Thailand post 6

Sorry it's been a while, they're keeping me busy here, as usual. I'll just pick up right where I left off, in Mae Sot:
After a free Sunday, I was able to spend another morning in the Mae Tao clinic, in the surgical department. I also took a break at one point to visit the Acupuncture Department, and it was really quite amazing. A German doctor runs the unit, and they see ~50 patients a day with quite a lot of successful cases. We met a man who a few months ago had a cement wall fall on him, breaking his back and severing his spinal cord near the bottom, leaving him paraplegic. He was early on in his treatment (only several days I think), and he was already moving his legs. It was more than incredible to hear story after story about these unbelievable recoveries that would never happen in the Western Medicine world, but here these patients were, coming back day after day to prove that whatever the medics were doing was working when nothing else had.
Later that day, we headed across the border into Burma. We got there at about 4pm, only to learn that the border closes at 5:30pm. We loaded into 2 tuk-tuks, and booked it to a few temples, in the pouring rain, before racing back to the border into [of course] sunny Thailand. Home sweet home =)


The next day, we left Mae Sot and headed north to the Mae La refugee camp, the largest of the Thailand camps for Burmese refugees. It was weird to be there, as an outsider peering in on the lives of people who are suffering, and for what? The camp is occupied by as much as 100,000 people (this is one of the NGO's estimates, although the boy who showed us around said 30,000, and the principle of the school said 70,000. A lot of the refugees don't register, and just sneak in, so no one really knows). Looking around, it was strangely beautiful-- with the green mountains jutting into the air serving as the backdrop for thousands of handmade thatch-roofed bamboo homes-- until you realize what injustice has created this place. Our plan was to work in the camp clinic during our visit, but when we arrived, the clinic director had left for an emergency and the visiting doctor in charge was afraid of getting in trouble (with reason: the Thai gov't has been very strict about visitors lately, ever since a group of journalist came through and bashed them for the conditions). Honestly, I was impressed (?) with the set up of the camp-- it really was more like a village than the shambled slum I had pictured in my head (it's been established for something like 30 years).


After that, we began our drive back to Bangkok, stopping in Kamphaeng Phet to sleep. When we continued our journey, we stopped in Lopburi (where monkeys have taken over the downtown ruins, seriously), and also Wat Pra Bhat Nam Put AIDS Hospice, which was quite nice as far as those things go.



We finally arrived back to the lung-destroying city of Bangkok, and have been going non-stop this week. We hit up the Department of Traditional and Alternative Medicine (part of the Ministry of Public Health, which is awesome), the Chest Disease Institute (TB is very common here), Songdhammakalayani Bhikkhuni Arama (a women's Buddhist monastery), and more. Right now, we're heading downtown to visit the Chinese Traditional Medicine Hospital, and tomorrow we'll be at the Dermatology Hospital learning about leprosy.


I was telling Warren that yesterday I felt pretty out of my league at the CDI. We met with a couple pulmonologists (chest Drs.) and went over chest x-rays of several cases in the hospital. They would ask for abnormal findings in the film, differential diagnoses, recommended treatment, etc., and I had nothing to give. It was definitely a humbling experience that showed me how much I have left to learn. Yikes.


But I cannot emphasize how much I have learned on this trip. And laughed. And been in awe [of landscapes, architecture, etc.]. The other day we ate dinner atop the tallest building in Thailand, and I realized just how large Bangkok is. No American city knows this scale (maybe LA?); it just never ends. So like I said: a learning experience (I've decided I don't like big cities…).

In a few short days, I will be in New Jersey visiting family, and this experience will be behind me. Thanks for the prayers and support-- it's been an amazing journey!

Girls Inc. Week 2

Hey Guys!

So last week was my second week working at Girls Inc. Things went great! The girls are absolutely hilarious. I mainly just did arts and crafts with them, which is interesting since I'm not really an arts and crafts person. Most of their stuff looked way better than mine. I mainly just stuck to operating the hot glue gun for them. We also decorated large water bottles that we are going to use for a penny drive for Pennies for the Planet. So all of the change the girls collect will go to helping to save wildlife.
One of the main things the girls are all working on right now is their routine for the talent show. Almost every girl is participating in one way or another. Most of the girls are preparing dance routines and lip singing performances. A few girls are going to sing for real...which should be really good. Anyways, it's a pretty big deal so I'm really looking forward to seeing what all the girls come up with.
This week the girls will be starting a garden, if the weather cooperates. It rained everyday last week so the girls couldn't start it at all. That is basically everything we are working on right now. Talk to you guys in a week :)

