In our last week at the hospital I spent two afternoons giving English lessons to two housekeepers, a gardener and a security guard. They were advanced enough to be working on some of the more complicated parts of speech like pronouns. I have a new found respect for anyone learning English as a second language.... it is the most unnecessarily complicated language, particularly for native Khmer speakers whose language essentially has no grammar at all.
The lesson was relatively well laid out in their readers, so we started ahead. After learning pronouns, we read a little story about Mr. Wealthy and his cornet... followed by another story about Mrs. Priestly and her gay daughter. Did I mention their study book was from 1938? So I say "gay same same happy, joyful, same same" okay, they understand gay in the sense of the story. Now I try to explain to them how gay doesn't have the same meaning anymore and how "gay, same same man loves man". This didn't register quite so easily... so I continued the lessons and told their usual teacher that he needs to tell them in khmer that you can't call someone gay if they look happy one day.
In Cambodia, the ability to speak English open doors to so many opportunities for a better life. I had so much fun teaching them. They had such an earnest desire to learn, it made you really excited to see them excel. Before I left, I picked up a couple of books for beginner students so they could read real stories to practice. Hopefully next time I go back I'll see them working in the office :)
Monday, September 1, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Home Care Visits and Dental Outreach
Ryan and I got to go out on a home care visit one morning. We trekked (by van) into incredibly rural areas outside of Siem Reap to follow-up with patients right in their homes. We saw two kids with HIV, one in a nicer wooden house, and one in a grass hut. Both had lost their mothers to the disease. This was a pretty incredible experience!
The next day, I went out on a dental outreach visit... and by dental outreach I really mean pulling teeth, because that's really the only thing they can do with their limited resources. The dentists were already wondering why I was there after I said I was a business student, but I certainly didn't help my case when they started work on the first patient. Who knew dentistry was so violent? After giving this poor girl some hefty doses of something in a giant needle, the dentist started digging through her mouth like she was hoping to scrape gold off the bottom of it. This was gross enough. Then she actually started cracking her teeth into pieces to get them out. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but just hearing those noises was enough for me. Inside I'm thinking, I'm already not a lot of help right now... imagine how NOT helpful I would be if I passed out. So I decided to wait out the rest of the surgeries from the bench outside... peering in whenever I felt so inclined... much to the delight of the other Cambodians, who seemed to find this REALLY FUNNY. I got the last laugh though... most of them were waiting for their turn in the chair.
The next day, I went out on a dental outreach visit... and by dental outreach I really mean pulling teeth, because that's really the only thing they can do with their limited resources. The dentists were already wondering why I was there after I said I was a business student, but I certainly didn't help my case when they started work on the first patient. Who knew dentistry was so violent? After giving this poor girl some hefty doses of something in a giant needle, the dentist started digging through her mouth like she was hoping to scrape gold off the bottom of it. This was gross enough. Then she actually started cracking her teeth into pieces to get them out. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but just hearing those noises was enough for me. Inside I'm thinking, I'm already not a lot of help right now... imagine how NOT helpful I would be if I passed out. So I decided to wait out the rest of the surgeries from the bench outside... peering in whenever I felt so inclined... much to the delight of the other Cambodians, who seemed to find this REALLY FUNNY. I got the last laugh though... most of them were waiting for their turn in the chair.
Behaviour, Birth Defects, and Natural Remedies
Ryan and I learnt a lot about Cambodian beliefs and medicing this week. There was an interesting case of cleft palate/lip in the hospital, and I went with my office counterpart Nerai to document the case. I was expecting to find an infant or toddler for our patient, and was surprised to find a 14-year old girl. She had never seen a doctor, and only came to AHC because her aunt visited Siem Reap and heard about the hospital. They live over 240km away, which by Cambodian infrastructure standards, takes 11 hours by car. What was most interesting to hear was that many Cambodians believe that if you are born with a birth defect (be it cleft lip, extra fingers, missing limbs etc), that it is payment for bad behaviour in your past life. On a related note, I saw a kid with six toes. Apparently this is not uncommon, but in North America, they would have already cut it off.
