Saturday, February 20, 2010
A wedding and a feast...
We went with about nine other foreigners to the burmese refugee camp about 45 minutes away today. The main reason we were allowed to go in was because they were having a wedding. We left about 7am (loaded into a car that was definitely not meant for the 14 people it was carrying) and went to the wedding. It was about one hour long and relfected similarly to a christian style wedding in the states (camp is half christian and half buddhist). Of course, we didn't understand much more than the song happy wwedding to you (same tune as happy birthday to you). This obviously wasn't too big a deal as the bride didn't understand most of he wedding herself as it was in burmese and she was from karenni state and didn't speak burmese. we were then invite very graciously to eat at the wedding breakfast/lunch. While this was very nice, it was not greatly appreciated as I had to eat mystery meat again (BAD taste and all fat). I helped jamie and one of the vegetarian girls with the meat they took thinking it was potatos. I have been burbing up nasty meat flavor for hours now. I smiled as inwardly I felt like gagging. But it was VERY nice and they were great hosts. Many of the medics were there so they showed us around the camp afterward.
We went up to a medics house (girl works at mae tao clinic and mom still lives at camp). It was actually much nicer than we expected. Very clean, made out of bamboo and branches with a leaf roofing. About thirty of us came in where they offered us soda, watermelon, and little pastries. Once again treating us very well as guests. Jamie and I are very glad we are feeling better today as if we had not, it would have been impossible to eat the food they served us. The food at the girl's house was good though (i can never complain about watermelon). We then walked to the clinic that was in the opposite direction (we had thought we were walking to the clinic). We walked over a bridge that we were told we weren't supposed to cross by the medical coordinator at the clinic, but the medics said okay, so we went.
We got to the clinic, which was large with a green tarp over it. Outside, teenage boys were playing soccer. We waited to see if we could get permission to see the clinic. After about 15 minutes, it was decided that we could not, so we headed out about 11:45 am to come back to mae sot. It was an interesting experience. For one, I feel guilty for thinking it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I am attaching a couple of pictures of the food and the area.
We went up to a medics house (girl works at mae tao clinic and mom still lives at camp). It was actually much nicer than we expected. Very clean, made out of bamboo and branches with a leaf roofing. About thirty of us came in where they offered us soda, watermelon, and little pastries. Once again treating us very well as guests. Jamie and I are very glad we are feeling better today as if we had not, it would have been impossible to eat the food they served us. The food at the girl's house was good though (i can never complain about watermelon). We then walked to the clinic that was in the opposite direction (we had thought we were walking to the clinic). We walked over a bridge that we were told we weren't supposed to cross by the medical coordinator at the clinic, but the medics said okay, so we went.
We got to the clinic, which was large with a green tarp over it. Outside, teenage boys were playing soccer. We waited to see if we could get permission to see the clinic. After about 15 minutes, it was decided that we could not, so we headed out about 11:45 am to come back to mae sot. It was an interesting experience. For one, I feel guilty for thinking it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I am attaching a couple of pictures of the food and the area.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
An English Lesson.
One of the medic student's invited me to come to her English class after clinic. So, Jamie and I met her at the clinic at 4:45pm and walked down to her class consisting of 10 people and a Burmese teacher who had only 8 months of official training (although his English was the best I have heard here). They got us a coke and a strawberry fanta to thank us for coming to their class. Then, we introduced ourselves and the students introduced themselves. After that, the students were supposed to ask us questions.
For about the next hour, the students asked us questions ranging from where were we from to what do your parents do to how much our guesthouse is charging per night (they were horrified by the 400baht/night answer). The girl I have been working with asked me how many marriage proposals I had gotten and when was jamie going to ask me to marry him (without any prompting I may add). She also asked how much I was going to pay jamie to marry me. I said zero and explained how he had to buy me a shiny diamond ring if he wanted to marry me.
