Tomorrow I will be heading off again to the second of my worlds. This time I will be in a location where it is highly unlikely that I will be able to get on the internet. No newspaper, no TV, not even a radio broadcast worth listening to. Even my cellphone doesn’t get a signal much of the time. It is quite refreshing, actually. And as experience has shown, life in the rest of the world goes on anyway. I may miss a month’s worth of the details, but no doubt there will be more earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, bombs, wars, and the PTB will continue their shenanigans. When I emerge in a month, I can read the condensed versions, if I’m still interested.
Meanwhile the local news in the second of my worlds will be all consuming. Undoubtedly I will hear all the latest gossip - who had a baby, who’s getting married, who died, who’s playing around with black magic, when the irrigation will be turned off again, and all about the most recent flood/earthquake/landslide….
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
Living in a tranquil city
D is doing better. He was moved out of the ICU 5 days ago and has had all tubes removed except the IV. He is eating rice porridge now and starting to take some medicine orally. His family is relieved as oral medication is much cheaper. Today his matted, blood crusted hair was cut, revealing a lice infestation. Wonders of government hospitals. There is no TV in the ward but with 100 other patients plus their watchers, it sounds like it would be difficult to be bored. What is more disturbing is that at least one teenager is brought in with stab wounds daily. Not all of them make it. I guess the surgical staff here must be getting pretty experienced with stab wounds and, almost as frequent, gunshot wounds. My illusions of living in a tranquil city are disappearing…
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
International pharmaceuticals, are you listening?
Back in the second of my worlds for a couple weeks, I came across a medical crisis which also shows poignantly the dilemma faced by many poor people every day.
17 year old D was attacked by a group of teenage gang members a week ago. He was in ICU at the government hospital for several days with 13 knife wounds in back, head, side and abdomen. He is actually from a rural area but was in the big city staying with his aunt and uncle. His uncle is a carpenter and sometimes D comes to town to help him on a project. He and 4 younger teens were attacked by a gang of teenagers around 7pm, though none of them are involved in a gang. The other kids managed to escape and run home and report it. D wasn't so lucky. He was held by 4 boys while another stabbed him repeatedly with a knife, leaving only when he finally collapsed.
He was brought to the government hospital and was in surgery for 12 hours. His intestines had eviscerated and were damaged. He's been cleaned up and sewn up but because of the damaged intestines was not able to even drink water until yesterday. He has been on strong antibiotics to prevent infection. His extended family is trying to pool their resources but they have already been stretched financially by a series of deaths recently and the only way they see is to mortgage their farm - which could potentially destroy their livelihood, and probably still wouldn't be enough.
Even tho the hospitalization may be nearly free, medicines are not. The first day alone they spent nearly a month's wages ($60) on IV solution, antibiotics, pain medication, tetanus shot, and injectable paracetamol for fever. A recent decision was made to exclude stab wound victims from government assistance for medicine. Perhaps nation wide most stab wounds are aquired in drunken brawls and thus somewhat the victim's own fault. But some of them are innocent victims, like D and like a 14 year old brought in yesterday.
D still faces 2-3 weeks more in the hospital assuming there are no other complications. D's family is faced with hard choices. They can get a loan on their farm for $1500 payable in 5 years. But they must immediately pay the first year's interest of $380. If, at the end of 5 years they have not repaid the $1500 principle plus the $1900 interest, they will lose their land. Last year they borrowed $280 from a neighbor who in turn now has the use of their mango orchard. The money was borrowed for the funeral of D's cousin, killed by a runaway truck. In a year's time the family has not been able to repay that loan, how would they be able to pay an even bigger loan? Meanwhile, the harvest this year from the orchard has been worth over $2000. They could also get a loan of $280 in which the lender then gets the entire harvest of their coconuts for two years - and longer if they don't pay it back. And how will they earn money to pay it back??? And what if someone else in the extended family gets sick? The cycle goes on and on.....
Fortunately for D, several sympathetic people have donated enough to cover a couple of weeks of medicine. If enough donations come in, perhaps the family will not need to hock their farm. But D is just one example of the dilemma facing many poor people every day. (International pharmaceuticals, are you listening?)
17 year old D was attacked by a group of teenage gang members a week ago. He was in ICU at the government hospital for several days with 13 knife wounds in back, head, side and abdomen. He is actually from a rural area but was in the big city staying with his aunt and uncle. His uncle is a carpenter and sometimes D comes to town to help him on a project. He and 4 younger teens were attacked by a gang of teenagers around 7pm, though none of them are involved in a gang. The other kids managed to escape and run home and report it. D wasn't so lucky. He was held by 4 boys while another stabbed him repeatedly with a knife, leaving only when he finally collapsed.
