“It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease than what sort of a disease a patient has.” - Sir William Osler






Email Dr. Alice

 
Malawi and Other Matters

Hello. Welcome to my very dull Sunday afternoon, which I am spending at the office. I'm not studying at the moment, just trying to clean up a lot of administrative paperwork that I didn't get the chance to do this week.

It's been a busy July and August, for several reasons. Sadly, we have lost some of our staff over the last couple of months, including our office manager and a nurse practitioner who ran our diabetes clinic and did an excellent job. They decided to move on to other things, which is good for them but leaves me and the other physicians with less support; we're having to take care of more things on our own. We will eventually hire replacements, but I have no idea when that will be.

But I have other things to share with you. Let's see, there is Chuen-Yen's final email from Malawi, a link to satellite sightings of the orbiting space station, and a link to a couple who moved to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands for a year. They're writers and they moved there with their children - a new baby and a five-year-old! Amazing. I found their story in the L.A. Weekly, and of course as soon as I'd read it I started fantasizing about moving to the South Pacific. But I think the novelty would wear off fast, and I hate mosquitoes.

Chuen-Yen's email is appended below.


Hi there. I�m leaving on Weds. So, here are few last thoughts:

Malawi isn�t a big place. Nor is it very well known. However, it has become my universe. As I confront quietus of this watershed year, I can�t help but wonder how the memories will transform. To preserve an accurate framework for them, I�ve recorded some statistics. This year�s highlights are revealing.

In terms of toiletries, I used 1 bottle of shampoo, 8 toothbrushes and 200 meters of dental floss. I also bathed nearly every day.

Dabbles in media were consuming. I had thirty television programs aired; twenty were repeats. I also gave three radio interviews and wrote 22 newspaper articles. Small town publicity forced me to disconnect the phone, ignore the door and even flee Blantyre on numerous occasions.

BAH�s religious affiliation undoubtedly colored events. I attended church a dozen times, mostly at the beginning of the year. Innumerable engages bogarted me about faith, or lack thereof. I acquired one Bible and nine weighty devotionals.

My first servant was an antebellum experience. Gift cost about $20 per month plus food. He pilfered 2 kilograms of sugar, a liter of oil, 8 Larium tablets, 1 kg of salt, 1 towel, 3 forks, numerous writing implements and many undetected items. His antics were ample compensation for my losses.

What about big city life? Blantyre boasts zero movie theatres. Zero stores open at night. There exists one Chinese restaurant, one Italian bistro and myriad Indian eateries. Pets, particularly Testudines, are a foreign concept. Medical facilities are few. Qualified doctors are fewer; four internists, including myself, practice in the country.

For Malawi, where average life expectancy is 37 years, per capita income is US $120 annually and >15% of the population is HIV positive, numbers don�t tell the whole story. Laughter is ubiquitous. Hospitality is infinite. And friendship is non-quantifiable. This truly is the warm heart of Africa. Though Blantyre�s simplicity contrasts sharply with Los Angeles� sophisticated alterity, distances in our in our global village seem very small when you get to know your neighbors.

See you soon.

C

posted by Dr. Alice at #