Floating School

Makoko village (the name means fishing village) is in Nigeria and always flooded. People generally just drive past the area and rarely bother to stop, as it is a very poor area.

With the water pollution and other environmental problems, the death rate is high in this area.

Most families comprise of at least 4 children and many of these barely go to school. But Nigerian architect Kunle Adeyemi, who also usually just drove by, did stop one day.

He stood and looked at all the homes built on stilts and the many children who traveled around in canoes.

Kunle had a vision of a school for the children, but not on stilts as all the homes; he was thinking of a floating school. 

The floating school has become a reality due to his design of a floating platform of over 250 floating plastic drums.

The school is three story with solar panels on the roof to supply power, a recreational area on the ground floor and two levels of classrooms. It even has toilets which is exceptionally unusual in this area. It is able to offer education to around 100 students at a time. 

Kunle Adeyemi, Architect

Kunle is not stopping just with the school. He has dreams that may well become a reality of floating homes built as real communities.

He does not want the residents of this area to lose their homes as is the plan of some local officials. They want to destroy all the homes on stilts as they feel they are not fit for human habitation.

But what would happen to the people of Makoko then? And other places like them in Nigeria? 

Al least Kunle is first giving a chance to the children of Kunle Adeyem to receive an education, rather than to be some of the 7 million children in Nigeria who do not.

And from this ambitious project, maybe people will no longer drive past Makoko, but take the time to stop and look at the new floating community.

Jo Tempest.

Dr. Devi Shetty

Yet again I have come across another compassionate and amazing man known as ‘The King of Hearts’. I watched a documentary on his hospital that runs at a profit, and had to learn more about him, so here is his story. 

Dr Devi Prasad Shetty was born May 1953 in Karnataka, India. He was the eighth of nine children and wanted to be a doctor, or more precisely, a cardiac surgeon.

On completing his graduate degree in Medicine, Dr Shetty went to work in General Surgery in Mangalore. Later, he left for England and trained in the excellent Guy’s Hospital, specializing in cardiac surgery.

When he was 36 years old, he returned to India where he initially worked at the B.M. Birla Hospital in Kolkata.

It was at this hospital he probably became one of the most famous cardiac surgeons in the world when he operated on Mother Theresa after her heart attack, and later to become her personal physician.

Dr Shetty then moved to Bangalore to create the Manipal Heart Foundation Hospital. With the help of his father-in-law, a wonderful new hospital was built. The hospital is large, extremely well staffed and efficiently run. He needed to build his own hospital as he could find no employers that agreed with this theory of health care.

Then in 2000, he opened Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital in Bangalore, under the umbrella of the Asian Heart Foundation. 

Rich and poor come for a range of treatments; the rich pay and this allows the poor to be freely treated who would have no chance under normal circumstances. Dr Shetty is also the first heart surgeon in India to perform heart surgery on new-born babies.

When I watched the documentary, I saw just a few of the range of his cases. There was a 13 year old village girl with a deformed jaw. She had never been able to smile or eat solid foods, but after the operation, her life was transformed. She couldn’t stop smiling and a few months later, she had put on weight and looked lovely.

Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital

A young boy of about the same age had a terribly deformed spine; he could barely shuffle around. There are many like him in India. They cannot all be operated on, but this child had that chance. He will be able to walk and more importantly work for his living later.

A little village baby was saved, who would have definitely died within a few months if he had not received the crucial heart surgery he needed.

People traveled from as far as America to get the heart surgery they needed at a fraction of the cost it would be in their own country.

All patients, rich or poor, have to have a close family member or friend as a care giver for the first week they are in hospital, to help keep down the costs. 

In August 2012, Dr Shetty announced the agreement he had reached with Trimedx, a subsidiary of ‘Ascension Health’, a project to create a joint venture aimed at taking health care everywhere in India. There will be 5000 bed hospitals in every state in India, all run on the amazingly efficient way of his first hospital. 

Dr Shetty believes that the cost of healthcare can be reduced by 50% in the next 5-10 years if hospitals adopt the idea of economies of scale. “Charity is not scaleable. If you give something free, you will run out of money”.

