On a Monday morning, in the Spring of 1987 in early April, at the Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street, London, Professor Morley spotted me in the coffee lounge. It was a habit for trainees and faculty to meet in the lounge for coffee and conversations before the formal sessions of the day started. Instead of staying in the group, Professor Morley turned to me and said, 'come let us go to my library'.
Professor Morley had heard about me from Dr Willian Cutting, his former colleague at the Institute, a paediatrician, who had worked at the Mission Hospital, at Jamalamadugu, Andhra Pradesh in the early nineteen sixties. It was he who had visited Anna and myself a few times at ASHIRVAD Child Development Centre, Chennai. During his visit in 1995 he insisted, that we relocate the centre at CMC Vellore for starting the academic speciality of Developmental paediatrics, which we did in 1997.
Professor Morley had heard about me from Dr Cutting and wanted to chat with me. He insisted in the beginning of the conversation that I called him David and not as Professor Morley. His colleagues in the Tropical Child Health Unit, where I was a trainee at that time in Child development and Rehabilitation, normally addressed him as David. David was the founder professor of the department and it was the first time I was in his library, surrounded by book shelves on all the four sides of the room. Although David lectured to us a few times and addressed meetings of all the trainees from various disciplines, it was the first time I was in a one to one conversation with him.
I was taken back by what he had heard from Dr cutting- my earlier association with CMC Vellore from where I resigned in 1982 to pursue a calling to study Child Development and be involved with children who were Neuro-developmentally challenged, starting of the Child Development Centre at Chennai in 1983, and our association with the Bible Medical Missionary Fellowship (now Interserve).
David started the conversation with a brief introduction of himself. He studied natural science in Cambridge and went on to study Medicine in St Thomas Hospital, London. He worked in Newcastle under two eminent paediatricians before he went to Nigeria for five years.
In between, the telephone kept ringing and he promised to call them back later. He was keen to know about ASHIRVAD and all about its beginning, ethos and mission. He kept probing me about the activities at the Child Development Centre.
During the half an hour before the first session was to start, so much transpired in the conversation that I sought time with him to have a detailed interview about his life and work thus far. He invited me to come to his office at 8.30 am on Mondays every week till I had finished asking the questions. I remember those conversations, about 45 minutes each, every time, spread over ten sessions. It was during those conversations,
I discovered that David was a:
Pioneer in tropical Child Health
Inventor and Innovator for growth monitoring
Founder of two outstanding charities
Global Leader in Health care advocacy for children
Organiser of training programmes funded by UNICEF
I shall in this series of 5 blogs reflect on the above themes which I covered in my interviews with him on Mondays.
Before I lief his room he wanted to know my birthday. When he knew that it was in June, he looked delighted and said, 'we share the same month'!
David had travelled to India on a few times and one of which was to give a guest lecture at the annual meeting of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics. He remembered meeting Prof. A.M.Sur, who chaired the session for his key note address, who incidentally was the professor under whom I was trained in Paediatrics in the Government Medical College, Nagpur.
He walked with me from his library to the lecture room, where my morning seminar was to take place. While shaking my hands gratefully for the occasion to meet, he said, 'I went to Africa to work in a Methodist hospital because I wanted to spend some years to learn from people about their child rearing practices. Remember there is a lot to learn from families who have developmentally challenged children'!
That last comment has been one of the reasons why I stayed on in the practice of Child Development for the last thirty eight years. I still carry this as my mission. Who else can tell us more about the developmental stories of children except parents, who might guide us to gather more evidences about the way the developmental challenged children grow, develop, and transform themselves to live their adult lives amidst all the challenges and needs!
During the lunch recess, Dr Pam Zimkin the course co-ordinator told me that 'I was fortunate to get a private time to meet and talk with David. People even wait for three times to get an appointment to meet him. He is on demand for his thoughts and innovative approaches'!
