Postmodern Happiness, Postmortems, Post Layoffs and "Watch that Post!"

I am supposed to think "Happy" this week.   At least, I have one good time.  

I have usually had a "trust walk" type of experience for my students.  However, with the fire and there being no building and everyone still feeling lousy, I redesigned the basic walk to the cafeteria and back.   Early in the day, I went to the cafeteria and brought 24 nice chocolate bars... and began my mission.  I had written out [even earlier that morning] directions involving 12 people and places throughout the complex that I was going to have the "blinded" students go to, either to get instructions or receive their reward.   Now I just had to make sure that those people wanted to play... Hence the extra chocolate bars... you can bribe almost anyone in Guyana.  Sure enough, everyone was glad to help after they had a chocolate bar in their hands.

I stole the number of tea towels required, and we were ready... They were ready too because we had given the students an exam in the 11 o'clock spot.   I had them pair up and they chose which one of them was the more adventuresome... So that one got to be blindfolded and the other was the guide.  I gave each of the blindfolded students a piece of paper with their directions on it of where they had to go in order to get the next directions.  There was a general rebellion about how they were expected to read it when they were blind.  I said that I didn't know and shoved the first pair from the classroom.    

Well, they had to find and ask people to read them the directions - and some people actually couldn't read my writing!  When they arrived at their first destination they had to say the magic word for the staff member to proceed.   So, after "Please",  the staff member instructed the students to switch the blindfold.  So those guides that were too tough on their patients... now were thinking that they shouldn't have laughed so hard.  After the switch the staff member gave the new blindfolded one a slip of paper with new directions.  [I tried hard to get the farthest possible distance between all the sites.]   When and if they arrived at the second stop and after the magic word, they got the chocolate bars. [At one second stop it seems that the staff ate all three chocolate bars .....]

On return, after a short time of writing a reflection, we had a discussion about trust, handicaps, responsibility of guides, nurses as navigators.   Then CEO Helen joined us for the discussion and was particularly pleased with one student who talked about hospitality of a hospital - as CEO's philosophy is that a hospital should be a hotel for people who are sick.   A really lively discussion.

 

One of the spin offs from the walk (besides confirming to all the staff that I had lost my mind - again) was that the complex was filled with laughter .....  It is still a sad and fearful place and for a few moments was a happy one too.   Pretty good for $20 worth of chocolate bars.  Now if the rest of life would be that easy ......

The Visit to the Morgue at the Georgetown Public Hospital for the Freshmen’s Rite of Passage was the same as always .....  and different.   This year I had the Sophomore Class asking to go [as I had missed teaching them – and it seemed that they also did not get any psychology or sociology and while they said that they had ethics, they had no recall of any ethics word – ugh.], so I had to beg to arrange their schedules to not be working that morning.   Well, as usual,  five minutes before the appointed time, there were three of the 31 expected students there… This maybe the only issue on which Tony looks normal compared to me.  I cannot figure for the life of me how people can’t get someplace at the time agreed.   Well, I guess it is a good thing that this is Guyana and even Dr. Singh was on Guyanese time and as he arrived @ 8:15, he welcomed me with a “Mind waiting a little as I need some coffee to start the day? …”  “No trouble, Nehaul, but I may have another body or two for you this morning!”  My students slowly meandered in the gate armed with the wonderful excuses that students have used  -I imagine – for centuries, such as:   “Rev. John, you never told us the Middle Street entrance…”  To which thankfully others said that I had written it on the board, sent an email, and said it at least five times.  Undaunted, and as if possessed by a Jumbie logic, the student responded calmly, “Maybe if you had written it 6 times, I would have known.”   I murmured to myself,  “Okay, Dr. Singh… I think she’ll be a fresh one for your autopsy today.”  

Dr. Tony led the students into the morgue as I waited at the entrance for the stragglers… and the no-shows [about half of the sophomores took the ”Chicken Exit” and went to work… So we had about 25 altogether.  It was a good thing that Tony went first because Dr. Singh had arranged to have a complete set of internal organs set aside so the students could look at them.”   And by the time that I arrived several of the students had gloves on and were examining and cutting open the heart, etc.,  with Tony  telling them the names of what they had only seen in their texts.     

There were three young people's bodies there and one child of a year old who was propped up like a “doll”… (this is how the students would describe her).    As to be expected the children were the most upsetting for the students… some of whom had their own young children.   And when they reflected later, these were to be the source of much wondering about life and justice – and defending of their god’s justice, love and mercy.    
One student reflected: "Even though I arrived late, I was intrigued by all those dead bodies just lying around, young and old.  My heart wept for the young unfortunate ones. I just couldn't understand why until I realized that Oh Yeah I have got a baby girl.  I'll do anything and everything possible with God's help to keep her out of harm's way. Anyhow, that's beside the point...."