HoundHaven Week 3

~~Another week at hound haven and it has been so much fun. We have brought in 5 new dogs this week and one was a 5 month old puppy. The others were older lab mix's. I have gotten into some trouble with one of our new dogs. He is a hound/lab mix and a strond dog. He jumps up on all of us but not out of aggression but just to say hello. He is a massive dog so when he jumps it hurts. I now have bruises and scratches all over my body but I have yet to give up on him. Instead of giving up I just keep walking him and trying to deal with him. I have learned that to keep a jumping dog from hurting you is to turn your back on them. The back takes the brunt of the force and they can't hurt the important parts of your body like your face, chest, and most of your arms. There are times that I still get banged up a little but turning your back on them shows them that you will not pay attention to them when they are jumping and the dog will slowly learn not to jump up on the volunteers. I've also had to deal with some difficult people volunteering. Some of the volunteers have been there much longer than me but they still don't know how to do some of the chores as well as I have been taught. Thankfully I work every morning so I know those dogs better than anyone there. I know about what happened to them the day before and how their behavior has been that whole week. I am so thankful to be able to be with these dogs everyday and I hope that before I leave most of them are adopted or into foster homes and are all well taken care of.

The calm before the storm?

This week was a little bit slower than the others. Usually at the beginning of the summer the office of Meadowbrook Academy is full of things that need to be copied, filed, organized and moved around. So far, this has been what I have spent the majority of my time doing and because of that most of it is done! I spent some time this week making copies and transferring files but towards the end of each day everything was finished and I got to spend more time talking with the ladies that work in the office. The week was a little slow for the office ladies too so it was nice for all of us to take breaks together and just hang out.

Next week, the office will be closed and most of the workers will be on vacation. I will be spending my time with a few of the teachers and staff organizing the textbooks that will be used in the upcoming school year. It will involve lots of heavy lifting, moving, and time spent in the sun walking from building to building which will be work. The good news is once everything is moved into the correct location the school will be able to check a HUGE project off their list and I will get a few good workouts in!

HoundHaven Week 2

I am so happy this week. I am working so hard and I am finally seeing the rewards of what I do. Even though I only clean up and walk the dogs it is wonderful to see dogs go out to homes so that we have the ability to take in more dogs. I have been able to take care of dogs and then they get to go to home and I am able to start another relationship with other dogs and see how they are when they first come to shelter. These new dogs show me how they feel in this new place but thankfully we treat them so well and give them so much love that they adapt well in their new environment. These dogs have come to show me that even though they are in a kennel they are still happy because they have wonderful people loving on them. Of course there are many different kinds of people at the shelter that work in many different ways. It is interesting to see that there are people there that have been working at the shelter for many years and are not as excepted as I am and I have only been working there for a few weeks. I have made many friends and I am glad to provide my time for them. I have fallen in love with not only the dogs but the people as well. I have been able to learn about the dogs behaviors and I have given suggestions about the dogs and what needs to be done about the fighting in the yards. Even the owner listened to my suggestions and followed through with seperating the dogs that were fighting. I was glad to get to know the owner of the shelter and it felt good that she remembered me after she met one day. This shelter is teaching me everyday to love and cherish dogs that are in a bad situation and to not be afraid of big dogs or to even let them take you down or scare you. I love this shelter and the dogs and the people with all my heart now and hope to come back after the summer and keep working on weekends when I can.

~Rachael A.

Thailand post 5

Except for a few minor things, these past several days since my last post have been incredible. I'll get the negatives out of the way:
1. I am sitting here in bed, at 3:15am, sweating with khakis and a rain jacket on because i left my insect repellent in the car. I got probably 20 mosquito bites during my 3.5 hour nap before waking up for the game, which is bad news in the North where malaria and Dengue are floating around on the wings of these little annoyances...
and 2. USA is still tied with Ghana after 93 minutes of soccer...

But besides that, life is great! I left you with stories of night markets and pollution-filled runs, and now can add tales of elephant rides and clinic work.

So where did I leave off? On our day off after learning about occupational health in the Lampang Hospital, we ventured over to the Thailand Elephant Conservation Center to see some pretty amazing animals. Seriously, elephants are ridiculous, and we were only hanging around ASIAN elephants, which are much smaller than their African relatives. We couldn't leave without taking a ride, of course, and that was a lot of fun. To ride, two people get in this chair that sits atop the 'phant, and the only form of security is a little rope that goes across the front of the thing (think roller coaster, but much less secure). With every step I felt like I was going to slip off the seat and die. It was a lot of fun =)




On Friday, we drove up to Mae Sot, where I am currently sitting. After arriving, we went over the the Mae Tao Clinic (www.maetaoclinic.org), a displaced persons clinic (we are right near the Thainald-Burma (Myanmar) border, and there are a lot of displaced people, migrants, and refugees due to the ongoing political turmoil in Myanmar). Afternoons are slow at the clinic, so we took the opportunity to get a tour and get acquainted with the area.