He was brought to the government hospital and was in surgery for 12 hours. His intestines had eviscerated and were damaged. He's been cleaned up and sewn up but because of the damaged intestines was not able to even drink water until yesterday. He has been on strong antibiotics to prevent infection. His extended family is trying to pool their resources but they have already been stretched financially by a series of deaths recently and the only way they see is to mortgage their farm - which could potentially destroy their livelihood, and probably still wouldn't be enough.
Even tho the hospitalization may be nearly free, medicines are not. The first day alone they spent nearly a month's wages ($60) on IV solution, antibiotics, pain medication, tetanus shot, and injectable paracetamol for fever. A recent decision was made to exclude stab wound victims from government assistance for medicine. Perhaps nation wide most stab wounds are aquired in drunken brawls and thus somewhat the victim's own fault. But some of them are innocent victims, like D and like a 14 year old brought in yesterday.
D still faces 2-3 weeks more in the hospital assuming there are no other complications. D's family is faced with hard choices. They can get a loan on their farm for $1500 payable in 5 years. But they must immediately pay the first year's interest of $380. If, at the end of 5 years they have not repaid the $1500 principle plus the $1900 interest, they will lose their land. Last year they borrowed $280 from a neighbor who in turn now has the use of their mango orchard. The money was borrowed for the funeral of D's cousin, killed by a runaway truck. In a year's time the family has not been able to repay that loan, how would they be able to pay an even bigger loan? Meanwhile, the harvest this year from the orchard has been worth over $2000. They could also get a loan of $280 in which the lender then gets the entire harvest of their coconuts for two years - and longer if they don't pay it back. And how will they earn money to pay it back??? And what if someone else in the extended family gets sick? The cycle goes on and on.....
Fortunately for D, several sympathetic people have donated enough to cover a couple of weeks of medicine. If enough donations come in, perhaps the family will not need to hock their farm. But D is just one example of the dilemma facing many poor people every day. (International pharmaceuticals, are you listening?)
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Ode to Go
People are always interesting. But certain people are noteworthy. Take Go (not his real name). Go is around 30-35, thin, kind of scrawny guy with chronic stomach problems. He comes from one of the more remote areas of this country. Go has absolutely no self-esteem problem. He is one of those people who are always right and will insist on their point no matter how much evidence to the contrary. Of course I did not know Go at the beginning of this project four weeks ago but I did notice early on that he was very good at provoking debate. I would patiently listen to his comments, thinking I must have missed something crucial to understanding what he is trying to say, because I couldn't believe anybody could be so ignorant. Surely he was trying to communicate something else...
What was even more interesting though, was the reaction of the other people in the group. They figured him out long before I did. They quit arguing with him while I was still taking his comments seriously and still trying to explain to him.
I find people like Go fascinating. Did their mothers never try to correct them? Did't they tell them not to be a know-it-all, not to always assume they know everything? Or did their mothers try, but to no avail? I feel embarassed for such folk - they are so bold to insist that they are correct and yet seem to have no clue as to the breadth and depth of their ignorance.
(Hmmm, as I think about it, maybe from God's perspective we are all rather like that. Claiming in our ignorance that things are a certain way and refusing to look at the contrary evidence... )
What was even more interesting though, was the reaction of the other people in the group. They figured him out long before I did. They quit arguing with him while I was still taking his comments seriously and still trying to explain to him.
I find people like Go fascinating. Did their mothers never try to correct them? Did't they tell them not to be a know-it-all, not to always assume they know everything? Or did their mothers try, but to no avail? I feel embarassed for such folk - they are so bold to insist that they are correct and yet seem to have no clue as to the breadth and depth of their ignorance.
(Hmmm, as I think about it, maybe from God's perspective we are all rather like that. Claiming in our ignorance that things are a certain way and refusing to look at the contrary evidence... )
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Fresh traffic?