Well, the joint was crowded with police and about a half-dozen senior doctors who were there for some of the younger children.    One of our paper problems had a patient who might have had Guillain–Barré Syndrome;  Tony had said – and the students remembered -- that no one should die of it… AND one of the children seemed to have done just that.   She had also come from the interior of the country – and that was part of our present PBL problem and the ethics of no health care resources there.     Our students became quickly so engaged in discussions of neurology that I only occasionally issued knowing “grunts”…  and with a silent prayer of thanks that Tony only needs half a nanosecond before talking – and is a lot more informative than anything neurological that I could conjure up.

Another interesting discovery was that the Sophomores did not know any neurology either… and so were less energetic in their questioning… though one or two were quite inquisitive, with one dedicating her career to be coming a pathologist.    Later, in our discussions back at Mercy I took the sophomores and led them in a reflection of what the experience had meant for them.   It took some time for them to be willing to share their thoughts and feelings as they “needed” to have the “right” answer.   Of course, their responses and feelings were as typical of any class that I ever had – it was just they weren’t used to expressing their opinions… and questions and wonderings.   In some ways, I felt more like a “dentist” pulling and scrapping…  I had given them a piece of paper and told them to just write some of their awarenesse's from the start of the day till the present; after ten minutes, most of them had written nothing as they said, “I don’t know where to begin and no one has ever asked me before…”   So they worked hard – at least between their ears; it was hard to find the words for their feelings and questions.   I gave them till Monday to write about their feelings and reflections.

We chatted for about 40 minutes and then I went over to the freshmen who were engaged in a gab fest of ideas, feelings, wonderings, neurology questions, remembering of paper problems.. [They had already written one or two pages from their experience.] I joined them and watched as one after the other expressed themselves.   It seemed that the only way it ended was that it was the lunch hour and they forgot that there was a test after that and as usual needed to cram.    I am still not sure that they know more, but the PBL method makes them more lively and more fun for Tony and me.    [I know some of you were wondering how autopsies were going to be happy.]

There was almost a tragedy at the end… I had promised the students that on the long grueling walk home of 6 blocks that I – as I have for the 7 times before – would buy a pop for each – and Tony – from my little pop-stand friend Paul.  When we got there, his stand was there but he wasn’t, so we waited about ten minutes and, the students were complaining of “cruel and unusual” punishment that they had to wait…  Well, I know how much 25 sales means to him, but we had to go…  [Wait, I promised happy.]   As we were entering Mercy Paul comes screaming up and says that he had had a puncture and could he deliver the pop to the classroom.  He did; the students were happy; Paul was happy – especially after I paid him on my way home; and, the rite was complete!  They could now tell the story of their entrance into nursing as the others before them had.

Nothings of Note

• As I write this Blog, I am sitting eating my breakfast of pickled onions and peanut butter on crackers… Ah! The breakfast of champions.  As I am sure that you remember, the freshmen had their Food Sale last week and no one had brought any pickled onions even though I had said that would be the only thing I would buy.  Well, one – my now most favoured – student brought in a jar of pickled onions just for me; however, I found out that Tony likes them too [though probably not for breakfast], so I had to share them.

• Tony and I will be hosting a gathering of all the Mercy staff who were recently "let go" at my home on Sunday afternoon.   We have an agenda that will allow them to chat about their experiences, describe some of the common feelings and thoughts on losing their job, explain some of the labour laws in Guyana, look at helping them articulate their skills, write an employment letter and resume, offer individual assistance and use the wisdom of the group to help others.   Mercy staff had written to the other hospitals and some major companies and sent the names of all the newly unemployed to them in case they were hiring.   I do know of at least 5 people who have been hired and a few more who have temporary positions.    I have brought the cookies [mmm, there will be leftovers; I did buy a lot of them] and pop for the meeting, so I am all set, except for the dogs who will go into their wild protective mode.   I am tempted to open the gate and just let them out on the street… I imagine they’ll come back to get fed.    

• I now remember why I couldn't be a Catholic again.... I was invited to address the trainers for a sex education programme for the RC diocese here.  It is to help the young people who will be peer counselors be able to teach the chapter in their book.   No problem there – until I got the book!   The chapter is filed with very accurate pictures [sorry – line drawings] of male and female genitalia,  the responsibility of have a baby and all the terrible diseases that happen to those who have sex and closes with the promise [A Pledge of Abstinence] of no sex before marriage.   There was no mention of sex or any sex behaviours at all!   Now I am known for my ability to do and say things that might not be exactly what I think… BUT… this was just too much.   So Tony is going to do the presentation… and his only worry is that the Catholics are going to be too radical for his beliefs!  