Dr Shetty has somehow achieved the balance of providing for the poor as well as the wealthy. Every patient receives the same amazing care, whether they have paid or not. The only difference is that the patients who pay, do not have to wait for their surgery, whereas the poorer may have to for a while.

The training future surgeons receive at the hospital is second to none, so that they can work in the new hospitals with a fantastic range of skills.

I think what really struck me from watching the series of documentaries on Dr Shetty and his work, was the wonderful calm atmosphere in the hospital, the compassion of all the doctors with their patients, and the feeling that they are all working to a greater good for their country.

It’s just my thinking, but having operated on Mother Theresa, maybe that wonderful woman gave something special to Dr Shetty as a thank you. He certainly seems blessed in all that he is trying to achieve.

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Jo Tempest.

Landfill Harmonic Orchestra

Something truly wonderful has happened to twenty lucky children in the extremely poverty stricken area of Cateura in Paraguay, thanks to Favio Chavez. He is a social worker and music teacher who learned how to play guitar and clarinet when he was a child.

Originally, his job was to teach the trash-pickers how to protect themselves, but then he had the idea to open up a music school to try and keep the young children out of trouble.

The school is situated right near the huge landfill sites where around 25,000 families live and work in the huge mountains of rubbish. Life is horrendous and the families are living in extreme poverty. When the school was started, there were only five instruments so the children got bored waiting to get their chance to try playing, but Favio had a great idea.

Nicolas Gomez

He asked Nicolas Gomez, (a trash-picker) to try making some musical instruments from recycled materials found on the trash mountains, so that the waiting children would have something to practice on while they were waiting their turn. Nicolas had previously been a carpenter so he had great training for his future work.

Before long, two big jelly cans became a classical guitar and used Xray plates were transformed into a thumping drum set.

Favio also approached Tito Romero, who repaired damaged trumpets in his shop outside Asuncion. He asked him to try and turn supplied, scavenged galvanized pipes and other metals into saxophones, flutes and clarinets. Tito was very successful with his task and was soon supplying instruments for the children.

As for the lucky twenty children in the chamber “Orchestra of Instruments Recycled from Cateura”, they are having a great time. They have performed in Panama, Colombia and Brazil and hope to play at an exhibit opening next year in their honor at the ‘Musical Instrument Museum’ in Phoenix, Arizona.

Recycled Violins

Their instruments will be on display next to Eric Clapton’s guitars, as well as one of John Lennon’s pianos. But more importantly, the orchestra has given the children some hope that their lives can be better than their parents’, and maybe escape the poverty and terrible conditions they live in.

Fifteen year old Rocio Riveros took a year to learn to play her flute made from tin cans and is now enjoying being in the orchestra.

Fifteen year old Tania Vera plays a recycled violin and has to live in a wooden shack right next to a contaminated stream; her mother has health problems and her father abandoned his family, but the orchestra gave her the chance to travel and swim in the seas of Ipanema and Copacabana.

Fourteen year old Ada Rios and her cousin, 16 year old Maria Rios, both play recycled violins.

Victor Caceres plays his cello

Fifteen year old Victor Caceres plays his cello made from a red and white drum.

Fifteen year old Brandon Cobone plays his double bass violin made from a tall yellow barrel.

These and the other children in the orchestra will be playing on the upcoming seasonal holiday at the Asuncion shopping centers and the little money they will earn will go a long way toward providing their families with a Christmas dinner.

The crowds will be treated to a range of music from these inspirational children, including Mozart, Beethoven, Henry Mancini, The Beatles, ‘My Way,’ by Frank Sinatra, and Paraguayan Polkas.

I am sure this scheme will not stop here, but at the moment, at least the music school has provided a way for children to escape the rubbish dumps of Paraguay and find some joy in their young lives.

Jo Tempest.

Joynal Abedin

It never ceases to amaze me how many selfless people there are in this world, and I just love to write about them. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone in the world could be like these people, but at least there are some Angels out there. 

Joynal Abedin lives in a village called Tanashadia which is in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.

His story starts over thirty years ago when he was a farm laborer and his father fell sick and died because there was no medical help in his village. He vowed on that rainy, windy night that his village would have a medical center one day.

