Atypical Days

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Each morning I walk a few blocks to the clinic from the house I am staying at. It is a short walk that takes a long time. The heat and Timorese pace seems to have slowed me down. On my way to the clinic, I enjoy greeting my neighbors and especially the children who love to smile at me and occasionally walk a few feet behind me shouting, "Hey malai" (foreigner). Once I get out of the alley like back streets where my house is, I emerge onto a busy street full of pedestrians walking to school, work and the market, many taxis and cars, and motorbikes. Although the traffic moves relatively slow, the potholes and number of cars and people make me nervous enough not to attempt to ride the bike I have access to in the mornings.

When I get to the clinic, we start the day with ward rounds with the doctors. Last week I went with the doctors to the tuberculosis ward to listen in. While there, I heard of a man who could not eat because of swelling in his throat and I offered to try to make him some very thin food. Putting the skills I learned in high school on how to make nutritious pureed food for elderly people in the nursing home, I went to the kitchen and managed to scrape something up. It took a while to explain to the women in the kitchen what I was trying to do but after a short while I had a thin shake made of milk, sugar, rice, and bananas. The elderly man was squatting outside of the ward and immediately began eating the watery meal I had made him, in fact he ate it all with very little help from me. I just squatted down next to him and kept encouraging him to eat slowly and to finish as much as he could. At least that is what I was trying to say with my limited Tetum, but the idea seemed to get across.

Yesterday after the doctors had visited us in Maternity, I was summoned by one of the nurses to the TB ward again. It seems that my friend had told the doctors that he was only able to eat when I brought him food. I shrugged and thought, 'Whatever keeps this man from starving.' He is incredibly thin and his eyes are hollow. So now each day I try to feed him at least three times and it is going very well.

Each evening I walk home after work and greet my housemates. Last night, I had a ton of energy and was feeling pretty courageous so I took out the bike I had been loaned by the clinic. The bike is old and very rickety and that combined with the treacherous roads made it an adventure for sure. Some of the potholes in the roads are at least 2 feet deep and just as wide. Most of the curbs are crumbling away and there are obstacles everywhere. Luckily, the drivers are more adept at avoiding hitting me than I am of avoiding being hit, but I did make it at least a few miles down the main road nearby. My next goal is to bike out to the sea.

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