Louise came to visit last weekend. She had spent 2 weeks in her village - the only barang - and as she works in health to, with the same delightful challenges, she was in need of some respite. So we pledged to have 48 hours of not being volunteers, it went something like this.
Louise arrives and hires a bicycle that actual moves forwards when you peddle. This was a fascinating insight for a us & confirmed our fears that VSO bicycles are in deed completely crap. We then cycled to the Gecko Cafe - Louise in one rotation of her peddles, Katie and I madly peddling away just to propel ourselves an inch forward.
Now the Gecko cafe is set on 1st floor level in a typical french colonial building where you sit out to eat on the veranda. The food is good but as meals are $4-6 us VSO-ers/Battambangers would never dream of going there - far too expensive. But this weekend we WERE NOT volunteers so we tucked into a 3 course meal.
Then off to the market to get our nails done before cocktails at Maddison's. There was a 'beach party' theme weekend which involved a lot of sand on the floor and deck chairs. There was a paddling pool where you could magnetic fish and have a 'lucky dip' prize. The staff there were insistent that I go for mickey mouse which after intense concentration and lack of any natural manual dexterity (I blame the cervical cord compression) I managed to hook mickey mouse AKA a free beer - the top prize - bless the staff for failing to understand the basis principle of a lucky dip.
The day was finished off in Battambang's one and only indian restaurant - it opened last month to much excitement but with the average meal costing $5+ its another no go area to volunteers. The food is fabulous and very authentic so thank god we weren't volunteers for this weekend. Although Katie did save half her meal to take home and have the next day which is a bit volunteer-esque.
The following day we were too full to eat breakfast and spent the morning on my veranda drinking coffee and talking about the joys of volunteering in health, capacity building in a developing country. So this was being a volunteer but as its completely necessary to de-brief and share experiences this one is allowed.
Then it was off to the pool at the Khemera hotel - which we had virtually to ourselves - and half a day of complete relaxation and minimal swimming. Then for some reason I got it into my head that what we needed was a hot stone massage, after all Cambodia isn't really hot enough already. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was quite simply the most terrifying, painful and 'hot' massage I have EVER had. Facebook friends will have seen the photo of the burn over my right scapula as a result of the 'really quite hot' stones. The masseuses could barely hold the stones, doing a comedy hot potato routine each time they picked one up, you could feel the radiant heat from the flannel they used from over 1 metre away - I exaggerate not! Still we rationalized this is what non-volunteers do- right?
Burnt, crippled and a little scarred for life we headed to the Bambu Hotel for happy hour, check it out (http://www.bambuhotel.com), it is where my sister, brother-in-law and nieces will be staying for Christmas this year & because they are kind, lovely and generous people, so will I. It turned out to be a happy 4 hours with free cocktails from the manager (it pays to hang out with two beautiful young women!) and as we were not volunteers for the night and were a little bit intoxicated we actual found ourselves declining free drinks from the guests who were offering.
Payment of the bill involved scrapping together every last 100 riel note to make the total after Lou assured us she had enough money to lend us before realising she had spent most of it. We then weaved our way home on our bikes, laughing hysterically at the fact that Katie paid $3.75 for chips and felt glad about it, the 5 cocktails clearly having no effect on our sense of humour or ability to cycle straight.
Packing Lou on the early Siem Reap bus early the next day, feeling the burden of monday morning, I had no idea how therapeutic the last 48 hours would prove to be.
I have started charting my mood on a website called moodscope, I heard about it on a podcast & thought it would be an interesting exercise to undertake whilst volunteering. Surprisingly first thing on Monday morning I reached an all time low of 40% but as the week went on it crept up until it was 75% by Friday. Two main factors I think have contributed to this - the first is of course the un-volunteer weekend, this was a turbo charged morale boost. The second however is much more subtle and is the little, tiny, baby steps that have been made this week in work.
It is hard to explain but they include Dr L agreeing for me to use a case from his ward to teach URC staff to do a proper M&M (morbidity & mortality review), I quote "If it's for you, of course" - for me anything!
Another example was sitting preparing for the paediatric M&M on the paediatric ward & me suggesting perhaps rather than me & the other two NGO workers sat in one room writing a presentation whilst the two paediatricians sit huddled defensively around the notes of the M&M case in next room, we could all sit together. Then followed an hour of open & productive discussion; as I sat watching the only two paediatric doctors for the second largest hospital in Cambodia there seemed to be something strangely familiar about them. They both looked tired, harassed, wrinkles of concerned etched to their foreheads, large black rings of disturbed sleep under their eyes and their shoulders sagging a little. Dr M told me about his failed attempt to resuscitate the malnourished 21 month old with TB meningitis he would be presenting at the M&M, he had tears in his eyes. Then it hit me - they looked like most of the doctors I worked with in the NHS. These guys care, they work bloody hard, they come in on their days off to check up on their patients and significantly they are well supported by three separate NGOs, capacity building really can work.
My personal highlight of the week involved sitting in on the first meeting between maternity & paediatrics. Currently paediatricians don't attend any deliveries and their is little communication between the 2 departments. Unsurprisingly neonatal mortality rates (NMR) are high in Cambodia. But there I sat in a meeting watching the first lines of communication being made. J & I were the only barangs and we were staying out of things but I had a burning question I had to ask, "What is your neonatal mortality rate here?". They didn't know the answer. I suggested that if they knew what it was they could then have a baseline from which to measure the effectiveness of all the interventions they had been discussing for the last 2 hours, hell there could even be a publication in it for them. I thought this comment had been disregarded but 30 minutes later Dr M told me they were still discussing NMR data and how this could be used to monitor interventions. But the important thing was it was no longer my idea, they had taken ownership of it, it was now their idea and they were going to act on it (hopefully). Little, tiny, baby steps.