• Thanks for the assistance with my previous problem.  I thought the ideas so good that I shared them with my neighbours.  The man in the picture used to bathe naked with a bucket he dipped into the canal water beneath the boards in the sidewalk.  However, I told him that my son said he could also wash his underclothes if he left them on during his bath.   He agreed… and will stop in personally to see my son if he ever gets to Iowa.
• As a counter point to the first student's comments, another wrote: "My first 20 minutes of entering and being in the morgue was pure horror and HELL.  The images of the bodies were very obnoxious.  Standing away from the bodies and seeing the morticians cutting them to take out the internal organs was gross, disgusting and frightening.  My first reaction was "What the hell am I doing here?"  After about 10 minutes I began to feel upset, scared and started to cry and felt like I was going to faint away. I left the area with the thought of never returning.....   Some of my batchmates had put on gloves and examined closely the internal organs of a woman and also her brain identifying various areas of them and relating them to what was talked about on class.  Seeing the way the doctors discussed the cause of death was the most interesting events apart from seeing the postmortems which was still horrifying."

Have a good week... John

Over the Hump.. and Making the Turn

I was notified that I have already reached the midway point in my tour.   It has been a long time when I think about my loved ones and not seeing them... and yet it has rushed by with our tasks here.   We are right on schedule with our PBL; three major Problems completed and three more to do [though we haven't finished editing 5 and not started writing 6].   However, as we get "out and about" - people see us and they have requests for us to do all sorts of projects, classes, tasks, preaching...  We might stay the whole year and not come close to finishing them.

Actually, I could not stay a whole year.  First, I am not that dedicated and I miss my wife and kids and my easy life on the edge of the sea.   However, even if I didn't have any family and lived in Iqaluit, I could not live here permanently.   It is hard to implement change and even enthusiasm for change.   Oh, I can understand it, but I couldn't live with it.  There is a sense that if I [or Tony] do everything, people are happy... and if we didn't do anything, nothing would happen... until we decided to do it...and that includes when we return in 9 months. Ugh.

Some of the early attenders at King of Glory.  See Sylvia in the back row.. She came too see the mission fields and a free lunch.   They liked my multi-coloured stole -no need to know the liturgical season!

You know I can't really even start a good fight... Sunday I was invited to preach... and by the time the invitations were over... I was doing it three times in three churches all before noon.   Well the texts assigned for the day each had some interest... but I focused on the Luke 17 passage.  I better type it in full as my IPod audience  may never find it - even if they had a Bible:   [Warning:  You will not suddenly become Christian by reading something from the Bible.. though it does happen infrequently.]

 ⁷"Suppose one of you had a slave ploughing

or looking after the sheep. 

Would he say to the slave 

when he comes in from the field, 

'Come along now and sit down to eat'?  

⁸Would he not rather say, 

'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready

and wait on me while I eat and drink; 

after that you may eat and drink'?  

⁹Would he thank the slave because 

he did what he was told to do?  

¹⁰So you also, when you have done everything 

you were told to do, 

should say, 'We are worthless slaves; 

we have only done our duty.' "

It started when I noticed in the commentary that the slave-owning writers of the English translation thought that "servants" was a much more safe word than the "slave" of the original...  It may have been because I am in a slave-and-indentured-servant country - Guyana, that I wondered why Jesus would use a slave analogy for the parable “as if” it was a normal and acceptable life?  So I started looking and learning and I couldn't find one time that Jesus condemned the institution of slavery...  This had to be impossible!  As a child of the '60's, Jesus was the motivator behind our civil rights passions...Christ the Liberator.   Now it seemed a moral fiction; even the pros were not able to find as much as a "peep" by Jesus denouncing slavery.   

So I started in Matthew [actually, I finished in Matthew as there is only so much time if you start your sermon at 4am on the Sunday].  There sure is a pile of slavery examples but no condemnation: An Unmerciful Slave (18:23-35), Some Wicked Tenants (21:33-41), The Talents (25:14-30).  Actually, it was getting worse.   The last parable has the Master condemning a slave who didn't steal - he just didn't invest - thrown out into the darkness.   A definition of slavery - people as an economic commodity..   And the other two who did make a profit, did they do so out of love and loyalty, or more out of the same fear as the unprofitable slave.   I wondered how many of the congregation would use these stories to teach our children about the meaning of life.   Seems that none of the apostles, nor Fathers, did either... Paul was even more pro-slavery than Deuteronomic law in sending an escaped slave, Onesimus, back to his owner... a Christian owner, so I guess that made it okay.  

