The mobilised medical section

I was fascinated to compare the medical section make up in an NGO ti that in 2HSB make up. To all medics out there: you are not alone and the same problems are faced by medical sections all over the world. At One-2-One the medical section is usually made up of a 1-2 nurses, a doctor and a few admin staff. They wage war against head lice, scabies, worms and all microbes of non-specific origin. They are fit and ready with their shampoo bottles loaded and set to semi-automatic... As long as they can get someone to drive them to the slums! Getting transport has always been a bit of a drama and so one day Bonnie, a 20-year-old drop dead gorgeous medical student who grew up in an orphanage, decided that she would solve the problem by mounting the saddle in the tuk tuk and deploying the all female team into the 'field'. I couldn't help but relate to their predicament; how many times have we tried to organise an exercise and yet struggled to find a driver for our Mog?! Now this mobile medical section is independent although they do attract a considerable amount of attention on the streets given their chauffeur! Go Bonnie! You are a legend!

Double prosperity

When travelling through these developing countries I often ask myself whether it is really possible for these people to improve their standard of living without it costing the developed world their purchasing power or their way of life?
Maybe... Just maybe it is possible it is possible... You see once all the essentials are paid for, the proportion of income that is spent on needs reduces and the proportion spent on services increases. Therefore there is more money to be shared around, more money to be spent, more money to be made. Malaysia is a great example of this, they have birthed themselves into the developed world and are now finding more ways to acquire each others expendable income by offering services that never would have existed while they were a developing nation... Even McDonald's is in on it... They're offering the service of 'double prosperity' these days!

You can tell a lot about a girl by what she has in her bag...

I arrived in Malaysia and wasted no time in hitting the malls. As my lonely planet guide and everyone I've asked states; there is not much to do here except shop and eat good food... Pity that!
So I made my way to get some essentials that I 'needed'. First on the purple bus then get off and take a pick from a baffling number of different types of malls (I've included a pic of the mall full of electronics for your benefit Dad) All was well... I arrived well... I shopped well... I ate well... I found the purple bus well... Except what I didn't know was that some purple busses go on the green line! I THOUGHT THE GREEN BUSSES WENT ON THE GREEN LINE!!! Wouldn't that make sense!? So anyway after 20 minutes and the realisation that the bus was NOT going to go past the stop I needed any time soon, the bus driver barks at me in broken english and suggests that I jump busses, then go to another bus stop, then change again, then get of 6-7 stops after that. I looked at the map and thought SURELY it would be easier just to walk?! And so I did, then I realised I was just a little bit (1km) further away than I thought I was and there was the possibility of a few dark(ish) alleyways. At that stage two thoughts ran though my mind (1) If Auckland's sky tower is known as a giant dildo... What are these two towers classified as? and (2) I wonder what any potential attacker would think if he looked at the contents of my bag of goodies.. And for your reading pleasure I will disclose what I had: 1 x booster pack (for my iphone), a hard drive (external), 3 x boulder holders (for wearing under t-shirt), and 2 x non-specific clothing items... Make of it what you will...
In any case you will be pleased to know that I am safe and sound in my hotel room, over stimulated and (just a little) more familiar with the geography and bus systems of Kuala Lumpur.

And so, what next?

These last few days have been a period of national morning for the king who is to be burnt tomorrow.
Some how I've managed to score myself the best vantage point... An upper storey bar opposite the most expensive bar in town but with an obscure opening so I'm the only 'whitey' in here watching the steady flow of people down the street as the road is blocked... the spectacle is mesmerising. I think the picture above symbolises the situation here. Such a tangle of networks and corruption, and yet an undercurrent of unity for the people to be together at this time. As is the case in neighbouring Thailand, the people dread the passing of the king because they don't think the son is not worthy.... So who knows what will happen next?!

By the way the picture below is of the crematorium they're going to burn tomorrow... The whole complex was US$1.5 million to build!

One week down, four to go

Well I've completed five whole days here, but on the way home tonight I felt as though I'd done nothing! Sometimes it is so hard to grasp small victories when there is so much more to be done and it can be such a killer in a place like this, and so I went through the discipline of actually listing what I'd done... It turns out quite a lot:

1. A research proposal
2. A Quality audit (including implementing recommendations)
3. Helped two people gather literature and form an outline for their thesis
4. Four hours trying teaching someone how to write an essay
5. Had my 'quality-of-life' paper reviewed twice by my supervisor
6. Proof read another thesis for submission next week
7. Laid down the frame work for a paper on our maternal-child oral health study
8. Spent a good chunk of today entering 50 of 200 data sets

Ohhhh but so much more to do......

Two fuggers fugging

So... Bruce and I were having a romantic ride home, taking in the scenery and I wasn't sure of exactly where I was.... So I pull out my iphone and I'm quite happily watching my little blue dot progress down the street. Then all of a sudden this hand reaches over and tries to grab my phone!!! I was so shocked I couldn't get my words out quick enough so I called them fuggers! And then employed my best mountain biking skills to simultaneously keep hold of the phone with one hand and prise the guy off my phone with the other hand and at the same time keep pedalling! I don't know how I did it! Jeepers, what a fright! Lucky Bruce is a good sturdy type... I feel like we're really bonding...


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Reaching for the skies

Every time I come here I am overwhelmed by the genuine desire if the people I work with to help those less advantaged than themselves. One of my favourite is a wee Cambodian Dr named Sokhan, this is a girl who was so determined to go to high school that she got up at 4am each morning to get her chores done before she walked 2hr to school (each way), she then convinced her parents to give her portion of inheritance early to cover the first year of medical school. She was told that if she did not succeed never to return home!
So anyway... my friend Katherine and I took her out for dinner and cocktails (just 2). The unguarded truth was revealed in the back of the tuktuk on the way home, spralled out to her maximum extension (which meant just reaching the other side of the tuktuk with her toes) and gazing up at the stars she said 'ohhh when I get older and if I had so much money I could get a clinic in my home village, and many people would come and there would be no payment and I would be so happy!'
It was just so touching how this was her dream of dreams, her measure of success, and her source of joy! Truly humbling!