A Royal Navy medic from Huddersfield has been doing her bit to help improve the lives of children in western Africa.

Medical Assistant Michelle Taylor, currently attached to the Royal Naval Hospital, Gibraltar, has just returned from Exercise Gambian Roller, a short-term training team detachment in the Gambia.

8 Mar 06

Multi-tasking: Michelle making a
see saw for local children.

The children loved Michelle

Michelle spending her free-time with
disabled children at hart House.

A Royal Navy medic from Huddersfield has been doing her bit to help improve the lives of children in western Africa.

Medical Assistant Michelle Taylor, currently attached to the Royal Naval Hospital, Gibraltar, has just returned from Exercise Gambian Roller, a short-term training team detachment in the Gambia.

Michelle, who joined the Royal Navy in 1999, jumped at the chance to be part of the medical team that deployed alongside the Royal Gibraltar Regiment soldiers. During her time in the Gambia, she provided the Infantry cadres with the vital medical cover they required.

She also helped out with the many community projects set up by the Royal Gibraltar Regiment to try and improve the lives of the local population. These included the building of a playground for children with learning disabilities. Hart House, near Banjul in the Gambia, provides care for children with physical and mental disabilities.

The project is funded locally but as the Gambia is one of the poorest nations in Africa, funding is very limited.

The work carried out by Michelle and the team from the Royal Gibraltar Regiment provided a much needed area for the children that will assist with their rehabilitation and allow them the freedom to enjoy a playground in a way that most of us would take for granted. However Michelle did not stop there.

Endeavouring to fill each spare moment, she also helped the Assault Pioneers to repair the bandstand for the final march-off parade, which included the salute being taken by none other than the Vice President of the Gambia Mrs Isatou Njie-Saidy.

Michelle also assisted in the running of clinics for the locals with Sergeant Johnny Zayas, an Army Medic from the Joint Medical and Dental Unit, Gibraltar. The two medics helped re-set a local man's dislocated shoulder and treated a young girl who had previously suffered a horrific leg injury.

The medical team also ran a bespoke medical training course for some of the Gambian Armed Forces medics, teaching techniques and procedures that are common practice that are required of a modern military medic.

The work of the British military personnel in helping the people of the Gambia did not go unnoticed. British High commissioner to the Gambia, Mr Eric Jenkinson OBE, said: "How wonderful it was to see the fantastic professionalism of the British Armed Forces at work in the Gambia."

On returning home Michelle, who has taken part in numerous exercises before but who regards Gambian Roller as the most rewarding and educational, reflected on her experience: "It was a unique experience, one that cannot be replicated in any other job. The people of the Gambia were great hosts, the children so fantastic, their warmth and love really shines through. Helping out in such a small way means so much to them. They appreciate things in a manner you wouldn't normally expect."

All pictures courtesy of HQBF Gibraltar.

Article reproduced with the kind permission of www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews