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GRADUATE Ed Ramsay has returned from working in one of the poorest nations in the world, the ravaged African state of Burundi.

The 29-year-old from Mildenhall spent six months in Burundi in central East Africa, which has made a significant step forward following years of civil war that raged virtually since the country became independent in 1961.

The first democratic elections since the war between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes have brought a tense peace to the country where a UN peacekeeping force has been helping government troops disarm the thousands of rebel soldiers.

In the midst of the civil war and now as peace returns to Burundi the French-founded charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has been working to help the hundreds of thousands of displaced families.

Mr Ramsay, whose parents James and Angela live in Mildenhall, has spent six months working with the humanitarian charity that sends out about 200 British volunteers each year to Burundi.

The MSF is running a number of emergency healthcare projects in the country. Mr Ramsay was working on logistics, making sure that where possible supplies were where they were needed.

"I was working just north of the capital, Bujumbura," he said.

"MSF is working in a hospital and several health clinics and my job was to help improve the water and electricity supply, build toilets, construct new parts of the health clinics, making water tanks and so on.

"It was pretty hard work but I really loved it. I had been to Africa before with Raleigh International but this was the first time I had worked on something like this."

Although Burundi is moving slowly towards political stability, the many years of war had devastated health services in most parts of the country. More than six million people do not have access to even basic healthcare.

Life expectancy has fallen to just 40 years and an estimated ten per cent of the population is stricken with HIV/AIDS. In addition MSF is caring for people with chronic diseases including tuberculosis.

Mr Ramsay said: "Our medical team was working with many cases of malaria and people suffering from respiratory diseases.

"The maternity ward was very busy with lots of emergency Caesareans being carried out and we saw quite high numbers of road accident casualties.

"There were also many victims of sexual violence coming forward for treatment."

Although peace is slowly returning to Burundi, some rebels have continued fighting.

Mr Ramsay said: "When I first arrived we regularly heard gunfire at night, but in general I felt quite secure although there were quite a few small earthquakes whilst I was there."

One of his biggest problems was the language. Burundi was previously a French colony and Mr Ramsay said his schoolboy French had to improve in leaps and bounds so that he could do his work.

Mr Ramsay is living in London but hopes to return to Africa to do more voluntary work. "I am planning to go out again with MSF in July to work on another project," he said.

11:03am Thursday 6th April 2006

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