The Bo Children’s Hospital (BCH) in Bo, Sierra Leone is the dream of Dr Nuli Lemoh, a Sydney Paediatrician born in Bo and who qualified as an international student in Sydney and the UK. Dr Lemoh practiced in Sierra Leone but moved to Sydney as a consequence of the civil war. Nuli wanted to support his home town of Bo as there was no specialist children’s hospital there. The only children’s hospital is in Freetown the capital, 300km (4 hours) away. We went for a visit - here's our story...

Laurie Facer, retired CEO of the Bo Children’s Hospital Foundation, is a longstanding member of the band, The Quiet Ones. The band has kindly donated their CD at no charge to raise money towards a Computerised Patient Record System. The band, The Quiet Ones was formed in the early sixties. Thirty five years later they reunited to play a gig with the Aztecs (of Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs fame) and Vince Maloney lead guitarist for the Aztecs and the Bee Gees.

In 2005 158 out of 1000 babies died before their first birthday and 276 died before they reached the age of 5 in Sierra Leone. This compared with only 5 per thousand in Australia for infants less than one year. In 2012 UNICEF recorded that the infant mortality rate had dropped to 117 per 1000 and under 5s to 185 per thousand. This is a big improvement and the Bo Children’s Hospital is playing an important role.

Vandi Sombie is my name, born and bred in Bo town, eldest son of a family of seven to my father (deceased), mother alive in her eighties, and lost younger sibling as a result of deadly preventable diseases viz poliomyelitis and diarrhea and vomiting secondary to dehydration. It was these episodes which motivated me to pursue medical training and to work to save lives of children in my country – Sierra Leone, a country with one of highest infant mortality rates in world.

My annual visit to Bo Children's Hospital "BCH" has become a highlight each year, not only witnessing firsthand the smiles of recuperating children and their parents but the impact of the staff's contagious enthusiasm on the rest of the community.

The third container of donated goods arrived at the Hospital in October, having left Sydney on 12 June.