Joynal left his village with his wife to go and work in the capital, Dhaka. They found it a little daunting with its size and energy and truly wondered if they could survive there. But soon, Joynal’s wife had found a job as an assistant in a local clinic and he started pulling rickshaws.

It took Joynal a while to learn the knack of avoiding all the swerving cars and trucks but he eventually mastered it and was a busy man.

Some months later, his wife would tell him he was not bringing enough money home to keep his family, but Joynal had a reason for this. He had a secret bank account where he was putting money whenever possible so that one day in the future, he could accomplish his dream and build a clinic in his home village. 

It took almost twenty years and a lot of hard work by Joynal, but eventually he had saved the $,4000 he needed, so home the family went, leaving the big city behind. The first part of the plan for his clinic was to buy a plot of land.

Joynal built a tin roof home for his family and then a second tin roof building which would soon become the clinic. He used the rest of the money to buy chairs, tables and beds.

The people in his village were very skeptical, especially when no doctor would come to the clinic. Talk around the village was, “How can a rickshaw puller open a clinic?” 

Well ,he could and he did. He requested a local paramedic to come and give first aid and basic treatments to the villagers, and he called the building the ‘Mumtaz Hospital’. Now, many villagers attend the clinic, getting treated by the paramedic, as well as by a doctor who visits the village once a week.

Word of Joynal’s efforts soon spread and with the help of a few companies and individuals, a pharmacy has been added to the clinic to give out free medications. The clinic can help patients with asthma problems, fevers, diarrhea and minor injuries.

There is even a small maternity ward for straightforward deliveries, and the staff members educated the local rural women on pregnancy care and child rearing. 

Before long, the local media heard about the clinic and have written some great articles on Joynal and his ‘dream’ clinic.

This has generated more donations that have been used to build another tin roof building for a primary school facility. It can cope with around 150 children from local laboring and farming families and they learn Bengali, Arabic, and English, as well as reading, writing and basic mathematics. 

Joynal Abedin Rickshaw Puller

In India, a rickshaw puller is seen as being the lowest of jobs and definitely earns no respect. Now Joynal is truly a respected man for all he has done for his village and many people are extremely thankful to him.

But his dream is not yet over; he wants his clinic to become a real hospital, not in name only! He will need government help as well as more donations, but I am sure Joynal will achieve it soon.

He is a truly generous spirited man who worked too many years at an incredibly tiring job, to help his village. 

As Martin Luther King Jr once said “You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

Jo Tempest.

Sensei Keiko Fukuda

Sensei Keiko Fukuda was born in Japan on the 12^th April 1913. Her father died when she was quite young and she was brought up to learn all the usual things young Japanese women were meant to master: of course, the Tea Ceremony, calligraphy and flower arranging.

But Sensei felt close to Judo because of her grandfather. He was a Samurai and had also practiced Judo under an expert.

One day, Sensei and her mother attended a judo training session, and as they say, the rest is history. Sensei told her mother and brother that she was going to train; they were very supportive, unlike her uncle.

In fact, the founder of Judo, Kano Jigura, invited her to train at his school. This was a very unusual gesture, but he did so in respect of Sensei’s grandfather. 

She started her journey in 1935, one of only 24 women at the school. It became her life, giving up the idea of marriage to pursue her goal. Sensei mastered English so that she could travel to spread the skills of Judo. She spent time in the USA teaching her skills to willing students.

Before long, Sensei had her 5^th degree black belt, but was not allowed to go any further as this was banned to women. She had to wait for nearly 30 years for that ban to be lifted to achieve her 6^th Dan in 1972. 

But that’s not the end of Sensei’s achievements; she has gone on to her 10^th degree black belt, which is the highest rank in the martial arts of Judo. She is only one of four people still alive in the world who has achieved this amazing feat. In fact, only 16 people have ever got this black belt. 

Sensei In Action

Now Sensei is an incredible 98 years old and still teaching three times a week – a truly amazing lady with incredible focus and determination to become the best in her field.

These few words spoken by Sensei sum up her dedication.

“This is when my destiny was set. I just never imagined how long the road would be. I believe this is true beauty…All my life has been my dream.”

Jo Tempest.

Alice Sommer

Just when I think I have written about the most inspiring person, I come across another one. Alice Sommer’s is one of those people and here is her amazing story.  

