Tag Archives: work

temporary rejection

i have to find a way out of my current funk. Unemployment is not sexy but people who urge me to “take advantage of the time” are surfing in shark infested water looking decidedly like baby seals. It isn’t because … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Multitudes

Reconciling my own feelings about working overseas in development is difficult enough. Is there harm done? To what extent? Is there good? Does it make up for the bad? I don’t believe good intentions are enough, that something is always … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

coming home to roost

Jeganda isn’t the brightest bird in the nest. When TQ, my roommate, brought her home we blamed it on the traumatic ride. After all, she’d been hung upside-down by her legs on the back of a bicycle. You can imagine … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

ICU revisited

The air is thick with the ash of trash fires and old engine emissions. It is like breathing gravy and my lungs stretch themselves to capacity to keep me conscious. Walking up the hill to mulago hospital’s other entrance, because … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

extortion

It is extortion. Beyond amoral, it is cruel. It is inhuman…not inhumane but actually absent of all humanity. The hospital TeaQueen took our friend to on Monday was holding him hostage with an ever rising ransom disguised as a hospital … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

the body of an accident

They were staring. Crowding and staring. When J was finally able to move from where he stood vigil over his cousin’s body, his view obstructed by a set of swinging doors and multiple rows of beds with people languishing in … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

road to kamuli

Kamuli Mission Hospital, Uganda The morning was cool. clouds coated the sky in patches, the sun still shining through as the women emerged a few at a time from inside the health center. Some smiled shyly, extending a hand, sometimes … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

ICU lament

She lay there. Still. Mechanical breath raising and lowering her chest with a slight pause – a stutter in the system. The monitors flashed green and red, moaned indecipherably, whirs and screeches that – unmet by rushing attendants – were … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

rocks at my window

Iganga Town, Uganda September 25, 2010 They smiled at me through my open window, me splayed out in the bed watching a movie on my laptop. I’d just pulled my earplugs out because I…I guess I heard them coming. Our … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

tongues and wandering uteruses

by 11am i had been taken advantage of…twice…and was starving and tired. the ride into kampala, which in waiting terms began before 8am, was relatively quick. of course it would have helped if i had printed the conference information. instead … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment