LIFE IN MIDDLE EAST

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXI, Issue 15211, 28 November 1942, Page 4

LIFE IN MIDDLE EAST

N.Z. NURSE'S EXPERIENCES Life in a base hospital in the Middle East was described in a recent letter received at Hawera from Miss Mary Quin, one of the first Hawera girls to go overseas. “Recently we have had a change ol location,” writes Miss Quin, “and are now in a hilly neighbourhood overlooking the sea, instead of being in the middle of a sandy plain. “In this hospital we get a weird and wonderful assortment of patients. There are not so many New Zealanders as we would 'like, but almost every other Allied nation is represented. There are Tommies, American. French, Poles, Czechs, Palestinians, Transjordanian s, Australians, Greeks and Sudanese and Senegalese. “Lots of them don’t know a word of English and the girls are becoming expert in sign language. Our girls are generally addressed as ‘nurse’ by most of them, but the* Americans sav ‘ma’am,’ which took a lot of getting used to.”

The hospital is a .series of stone buildings scattered over a large area, up and down hills, so it is quite a strenuous trip from the medical to the surgical sections. Our quarters are half-way between the two. The bedrooms each accommodate. two girls, furnishings provided by ‘the army, including beds, bedding and mosquito nets and a built-in arrangement of shelves and cupboards. “Our lounge and messroorn are very nice, the former being a large room provided with a piano and wireless in addition to the usual furnishings. Our mess is run by two or three of our own girls, and three native girls, and our cooking is done by two of the men cooks belonging to the unit. “Army rations are supplemented by the mess fee of about Is a week which we each pay in to buy extras. There are two sittings for each meal to fit in with the girls’ duty hours. The second lunch sitting is known as ‘formal mess’ because everybody attending has to wear ward frocks and yeils. “Since we came hero we have been issued with white overalls that look nicer and are cooler than the khaki. We also have khaki drill uniforms and silk poplin blouses to wear on leave.”