We got back to the hotel, and Juriaan, Joey, and I borrowed bicycles to ride over to a soccer field for a pickup game. I think that was the funniest thing I've experienced in a while-- those were the crappiest bikes I've ever touched! Joey's was literally squealing as we rode the long 3 miles through town to the clinic, where we left the bikes and decided to go to a closer field than originally planned. oh my goodness, I laugh just thinking about his crooked back wheel and busted bearings...


So we walked over the the field where a few people were, and Juriaan's like, "okay, now we wait for a ball..." Haha. 20 minutes later, a ball and 10 more people arrived, and the 7v7 game began. I was the only female playing, and one of 2 white people (Joey Pedersen being the other), and I don't think I totally let my gender (nor nationality) down. Not TOTALLY. I mean, in no way could my performance be considered impressive, but I made a few steals and some good runs, so I'm happy. They definitely noticed I was playing. It was a lot of fun, and my knee didn't hurt a bit (YES, I thought of that before i started playing. I thought of it, and quickly decided not to worry about it. You only live once, right?)
After the game was tied 1-1 (probably...20 minutes?), the teams switched out (about 20 more people had arrived) and Juriaan and I headed to the volleyball court. This was a ton of fun too-- MUCH more laid back and much less competitive than the soccer. And it was probably 50/50 males and females. I should also mention that all [or most] of the people playing [both sports] were workers in the clinic, and almost all of them were Karen (a Burmese ethnic group). So even with Juriaan there to translate Thai, we couldn't communicate verbally, since they all speak some form of Burmese (Burman?) and practically no Thai at all. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and a truly neat experience to be able to relate to people of a totally different world through sport. (also, after soccer, Joey went on picture duty, but, if I may say so myself, could have done a better job of capturing the experience...oh well, you can still see the people, the dirt field, and get the general idea)



Then today, my friend Laura and I woke up early and went with Juriaan to the clinic. He worked there for 6 weeks last summer, and I think 2 weeks at the beginning of this summer, and was heading over before the rest of the group to get a full day's work in. We went to the surgical department, where she and I helped dress wounds for the rest of the day. It was pretty crazy. So much for that whole See-one-do-one-teach-one thing. It's just Do one here.


By 10am when the rest of the group arrived, and Catherine, Laura, and I probably worked on 15-20 patients from 10am-12:30pm. Mostly, we changed dressings (gauze, etc.), cleaned the wound (saline and/or Provodone), and put on new dressings, but there were also a decent amount of abscesses in need of lancing, draining, cleaning, and/or packing. Those were the worst, because you could just tell it was dreadfully uncomfortable for them. [[[parental advisory. skip next sentence if desired]]] There were also 3 men who came in to get bandages changed after deciding that an injection of coconut oil (i think) into their penis would result in enlargement...I'm not sure if it worked or not, but I'm pretty sure that after this ordeal they would much prefer a small penis than one with a skinless shaft. Yeah. Sorry if that was too much info for you non-medical folks.

But the day was pretty great. I was incredibly thankful for my prior experience in a non-American clinic (Honduras, last summer), because it made the adjustment much easier. The environment is so different-- can't speak with the patients (or the medics, really), don't have the same materials/instruments, nor anywhere near the level of sanitation-- but it's still medicine when it comes down to it. I also had the opportunity to walk around and talk to a worker about the water purification/drainage system, which was pretty interesting from a public health standpoint. It really is a vital aspect than many people overlook.

Well, I think I'm just going to stop apologizing for the long posts; I don't think they're going to be a rarity at this point... But it's 4am, and USA just lost, so I'm going to bed. Peace and love.

City Hall Week 4: IT

Hello! (This blog is actually on time this week!!!)
I spent last week working in IT, and out of all of the departments I have been too IT was the department that needed the most help. At city hall there are only 4 full-time employees doing a job that they need 10 people to do. So needless to say they had plently to keep me busy. My main task for the week was inventroy. Its one of those things that is important...and has to get done...but other, more important things get in the way of someone sitting down and doing it. So I got to. It was cool to see how IT controls, monutors, and maintains all of the computers and software the city has :)

On another note,
I am also working at the CSL this summer and have embarked on a new project: Stetson Beauty and a Movie.
As some of you know, Maria, Tycee and Mary have worked really hard this summer to re-organize all of our community partners. In there effort it has become appartent that a lot of the partners want a group of Stetson Students (mostly girls) to come in and show a movie and have a fun night of hair, nails and makeup...so I am working on a program that will be in place year round and hit one community partner a month! So if anyone is intested in getting involoved please let me know!!