FUN AND GAMES

     Just heard Osama Bin Laden is dead.  I am glad about that but I am not jumping for joy.  The world feels, America feels, so dangerous to me now..anyway, not what this blog is about today.  I have been putting off writing, not sure why but maybe it has something to do with the fact that all of a sudden I have hardly any time left here.  I don't feel miserable but I don't feel happy.  It is happening too fast.  When I made the decision to leave after 1 1/2 years, I was feeling like it was enough, I had done what I could do and as time went on I must admit, I had done as much as I wanted to do.  Then, I don't know, there is so much to do, I have so many reports to write and meetings to have and things to do, I am running out of time.  I have my e ticket home, I have my final meetings set up at VSO and yesterday, Anne one of the volunteers I am friendly with, offered to have a goodbye party for me at her home in Colombo before I leave and I am thinking, I just had going away parties in the States, it feels like yesterday..Staff here are really sad and I know that it is highly unlikely that I shall ever see these people again and now I am sorry I am not staying until December but I suppose it would feel the same then as it feels now.  Ironically, in the last week I have met several new volunteers who came after January and  I just had an opportunity to spend time with them.  4 of them (2 volunteers and their spouses) are Canadian..finally I felt like I was with people who spoke the same language as me, we had a great time together and well, this is life I suppose..so to cope, I am dangling carrots in front of myself, I have several weeks booked to travel already when I go home as well as James Taylor tickets at Tanglewood.    Oh well, fiddle de de, I shall think about it all in November.
     What I wanted to describe to you is what happened here over the Sinhala and Tamil New Year a couple of weeks ago.  Dr. S. had described to me that in his family meaning parents, wife, siblings, cousins etc. they celebrated by having "fun and games".  He described essentially the kind of games we play with children at birthday parties:  pin the tail on the donkey, greasing poles and trying to climb, ring toss etc.  He was describing adults doing this..doctors..and I so wished I had been invited. (Actually I had been but was in the Maldives that day).  Anyway, that week on the ward I was informed that the Friday program for staff and patients was to celebrate New Years and we were going to have FUN AND GAMES!!!  It was amazing, we played 15 games:  pin the eye on the elephant, fill water bottles with water and drink it, run to balloons and blow them up until they burst, be blindfolded (staff member) and feed yogurt to a patient, potato sack races..you have to imagine staff and patients participating together in this activity in Badulla, Sri Lanka where staff stands when the psychiatrist comes into the room and patients sit and do nothing if the doctors want to suddenly call meetings..it was marvelous.  It reminded me of those old films of 1910 or so at county fairs where life wasn't so busy and complicated and people played games and had picnics.   The greatest part of it though was that even though only 4 staff members not from psychiatry were informed to come to the program, about 50 or more ended up coming because word got around the hospital; even the head Matrons of the hospital showed up.  Also stigma is always a problem in the field of psychiatry and especially at a place like ours and because of holding this activity outside, many families, patients, visitors from other departments could see us and watch how normal the patients were and how we all interacted without fear. Anyway, it was so much fun and we were all adults..how is it that in the west, these activities are only for kids' parties, we are so very sophisticated aren't we.  
     Well it is 10:30 am and I am not at work yet, getting texts asking if I am coming..I shall miss that a lot.