A friend was telling me the other day about her experience on a medical mission in Haiti. In 2010 a catastrophic earthquake killed at least 100,000 people, maimed many more and destroyed existing infrastructure and services. Many countries responded with humanitarian aid. By the time my friend’s mission began, some years later, she witnessed examples … More The Frangipinis Above Me: Part 1
Perched on the toilet in an open air bamboo treehouse on a hillside above the seaside village of Kep last week, a short wall separated the smells and sounds of my dysenteric squirts from a sleeping Caz. I’m poolside at our Phnom Penh hotel now while she sleeps off her third bout of squirts in … More Sharing the Love Bug
Joe died in his home three weeks ago, unknown to any health service. His family do not know why he died. Joe also did not know why his legs became weak/deformed as a young child. All he could tell me when we met, was that he got a fever and then stopped walking “during Pol … More Where Love and Hate Collide
New Zealand’s South Island is a panorama of tiers stretching in a lengthwise direction roughly parallel with the coastline. Most prominent, at least initially, are rows of alpine summits piercing into blue skies or disappearing into woolly clouds. Dizzy heights descend into rolling forests and grassy slopes, which in turn meander into a patchwork … More Good Riddance For 2017!
Yesterday I resigned! After eighteen years of owning a permanent position with the same organisation, I bit the bullet. I will soon say goodbye to my salary, superannuation, annual leave, long service leave and an accumulated 34 weeks of sick leave. Those are the benefits I can think of immediately but there are various others, … More Love Your Luck
For thirteen days in Cambodia I was very busy. I visited the MSF project I will be working on from February, a similar public health program as I currently work on here in Australia but with many more issues to contend with. No doubt I will blog on that as and when I become involved. … More Thoughts from Alice Springs
An earlier blog post already talked of my first reunion with Paula and her family. The following Monday her mother had traveled home from Malaysia, where both of Paula’s parents are working as street vendors. I was invited back for a celebratory lunch. Dan drove his tuk tuk with myself and a local nursing friend … More Quick Cambodia Visit: Paula
Post-polio syndrome (PPS) is a condition that affects polio survivors years after recovery from an initial acute attack of the poliomyelitis virus. Most often, polio survivors start to experience gradual new weakening in muscles that were previously affected by the polio infection. The most common symptoms include slowly progressive muscle weakness, fatigue (both generalized and … More Quick Cambodia Visit: Joe
So many things happened in my recent whirlwind 13 day visit to Cambodia, only 2 months before I return there to live and work. There was no time to write about it while I was there and I barely know where to start now. I’ll post a series of chapters covering most of what happened. … More Quick Cambodia Visit: Kim
Almost every weekend I spend time chilling in front of the TV with Restoration Man, Grand Designs, Escape to the Country or one of many variants on the same theme. Cameras and a host follow a couple or family through their journey of building, buying, restoring or renovating a home in places like Australia, UK, … More Harsh Realities and Half Truths
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