Benjamin Miller
Account of travel and medical work in several countries in the course of a year.bmiller4764
Travel Blog Posts
January 3rd 2009
I have made it to Battambang, Cambodia as of a couple weeks ago and am already fully entrenched in my new job. The previous experiences I have had were fun and exciting. They allowed me an opportunity to see much of the world and essentially take an extended vacation under the guise of doing something productive. But in my mind I also wanted to use this year to gain some medical experience and become better at my job. I was a little worried that this was not going to happen. I am no longer worried. The organization I am now working with is called Emergency (South Africa, Malawi, and Bhutan were with Orthopaedics Overseas). Emergency is an Italian-based organization very similar to Doctors Without Borders (or MSF, Medecins Sans Frontieres, to the rest of the non-American ... read more
December 14th 2008
As Christmas approaches, I have never felt more out of the loop. Here on the beach in southern Thailand, the temperature exceeds 90 every day and afternoons are spent in the water or looking for shade. Rudolph is supplanted by longboats and mopeds and Santa would have to shave, lose some weight, and buy some cargo shorts. But to everyone back home pulling the coats and scarves ever tighter, let me assure you that my tan looks great. The rest of Bhutan was really very spectacular. We spent just over a week traveling via the main road in Bhutan with our guide and driver at an average of 30 km/h. Having someone show you around does take some of the adventure out of traveling, but it was kind of nice just to be purely tourists for ... read more
November 21st 2008
We have just one week left of "work" before traveling east a little into Bhutan for about a week. The quotation marks are necessary for several reasons. Similar to previous locations, "work days" are typically from 9 to 3. This is not unexpected and, now, not a novelty. I'm at the point where, if we finish at 3:15, I feel entitled to reward myself for all my hard work. I'm sure this newly embraced work ethic will translate well to my fellowship next year. Secondly, unlike previous locations, I have not touched a patient operatively. The design in Bhutan is for the volunteers to purely observe and make suggestions when appropriate. It has been fine, but it would get pretty old if this were longer than a month. Lastly, and most significantly, we have come at ... read more
November 5th 2008
It seems reasonable to keep this as an apolitical assessment of my experiences. Sometimes, however, events are too large for reason. Noor and I spent the morning watching the election results come in, trying to share in the excitement evident all over the country. I have never seen anything like this. Of course, the real work is yet to begin, but this is truly an amazing day. The one insight I may be able to add is that essentially everyone that I have come into contact with outside of America, both locals and travelers alike, have been hoping for an Obama presidency. I'm sure I will remain with a large smile and renewed pride in America for the foreseeable future. Also, I have been getting daily personal emails from Barack, Michelle, Joe Biden, and Obama's election ... read more
October 14th 2008
I was walking home from the hospital the other day, and had a strange feeling - normalcy. It's similar to when I realized that I stopped looking up all the time while walking around Chicago after moving there. This doesn't feel like home, but it does feel like I live here, however transient. The driving isn't intimidating, the vendors aren't annoying, the beggars aren't surprising, my lack of anonymity isn't new. The last week was probably my best since I left. I spent three days at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe. Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi, about the size of Blantyre, so it also serves as a referral center for much of the central and northern portions of the country. The catch is that there is no orthopaedic surgeon stationed there. All of the orthopaedic ... read more
October 3rd 2008
So here is a brief breakdown of the work experience in Malawi. Since I've been here (2 weeks) I have been exclusively at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre. It is the biggest hospital in the country and home to the medical school. The medical school has only been in existence for a few years, initially the graduating classes were 20-30, now it's closer to 100. Regardless, these graduating doctors are meant to see to the needs of the entire country of 12 million, a difficult task given the current numbers. Because of this Malawi relies heavily on foreign doctors, specifically surgeons. One guy asked me if I would be willing to stay for a year if they could get approval for it. I have a feeling that, when I said no, he asked some dude ... read more
September 24th 2008
Hi all. I have arrived in Blantyre, Malawi as of Sunday. It was a little hard to get information as I was on the road, so I was pleased to hear about the Cubs clinching the division and not as pleased to hear about the banking crisis in the states. Too bad I'm not still at Rush or I could have contributed some meal tickets toward the $700 billion bailout. It certainly feels strange to be so disconnected with the goings-on, especially with the debates coming up Friday, my favorite part of election years. Anyhoo, my travels are over for the time being and it definitely feels nice to settle into a place for a while. Blantyre is a small city, but relatively clean and with some nice amenities. I think I will like the program ... read more
September 11th 2008
So this is the first chance I've had in a while to update things. Currently I am in Maputo, Mozambique. This is a very pleasant city, lots of tropical plants, large trees with overhanging branches, old aesthetic buildings of Portuguese infuence. Not huge and asphyxiating like Johannesburg. Of course, there is the typical African street markets, beggars, trash strewn about, etc. But I have to say, that I am becoming more accustomed to all of that. For better or worse, it doesn't seem as unusual or dramatically discouraging to see dirty, shoeless children rooting through broken glass to find something of value. Certainly everywhere has its destitute, America is no exception, but it just seems to be overwhelming here. Anyhow, when I last signed off I was on the way to Durban. I ended up spending ... read more
August 27th 2008
These one month assignments (of which my first three - South Africa, Malawi, Bhutan - are) have within them the design to be essentially vacations for the volunteers. By that I mean that every weekend is free of responsibility. I like to think I'm as hard-working as the next guy, but if there is anything residency has taught me, it's that I like me some vaca. I spent my first weekend here in Mthatha, the highlight of which was watching some bizarre game show. Game shows and commercials are really a window into a foreign culture, showing you what they consume and are amused by. I don't know what they says about Double Dare and the Jared Fogel Subway campaign, but we are who we are. Regardless, after that first weekend I pledged it would also ... read more
August 25th 2008
It's tough to get these entries written in 1-hour internet sessions! I will put some pics of trips to beaches I have taken in a couple days, but I wanted to give a bit of an overview of day-to-day life as a doc here. This is actually my last week in South Africa, before traveling for about three weeks and ending up in Malawi, so I can also reflect and analyse. I imagine this will also be an evolution. The complex I am at is called Bedford Hospital. It is the orthopaedic hospital associated with a large complex in Mthatha called Mthatha General or Nelson Mandela Hospital. Bedford used to be a private missionary hospital, but the site has been taken over by the government. All of the orthopaedics in the region is done at this ... read more
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