An interesting aspect of living in a large congested city is laundry. Everybody has to do it somehow so it’s not at all uncommon to see laundry draped around. Clothes dryers are still pretty much unknown, though nowadays one probably could buy one somewhere. Many of the buildings in this area have flat roofs with a room or two built on top with space outside for hanging clothes. I washed clothes yesterday afternoon. It was VERY warm in the little room where the washing machine is kept. But out on the roof was a glorious breeze. So, while waiting for the machine to fill (most are not automatic, and water pressure on the 4th floor isn’t the greatest) I could stand outside in the shade and cool off in the breeze. It’s also a good vantage point from which to observe the neighborhood so it wasn’t too boring. The machine has a spinner so the clothes are fairly dry when you pull them out. I hung them up in the breeze and two hours later they were dry. When I gathered them and took them downstairs I took a big whiff of the dry, still warm clothes. Ahhhh! Nothing like the smell of fresh traffic….
Avoid offending if you can
The other day we had a discussion around several case histories of interpersonal conflict between members of the same team or working on the same project. The point of the exercise was to get people to discuss conflict resolution, how they would go about it appropriately in their culture. I was astonished that in each of the 4 cases the unanimous decision was to separate the two offended parties, give them new job assignments, transfer one or both, fire one or both. They always recommended that a third party be involved. They saw a difference between personality clash and moral or money issues. Yet in no case did they think that a resolution or restoration of the relationship was possible.
In one case where someone was accused of misusing funds I asked if the party in the wrong would publicly acknowledge that he was wrong. Again the answer was unanimously “no”. The closest to a public apology would be in the case of a violation of traditional law where the offender was deemed guilty and fined. By paying the fine, the issue is considered finished. It is understood as the same as a public acknowledgment of guilt. But apology? Apparently not possible.
I wonder if the case histories go too far? Each of them describe a work situation which ended in some sort of open conflict – either an argument in front of others or an open accusations of wrong doing. Was is that open conflict (in front of others) which made the group unanimously declare that no restoration of the relationship was possible? What if we instead asked how they might intervene and help the two parties resolve matters BEFORE it got to the state of open conflict? Does this indicate that open conflict is to be avoided at all costs? And should it occur, it is invariably fatal to the relationship?
What was also interesting is that the group we asked was made up of people from various ethnic groups around this country, all attending the same course. It seems astonishing that they would all think the same way. Or were they reluctant to discuss the topic for fear of offending others in the group? Makes one really think about the extent one needs to go to to avoid offending someone else.
In one case where someone was accused of misusing funds I asked if the party in the wrong would publicly acknowledge that he was wrong. Again the answer was unanimously “no”. The closest to a public apology would be in the case of a violation of traditional law where the offender was deemed guilty and fined. By paying the fine, the issue is considered finished. It is understood as the same as a public acknowledgment of guilt. But apology? Apparently not possible.
I wonder if the case histories go too far? Each of them describe a work situation which ended in some sort of open conflict – either an argument in front of others or an open accusations of wrong doing. Was is that open conflict (in front of others) which made the group unanimously declare that no restoration of the relationship was possible? What if we instead asked how they might intervene and help the two parties resolve matters BEFORE it got to the state of open conflict? Does this indicate that open conflict is to be avoided at all costs? And should it occur, it is invariably fatal to the relationship?
What was also interesting is that the group we asked was made up of people from various ethnic groups around this country, all attending the same course. It seems astonishing that they would all think the same way. Or were they reluctant to discuss the topic for fear of offending others in the group? Makes one really think about the extent one needs to go to to avoid offending someone else.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Malls
It's always interesting to visit malls in capital cities. You see another slice of life that maybe isn't so apparent from a bus window. You see people wearing the latest fashion - currently for women that means tight low cut pants and tight short blouses of asymmetrical design. So it's especially interesting to watch how these upper class folk try to stare at the foreigners without being obvious. The mall I was in the other day has a lot of mirrors and if you walk at just the right speed and location you can stare quite easily without seeming to. One particular attraction was a family from somewhere in the middle east. The papa was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and short pants. The mama was covered from head to foot in black, including a veil across her face leaving only her eyes showing. A teenaged daughter was also covered in black but her face was showing. An 8 year old girl was wearing a sleeveless top and short skirt, no veiling for her. The locals were extremely interested in this sight and I could hear comments speculating that maybe unmarried women didn't have to cover their faces, after all how could an unmarried girl find a husband if he couldn't see her face? Who would marry a girl sight unseen? They were also very interested to watch the woman in a restaurant having to transport spoonfuls of food up under her veil to eat. Must get a bit messy at times.
Malls have become a sort of recreation site in large cities which don't have much in the way of public parks. They are big, airconditioned, and of course have everything from clothes to food to grocery stores and rides for the kids. Malls are where you can find the bizarre and unique too, for a price. You can also find internet cafes to post your blog from.
