Kuwait:

Here I spent 2 years, teaching at a school for children with special needs. My class was made up of children aged 6 � 8 who had cerebral palsy, plus a little girl who had sustained a severe head injury, leaving her without speech and a right sided paralysis.

Having nursed children for many years, this gave me valuable insight into the subtleties of the rapport between teacher and pupil, quite different from the relationship of nurse and sick child. I loved this experience, and admired the hard work carried out by physio, speech and occupational therapists.

One week end with a group of 6 friends, we went into the Kuwaiti desert for a 2 day camping trip. During that week end we found over 3,000 tanks deserted during the aerial bombardment of the fleeing Iraqi Army by the coalition forces in 1991, following the invasion of Kuwait. All I could think of was how much each tank must have cost, how much money was sitting there rusting in the desert. Every dollar spent on munitions is a dollar not spent on health and education.