The upgraded clinic is seeing more and more patients coming through the doors as word spreads.  As Haidar notes in a recent missive ‘keep up the fund-raising – it’s quite expensive to keep this clinic running, as I am finding out!”

I’ve been invited to the Iraqi Ophthalmic Society’s annual meeting in Baghdad, a 2-day event which kicks off on Thursday 29 July.

The electricity is one of the major problems here in Najaf.  We rarely get more than 6 hours of electricity a day and  have to resort to petrol generators, which are noisy, dirty, and frequently break down.  Added to that is the challenge of finding a continuous supply of petrol to keep it running – particularly difficult to get hold of in the summer months because nearly all homes here have petrol generators and also expensive at about $20 for 20 litres which lasts us 12 hours.  The recent BBC article ‘Baghdad diary: searching for power’ certainly rang true for me.

That’s all the doom and gloom for now!  The important part is that the patients are eager for the service and they leave the clinic happier than when they enter.

Congratulations to the FBC cycle team who took on the mighty hills of Surrey this Sunday 13 June and raised over £1600 for the Foundation.  Having battled the British transport system (cancelled trains, major delays, Northern Line problems) to get to the starting line at Cobham, the team embarked on a 5-hour marathon that was tougher than anyone had anticipated.  Well done to Ed Mantle for riding all the way up Leith Hill on a fixed gear bike and a particular note of thanks to our two youngest fundraisers 14 year old Philip Kaczmarczyk and Theo Jackson who both completed the course in some style.

If you’d like to reward their efforts, the Justgiving sites are both still taking money – Theo and Philip and Cycle Team.

Many thanks to the Rainbow Trust children’s charity who generously allowed us to piggy back on their Country Bike Ride whilst fundraising for Al Hasan.  Thanks also to Merchant Taylors’ School for supporting Theo’s efforts, read their news item here.

I went to Baghdad International Airport yesterday and the journey was eventful to say the least.  First off there was a huge car accident in front of our eyes involving a car doing several somersaults in the air.  Iraqis here don’t wear seat belts, so I hate to think what would have happened to the passengers.  Then we had a run in with one of the American army conveys on the motorway coming back from Baghdad.  Our taxi driver got a bit close to the convey, some 50 metres behind the last armed vehicle so they shone their piercing green laser beam at our engine bonnet.  Our driver immediately backed off and increased his distance from the Americans.   We both laughed off the incident, relieved of course that nothing further happened.   A long snake of cars formed behind the American convoy and we ended up following them for several miles until we finally turned off the motorway.   Finally, there was a severe sandstorm in the Najaf area yesterday, reducing visibility to a mere 20 metres.

Just returned to Kathmandu and therefore back to the snog, noise and pollution.