Voyage of Hope

Nurse Sue Swift, now a counsellor in primary care, is one of a team of four from Clackmannanshire who set sail to help provide healthcare to isolated communities in Tanzania. Sue volunteered, along with three doctors – GPs Gillian Clark, Morag Reid and Claire Russell, to work with a Scottish charity, the Vine Trust.

The quartet spent time on the Jubilee Hope, working alongside local staff in a converted Royal Navy tender now equipped with a small operating theatre and dental surgery. The boat, which is a little like a floating GP practice, sails along Lake Victoria visiting remote island communities who have no other access to healthcare.

Setting SailSue said: “Vine Trust’s medical work began in the Amazon over ten years ago and has made a significant difference to the health of river communities in that area. Two of us volunteered in Peru in 2011 and 2014 but this was our first trip to Tanzania.

“The charity recruits volunteers for two week trips, enabling health care staff to use annual leave to work in remote areas.”
On their return the group held a feedback night in Tillicoultry Baptist Church where they talked about their mission and showed pictures of their trip.

For more information visit www.vinetrust.org