I haven’t talked much about the classes that I am teaching, so caught up in the kids and daily life. But I want to say how much I am enjoying teaching the counsellors and, especially, the patients. When I first started a month ago, what I noticed most when I walked into the clinic were the sad faces and the helplessness of it all. It was overwhelming to think about how little they can do to improve their own lives. They must be patient, like the dad of the little girl with the distended stomach (who is having heart surgery btw). It just all felt so sucky and unfair — and enormous.
Their situation is still sucky but I have gotten to observe, interact with and come to know some of the patients and my perspective has changed a bit. For example, there is this one woman, who I think of as my assistant. She’s a 40 something spit-fire who is quick to laugh, burps heartily when the mood strikes her and repeats each of my fledgling Burmese phrases. It is thanks to her that I am able to teach about half the class in Burmese. Yesterday she showed me a picture of her and a young man who I took for her son. Nope…her husband. Go figure. She’s a total cougar. Just goes to show you: life is life, everyone has their own stories. And they are not all just sad tales of being country-less and poor.
I really like what I am doing. I only wish that I could do more. Here are some shots from the patient house from today.