We really enjoyed ourselves and it was a lot of fun. Oh, and we also learned how to say son of bitch in burmese :-)
For about the next hour, the students asked us questions ranging from where were we from to what do your parents do to how much our guesthouse is charging per night (they were horrified by the 400baht/night answer). The girl I have been working with asked me how many marriage proposals I had gotten and when was jamie going to ask me to marry him (without any prompting I may add). She also asked how much I was going to pay jamie to marry me. I said zero and explained how he had to buy me a shiny diamond ring if he wanted to marry me.
We really enjoyed ourselves and it was a lot of fun. Oh, and we also learned how to say son of bitch in burmese :-)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
another week of clinic finished...
i just finished another week of clinic here. not a good week for infants at the clinic. but, learned a great deal. next week I will be in the child outpatient. Mostly acute URIs from jamie's experience, but I shoul see some malaria, severe pneumonia, mass vaccination, and more. should be interesting.
jamie and i have started doing long walks in the afternoon. and we have also discovered pineapple shakes. those are my favorite. this weeks cuisine has mostly consisted of cashew chicken, fried wide noodles, and fried rice. That is a good week. tomorrow is chinese new year so hopefully we will find the festivities. i am super excited about my day off. we haven't had a whole day to relax in the last two weeks.
i am sleepy.
jamie and i have started doing long walks in the afternoon. and we have also discovered pineapple shakes. those are my favorite. this weeks cuisine has mostly consisted of cashew chicken, fried wide noodles, and fried rice. That is a good week. tomorrow is chinese new year so hopefully we will find the festivities. i am super excited about my day off. we haven't had a whole day to relax in the last two weeks.
i am sleepy.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
A place that doesn't exist
It is an interesting place here. A place between two worlds. A place that according to the Thai and Burmese government doesn't exist. If it did exist, it would have to be raided as all the patients and staff are here illegally in this country. The staff can't go out at night as they would be harassed by the thai police. The patients have to either pay 500 baht ($15) to come across legally or sneak across illegally risking getting caught and having to pay a fine or being put in jail. But, the clinic has existed for over 20 years and served thousands of patients.
Today was a sad day for a baby who did exist at a place that didn't. It was born with little chance of living. First, it had a congenital heart defect. Given the Mao Tao Clinic (MTC) does not exist in the eyes of the Thai government, it had to be first referred to a sub-par hospital that does exist in Mae Sot so it could be referred then up to Chiang Mai Hospital which COULD do a surgery. Once at the Mae Sot Hospital, the baby got sicker and sicker developing severe pneumonia and then raging meningitis. After a few days in the ICU, the baby was sent back here as there was "no more to do." It was sent to MTC to die.
The baby received all available treatment. Antibiotics for PNA and meningitis, salbutolol and oxygen, paracetamol/ibuprofen for fevers, and diazepam/phenobarbitol for fevers. Today, at 1:00pm after being at MTC for 24 hours, the baby's heart stopped. After giving compressions, oxygen and epi, death was pronounced with the mother sitting at the baby's side. The mother held the baby for awhile and later I saw she was gone. The worst part is that she cannot even bring her baby home for burial as dead bodies cannot cross the border back into Myanmar. It was a sad day.
Today was a sad day for a baby who did exist at a place that didn't. It was born with little chance of living. First, it had a congenital heart defect. Given the Mao Tao Clinic (MTC) does not exist in the eyes of the Thai government, it had to be first referred to a sub-par hospital that does exist in Mae Sot so it could be referred then up to Chiang Mai Hospital which COULD do a surgery. Once at the Mae Sot Hospital, the baby got sicker and sicker developing severe pneumonia and then raging meningitis. After a few days in the ICU, the baby was sent back here as there was "no more to do." It was sent to MTC to die.
The baby received all available treatment. Antibiotics for PNA and meningitis, salbutolol and oxygen, paracetamol/ibuprofen for fevers, and diazepam/phenobarbitol for fevers. Today, at 1:00pm after being at MTC for 24 hours, the baby's heart stopped. After giving compressions, oxygen and epi, death was pronounced with the mother sitting at the baby's side. The mother held the baby for awhile and later I saw she was gone. The worst part is that she cannot even bring her baby home for burial as dead bodies cannot cross the border back into Myanmar. It was a sad day.
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