Someone is burning the remnants of a fallen tree on a side street near the hospital. Thick smoke billows out, giving a hazy hue to the torrid air. As I cycle through the hospital grounds I wish I could photograph the family of four parked on their motorcycle under a tree. One child stands on … More Cambodian Revelations
I’ve left work behind for a few days of rest and recreation in the city, my main aim being to have the mop of discoloured shaggy hair on my head revived into something half-tolerable again. Witnessing the suffering of our patients is often heart-wrenching and this week the severe chicken pox blistering of a patient … More Pedalling Phnom Penh
Disease incidence rates are defined as the number of new cases of a given disease in a given period of time, per population. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2012 Swaziland had the highest global incidence rate of Tuberculosis at an estimated 1349 people per 100,000 population. South Africa came in second at 1003/100,000. … More World Tuberculosis Day
For much of my time here I feel harrowed by the situations I see people existing in. I regularly have to talk myself out of the tears which threaten to surface as I realise the significance of the poverty I’m witnessing. But the smiles on the faces of those who own these situations usually manage … More Observations of Poverty
My brother is profoundly deaf and his primary communication is sign language. Living in a hearing world he manages to get by with spoken and written English, but his grammar and style are very similar to that of someone with English as a Second Language (ESL). His communication struggles can be extreme at times as … More Monolingual Me
A motorbike carrying four people is not unusual but I was slightly surprised to realise that Dad, driving, had one arm on the handlebars of a bicycle being driven home alongside the family. Ten year old boys line up two or three behind their underage driver alongside young families and crowds of teenagers. One father … More Driving Cambodia
Today I had the good fortune to experience some World AIDS Day health promotion activities in the hospital, coordinated by our TB Control Program staff. I attended the HIV Ward with two of our Social Workers and met with each patient briefly at their bedside, providing each person with a gift of healthy hot food … More World AIDS Day
Motorbikes ruin photography here. You get a great shot lined up just in time to photograph the handlebars of a moped, or a chain of blurred bodies moving across the scene you’d intended which saunters out of sight before you can re-focus your lens. Some dedicated photography sessions will be needed to get a few … More Riverside Ramblings
The evenings in Kampong Cham come alive with young people on motorbikes. Three riding abreast equals at least six teenagers socialising as they cruise through the streets. Five is the most bodies I’ve sighted on a single moped to date. Helmets are an optional rarity. Another regular sight is these wooden wheelbarrows which have many … More How Many Cambodians Does It Take to Ride a Motorbike?
As with my observations in East Timor last year, the average Cambodian adult weighs in the vicinity of 45 to 50kg. When ravaged by Tuberculosis, as so many here are, this average can plummet and it’s not so unusual to see adults weighing as little as, or even less than, 30kg. In East Timor I … More Weighing in on Cambodia
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