinx it and that it would all be a fantasy and it was untrue.

I also wanted to show them the beauty of Kenya – the country I call home with its various natural habitat – like the Rift Valley and Big Five and our amazing sunsets/sunrises.

The next 3 months almost flew by in an instant. There was a lot of planning involved and at times I did wonder if they might actually dislike the plans. What I didn’t realise, was that were the most easy going group of people. They were pleased that an insider was showing them around and they were about to get a flavour of Kenya as a local rather than as a tourist.

While this was going on in the background, I was concentrating on actual presentation. As I mentioned, the course lead and the administrator had already prepared it and all I had to do was familiarise myself and add my bits to it to make it mine. But I soon realised that I was facing the same problem I had faced when I started at the Foot & Ankle clinic over decade ago. The presentation was from an Orthopaedic point of view and I had to deliver it in the same manner. It was a real hurdle and it meant I had to involve several of my podiatry colleagues, including my coach and biomechanics gurus who I admire to help me and make more sense of it. I could not change it a great deal but I still felt I had to be comfortable with my point of view.

I think this took the better part of the preparation time, but I am a perfectionist, and wanted the Faculty to feel that it was a great idea to have a different discipline involved in their course. My consultant could sense I was apprehensive but he kept reassuring me until the very end.

The actual trip

I left for Kenya a few days before the rest of the team arrived, only because I hardly stop-over in Nairobi and normally fly to my home town but I wanted to get the lay of the land and make sure all the arrangements were in place such as pickups and accommodation, and more importantly, all the snacks were in place for the road trip. It also gave me time to see some family and spend time with my childhood classmates after 30 plus years which was great!

The faculty arrived in separate batches, and I guess the way I was brought up, I felt I would like to give them a warm Kenyan welcome which meant rising up at dawn to welcome them. I think I was just so thrilled to welcome them to my World.

We spent a few days away from the city and this was a fabulous opportunity for me to get to know the team. I was also known as the bag lady with food coming out from all the different bags including Haribo sweets I had accumulated (even my relatives filled us with food like we would starve at the hotels!). I also felt typically Indian – it is our trademark and we also do this on plane journeys too. If you have ever travelled with anyone of Indian descent – you know who we are. I shared some of my culture with them, and by the end of it, they knew the names of all the savoury dishes.

We did manage to catch some amazing sunsets/ sunrises and saw 4 of the “Big Five”. Not a bad trip all in all!

Conference

Now that we had bonded, we had to get down to the real work. The conference was over 3 days but it was full on, starting very early in the morning to late evening, as well as spending time with the delegates in the evening (they had travelled in from various parts of Africa) and daily post briefing meeting with the Faculty team.

We had around 40 delegates present and the team was aware they would feel shy to begin with. They started the conference by one member of the Faculty drawing the map of Africa and asking the fellow delegates where they came from, and suddenly there was banter from them as they were shouting if the Consultant placed the delegate in the wrong area of the map. I think this was done deliberately but a good trick to get to lose their inhibitions.

I was presenting on the first day and was nervous from the night before. I think this is when I realised that I did not mind presenting to my fellow African brethren, but I was more nervous to present to the Faculty members, especially the consultant who had invited me. I wanted to prove to him that all the effort he put in was not wasted.

I wanted to run away just minutes before I was beginning, and then suddenly the adrenaline kicked in and my gut said – go for it, what is the worse that will happen? And off I went.

I wanted to connect with the audience so decided to start the conference in Swahili. I only managed 4 lines before I stopped and stated I could not possibly inflict my poor grammar on them and switched to English. The kind delegates applauded my attempt - probably a bit grateful that I didn’t make a mockery of the local language, and not all delegates spoke Swahili. I immediately felt at ease and started the presentation. I tried not to look at the Faculty members in case I stopped my flow trying to read their reactions.

It was a relief when I finished and I could relax. The Faculty did not appear to be too disappointed and the all-important approval text from my consultant made me smile from ear to ear for the rest of the day.

I spent the rest of the time helping the administrator and when the delegates were actively diagnosing the live cases, I did a little segment on whether orthoses would be useful and what kind of orthotic would be suitable for each case. It was a fabulous way of interacting with them and I loved every minute.

The three days flew by and I felt honoured to be part of the BOFAS faculty. I spent the last evening taking them to sample some of the local cuisine. The next day, I saw them off as they all left back for the UK (I made sure I packed them with enough snacks for the plane journey as well as for their onward journey to their respective homes). I then went on to see my mum.

Once I was home with mum, I had little time to reflect on the past week. It had felt like an absolute whirlwind but I did not want to think too much about it as I wanted to be fully present with my mum. I had not seen her since Dec 2021. It was only once I was in the UK, I could fully contemplate on what I had been a part of. I guess that it why it has taken me so long to write this blog.

These are my final thoughts on it.

It was a pleasure spending time with the delegates as it made the team aware of the difficulties we all have had since the COVID pandemic. All over the world, doctors have been doing their best to help their patients. There wasn’t any face-to-face teaching and while there was some online teaching available, not everybody would have had the time to access it.

And now, although we are able to travel, the world has changed. It was an honour to visit another country and liaise with them what difficulties they had encountered compared to the West.

It also made me realise that all parties concerned had to put so much effort to be present for this conference. For example, from the delegates’ point of view, they had to travel in from various parts of Africa or from different parts of Kenya to the conference.

The Kenyan Faculty had to prepare all the logistics for the conference and arrange for the patients to attend the afternoon sessions but also be present to guide the UK Faculty (which included being present with us for 3 full days and evening). They were also continuing to work as well as help us. I remember the 2 registrars and their consultant were on call the night before, or attending to the medical emergencies while attending the conference. They still appeared bright eyed and bushy tailed, never failing to smile when we asked for help.

And lastly, the UK BOFAS team had to arrange the conference, prepare the conference booklets, and travel with surgical supplies. All this had to be done prior to travel. The administrator had to be thoroughly organised because it wasn’t like she could nip down to her office and collect it. And finally the consultants who attended, had to engineer it so that they could give up time as well as well as leave their families behind. We all know, that when working in the NHS, the work does not slow down, it just gets added to either side of the week away. It was truly an honourable and admirable thing to give up their time. I felt highly privileged to be part of this conference.

I also appreciated that the Kenyan Healthcare system has tremendously improved since I lived there. This made me very proud and again grateful that I witnessed this first hand. But at the same time, I realised how lucky we are in the UK for our NHS!

It was indeed an extremely memorable trip and definitely the best part of my summer.