Robert@PNG

Friday, 25th of November

Continued on from “Wagang Village : Series 2 (Part4)”

My 1st day back in Lae…

Had a great night's sleep in my own bed after sleeping on the hard floor in Wagang village for four nights. Got up feeling rested but my left foot was aching like mad. Could barely walk on it plus I could feel a little pain nodule emerging around the groin area.

I made a decision early in the morning and after my 1st coffee to contact Customer Care. Australian Volunteers International (AVI) have an arrangement with Customer Care and Chubb Insurance to provide medical assistance in cases of emergency to all volunteers posted in overseas.

In the tropics, cuts and insect bites can get out of control very fast. Infection therefore needs to be looked after as a matter of priority. When I got up in the morning and after noticing the nodule in the groin, I made a decision to contact Customer Care, just in case : I thought. After giving them all of my details and the condition of injury they made a decision later than day to fly me to one of the private hospitals in Port Moresby (Pacific International Hospital).

They rang me at 4pm to inform me of their decision and by 5 pm I had booked my flight for the following morning and also booked a taxi to take me to Lae airport (Nadzab). Part of me was hoping for a trip to Cairns but Moresby was fine. I knew that the cut wasn't that serious but I needed to get to good medical facilities ASAP before the infection got much worse.

I don't know how but I somehow managed to get into Lae town during the day and picked up some bandages and also some Panadeine Forte (can be purchased over the counter in PNG). When I got back from town, I made myself a coffee and sat down in the backyard after popping a few pain killers. I thoroughly enjoy the effects from any mind altering substance and after a few more pills and another coffee the pain in my foot was no more. Nothing like the land of nod to get some hard earned rest!!

And yes…  my stomach was still pretty full up with pek pek after my four days in Wagang and not doing any number two's. This condition saw me make a number of visits during the day to the ”Little House”  and by the end of the day my “sewerage” works were back to normal.

One of the things I reflected on this Friday was the amazing stamina and physical strength of the PNG national. Absolutely incredible. Interesting observation : the PNG men and women are physically stronger and more resilient than the white man but…  their life expectancy is much much lower than the white folks back in Oz. Why?