My second story came about when Ryan told me there was a premature baby born at 24 weeks in the hospital. Babies are normally in the womb for 40 weeks and aren't generally considered fully formed organ wise until roughly 28 weeks. In Canada, a baby born before 25 weeks is usually not worked on by doctors. David says that Canadian doctors working on babies under 26 weeks are usually doing it for the good of their career and not the good of the baby. Never-the-less, I was curious to see this tiny wonder. After speaking to David a little bit more I found out that in Cambodia, it is really bad luck to have a baby born in the 8th month of pregnancy. He said that the actual gestational age of a baby can really only be determined by a physical exam and a rough guess because mothers will NEVER tell you that their baby was in the 8th month, they will always say the 7th. They are also careful to make sure this falls after their wedding date... So the likelyhood the baby is 24 weeks is slim, but it is certainly no older than 28.
At AHC you will often see kids with bizarre marks and scars on their bodies from traditional healings. Some of the staff even practice this medicine on themselves, although they are more careful to hide it. The first technique involves burning three marks (like cigarette burns) into a child's stomach to act as protection. The second is called cupping, and involves rinsing a cup with gasoline, lighting it on fire and putting it on your skin. The fire burns the gasoline and doesn't touch the skin, but the need for oxygen creates a sucking against the tissue and, for all intensive purposes, creates a giant hickey. This method is supposed to suck the poison out of you that is making you sick. Another technique is called coining, where they scrape burning hot coins down your back, also to remove poisons.
Lots of interesting medical stories... but I guess when you can't get to a doctor, you make do with whatever you can.
My second story came about when Ryan told me there was a premature baby born at 24 weeks in the hospital. Babies are normally in the womb for 40 weeks and aren't generally considered fully formed organ wise until roughly 28 weeks. In Canada, a baby born before 25 weeks is usually not worked on by doctors. David says that Canadian doctors working on babies under 26 weeks are usually doing it for the good of their career and not the good of the baby. Never-the-less, I was curious to see this tiny wonder. After speaking to David a little bit more I found out that in Cambodia, it is really bad luck to have a baby born in the 8th month of pregnancy. He said that the actual gestational age of a baby can really only be determined by a physical exam and a rough guess because mothers will NEVER tell you that their baby was in the 8th month, they will always say the 7th. They are also careful to make sure this falls after their wedding date... So the likelyhood the baby is 24 weeks is slim, but it is certainly no older than 28.
At AHC you will often see kids with bizarre marks and scars on their bodies from traditional healings. Some of the staff even practice this medicine on themselves, although they are more careful to hide it. The first technique involves burning three marks (like cigarette burns) into a child's stomach to act as protection. The second is called cupping, and involves rinsing a cup with gasoline, lighting it on fire and putting it on your skin. The fire burns the gasoline and doesn't touch the skin, but the need for oxygen creates a sucking against the tissue and, for all intensive purposes, creates a giant hickey. This method is supposed to suck the poison out of you that is making you sick. Another technique is called coining, where they scrape burning hot coins down your back, also to remove poisons.
Lots of interesting medical stories... but I guess when you can't get to a doctor, you make do with whatever you can.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Ultimate Family Vehicle
Have a family of five? Need to transport a litter of piglets or lifetime supply of aluminum pots? Cambodia has the motorcycle for you! Never have I seen so many people or things balanced so effectively on a motorcycle. But in reality, there is no other way to get around. During the rainy season, the roads often turn to mud and cars simply can't navigate through it. And with gas prices at roughly $1.25/litre (the average daily salary of a government doctor) few people could afford cars anyway. Those who do buy cars can select between a dark green Toyota camry, another dark green camry, or, if they're really lucky, they may be able to find a white camry which will turn brown within 3 minutes of driving off the lot. So if you're looking to buy a new vehicle and need any indication of what type of car can handle the toughest road conditions... you've got your answer... but seriously consider that motorcycle... you never know when you may want to move a load of bricks.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Lariam Induced Dreams: Installment 2
So I haven't been dreaming quite as much as before, and some of the dreams have reminded me of exactly how scary nightmares can be whether you're 3 or 23...
My latest funny dream was relatively short:
For some reason I was back at Lisgar Collegiate (my high school) in Ottawa. I can't remember why, I think I was just visiting. I found out from someone that Mr. Peters, my grade 12 English teacher, had something really important to give me. When I finally tracked him down he was so excited! He told me to wait outside his classroom door while he searched out this amazing object in his office. All of a sudden the door opens a crack and his hand shoves out with a tube of toothpaste in it. I take it, and he slams the door. I am a little upset that he was able to smell my bad breath from the other side of the school even before I ran into him. I walk around a little more and comment on how sad it is that so many of my Lisgar classmates have become alcoholics. And that's the end...
This was a particularly weird dream because most of my classmates from Lisgar are studying to be doctors, lawyers, and PhDs...
My latest funny dream was relatively short:
For some reason I was back at Lisgar Collegiate (my high school) in Ottawa. I can't remember why, I think I was just visiting. I found out from someone that Mr. Peters, my grade 12 English teacher, had something really important to give me. When I finally tracked him down he was so excited! He told me to wait outside his classroom door while he searched out this amazing object in his office. All of a sudden the door opens a crack and his hand shoves out with a tube of toothpaste in it. I take it, and he slams the door. I am a little upset that he was able to smell my bad breath from the other side of the school even before I ran into him. I walk around a little more and comment on how sad it is that so many of my Lisgar classmates have become alcoholics. And that's the end...
This was a particularly weird dream because most of my classmates from Lisgar are studying to be doctors, lawyers, and PhDs...
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Siem Reap - Disneyland does Cambodia
After spending a few days in Siem Reap, we've come to realize that this city is not typical. The staff at the hospital likes to call it "Disneyland does Cambodia". The town itself is fantastic... there's a good mix of local restaurants and places for tourists, so if we are really tired of rice we can always head somewhere for a goat cheese salad. My new favourite restaurant name... "Burgers Without Borders". There are some lavish hotels on the way into town, one which runs at $750/night has been host to many exclusive notables including Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.
The unfortunate reality is that many tourists believe they have seen Cambodia despite having never left town... and this town is not Cambodia. On our first day at the Angkor Hospital for Children, Nerai (an administrator I am working with) took us out in a tuk-tuk to give us a better idea of where the patients at the hospital come from. Barely 10km out of town, the overdecorated hotels disappeared to show a road lined with small grass huts. The pavement turned to dirt, with motorcycles and trucks trying to crawl through the thick mud, nearly 2 feet deep in many places. Rice fields grew as far as the eye could see, and the fancy restaurants of Siem Reap were replaced with old ladies selling roasted frog sausage and crickets. Nerai took us out into a rice field so we could see how it was planted... stalk by stalk, each one by hand until the field was full. Rice is not just a staple food here. It is a necessity of life. When the crop has a bad year, people die. Over 35% of the Cambodian population is moderately to severely malnourished. Stories of patients and their arduous journies to get care at AHC are commonplace... many travel days to get here. One child died because his family could not borrow the one dollar they needed to get a ride into town.
But despite all of their hardship, the Cambodian population are the kindest most sincere people I have ever met. Expat David from the hospital says that after so many years of strife, Cambodians finally have something to be proud of. They want to tell you more about their country and want to learn more about yours. We've had lots of fun telling stories of Canadian winter to Cambodians and foreigners alike.
Ryan has gotten started with his shadowing on the patient wards. Because many rural patients have to travel so far to get here, their condition is often extremely severe when they arrive. Ry's been treating lots of dengue fever, malnutrition and meningitis, and is planning on watching some surgeries next week. I've been up in the admin offices working with Nerai to revamp their monthly donor reports. I've been learning a lot about the different programs offered in the hospital, and the two of us have been taking Khmer language lessons. All in all, we are both having an incredible time. We can't rave enough about the people here, and there are lots of fun tourist activities to keep us busy on the weekends.
Hope everyone is well at home!
The unfortunate reality is that many tourists believe they have seen Cambodia despite having never left town... and this town is not Cambodia. On our first day at the Angkor Hospital for Children, Nerai (an administrator I am working with) took us out in a tuk-tuk to give us a better idea of where the patients at the hospital come from. Barely 10km out of town, the overdecorated hotels disappeared to show a road lined with small grass huts. The pavement turned to dirt, with motorcycles and trucks trying to crawl through the thick mud, nearly 2 feet deep in many places. Rice fields grew as far as the eye could see, and the fancy restaurants of Siem Reap were replaced with old ladies selling roasted frog sausage and crickets. Nerai took us out into a rice field so we could see how it was planted... stalk by stalk, each one by hand until the field was full. Rice is not just a staple food here. It is a necessity of life. When the crop has a bad year, people die. Over 35% of the Cambodian population is moderately to severely malnourished. Stories of patients and their arduous journies to get care at AHC are commonplace... many travel days to get here. One child died because his family could not borrow the one dollar they needed to get a ride into town.
But despite all of their hardship, the Cambodian population are the kindest most sincere people I have ever met. Expat David from the hospital says that after so many years of strife, Cambodians finally have something to be proud of. They want to tell you more about their country and want to learn more about yours. We've had lots of fun telling stories of Canadian winter to Cambodians and foreigners alike.
Ryan has gotten started with his shadowing on the patient wards. Because many rural patients have to travel so far to get here, their condition is often extremely severe when they arrive. Ry's been treating lots of dengue fever, malnutrition and meningitis, and is planning on watching some surgeries next week. I've been up in the admin offices working with Nerai to revamp their monthly donor reports. I've been learning a lot about the different programs offered in the hospital, and the two of us have been taking Khmer language lessons. All in all, we are both having an incredible time. We can't rave enough about the people here, and there are lots of fun tourist activities to keep us busy on the weekends.
Hope everyone is well at home!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Bangkok day 3: "What do you mean it's Sunday?"
Our last day in Bangkok started with an early morning trip to the airport for our flight out. Apparently, we were so excited to get to Cambodia that we showed up a whole day early! After spending a few minutes trying fruitlessly to convince the man at the desk that, no, it was, in fact, Monday... I checked with a few other employees and found out that unfortunately, he was right, it was, in fact, Sunday.
We used this extra day to our advantage to see a few things we had originally missed out on. First stop, the National Museum, which boasts an impressive collection of old things. Call me Queen Midas but my personal favourites included the gold leaf patterned window shutters on the museum buildings and the massive gold boats which were being restored right before our eyes. The park across from the museum was decked out for the Queen's birthday two days later. The trees on the main streets were lined with gorgeous lights and her gold framed portrait was set up and adorned in locations all over the city.
In the evening we took a tuk tuk (haha! took a tuk tuk!) to a night market on the other end of town. This was a big spot for designer watches and Tiffany jewelry... but after being quoted a last price of over $100 on a fake Rolex, we were done for the night.
We used this extra day to our advantage to see a few things we had originally missed out on. First stop, the National Museum, which boasts an impressive collection of old things. Call me Queen Midas but my personal favourites included the gold leaf patterned window shutters on the museum buildings and the massive gold boats which were being restored right before our eyes. The park across from the museum was decked out for the Queen's birthday two days later. The trees on the main streets were lined with gorgeous lights and her gold framed portrait was set up and adorned in locations all over the city.
In the evening we took a tuk tuk (haha! took a tuk tuk!) to a night market on the other end of town. This was a big spot for designer watches and Tiffany jewelry... but after being quoted a last price of over $100 on a fake Rolex, we were done for the night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