I felt privileged to have been this opportunity to meet David a few more times, that too on his initiative. He was a keen listener and his conversational style was other person centred. He limited to say just enough about himself and most of the conversation was about what concerned me and the future of ASHIRVAD as a charity!
This conversation occurred about three months before the end of my training at the institute of Child Health. The revival of ASHIRVAD Child Development Centre, Chennai which remained closed during our absence, was possible after our return in September 1987, because of the affirmation I received from David and Pam. They both knew that there was no such initiative for Child Development Centres in india at that time and the specialty of Developmental Paediatrics needed an expression in India.
Meeting David Morley was a turning point in the history of ASHIRVAD.
His birthday falls on 15th June, 1923. He died at the age of 86 years on 2 July 2009.
I remembered David recently, while recalling all Paediatricians who influenced my vocation during the last 40 years of my service, as a Paediatrician.
It is indeed a good time to recollect David and give my tributes in connection with this 86th Birthday!
M.C.Mathew (photo credit to Wikipedia)
In between, the telephone kept ringing and he promised to call them back later. He was keen to know about ASHIRVAD and all about its beginning, ethos and mission. He kept probing me about the activities at the Child Development Centre.
During the half an hour before the first session was to start, so much transpired in the conversation that I sought time with him to have a detailed interview about his life and work thus far. He invited me to come to his office at 8.30 am on Mondays every week till I had finished asking the questions. I remember those conversations, about 45 minutes each, every time, spread over ten sessions. It was during those conversations,
I discovered that David was a:
Pioneer in tropical Child Health
Inventor and Innovator for growth monitoring
Founder of two outstanding charities
Global Leader in Health care advocacy for children
Organiser of training programmes funded by UNICEF
I shall in this series of 5 blogs reflect on the above themes which I covered in my interviews with him on Mondays.
Before I lief his room he wanted to know my birthday. When he knew that it was in June, he looked delighted and said, 'we share the same month'!
David had travelled to India on a few times and one of which was to give a guest lecture at the annual meeting of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics. He remembered meeting Prof. A.M.Sur, who chaired the session for his key note address, who incidentally was the professor under whom I was trained in Paediatrics in the Government Medical College, Nagpur.
He walked with me from his library to the lecture room, where my morning seminar was to take place. While shaking my hands gratefully for the occasion to meet, he said, 'I went to Africa to work in a Methodist hospital because I wanted to spend some years to learn from people about their child rearing practices. Remember there is a lot to learn from families who have developmentally challenged children'!
That last comment has been one of the reasons why I stayed on in the practice of Child Development for the last thirty eight years. I still carry this as my mission. Who else can tell us more about the developmental stories of children except parents, who might guide us to gather more evidences about the way the developmental challenged children grow, develop, and transform themselves to live their adult lives amidst all the challenges and needs!
During the lunch recess, Dr Pam Zimkin the course co-ordinator told me that 'I was fortunate to get a private time to meet and talk with David. People even wait for three times to get an appointment to meet him. He is on demand for his thoughts and innovative approaches'!
I felt privileged to have been this opportunity to meet David a few more times, that too on his initiative. He was a keen listener and his conversational style was other person centred. He limited to say just enough about himself and most of the conversation was about what concerned me and the future of ASHIRVAD as a charity!
This conversation occurred about three months before the end of my training at the institute of Child Health. The revival of ASHIRVAD Child Development Centre, Chennai which remained closed during our absence, was possible after our return in September 1987, because of the affirmation I received from David and Pam. They both knew that there was no such initiative for Child Development Centres in india at that time and the specialty of Developmental Paediatrics needed an expression in India.
Meeting David Morley was a turning point in the history of ASHIRVAD.
His birthday falls on 15th June, 1923. He died at the age of 86 years on 2 July 2009.
I remembered David recently, while recalling all Paediatricians who influenced my vocation during the last 40 years of my service, as a Paediatrician.
It is indeed a good time to recollect David and give my tributes in connection with this 86th Birthday!
M.C.Mathew (photo credit to Wikipedia)
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