Louise arrives and hires a bicycle that actual moves forwards when you peddle. This was a fascinating insight for a us & confirmed our fears that VSO bicycles are in deed completely crap. We then cycled to the Gecko Cafe - Louise in one rotation of her peddles, Katie and I madly peddling away just to propel ourselves an inch forward.
Now the Gecko cafe is set on 1st floor level in a typical french colonial building where you sit out to eat on the veranda. The food is good but as meals are $4-6 us VSO-ers/Battambangers would never dream of going there - far too expensive. But this weekend we WERE NOT volunteers so we tucked into a 3 course meal.
Then off to the market to get our nails done before cocktails at Maddison's. There was a 'beach party' theme weekend which involved a lot of sand on the floor and deck chairs. There was a paddling pool where you could magnetic fish and have a 'lucky dip' prize. The staff there were insistent that I go for mickey mouse which after intense concentration and lack of any natural manual dexterity (I blame the cervical cord compression) I managed to hook mickey mouse AKA a free beer - the top prize - bless the staff for failing to understand the basis principle of a lucky dip.
The day was finished off in Battambang's one and only indian restaurant - it opened last month to much excitement but with the average meal costing $5+ its another no go area to volunteers. The food is fabulous and very authentic so thank god we weren't volunteers for this weekend. Although Katie did save half her meal to take home and have the next day which is a bit volunteer-esque.
The following day we were too full to eat breakfast and spent the morning on my veranda drinking coffee and talking about the joys of volunteering in health, capacity building in a developing country. So this was being a volunteer but as its completely necessary to de-brief and share experiences this one is allowed.
Then it was off to the pool at the Khemera hotel - which we had virtually to ourselves - and half a day of complete relaxation and minimal swimming. Then for some reason I got it into my head that what we needed was a hot stone massage, after all Cambodia isn't really hot enough already. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was quite simply the most terrifying, painful and 'hot' massage I have EVER had. Facebook friends will have seen the photo of the burn over my right scapula as a result of the 'really quite hot' stones. The masseuses could barely hold the stones, doing a comedy hot potato routine each time they picked one up, you could feel the radiant heat from the flannel they used from over 1 metre away - I exaggerate not! Still we rationalized this is what non-volunteers do- right?
Burnt, crippled and a little scarred for life we headed to the Bambu Hotel for happy hour, check it out (http://www.bambuhotel.com), it is where my sister, brother-in-law and nieces will be staying for Christmas this year & because they are kind, lovely and generous people, so will I. It turned out to be a happy 4 hours with free cocktails from the manager (it pays to hang out with two beautiful young women!) and as we were not volunteers for the night and were a little bit intoxicated we actual found ourselves declining free drinks from the guests who were offering.
Payment of the bill involved scrapping together every last 100 riel note to make the total after Lou assured us she had enough money to lend us before realising she had spent most of it. We then weaved our way home on our bikes, laughing hysterically at the fact that Katie paid $3.75 for chips and felt glad about it, the 5 cocktails clearly having no effect on our sense of humour or ability to cycle straight.
Packing Lou on the early Siem Reap bus early the next day, feeling the burden of monday morning, I had no idea how therapeutic the last 48 hours would prove to be.
I have started charting my mood on a website called moodscope, I heard about it on a podcast & thought it would be an interesting exercise to undertake whilst volunteering. Surprisingly first thing on Monday morning I reached an all time low of 40% but as the week went on it crept up until it was 75% by Friday. Two main factors I think have contributed to this - the first is of course the un-volunteer weekend, this was a turbo charged morale boost. The second however is much more subtle and is the little, tiny, baby steps that have been made this week in work.
It is hard to explain but they include Dr L agreeing for me to use a case from his ward to teach URC staff to do a proper M&M (morbidity & mortality review), I quote "If it's for you, of course" - for me anything!
Another example was sitting preparing for the paediatric M&M on the paediatric ward & me suggesting perhaps rather than me & the other two NGO workers sat in one room writing a presentation whilst the two paediatricians sit huddled defensively around the notes of the M&M case in next room, we could all sit together. Then followed an hour of open & productive discussion; as I sat watching the only two paediatric doctors for the second largest hospital in Cambodia there seemed to be something strangely familiar about them. They both looked tired, harassed, wrinkles of concerned etched to their foreheads, large black rings of disturbed sleep under their eyes and their shoulders sagging a little. Dr M told me about his failed attempt to resuscitate the malnourished 21 month old with TB meningitis he would be presenting at the M&M, he had tears in his eyes. Then it hit me - they looked like most of the doctors I worked with in the NHS. These guys care, they work bloody hard, they come in on their days off to check up on their patients and significantly they are well supported by three separate NGOs, capacity building really can work.
My personal highlight of the week involved sitting in on the first meeting between maternity & paediatrics. Currently paediatricians don't attend any deliveries and their is little communication between the 2 departments. Unsurprisingly neonatal mortality rates (NMR) are high in Cambodia. But there I sat in a meeting watching the first lines of communication being made. J & I were the only barangs and we were staying out of things but I had a burning question I had to ask, "What is your neonatal mortality rate here?". They didn't know the answer. I suggested that if they knew what it was they could then have a baseline from which to measure the effectiveness of all the interventions they had been discussing for the last 2 hours, hell there could even be a publication in it for them. I thought this comment had been disregarded but 30 minutes later Dr M told me they were still discussing NMR data and how this could be used to monitor interventions. But the important thing was it was no longer my idea, they had taken ownership of it, it was now their idea and they were going to act on it (hopefully). Little, tiny, baby steps.
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| Bloody Hot Stone Massage burn |
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| Beautiful Nails - works of art |
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