Afikpo Mater Hospital, Letter to Nancy Timoney - 10-01-54

Mater Hospital,

Afikpo

Sun 10^th Jan, 1954

Mrs Nancy Timoney,

13 Sion Hill Road,

Drumcondra,

Dublin,

Ireland.

My dearest Mammy & all,

I hope you are all well & had a great time at Christmas. Tell me the presents etc. you got. This is really to Noreen & Seamas as well as there isn't much point in writing separate ones. Ask Noreen to write & tell me all the goings on sometime. I expect they're all back at school now. There doesn't seem to be time to read or write or anything here. Once it gets dark, everything seems to go by the board (6.30 or so now). After that I normally have a bath, then its dinner time & then it's about 9.0pm & we go & say the Rosary then its night round & then it's about 10 or 10.15pm. So you see. I try to be in bed between 10.30 & 11.0pm. I'm writing to Mrs Hinds to-day too as I've not written since I arrived.

Fr. Liam McSorley came here yesterday for a few weeks holiday. He is in great form & looks well. I hope you got the letter with the snaps ok. Keep them safe for me, please. I sent the diary of the trip to Brian & P. & they'll send it on to you. Is not a feat of literature but just day to day notes! We are going to Ugep – a bush clinic on Tues. We stay one or 2 nights there. All the other bush clinics we just finish in one day & come home. Last Thursday we were out all day doing 2 clinics. The 2^nd one we arrived a bit late on & had to see about 20 Antenatals by bush lamp on 2 benches put together in the school. Of course everyone, man, woman & child, all stand around & look on and the Chief was regulating the traffic. Then Godfrey had to give them a little pep-talk through the interpreter (the schoolmaster) on attending the Clinic – this was the first time to hold this one & we were delighted to get 20 to come as they are very slow about it in most places.

I didn't get this finished before lunch. We had Palm-oil chop which I like. I think it would be into Noreen's barrow too somehow. - little bits of everything in it. There are about 10 or 12 saucers containing sliced banana, sliced tomato, both natural & roasted of each, nuts, ground coconut – natural & roasted, red peppers, grapefruit chopped up, orange sliced, paw-paw sliced (a long orange thing eaten often like melon). Some of all these are put in a large soup plate on top of rice also – its natural state (probably just boiled & the water poured off leaving the little seedy things!) then all these & many more I can't think of – mashed yam – are mashed and mixed well together then in comes a bowl of yam cut in hunks & chicken all in palm oil. Some of this is put in and the whole lot mixed furiously together – it all takes about 20 mins or ½ hour to get ready hence only late on Sundays! ..... I will tell you next time some of the other things we eat. Please write soon.

Lots of love to all.

Regards to the neighbours.

Emily