Alice was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia as a Jew, on the 26^th November 1903 and is still alive at 108 years old.

Her father, Friedrich, was a merchant and her mother, Sofie, was a highly educated woman who had many intellectual friends.

Alice started to play the piano when she was only five years old, first taught by her older sister. Then she studied under Vaclav Stepan at the Prague German Conservatory of Music.

By the time she was just 19 years old, she was teaching piano and also touring giving concerts. 

Young Alice At The Piano

In 1931, she met and married her husband, Leopold Sommer, in just two weeks. He was a businessman and an amateur musician. They had their son, Raphael, in 1937 and were very happy.

Then Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and their lives would change forever. A lot of her friends and family left for Palestine but she stayed behind to nurse her mother. But then, her mother became one of the first groups of people to be sent to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp.

Life was extremely hard for Alice and her family. They had to wear the dreaded yellow star and when she was outside, her non-Jewish friends dare not look at her.

Alice Wearing The Star

She had to queue for food just half an hour a day and many of their possessions had to be given away. She had a Nazi living in the apartment above her as well as below her, so life was dangerous.

Alice and Son Raphael

Then in July 1943, Alice along with Leopold and Raphael, were also sent to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. The night before they were leaving, one of her Nazi neighbors, Hermann, came to apartment with his wife, bringing biscuits.

“Mrs Sommer, I hope you come back with your family. I don’t know what to say to you. I enjoyed your playing such wonderful things. I thank you.” 

Once they were all in the camp, Alice realized it was inspected by the Red Cross and so the Nazis used music as a propaganda tool. She soon became one of the musicians putting on 2-3 concerts a week playing her beloved piano as well as singing in the choir.

It was a way to keep her family alive. They were surviving on black water soup and coffee for breakfast, white water soup for lunch and black water soup for dinner.

But even through all this Alice could laugh, especially for her son. It seemed that the concerts were ‘food’ for all the prisoners and many of them later said it was what kept them going through the terrible war. She managed to perform in over 150 concerts while she was in the camp. Sadly, Leopold was sent to Auschwitz and later to Dachau where he died of typhus just six weeks before the end of the war.

His last words to Alice were “You mustn’t do anything voluntarily.” She did not understand at first until three days later, thousands of mothers and children were voluntarily sent away thinking they were going to be reunited with their husbands. Of course, they never were. Leopold’s last few words saved Alice and Raphael’s lives. 

Alice Plays Every Day | Jo Tempest

The Soviets liberated the camp on the 9^th May 1945 but not before over 35,000 inmates had died. This included 15,000 children of only 130 survived, including Alice’s son, Raphael.

They returned to Prague and then in March 1949, they emigrated to Tel Aviv in Israel to reunite with her family and friends. She taught music but then decided to move to London in 1986 with Raphael, who by that time was an excellent cellist and conductor.

Once there, she spent three days a week at the University of Third Age studying the History of Judaism, History and Philosophy. By this time she is in her eighties and had survived cancer, quite incredible. Up to the age of 97 years old, she was still going swimming every day at a nearby public pool but her back started to give her problems. 

She continues to plays the piano three hours a day, beginning with a Bach prelude, followed by Schubert, Beethoven and more. She plays Scrabble and spends her time with friends and family.

Her son Raphael died in his sixties, but she enjoys the love of her daughter-in-law, Genevieve, and her grandsons, David and Ariel. When the windows are open in her London flat, people can be seen standing on the street listening to her music. 

Alice Sommer Optimist

Alice claims that she owes her longevity to her optimism; even though she knows about too many bad things, she only looks at the good things in life.

“The world is wonderful, it’s full of beauty and full of miracles. Our brain, the memory, how does it work? Not to speak of art and music…….it’s a miracle.”

 Well, for me, Alice Sommer is the miracle of Life! God Bless Her.

Jo Tempest.

Pushpa Basnet

The more I research and write about these wonderful selfless people, the more I realize what a difference they make to the lives they touch. Pushpa is one of those people. She may not have touched millions of people like some, but those she has touched will never forget her!

Pushpa lives in Nepal, India and her parents are relatively successful business people. When she was 21 years old, Pushpa decided to train as a social worker. Part of her studies was to visit a women’s prison.

