‘Charity work in Ghana, a yearly humbling experience’, was the title of the lecture delivered by Joe Sudhakar at the meeting of Vale Chapter of Installed Principals No 5256 held at Ulverston Masonic Hall. The lecture was delivered following a brief business meeting which witnessed Paul Thompson, Barrie Bray and John Browne declared, respectively, as the incoming first, second and third principals by first principal Dave Sear.
The chapter draws its membership from the two groups at the top of the Province and it was appropriate that Chris Larder, the Royal Arch Lead from the Lancaster Group, together with Chris Gray, his counterpart from Furness and South Lakeland Group were both present. Deputy Grand Superintendent Chris Butterfield and an Assistant to the Provincial Grand Principals Gary Rogerson were also welcomed to the meeting.
The lecture was held in the dining room following the meeting in order that non-Royal Arch Masons could be present. Taking advantage of this invitation was Walt Nayman a fellow craft who was accompanied by Vin Linnane who had only been made a Mason a week previously. Both were later to remark how much they enjoyed the evening.
Joe Sudhakar MB, BS, FRCS is a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon. He has published papers in national and international journals and is vastly experienced in his field of expertise. He is also a well-respected Masonic figure.
The journey of Joe, from a large family in Kerala in India via university, to a clinical research fellowship at the University of Bristol training in limb reconstruction and fellowship training in Australia to his present position make for an interesting story in itself.
However, the story he did tell was of his voluntary work in Ghana. Following approaches by a fellow surgeon, who was from that country, Joe now makes an annual trip to a less developed region of Ghana where he works in a hospital set up by a charity. In the main he operates on children who have limb deformities. He used slides to illustrate the conditions he has to work under and the type of deformities he was dealing with. It was certainly thought provoking.
The air fare, accommodation, food and everything else, are all self-financed and he takes a week of holiday entitlement each year to make the trip. What we regard as basics such as strong pain relief medicines, surgical scrubs, plaster of Paris. are in short supply and have to be purchased on the open market or taken along by Joe and other volunteers. In his luggage he also finds room for Teddy Bears for the children and Marks & Spencer biscuits which go down very well with the staff he works with.
In the title of the lecture, Joe refers to it as his yearly humbling experience which he says brings him back down to earth, all those who listened so intently to what he had to say also felt that emotion of humility in learning of what efforts Joe was making to assist his fellow creatures during the hour of their affliction. The lecture was one which will be talked about for some time to come.
