Swaziland! And some other random notes.

So, here I am in Swaziland. One of the countries with the highest HIV rates in the world. One of the richest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A very different place than I would ever have expected from that description!

The people are... hot. And friendly. And very funny. I think... you can stare at pictures of orphans with HIV all you like, but nothing will prepare you for, well, dealing with people. Individuals. Or a country rather than a continent. I was fully preparing to NOT be facing a stereotype. But I didn't realise it would be as idiosyncratic as it is.

This place is so quiet that the headlines here scream of the drabbest stories. "Man has sex with dog", "13 year old girl reduced to ashes". Everyone smiles at you and says hello. In a sincere manner. Amusing things happen on a regular basis. The doctors tell jokes about sex and religion. Children waste away because of HIV, and there you are, writing a prescription for HAART (combination therapy for HIV), thinking "there is something wrong with this". Babies gurgle, relieved after the doctor has, with difficulty, taken some blood for a CD4 count. It hails, and a girl working in VCT (HIV outpatients) accompanies me with an umbrella to where a research project is based, while we hope to avoid the lightning... Lightning causes a ridiculously high number of deaths in this country.

It's a good place. I could work here. People are overworked, but relaxed. It's depressing but fulfilling. It's... somewhere where I would be needed. Though, definitely a temporary stop on the way to the grave. But I really like it here.

My cousin and her family are very cool. I'm having a great time, and I'm not lonely at all! She's a bit... homophobic though. But in a way, to say that would be looking for things to be wrong with being here. Which there really aren't :).

Oh, and I went shopping in Singapore. Yay!

Last Day

From Last Week:

This is my last day in Sri Lanka, or to be more accurate, my last few hours. I shall be leaving tomorrow morning at a “sprightly” 7am.Do not be fooled, dear reader, for I have accomplished much over the past two weeks, despite my lack of diligence in regards to posting on here…My last 2 weeks in Sri Lanka were made a lot better by the appearance of a class full of local final year students, as well as two Melbourne Uni students in my year who were similarly on elective! They were fantastic, funny, good company, full of life, great translators and even better friends. If it were not for them, I would have been homesick and unhappy over here. I now have several email addresses and postal addresses shall soon have, hopefully, a copy of a photograph of 20 or so beaming medical students, all in their shiny white coats!I had a great time over here. From the sibling rivalry and mock fights and banter and random tickling with my little cousin Sasika, to the herd of buffalos that randomly grazed on our road, to the chaotic bus changes every day, to the lunchbox filled with delicious rice and curry and lovingly wrapped in a checkered cloth square by my Aunt, to the chocolate milk that tastes far better here… I have had what can only be described as a vivid and unforgettable elective.This morning, I arose from my bed in Kandy for the last time. My bags were packed meticulously, all my clothes (for a change) pressed neatly. We ate quickly before setting off. It has been raining, on and off, rather heavily, and the sky was heavy with thick grey cloud. We drove through the city of Kandy, which I now know well, past Mahaiyawa train station, over the hill, past the clock-tower, past the Kandy train station. Followed the tracks that ran alongside the new road to Peradeniya, and I saw the University and the hospital for the final time, as we turned away from the city. Down the famous road that winds down to Colombo- a heavy fog clung to the mountainside as we left that mountain citadel- and past the many stalls selling clay pots, then wickerwork, then cashew nuts, then (oddly, bizarrely) blow-up cartoon figures, empty because of the Poya day (Buddhist full moon holiday). Finally we had descended the mountain, and the road drew us closer and closer to Colombo. Heavy traffic went the other way, Colombo-dwellers heading through Kandy to Bandarawella, Nuwara Eliya and other places for the long weekend. Finally, as the numerous small towns we passed merged together into big city, we entered Colombo.I have seen my relatives in Colombo for the last time. As usual, I regret the brevity of my stay here. “Next time”, is what we always say.Tomorrow I shall be having a 12 hour stopover in Singapore during which I am likely to go shopping. In roughly a day and a half, I will be in Swaziland, meeting my cousin, for one of the first times in my life…

A Day in the Life

My shoes shined to a full gleam, my trousers pressed, my shirt ironed. Face scrubbed, teeth brushed, hair combed and tied up. Bag packed- rice and curry in my lunchbox, an apple, two notebooks, a bottle of water and an umbrella. This is how I started the day. I said a rushed "good morning" to my uncle, aunt and cousin Sasika. I sat to breakfast, ate my bread and cheese hastily, knocking back a couple of glasses of water. My uncle quietly read the paper, and my aunt rushed to get things ready. Sasika and the servant, Arungam bickered as usual, a strangely comic banter. My uncle, aunt and I exchanged a look of amusement and could not stop ourselves from laughing heartily. I finished eating, said a quick "see you later", and stepped out the door...

Our house, a new, affluent one, sits on a hill, overlooking an area that sits on the borderline between slum and poor neighbourhood. A designation of "slum" is, I believe, somewhat suspect, as most of these cobbled-together dwellings in fact have a television, all of them have electricity, and there is ready access to clean water and sanitation.

(A side note: Interestingly, Kandy is a racially diverse area. There are large numbers of Tamil and Muslim people here- Muralitharan (who is a Tamil) is probably the most famous alumnus of St Anthony's College in Kandy. I have several half-Tamil half-Sinhalese second cousins in Kandy, even!)

I walked briskly down to the bus-stop. The buses here, noisy, hot and packed with commuters, run every minute or so. I waited for a bus that was fairly free of congestion, then hopped on. I managed to squeeze myself into a seat within a couple of minutes. I got off near the clocktower, caught another bus that was heading to Peradeniya, and daydreamed some more.

Soon I was at the hospital. Today was the second day that the final year students would begin the last of two medical professorial appointments. We had a brief tutorial about pyrexia (fever) of unknown origin while we waited for one of the students to interview a patient with chronic renal failure. I surprised myself by knowing many of the answers. I was on fire! The student finished writing his history up, and we proceeded to the tutorial room...

---

"So, tell me what else can cause loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and malaise."

The registrar, our lecturer, narrowed his eyes, focussing tightly on the student.

"Ummm..."

You could almost see the beads of sweat on his brow. The student fidgeted nervously. His history was not up to scratch and the attention of the class was upon him.

"Anyone else?"

The classroom was almost silent, nervous whispers of thoughts passing back and forth like ripples in the current. Tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. A thousand answers rose in my head and fell back again, defeated.
The creak of the door opening. We turned to see that it was none other than...

"Brendan Whiting?!?! What are you doing here?"

So it seems I am not the only Melbourne University student in my year doing an elective here- who would've thought?