She was shocked by the appalling conditions and to see young children in the prison. One little girl touched her heart when she grabbed her shawl through the bars and gave her a big grin.

When she got home to her parents’ house that evening, she could not stop talking about what she had seen. Her parents told her it was normal to see young children in prison with their mothers.

When the mother was sentenced, if the family could not help, with no places in the affiliated government children’s home and the mother did not want to put her child on the streets, the only option was for her child (or children) to accompany her to jail for the term of her sentence.

Pushpa’s parents expected their daughter to forget what she had seen and to carry on with her studies. But for many fortunate little children, she could not forget. Still only 21 years old, and only 2 months after her first visit to the prison, Pushpa decided to open a daycare center for children in prison.

At first, her parents were against the ide,a as she had no job to financially sustain the center, and officials, government workers, even prison mothers, thought she was too young to do the job. Soon, everyone realized how determined Pushpa was to make her plan succeed and her parents decided to give her some financial support.

With extra donations of money from friends, a building was rented in Kathmandu to be the base of her new organization known as, “The Early Childhood Development Center”. She furnished it largely by convincing her parents they needed a new table, chairs, refrigerator, etc. and when the new ones arrived, the old would disappear to her center!

This was the first program of its kind and took in 5 children under six years old. They were collected from prison in the morning and returned in the afternoon on weekdays. Some of these children had never seen outside the prison!

Butterfly Home Clickable Image

Two years later, when she was still only 23 years old, Pushpa established her “Butterfly Home”.  (see video below) This became a residential home for older children from the prisons (all have their parents consent to be there) where they received an education, food, and medical care along with a chance to live a more normal life.

All the children help out with the daily chores and the older children help the younger children. Pushpa lived in the home herself for the first five years before handing it over to trusted staff members, but she is still very hands on!

She feels very strongly that the children must keep a relationship with their parents so the younger ones are sent back in the holidays to visit their parents.

Pushpa says she is rewarded daily for her hard work by the constant smiles of all the children, and it makes her even more motivated to rescue children from a life in prison when they have done nothing wrong.

“My mission is to make sure no child grows up behind prison walls”. Sometimes Pushpa will travel to remote parts of the country if she has heard there is a child in prison and with the parents consent, bring their child back to her ‘home’.

Since Pushpa started her scheme, there are now other similar schemes up and running and it can only be good for these poor children in India. The other really important aim of the project is to re-unite the children with their parents when the prison time is finished.

To date, 60 of her children have been able to do this: parents like Kum Maya Tamang who had spent 7 years in a woman’s prison for drug charges and who had to take her two daughters with her. She had heard about Pushpa’s scheme and decided to let her daughters join Pushpa outside the prison, otherwise they would never get an education. Laxmi, the 14 year old eldest daughter, said she could not imagine life without Pushpa.

By 2009, she had started her next idea. She wanted to teach the parents in prison to make handicrafts which Pushpa could then sell to raise money to help the children in care. Both mothers and fathers participated and they not only learned new skills that might help to support them when they leave prison, they also felt they were helping to support their own children.

Making enough money to support all Pushpa’s schemes has always been a problem and she has even had to sell her own jewelery and possessions in the past to keep things going, but it’s getting easier.

Now Pushpa is coming up with new ideas to give her children a future. A bank account has been set up to provide for their further education, as their happiness is always on her mind. I will leave you with a few of her own words.

“This is what I want to do with my life. It makes me feel good when I see that they are happy, but it makes me want to work harder. I want to fulfill their dreams.”

God Bless Pushpa Basnet!

Jo Tempest.

Lyn and Lulu

As you know, I live in a little Turkish village called Selimiye. We have many visitors in the summer months and this is the story about Lyn and when she visited earlier this year. It was her first time to Turkey and she will never forget it.

Lyn came to Selimiye because she wanted somewhere quiet but different, and she loved the village at first sight. She stayed with a friend of mine in her wonderful family-run pension called “Jenny’s House,” in the main street, just five minutes away from the sea.

Before long, Lyn was ready to do some exploring on a rented scooter. Off she set after breakfast, having decided to ride to Bozburun, which is the next bay over the mountains.

