day 2: batu arang

arrived here late in the afternoon. the place is dead. almost like a cow boy town. but i kind of enjoy the peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. and the air is fresh except for the ocassional smell of fresh wet cow dung.

the NGO have a real nice set up here. the hospital is so clean. cleaner than most of the hospital i've been. the patients themselves clean the hospital up. there is a duty roaster set up and every patient has a role to play unless they are very ill or unable to move. and unlike most hospitals, there is a real feeling of closeness and bonding among the patients and staffs. . there is a burmese doctor and a volunteer french nurse here. they are the one who look after the patients and make any necessary appointments with UNHCR and the local hospitals.

most of the patients here are refugees from burma and nepal. most come with tuberculosis and work site accident injuries. there is a there is a 19 year old kid with Pulmonary TB and he weighs only 39kg. he is nothing but a pack of bones. another guy had renal TB so they had to remove his kidneys cause it was only functioning at 10%. another guy had to had part of his intestine removed 'cause of TB as well.

few other guys came in with fractures or crush injuries. this particular guy's story is pretty sad. he is a burmese refugee working somewhere in kl when he met with an accident and had an open fracture of his tibia two years ago. he developed osteomyelitis and it was not responding to medical treatment. the only option left was surgery but he couldnt raise the RM5K needed so he has been on external fixators ever since then. two whole bloody years. and because of that he could not seek employement anywhere.

the food here is actually not bad...if you are into hard labour. the amount of carb in the diet is crazy. i had a real HUGE plate of rice, some veg, dhal gravy, a piece f chicken wing that probably came from somalia (it was so bloody thin) and 1/10th of a chicken neck. but not to fear, the first thing i did was to scout the small town and i found quite a number of shops selling pork.

heading there for dinner now.