Bringing Christmas spirit to the hospital wards

WHEN Gus Ganda was planning his escape from war-torn Liberia, his first thought was of America, but fate and faith intervened.

On the advice of Lee Cahill, an African Missions Father, he ended up coming instead to Cork where he studied and is now practising medicine. He had a BSc in chemistry and biology when he came here eight years ago and had already studied medicine for a year and a half.

“Fr Cahill was instrumental in my coming here. I wasn’t thinking of Cork or Ireland. My first thoughts were of America, where I have some family, or Britain. But he looked into the possibility of me coming to Ireland and we discovered it would be possible for me to study at University College Cork and so here I am.”

Dr Ganda, 39, a medical intern at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in Cork city, spent a couple of Christmases in the company of the African Missions Fathers at St Theresa’s on Blackrock Road in Cork city.

“Fr Cahill would invite me, he had worked in Liberia for 29 years and knew my family well. We would spend much of the time talking about Liberia. And the present provincial head, Fr Fachtna O’Driscoll, he came out to Liberia to visit some of his missionaries and I met him many times as well.”

This Christmas will be different, Dr Ganda is on call at MUH and any talk of Liberia will be largely over the phone with family who now reside in Sierra Leone — the family home in Liberia was destroyed in the civil war.

He hasn’t been home for Christmas in eight years, but is regularly briefed on the festive plans by his two brothers, two sisters and his mother. This year much of the discussion will be around how to mark the first year anniversary of his father’s death — a diabetic with complications, he died in February, but not, thankfully, before his Ireland-based son had a chance to say goodbye.

“I will be a bit sad not to be home for Christmas but at the same time, even though I’m absent, I always feel part of it because I’m aware of what’s going on and my family include me in the discussions.”

Christmas celebrations in Liberia are similar to ours for those of the Catholic faith, although Christmas dinner features rice and chicken, not turkey and ham. Large family gatherings are the order of the day and later in the evening, families may head into town to see what festivities are taking place.

Dr Ganda now has his own family in Ireland, including wife Jez who joined him from Liberia five years ago, and one-and-a-half year old daughter Lianne.

“I will get to see her and spend some time with her in the morning. I’m not in work until 10am,” he says.

Rostered until 10am on St Stephen’s Day, Dr Ganda intends to do what he can to spread festive cheer on the wards.

“I’m looking forward to it, to seeing families come to visit relatives and to spending a couple of minutes with patients, not just for the sake of giving them medication but to have a chat with them and try and bring a bit of Christmas spirit,” Dr Ganda says.

Staff nurse Patricia Darmody, from Loughill, west Limerick, will also spend her first Christmas working on the wards.

“It’s a big change for me, it’s my first Christmas away from home and my first Christmas working. My older brother and sister, both of whom work and live in Dublin, will be home with my parents, so this is the first year that we won’t all be together on Christmas Day.”

Patricia will miss out on the tradition of a special Christmas Eve supper and Christmas Eve Mass — an opportunity to meet people she might not have met all year. She will also miss out on the doling out of “Santa presents” on Christmas night, after Christmas dinner. Instead, she will return to an empty apartment at around 9pm after a 12-hour shift.

“It will be a bit strange. I live with another girl, but she is going home for Christmas. I’ll ring my family when I get home in the evening, but that will be about it. I’m going home on the 27th, so there will be a Christmas dinner that day, and presents will be opened as well.”

Patricia has no difficulty with working Christmas Day.

“The way I look at it, other staff had to work last year, so it’s my turn this year. With nursing, it’s a given you are going to be working some Christmases. Besides, the patients are going to be here too and so I’m going to do my best to make it Christmassy for them.”