On the way back, she came across what she thought was a dog on the side of the road. Taking a closer look, she found a half-starved female black and white Pointer. She had recently had puppies and it seemed she had been abandoned, which unfortunately, is not uncommon here.

Lyn really did not know what to do about the dog, but it seemed the dog knew what it must do! It staggered to its feet and somehow followed Lyn on her scooter all the way back to the village, and into Jenny’s garden.

Before long, she was ensconced on Lyn’s balcony with a good meal in front of her and a name, Lulu. Fortunately Jenny loves dogs, and has two Pointers of her own, so she is a total softie when it comes to animals.

On closer inspection, Lyn realized that apart from being starved, poor Lulu was covered in ticks and must have been in agony. She quickly started removing them from her body and over the next day or so, the two of them became inseparable. 

Now Lyn had the problem of what to do about Lulu, but really she had already made up her mind. She was going to get Lulu back to England! They both visited our wonderful vet in nearby Marmaris to see what it would entail, and also to get Lulu neutered.

The answer was, a lot of patience and money! Lulu would need a series of rabies shots weeks apart, to be chipped, along with being provided lots of documentation to get her doggie passport.

Of course, Lyn was only here for a two week holiday, so she was going to have to go home without her dog, to deal with life back in England. But, not giving up on her plan, Lyn found a wonderful local couple who would look after Lulu while she was away, and continue to get her ready for her journey, until September when Lyn is due to return.

Monday morning came and Lyn had to say a tearful goodbye to Lulu before leaving for her flight

Lulu Rescue Pointer

home, but knowing Lulu will be well looked after. We have all promised to go and see Lulu and even take her for an occasional walk. 

We have too many abandoned cats and dogs in this village, and we all do what we can to feed them, and even try and find homes for some of them. As you know, I rescued two wonderful kittens last year, Laurel and Hardy. They are just too wonderful.

But Lyn is very special because not only did she rescue Lulu, she is also going to give her a home in England. It’s stories like this that remind us there are still kind, compassionate people around, and that just one person can make all the difference.

I am really looking forward to seeing Lyn in September and for her and Lulu to be back together again for ever.

Lady Godiva's Ride

I was reading a novel by Mavis Cheek this week and there was a one line mention of Lady Godiva. It got my writing juices going and I did some research.

She is always known as the Lady who rode on her horse through the town of Coventry in England, with no clothes on! But is this true or is it myth and why did she do it? I will tell you the story and you can make up your own mind.

Godiva was born in 1040 and was probably known as the old English name of Godgifu or Godgyfu; Godiva is the later Latin name. She was married at a very early age to the Dane Leofric, known as the ‘grim’ Earl of Mercer and Lord of Coventry. He had been given all his lands by King Canute.

In 1043, the Earl and his Countess Godiva founded a Benedictine house for an abbot and 24 monks on the site of St. Osbury’s Nunnery, which had been destroyed by the Danes in1016. Earl Leofric, through this charter, also gained Lordship over 24 villages to create maintenance for the Benedictine house.

The Countess was a benevolent person and endowed the monastery with many gifts in honor of the Virgin Mary. It is said that she had all her gold and silver melted down to create the crosses, images of the Saints, and many other decorative pieces for the monastery.

Coventry, at this time, was quite a small settlement with just 69 families. Godiva wanted her town

Lady Godiva Sculpture

to appreciate the arts, but this was extremely difficult for the townsfolk and the peasants of Coventry, as they were too busy trying to feed and clothe their families due to very high taxes. The arts were definitely not a priority! Godiva nagged her husband constantly to lower the taxes to improve the lives of her residents.

In the end, to put a stop to the nagging, Leofric told her that the Romans and the Greeks thought that the human body was symbolic of the perfection of nature and God’s work and if she rode through Coventry naked, he would lower the taxes.

So Lady Godiva took up the challenge. Her horror of doing it was exceeded by her compassion for her people. She ordered all her residents to stay inside on the allotted day and bar up their windows. At 7am, she set out on her horse with her long hair covering her, and rode through the town.