Malls have become a sort of recreation site in large cities which don't have much in the way of public parks. They are big, airconditioned, and of course have everything from clothes to food to grocery stores and rides for the kids. Malls are where you can find the bizarre and unique too, for a price. You can also find internet cafes to post your blog from.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Thou shall not kill
One of the things that has always amazed me about Asians, at least those who live in big cities, is the ability to live cheek and jowl without killing each other. I suppose it would help if everybody liked the same kind of music, and if everybody was not on the same schedule. I have desk in a big bright room. I share the room with 6 other people. It is incredibly hard to concentrate at times what with phone calls, people coming in and out to discuss everything. Good thing I am staying just down the hall and can work early and late. Finally got a couple of nagging projects finished today. It just takes persistence I guess.
But I am having to stay up later to get some quiet uninterrupted time, at the same time I can't sleep later in the morning because once people start getting up slamming doors, singing in the showers, etc, well, you get the idea. I wonder if anybody ever fell asleep while teaching a class?
Don't get me wrong. I am not at all bored, just sleeeeeepy. Got up even earlier today to go to church. It was a very interesting event but even so I had trouble not dozing off.
I boarded a city bus to get to an internet cafe. Too bad I didn't have a camera - to take a picture of me sitting sideways. Some of the seats are so close together that barely anybody's knees would fit behind the seat in front of them. I am glad the trip wasn't longer, on the other hand, it feels SOOOO good to finally get off and walk. The driver's assistent did a good job of packing every seat full. He would hop off at intersections and sort of direct traffic till the bus got through Then he'd hop on again. Must be a tiring job.
But I am having to stay up later to get some quiet uninterrupted time, at the same time I can't sleep later in the morning because once people start getting up slamming doors, singing in the showers, etc, well, you get the idea. I wonder if anybody ever fell asleep while teaching a class?
Don't get me wrong. I am not at all bored, just sleeeeeepy. Got up even earlier today to go to church. It was a very interesting event but even so I had trouble not dozing off.
I boarded a city bus to get to an internet cafe. Too bad I didn't have a camera - to take a picture of me sitting sideways. Some of the seats are so close together that barely anybody's knees would fit behind the seat in front of them. I am glad the trip wasn't longer, on the other hand, it feels SOOOO good to finally get off and walk. The driver's assistent did a good job of packing every seat full. He would hop off at intersections and sort of direct traffic till the bus got through Then he'd hop on again. Must be a tiring job.
More on what people do to earn money
Haven't been able to access the blog because the place I am staying blocks a lot of stuff, This is from August 3:
In a mega-city there are seemingly an infinite number of ways to make a living. One man makes a living, and a very good living, looking at city maps to see where small roads are. He then looks for places where a road is planned and not yet build. Then he goes and checks it out. If the land is indeed not already built on he just takes it and builds something there and then sells it. Since land costs in this city are very high he makes an extremely good profit. Pretty slick, eh? About a block away is a narrow, three story high church building built within the last couple of years on such a piece of land. Next to the building where I am staying is another small piece of land which apparently falls into that same category. He has recently put up a fence around it, threatening those nearby (including the owners of this building) not to interfere or he will send his thugs to cause trouble. Comforting thought.
One popular way to earn a second income after one’s regular day job is to sell food. By late afternoon the streets start filing with push carts, bicycles and motorbikes, and temporary road-side stalls selling things like bread and cake, noodle dishes, fresh vegetables, ice cream, meatballs, and all sorts of other cooked foods. Yesterday on my little jaunt down the side street there was a guy on the side of the road with a frying pan on a burner frying batter-dipped chicken to sell. A little ways down from him was a tent where somebody was selling fish and rice dinners. Today we were working late so went down to see what the breadseller on a motorbike had today. He still had about 6 half-loaves of sliced white bread and two of sliced green bread. (Yes, bright apple green bread.) He had smaller breads filled with things like cheese, chocolate, bananas, peanuts. There was one kind that had a raisin or two in it too.
