Beryl Thyer Memorial Africa Trust (BTMAT)

Dr Paul Wharin and the Clinical Director of BTMAT, Prof Peter Hesseling, visit Cameroon biannually. As is their usual pattern they worked at all 3 Baptist hospitals in November and made two calls at Cameroon Baptist HQ, Nkwen, Bamenda in order to confer with Prof Pius Tih, director of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Board…

I collected two small bottles of frozen pasteurised milk from one of our banks – in fact from the most northern one. The plan was to bring these samples to England in order to have them tested bacteriologically, by a reputable and independent laboratory in England. It was quite a challenge to take these precious…

Taking a look at our banks, our pasteurisers, the apparatus supplied years ago, the supply of frozen milk, and some of the babies receiving donated milk, was a refreshing experience during our November visit to Cameroon. The apparatus was still functional; donors are plentiful; stocks of frozen milk were present in all the banks. The…

Visitors to our website will have seen that BTMAT’s most intensive involvement is for the care of children with cancer in Cameroon. The majority of our funds from our supporters in the UK and beyond, is for this. Our Governing Document with the UK Charity Commission – a summary of which can be seen on…

Our Charity – the Beryl Thyer Memorial Africa Trust (BTMAT) – received its UK Charitable status in 2006, although for several years before that I had been trying to address the problem of Burkitt lymphoma (BL) in Cameroon. Having acquired Registration from the UK Government, our work immediately expanded; a wide range of organisations felt…

Saturday October 13 was a notable day for BTMAT. Earlier this year we selected two medical students from Liverpool University, who had responded to our advertisement offering Scholarships for a specific research study in two of our Cameroonian hospitals. They will travel to Cameroon in the summer of 2013. On Saturday they came to Peter’s…

A week of quite intense meetings at the 44th Annual Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology ended October 9th. Prof Hesseling came from Capetown, Dr Francine and Nurse Vera came from Cameroon; the latter on a well-deserved SIOP Scholarship. BTMAT Trustees Peter and Paul were also there. Two thousand doctors and nurses from…

Dr Francine is our ‘Ace’ doctor in Cameroon. She arrived in Banso Baptist Hospital (BBH) – having been head-hunted by the Cameroon Baptists – in 2001. At that time she spoke no English. One year later, having worked in the Children’s ward at this Anglophone hospital, Francine was able to give a presentation to colleagues…

A tropical storm is raging. I am working in our registry office slightly uphill from the hospital and water is pouring down the steps outside. Lightning crashed nearby a few minutes ago. The power is off and the hospital generator has started just outside my window. Even so the noise of the rain drowns that…

Thank you all for your hospitality, enthusiasm and support which we experienced during our recent visit. We carefully reviewed treatments, supportive care, our POND cancer registry, drug supplies, the parent support programme and palliative care at each hospital. Progress and problems that were identified, were discussed with each team. We met representatives from recently established…