Lady Godiva- Reenactment

When she reached the other end of the town, the silence was broken by the cheers of the the townsfolk. It’s said that only one man, Tom, bore a hole to take a peek and was struck blind. (this is from where the term ‘Peeping Tom’ originated).

The Earl kept his word and abolished all the heavy taxes, just keeping taxes on the horses. He died in 1057 and was buried with great ceremony in one of the porches of the Abbey church. Godiva was only 17 years old when he died, so maybe she was a spirited lady! She died in 1070 and was buried nearby her husband. 

The story of Lady Godiva riding through Coventry was not written down until nearly 100 years later by a man who was known for being politically biased and an exaggerator of facts. (Not unlike the tabloids of today!). But, true or not, it has not stopped many wonderful paintings and sculptures being created throughout the centuries of Lady Godiva, naked on her horse.

There is even chocolate named after her. Master chocolatier (what a lovely word), Joseph Draps founded a chocolate company in 1926 in Brussels, Belgium. His chocolate was rich in taste and design and Joseph wanted a name to match his product. Even now, it is still sold all around the world, so her name lives on.

In Coventry in early June, the legend of Lady Godiva is recreated and a ‘Naked Lady’ rides the

Lady Godiva Movie

same route that Lady Godiva rode many hundreds of years before.

Whether true or myth, the legend has managed to stay with us. Maybe we like to believe that there once was a Lady who took up a challenge to improve the life of her people, however daring!

Jo Tempest.

Mad Ann Bailey

I do love finding out about interesting people and ‘Mad Ann’ as she was known, definitely ranks as an interesting character.

Ann was born in Liverpool, England in 1742 and moved to the Colony of Virginia when she was 19 years old. She married Mr. Trotter who was a soldier. He was killed on October 10, 1774 in the war with the Indians at the ‘Battle of Point Pleasant.’ This is when life changed dramatically for Ann! 

She left her 7 year old son with her neighbor so that she could go and seek her revenge! She taught herself to shoot a gun and then disguised herself as a male Indian so that she could become an ‘undercover’ frontier scout.

She would ride up and down the border encouraging the men to volunteer themselves to join the military so that the women and children would be safe. She was often seen riding between Fort Savannah and Fort Randolph to carry messages to the troops. This was an incredible distance of 160 miles and she did the journey on a regular basis. 

She met and married her second husband, John Bailey (who was also a frontier scout) around 1790 and they moved to the present day Charleston in West Virginia. She did not give up her work and in 1791she became so famous that even a song was written about her.

At this time, Fort Lee, near Charleston was under siege by the Indians. The fort was running very

Ann Racing For Powder

low on gun powder and the General asked for a volunteer among his soldiers to ride for more stock. Not one man would volunteer, but guess who did? Our daring Ann!

She rode the 100 miles to Fort Union and returned by the third day exhausted, but with fresh supplies carried by a second horse. This brave act saved the lives of many men, and the fort. Apparently she was rewarded with whiskey and a horse!

For this incredible act, she has been credited with the founding of the beautiful State of West Virginia.

Soon after this heroic act, her second husband John was killed, so she decided to take her son William and they lived in the wild on the bank of the Kanawha river.

On her daily horse rides she often came across groups of Shawnee Indians. On one of these days, they chased her and to avoid getting caught, she jumped off her horse and hid in a hollow log. They searched everywhere for her and eventually gave up, but took her horse back to their camp. Ann waited until nightfall and crept into their camp and get her horse back.

Mad Ann Bailey Reenactment

When she had put a safe distance between herself and the Indians, she stood screaming as loudly as possible. The Indians thought she was possessed and that bullets and arrows would never harm her, so they were afraid of her.

They named her ‘White Squaw of Kanawha.’ They never got too close to her after her trip into their camp but would watch her from a distance.

Ann and William continued to live in the wild for nearly 20 years; they would visit friends, but always went back to their camp, or their favorite cave to sleep. 

Around 1818, they both moved to the Harrison Township in Ohio and took up a more normal life. Ann even taught in the local school.

She died in 1825 at a wonderful age of 82 years old and was buried in Point Pleasant in the site where her first husband was killed. 

I think you have to agree that Ann was a truly remarkable woman of her time, and if nothing else,

Ann Bailey

has given us a wonderful story to read!