A Biographical Blog

Leaving on a jet plane

Leaving Heathrow and going to Sabah, Borneo, for first post with the Ministry for Overseas Development, 1967. Initially she had applied to work in  Laos but was offered Sabah as she hadn’t any overseas experience . The nurse who went was killed by the Viet Kong.

Meeting an Orangutan

Sister Caswell meets a baby orangutan at an orphan sanctuary whilst on a day off in Sabah, North Borneo. This particular baby was not an orphan, its mother was called Freda. She was rather bad tempered and was kept behind bars. The smell of the baby orangutan was ‘serious’ and…

Cottage Hospital, Keningau

Sister Caswell when she was a nursing sister in Borneo. I think that she looks fantastic, but she did not like the hat because it would flip over and cover your face if you bent forward. She preferred that hats the Sister's used to wear in England which were frilly.…