work and other stuff

     I wish you could here the sounds coming from outside right now.  Each morning there is a moslem call to prayer at about 5AM or so.  Well right now it sounds like a bunch of guys trying to be a sort of Moslem barbershop quartet singing like the morning but in harmony, in my neighbors yard.
     There is not a lot going on at work because we still do not have a consultant Psychiatrist so right now we are screwed.  They took one of our doctors because they can and we have no one to fight for us. This is the system, we can't do ECT or keep aggressive patients so we have less than 20 patients right now.  We did write a letter to the Minister of Health who is from Badulla and I think is also the brother in law of the president or something like that, telling him how desperate we are, and how bad it is for patients who have to go far away from home for treatment. It has given me more time though to sort of just hang out with the staff.  Before I came I was told that there was a great hierarchy here between each level of staff. So far that is not actually what I am seeing, with a couple of horrifying exceptions, I find most of the staff to be pretty respectful of each other.  Staff are made up of 4 Medical Officers (doctors), 8 RNs, 2 Social Workers who actually aren't master's level yet but we are working on it, an OT and 10 Support staff who are called Minor staff which I hate of course.  The doctors aren't separate really, don't seem to expect particularly different treatment, know everyone.  That's not to say doctors don't get different treatment because they do.  The other day I went to another hospital with Dr. S. to see what other clinics are like and we go in this leather seated, plush car.  When the nurses go on home visits, we are lucky if we get a trishaw or an ambulance.  Nevertheless,  in some ways it's less hierarchical  then in the states.  People don't seem to value themselves as so much better because of their work.  Now there is probably a greater difference in thinking about roles between the Sinhala people and the Tamils and within castes in the tamil population which is just as crazy.  Anyway, I am feeling very fond of a lot of the staff.  The other day I fell ill, I'm OK, I think it was something I ate but the doctors and nurses were so sweet, several doctors came over to my home to visit and one of the nurses has been checking in.  The other thing that happened which is most disturbing is the theft of 2 signs I had had written to put up for the new support staff but really for all the staff.  I had one sign made in Sinhala and one in Tamil although that one hadn't been put up yet, I was working on convincing the nurse in charge that both needed to be there.  The sign said in essence:  Treat people with dignity, respect, equality and as you would a loved one.  One day, last week the sign was removed from the wall.  It disappeared.  All the staff were very upset about it and a few days later, the Tamil sign which was sitting there also disappeared.  The nurses got together and talked about it, the doctors and social workers, it was as if it was an affront to all of us.  Our social worker and his father spent one night trying to translate my english into sinhala and then Dr. S. worked on it and got another sign made.  I don't think that would happen in the US.
     The  Lankans love holidays or they love days off work so in these three weeks or so they take off for Good Friday, Easter, Tamil New Year, Sinhalese New Year, Poya (Buddhist) Day and more!  The New Year time is very special, sort of like Passover.  They clean their houses thoroughly, clean out the stoves, buy special ingredients, wash in a particular way and put on oils, cook and eat and visit parents but it is all determined to the minute by the astrologers who tell them when to do what on which day.  
     Oh I almost forgot, big, big news, literally around the corner from me they are putting up a resort/hotel with a restaurant and a pastry shop.  They actually have wonderful food, the rooms are beautiful, Ancy and I are in shock, this is Badulla.  Some rooms actually have AC and hot water!  They are around $20 a room.  It's a real restaurant, yippee. We had breakfast Saturday morning, she had dinner Friday eve.  Aside from that, I have now located wonderful hotels on beautiful tea estates, people could actually come to Sri Lanka and hardly ever have to pee in a hole in the ground! 
     Speaking of Ancy, I am on the lookout for a baby maker for her. She is 37 years old and really wants a baby, she'll take a husband but really wants a baby so now all the staff are talking about who they know that could make good babies!