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Exploring the known and unknown
Day 30
20/5/2013
Hanoi- Verdriet, anger and frustration
I have been thinking a lot about my reason for being here at this time, perhaps it is some kind of mission I am not aware of. I have also been thinking about Tommy a lot. Totally helpless in a hospital with (for us) incompetent doctors who go out on their scooters wearing a face mask to protect themselves from the dust and pollution of the streets and who do not wear a face mask went the treat very sick people or in this case a very sick little boy. The mind boggles. There are rubbish bins outside where dirty nappies are deposited. They sit inside the bins at 37 degree heat perhaps all day before they are emptied. The same doctors and medical staff often leave the outside door ajar so insects can just fly in at will. Lucky that Vietnam is almost void of flies. It this would happen in Australia there would be hell to pay.
I rang Eddie this morning who said he needed to do things and see some doctors so we would meet in the afternoon.
Hanoi is a busy place and lost of things are happening all the time. Best to get on the bike and ride in a certain direction and make random turns to see where you end up. As it was I wanted to go to the ethnological museum but alas it was closed on Monday's. The use of a GPS make you stupid so finding my way without though the maze is hard except one learns to recognize some landmark like two very tall buildings being constructed by the Lotte Corporation. Lotte is for Korea what "Meyers" is for Australia or Vendex is for The Netherland; I had had dealings with them in the hazy past.
Around lunch time I spotted the buildings and headed towards them as Eddy had given them to me as a reference point. Close by was the small lake where we had met before. I found the little eating place again and had another excellent $2.00 meal including a beer. (Ever since Thailand I have started drinking beer again; possibly something to do with the heat.)
I met Eddy at the little waterfront place and had a Vietnamese coffee and a fresh coconut. Eddy had just received a list of NEW bacterial infections Tommy had acquired while in hospital. He was angered and frustrated and even said didn’t mind dying himself if it could save his boy. It was time for me to be a listener and let Eddy vent is anger and frustration. I am the only person he has to talk to beside the few Vietnamese he knows in Hanoi. The limitations of these people have to be seen to be believed. It could very well be that a doctor could not even read a simple roadmap because : Why should he ? he never goes anywhere and he knows the way from home to work. The people are not the blame but the inadequate system does . I see it, communism in its true form has gone wrong. Everything has to do with Power and Money. Anything can be done as long as you speak to the right person and can show the money. The result is that the country runs on handouts and paybacks which can be summed up in word only and that is Corruption. Hien joined us and the desperation was showing in her eyes. She keep head strong but…
I stayed in last night to try to write my thoughts down but as usual people start talking to me.
This morning I had noticed and greeted a young girl. I had seen a few times before and noticed that she was always in the same spot. This morning she was sitting at a table wearing shorts resting her leg on a chair when I noticed deep lacerations from her knee to her hip. A massive wound; but all dried up and healing. I asked what had happened but got no reply. There was a bit of noise around so I repeated the question... no answer. Too engrossed with her computer I thought and left the building.
Tonight she was still in the same spot and I sat across from her as I needed the nearby power point.
The penny dropped when I spoke to her. She was deaf and dumb, came from Belgium and travelled on her own. She was 23 but looked 17 or so. How brave. She came from Belgium so we could communicate in Dutch. A few weeks ago she had had an accident on a scooter. All was healing well except an infected wound on a foot. Obvious not all that impressed with the treatment she received in the hospital around the corner she had just decided to play a waiting came and let things heal by themselves but now had been stuck on a wooden chair for a few weeks. She mentioned that she may have to go back to hospital to get it looked at. I told her: “don’t go back there as you may end up with then you have now and added that I had an extensive first aid kit and that I would look at it in the morning. My hat off to her, yes deaf but definitely not dumb.
20/5/2013
Hanoi- Verdriet, anger and frustration
I have been thinking a lot about my reason for being here at this time, perhaps it is some kind of mission I am not aware of. I have also been thinking about Tommy a lot. Totally helpless in a hospital with (for us) incompetent doctors who go out on their scooters wearing a face mask to protect themselves from the dust and pollution of the streets and who do not wear a face mask went the treat very sick people or in this case a very sick little boy. The mind boggles. There are rubbish bins outside where dirty nappies are deposited. They sit inside the bins at 37 degree heat perhaps all day before they are emptied. The same doctors and medical staff often leave the outside door ajar so insects can just fly in at will. Lucky that Vietnam is almost void of flies. It this would happen in Australia there would be hell to pay.
I rang Eddie this morning who said he needed to do things and see some doctors so we would meet in the afternoon.
Hanoi is a busy place and lost of things are happening all the time. Best to get on the bike and ride in a certain direction and make random turns to see where you end up. As it was I wanted to go to the ethnological museum but alas it was closed on Monday's. The use of a GPS make you stupid so finding my way without though the maze is hard except one learns to recognize some landmark like two very tall buildings being constructed by the Lotte Corporation. Lotte is for Korea what "Meyers" is for Australia or Vendex is for The Netherland; I had had dealings with them in the hazy past.
Around lunch time I spotted the buildings and headed towards them as Eddy had given them to me as a reference point. Close by was the small lake where we had met before. I found the little eating place again and had another excellent $2.00 meal including a beer. (Ever since Thailand I have started drinking beer again; possibly something to do with the heat.)
I met Eddy at the little waterfront place and had a Vietnamese coffee and a fresh coconut. Eddy had just received a list of NEW bacterial infections Tommy had acquired while in hospital. He was angered and frustrated and even said didn’t mind dying himself if it could save his boy. It was time for me to be a listener and let Eddy vent is anger and frustration. I am the only person he has to talk to beside the few Vietnamese he knows in Hanoi. The limitations of these people have to be seen to be believed. It could very well be that a doctor could not even read a simple roadmap because : Why should he ? he never goes anywhere and he knows the way from home to work. The people are not the blame but the inadequate system does . I see it, communism in its true form has gone wrong. Everything has to do with Power and Money. Anything can be done as long as you speak to the right person and can show the money. The result is that the country runs on handouts and paybacks which can be summed up in word only and that is Corruption. Hien joined us and the desperation was showing in her eyes. She keep head strong but…
I stayed in last night to try to write my thoughts down but as usual people start talking to me.
This morning I had noticed and greeted a young girl. I had seen a few times before and noticed that she was always in the same spot. This morning she was sitting at a table wearing shorts resting her leg on a chair when I noticed deep lacerations from her knee to her hip. A massive wound; but all dried up and healing. I asked what had happened but got no reply. There was a bit of noise around so I repeated the question... no answer. Too engrossed with her computer I thought and left the building.
Tonight she was still in the same spot and I sat across from her as I needed the nearby power point.
The penny dropped when I spoke to her. She was deaf and dumb, came from Belgium and travelled on her own. She was 23 but looked 17 or so. How brave. She came from Belgium so we could communicate in Dutch. A few weeks ago she had had an accident on a scooter. All was healing well except an infected wound on a foot. Obvious not all that impressed with the treatment she received in the hospital around the corner she had just decided to play a waiting came and let things heal by themselves but now had been stuck on a wooden chair for a few weeks. She mentioned that she may have to go back to hospital to get it looked at. I told her: “don’t go back there as you may end up with then you have now and added that I had an extensive first aid kit and that I would look at it in the morning. My hat off to her, yes deaf but definitely not dumb.
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