balancing act

Subsequent visits to the Bateyes have been less shocking and more as per my expectations. The Mobile Health Clinics enter the community bright and early, encounter a long line of patients waiting to see the doctor, there’s an intake/documentation system, the patient is seen, referrals written, repeat.

It’s not exactly fun to see the pregnant teens who’ve not had any pre-natal care and are in their 6th month. It’s painful to see people’s faces when they realize that the prescription they’ve just been given is in fact not available from the mobile clinic and that procuring such drugs will mean a long, long walk into the capital to spend money on drugs that are unaffordable. It’s terrible when at 3:00, after 8 hours and 40 patients have been served and the one doctor is ready to leave, a family of four show up wanting to been seen, yet are told they’re too late and need to wait until the next visit, two months later.

In comparison, it’s so easy to forget all this misery as soon as one leaves the Bateyes and returns to the Capital. It feels light years away. I’m guilty of forgetting too, given how much more comfortable it is to work here in comparison to other field assignments I’ve had the privilege of working on. Given that I’m enjoying my time spent here in which I’m NOT Working, and how permitted and encouraged this enjoyment is, it’s difficult to stay focused on the numbing inequalities and social injustices, when I’m not standing in the middle of them. What I really mean is that the comforts of the ex-pat lifestyle here - with friends, modern public transportation, lux beaches, and wi-fi – are keeping me significantly distracted from the misery and circumstances then I’ve ever been within a developing country.

And this blog has suffered for it accordingly. Evidently, it’s only when I feel able to compare things here with things somewhere else that I feel able to write something interesting. As I head into the field with surveys to implement and photos to take, I’m promising myself to stay more connected to the realities on the ground. Vamos a ver.

p.s. Is anyone even reading this?