Two weeks, four islands, 1200 patients and many laughs on Joan's Tanzanian adventure.

Each day began with praise singing and a prayer followed by our team meeting with reports from all ship departments and the chance for anyone to air any worries, issues or good news items.

This was a very honest and down to earth hour and a fabulous way to start the day. First item on the agenda was always whether the galley was in good order and towards the end of the trip, did we have enough food left?

Thankfully, we never ran out of anything vital, helped by plentiful supplies of fish and fruit from the islands.

Tanzanians don’t really believe in watches and so timing was always fluid as the days progressed and this relaxed approach was essential as weather was not always on our side and on some days we had to wait it out for better weather before it was safe to go ashore and for locals to be brought to the boat.

However, once the work began it was a well-oiled machine and one that efficiently saw dozens of patients each day.

On the first island, Goziba, nearly 400 turned up on the first morning and they were all seen over the next three days. The boat has a dental surgery, small laboratory, pharmacy and the ability to set up sis consulting rooms.

Staff wise, there is a doctor, two clinical officers, dentist, nurse, pharmacist and two lab staff (one of whom also carries out some minor procedures) and up to four volunteers from the UK, who are usually GPs or Nurses.

As a Healthcare Support Worker, I was a wee bit apprehensive as to whether I would be useful or not but my many years as a lab assistant at the Belford meant I was able to slot in to the lab on Jubilee Hope and actually help in one of the areas that often proves a pinch point in the patient process.

So it was that I spent most of my time, pricking fingers, testing for a variety of illnesses, including malaria, HIV and typhoid and checking glucose and haemoglobin levels and writing up results in the ledger (my first job in the Belford was in medical records work and I’m forever grateful for good training in neat record keeping which was commented on many times over the trip).

Over the two weeks, we visited four islands and saw nearly 1200 patients, treating everything from malaria to ingrown toenails.

As I said earlier the process through each department is very well thought out but does take time as it involves moving between three levels of the boat.

Throughout all this everyone showed wonderful patience and no little humour, especially from the patients, as I tried to call out their names once I had their results.

The children in particular were fascinated by the mzungu (white people) and often stroked my cheek or maybe pinched my hand, trying to improve my peely wally Scottish skin.

We had so many laughs and shared some amazing experiences, being piggy backed ashore so we were safe from the water, and great excitement and fear one evening when a snake appeared - slithering up the wall of the boat as an action movie was being projected on to it.

The film was quickly forgotten as Benjamin dealt with what we later learned was a python.

A highlight for me, was a visit to a Pentecostal church on the island of Kerebe where we had an hour at the start more like a Zumba class, singing and dancing, followed by a 90 minute sermon translated by the wonderful Hosea, second officer on the boat, and later nicknamed Pastor.

Over the period I truly felt that we became a wee family onboard and team November 2024 will live in my heart forever.

It was a wonderful experience and I feel humbled to have played a tiny part in a wonderful service for the islands of Lake Victoria.