Sam's Letters to Jennifer.

Jennifer is an woman about 30, who is still mourning the death of her husband. One day her grandmother goes into a coma. It is a shock and very difficult time for her, because Sam is her only friend in the world and she had not more family.  A woman wants to take care of grandmother who is in the hospital and she move in a grandmother´s house.

In the house a young woman found about hundred of letters with history of life of her grandmother, Sam. Sam´s life was very difficult and sad. She married young a rich man from the city but she has not happy. Jennifer for the first time know that she does not know a Sam. Also, her grandmother for a long time had an affair withe the man nicknamed Doc.  

Jennifer knows, that she must change life and find new love. During her stay in grandmother´s house she beginning a new ralation with a friend from her childhood. For her Brendan is an ideal man but what is very weird he does not plan anything for the future. Later, a women got to know the reason. Her boyfriend have inoperable brain tumor.

Suddenly, Sam comes out of her coma. At the same time Brendan decided on to operate a tumor. The oparation proceeded very good and the tumor was removed.

At the end of the book, the same day when Jennifer wanted to tells her grandmother that is pregnant, Sam dies. In honour of Sam, Jennifer and Brendan decided name a child Sam.

David Nott

Lately, I heard very interesting podcast about a surgeon, David Nott. He is a very popular surgeon and is the top London vascular surgeon. He works in three different hospitals and he has three different surgeon specialistations. For about twenty years he has worked in conflict zones around the world, for example in Kongo, Afganistan or Syria. Medical professionals have been present in his family for years.  His mother is a nurse and his father is an orthopaedic surgeon. David says that he wanted be a pilot but his father told him that he had to become. Although he felt pressure, his father helped him to become a doctor.

He talks about his first job in a conflict zone, it was during the Sarajevo conflict. Everything was new, he did not understand why for example the place where people save life was demolished. He mentions  a situation when he was operating and was very focused and in one moment he realised that he was alone in the operating theatre. Everybody had left the operating theatre because they were terrified and did not want to die.

David talks about the working conditions in conflict zones. In conditions when bombs explode he must be very concentrated because he is operating at the same time and wants to save life. It is very difficult when there are a lot of injured people around and he hears shots next door.  All emotions are very intensive and raise adrenaline level. He started working twenty years ago and over the years he has understood that life is precious and important.

Additionally, he talks about the Palestinian conflict when  he was working there in 2014. He was working in a big hospital in Gaza city and was preparing one girl for an  operation. Suddenly, his friend told him that everybody had to leave the  hospital because in five minutes it would blow up. David couldn’t leave the girl. He didn’t have a family and was prepared to die. He and one person stayed in the hospital, the operation was a success and  the hospital did not blow.

The journalist goes on  to talk about posttraumatic stress. David confesses that he had this period in life and needed three months to get over it. In relation to this period in his life he talks about lunch with the Queen. She knew that David had recently come back from a conflict zone and concluded that he had a problem. David did not know what to say about work and in that moment the Queen suggested feeding her dogs and  during the twenty minutes of lunch they fed dogs. For him it was amazing. He knew that it this manner  the Queen wanted to help him.

The next topic is David’s family. David talks about his wife, Ellie and says that it was love at first sight. His wife is very understanding towards him and knows that working in hard conditions is part of his life. Also, they have a daughter, Molly. Ellie and David decided to set up an charity. The purpose was to train doctors. He is the chairman and his wife is a chief executive.

‘I was prosecuted for helping Syrian refugees.’

Lately, I read very interesting article. In ‘I was prosecuted for helping Syrian refugees.’, Lisbeth Zoring Andersen describes her own story about helping Syrian refugees and the problems which it caused.

At the beginning of the article Lisbeth recounts her childhood and the rules which she learned as a child, for example that everyone should help others. She came from a dysfunctional family but she was very smart. Luckily, she met Karen, who helped her excel in school and achieve a lot in life.

The main thread of  the article were the problems she faced after helping Syrian refugees who wanted to start a new life in Sweden. Lisbeth gave them a lift and together with her husband encouraged other Danes to help the people in need. From that moment on their life changed dramatically. Although when she had asked them, the police had not informed her that it was illegal to give refugees a lift, she was later charged with people-smuggling. The public started to detest her. Immediately, the Danish court stated that she had committed a crime and her case attracted a lot of attention of the international press.

She believes that it is normal to help another person and it does not make anyone a smuggler. In her opinion it is necesary to start talking about the current situation in Syria.

The more pocket money you give a child, the more responsible they become.

Pocket money for a young child could be a symbol of responsability and a confidence, which his or her parents  gave to him or her. The amount of money should be tailored to the age of a child and is could increase with time.

Firstly, giving children money for small expenses is a good thing and it could teach a young child a lot of positive aspects like responsability, planning or save money. Money is a very important topic in the life of each person and from the beginning we should explain a child that we must plan some big shopping we must plan and we need to save money to buy expensive product. This  experience teaches a small child  humility and patience. Secondly, when we give a child pocket money he or she knows that we trust him or her and we believe that our child will spend this money in a good way.

Also, pocket money could be a kind of reward for a good grades, help in the household or different positive things which our child does. Currently, in Poland it is popular to pay for good grades. It is a good idea, but for a short period of time. For example, it could be an encouragement for child to bear problems at school. Paying for grades it is not good for a long time, because a young people should understand that everyone learns for each other.

Thirdly, the amount of money should be tailored to the age of a child and with time it could increase. An older child has different dreams, and he or she may demand a more expensive product like a tablet or a computer. A parent, on the other hand, may not want to buy them. Thanks to saving money a child could  plan what he or she wants to buy and this would teach him or her  a responsability. He or she would learn to achieve his or her goal.

To sum up, in my opinion giving a child pocket money  is a good idea and teaches children a lot of positive aspects like responsabilty or planning.