I’m back in Mt. Hagen again after a training session in Fatima, but I’ll talk about that later. First I’ve to talk about our new department, which is the intermediate ward. Patients with a little more money to spend on their health use this ward. After a lot of resistance from other departments, because they didn’t want to move, we managed to move our department. Seen here as we are getting it ready for the first patients.
Our old department is now filled up with people who have all kinds of medical problems. If things work out all right we’ll have our department back in the beginning of next year, because the new building will be ready at this time. But knowing PNG I’ll not have my department back by the time I’m leaving PNG. We still have our office luckily, because moving that would cause a lot of paper shifting.
Right then, the training sessions in Fatima. I could finally do that what I wanted to do since the beginning of my placement. Educate and train CBR volunteers. This would to my opinion be 50% of my work in PNG; helping volunteers to help other people in their community. The setting of the training is great. I had been there before, when I visited the center in the time when the “Brothers of charity” where still there. Due to some problems they are no longer there and it’s now a place to train CBR volunteers. The surroundings are dreamy and tranquil, perfect for training sessions.
While being trained the volunteers maintain the garden you see in the back. The gardens supply some of the food being prepared during the training. Fantastic concept I’d say. I came in to train on two subjects, first aid and early intervention. First aid you’re probably familiar with, but early intervention is a term used for the detection and treatment of children with neurological problems. It is also for informing the parents of these children. By chance I met Angela, she was the six-year-old daughter of one of our cooks. I never met a child with a promise in her eyes. Intelligence was readable in her eyes. She taught me how to pronounce and write tok melpa, which is the local language here in Mt. Hagen. More surprising is that Angela has no hands and legs.
She has feet directly attached to her hip. It’s amazing to see what she can do with it. Play cards, write or plucking grass was all being done with her toes. If I was getting annoying she would head butt me. Unfortunately she wasn’t going to school due to transport problems. Mozes (the CBR coordinator I’m working with. Also a VSO volunteer) will try to arrange something for her to go to school.
It was nice to be a part of the classes given. The first time I was lecturing in tok pisin and it went well. The setup of the workshop was great. I have an understanding of how to setup a workshop. It’s different from the lessons I was used to prepare as a lecturer at the physiotherapy department.
I wasn’t the only one lecturing. We had some other people coming in to talk about some common disabilities. This week Thursday I go back to Fatima and I’m taking one of my colleagues with me. She is going to take over early intervention. Always keep the magic word “sustainability” in your mind. In developmental work you need to think about when you’re going back home. Somebody has to be there to take it over.
And in between of all this working we had time to make some artsy pictures. PNG people make excellent models. Highlanders have almost no body fat and they are very sturdy build. I have to make a not here by the way. If you’re an old highlander you small and almost frail. If you’re a highlander in the upper echelons of PNG society you’re fat. Anyhow, I feel hands are very powerful. Combine a physio with a photographer and you have somebody who loves to take pictures of bodies. Oh yeah, ignore the white hand in between. I don’t know how it got there 