Last week the newspaper ran a story about a certain lane on one particular major road. That lane has a reputation for being full of nails causing tire punctures and so drivers avoid it, thus causing the rest of the road to be quite congested. When police finally went to investigate, they found several kilos of nails scattered for quite a distance on that lane. They have been going out early in the morning to sweep that lane – and continue to find several kilos more nails every day. They suspect that someone is trying to make a living, either because they have a tire repair business nearby or because they hope to benefit by robbing stranded cars. (See? All it takes is a little imagination…)
In a mega-city there are seemingly an infinite number of ways to make a living. One man makes a living, and a very good living, looking at city maps to see where small roads are. He then looks for places where a road is planned and not yet build. Then he goes and checks it out. If the land is indeed not already built on he just takes it and builds something there and then sells it. Since land costs in this city are very high he makes an extremely good profit. Pretty slick, eh? About a block away is a narrow, three story high church building built within the last couple of years on such a piece of land. Next to the building where I am staying is another small piece of land which apparently falls into that same category. He has recently put up a fence around it, threatening those nearby (including the owners of this building) not to interfere or he will send his thugs to cause trouble. Comforting thought.
One popular way to earn a second income after one’s regular day job is to sell food. By late afternoon the streets start filing with push carts, bicycles and motorbikes, and temporary road-side stalls selling things like bread and cake, noodle dishes, fresh vegetables, ice cream, meatballs, and all sorts of other cooked foods. Yesterday on my little jaunt down the side street there was a guy on the side of the road with a frying pan on a burner frying batter-dipped chicken to sell. A little ways down from him was a tent where somebody was selling fish and rice dinners. Today we were working late so went down to see what the breadseller on a motorbike had today. He still had about 6 half-loaves of sliced white bread and two of sliced green bread. (Yes, bright apple green bread.) He had smaller breads filled with things like cheese, chocolate, bananas, peanuts. There was one kind that had a raisin or two in it too.
Last week the newspaper ran a story about a certain lane on one particular major road. That lane has a reputation for being full of nails causing tire punctures and so drivers avoid it, thus causing the rest of the road to be quite congested. When police finally went to investigate, they found several kilos of nails scattered for quite a distance on that lane. They have been going out early in the morning to sweep that lane – and continue to find several kilos more nails every day. They suspect that someone is trying to make a living, either because they have a tire repair business nearby or because they hope to benefit by robbing stranded cars. (See? All it takes is a little imagination…)
Chaotic mess
Outsiders coming to a large Asian city for the first time often see it as a chaotic mess. This city, in the second of my worlds, is no exception. You could easily get motion sick just by standing still and watching things whiz by! But if you look carefully you will begin to see the layers of organization that really do exist.
Traffic looks chaotic, and sometimes gets into horrendous snarls. Yet, most people do manage to get where they need to go by the approximate time that they need to be there – most of the the time. The chaos somehow works. Just around the corner from where I am staying is a narrow lane that manages to carry busy two-way traffic. Somehow pedestrians, bicyclists, push carts, motorcycles, passenger vehicles made from motorcyles, vans, cars and small trucks all mange to make progress down this lane even in the dark. I am sure that accidents do happen but considering that this little scene is repeated street after street all across this metropolis every day all the time, there are relatively few accidents. For those of us who come from smaller, slower places, it is truly miraculous the way this vast interweaving of people and vehicles moves along all day and all night, day after day, week after week, and year after year.
There are worlds with in worlds. Yesterday I went to a nearby mall complex, I think it is the tallest mall in the city having 7 or 8 floors. I was able to do all my errands there, such as get cash from an ATM, buy medicine, get a phone card for my cell phone, and buy some groceries, and that was all on the same floor! But tonight when I walked down the busy little lane around the corner I found that I can also get cell phone refills and some medicines, right there. (If it were daylight I could probably see further down the road and might find more…)
Traffic looks chaotic, and sometimes gets into horrendous snarls. Yet, most people do manage to get where they need to go by the approximate time that they need to be there – most of the the time. The chaos somehow works. Just around the corner from where I am staying is a narrow lane that manages to carry busy two-way traffic. Somehow pedestrians, bicyclists, push carts, motorcycles, passenger vehicles made from motorcyles, vans, cars and small trucks all mange to make progress down this lane even in the dark. I am sure that accidents do happen but considering that this little scene is repeated street after street all across this metropolis every day all the time, there are relatively few accidents. For those of us who come from smaller, slower places, it is truly miraculous the way this vast interweaving of people and vehicles moves along all day and all night, day after day, week after week, and year after year.
There are worlds with in worlds. Yesterday I went to a nearby mall complex, I think it is the tallest mall in the city having 7 or 8 floors. I was able to do all my errands there, such as get cash from an ATM, buy medicine, get a phone card for my cell phone, and buy some groceries, and that was all on the same floor! But tonight when I walked down the busy little lane around the corner I found that I can also get cell phone refills and some medicines, right there. (If it were daylight I could probably see further down the road and might find more…)
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