When I was 14 years old we traveled across the Tasman Sea from New Zealand to Australia on a family holiday. It was 1983 and one of the first international news items to enter my consciousness had been playing out on our tv screens. Footage of starving children in the throes of death had entered … More Third World Thoughts
This title describes perfectly, the existence of living with another culture. Most people, it turns out, will forgive you for being human. And nowhere is a person’s humanness so prominent, as during time spent with those from another culture. Misunderstandings abound, and only a minority of these misunderstandings relate to conflict. Most of them are … More Miscommunications Abound, as does Forgiveness
Last week some money was stolen from my bag by a patient who I left in my car, alone, with my handbag. Only about $20, and I know that he was hungry. I get why he did it, and because I can’t be sure of anything, as I only suspected something after he’d walked away, … More A Week in the Life
It’s ten years now, since I became involved with some local indigenous families. The first four years of my life, I lived in Alice Springs and had contact with indigenous people, some of which I have vague memories of; and for about four years in the 1990s I worked with indigenous people in hospital settings. But … More My Adoptive Family
13 August, 2010 Lunchtime today I got a call from Mutitjulu Community at Ayers Rock, from one of the aunties to the kids I know. “There’s bin bad luck <death>. Can you go over there and find out?”. Really, who? She guessed a couple of young men, describing them by who they’re married to as … More Unwanted flirt and unwanted bunny
It’s almost impossible to think of things to say on a blog with no audience! Obviously I’ve never been one to keep a journal, and I’m not a writer at heart. But I’ll persist for now, and see if practise makes it easier. I might try and make a post at least once a week, … More A Dog Act
A few days ago while visiting a camp, a woman I know called out to me from across the dust some way, to call an ambulance. I went over to the house and was waved in to the verandah, where I was confronted with the picture of a woman sitting cross legged beside a sheet … More Stumbling into Domestic Violence
I’ve spent a chunk of this weekend watching the complete first season of a show called The Wire, Set in the housing projects of West Baltimore, it’s a gripping picture of drug dealing, murder, and corruption, linking 16yo drug runners to corrupt politicians, showing the relationships that police have with each other, with their drug … More Some Town Camp Experiences
It’s almost impossible to think of things to say on a blog with no audience! Obviously I’ve never been one to keep a journal, and I’m not a writer at heart. But I’ll persist for now, and see if practise makes it easier. I might try and make a post at least once a week, … More Thinking of things to say
This is an essay I wrote some 10 or 11 years ago, as part of a Bachelor degree course in Nursing. It remains relevant, sadly, to this day. The health status of Australia’s indigenous people today remains far below that of the general population, with life expectancies comparable to India and Central Africa. Many nurses … More An Essay on Indigenous Health
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