I happened to be chatting on line with a distinguished Maryknoll classmate who thought that Jesus' actions issued a challenge against slavery... if that was true, it sure took Christians a long time to accept the challenge... 1800 years... They make my troubles getting stuff started here in Guyana seem absolutely lightning speed.  Anyway, I talked about how I was confused and really didn't like Jesus at that point, but I would sure welcome someone finding out that I was wrong...   So far no one is knocking at my door… or email box.

Besides the heresy, my point was what do we do today... with slavery.  I think it was a previous President of Guyana, Forbes Burnham, who said that slavery hadn't died, it had just changed forms..  Not sure what he meant.. but I used his text to say that slavery does exist now... in the epidemic of spousal abuse in this country.  A woman is no more than a piece of meat or an economic unit that gets disposed of - as if worthless chattel.   And just like the slaves of old the burden and scars are borne on their bodies.   And then there is the still real trafficking in human beings in the Guyana interior, even the reduction of our children to economic units for the family whether through actual working jobs at age ten or seeing their grades as the sole value of their living…  

It is too late to change Jesus and his words - unless a new scroll is discovered, or a theologian who has been studying the problem for decades in a room without windows and only a dim light finds an exegetical manoeuvre to explain it all.  It is our turn.  If it goes on as it is, our great-grandchildren may call us slavers.    And some irreligious preacher may be incredulous that a generation that prided itself on being enlightened was so silent and accepting of its own slavery.  There is a drawing by Blake, “A Negro hung alive by the ribs to a gallows” [c.1792] that is similar in gut revulsion to the recent story here [not on the front pages of the tabloid because it wasn’t unusual]  of a young woman who was found headless and beaten in a canal. [In order to keep my “G” rating I'll only link to Blake: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32357038@N08/4882049473/ . And for my UU readers, there is a poem that usually accompanies the picture written by Robert Southey, “Sonnet 6”: http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/20160/ ]

The reasons for Jesus’ silence are an interesting point of hermeneutic curiosity; what are the reasons for our silence?  

On a similar note, though not as extreme, Mercy Hospital is forced to lay-off staff for the first time in its history.   The fire is continuing to take its toll on everyone; now there is the unknown of how many and for how long.   The idea of a “Mercy Family” is being shaken.   Those who will stay and those who will - in the old bull of HHS’s re-engineering - “have their futures freed up” need your prayers.    The Administration is doing its best and has talked to other possible employers to assist in the transfer of staff… and are trying to push ahead with the rebuilding.  It is hard in a really uncertain economic future both locally and internationally… and hardest of all is to be “just a” nurse or maintenance or dietary staff person. 

There was the death of a young Cuban doctor.  The cause of death was septic shock -- there was no Mass for her at her funeral.  She was a prominent figure here and was one of the docs responsible for getting the HIV programme started  at Mercy.   This sadness does not distract from other sadnesses; it is piled on top.   You all know the saying “the straw that broke the camel’s back”… well, sometimes it feels as if life here is just one piece of straw away from The Last Straw…

And at other times, it is a good place to be…   I will try to take a few happy pills before I write again.  ..or preach again!   Thanks for sharing my journey.

Notes About Nothing Much

• Any advice?   If you have ever read anything in my blog you know it is hot and humid all the time.  When I get home from riding my bike back from Mercy, my underwear is wringing wet.   Now my etiquette question.  When I am going out to dinner later, should I:  A]  just put the wet stuff on after my shower; B] rummage on the closet floor and find the dry ones from yesterday; C] Get a clean pair out and use those - though then I have the same problem the next morning - clean or used.    As a sign of my growing maturity, I had eliminated going "commando".  Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
• I don't want you to get the impression that I am the worst-dressed person here...   Anne made sure that the clothes that I brought were my best non-wrinkly stuff... I think so people I met here would not say what a bad wife she was... and I look like I am right out of GQ compared to the liturgist at King of Glory, Kavita.

• This is getting to be somewhat of a broken record... [Whoops, my young and way cool readers will have no idea what a "broken record" means... Think Fried Ipod!]  I will get around to a serious update on the Problem Based Learning approach that we are implementing here.   It is going great.. Too bad we can't get any one interested in even seeing it.   Well, not exactly true as the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport and me and my sidekick to see how the method might be applied at a residential Boys, Detention Centre on the Essequibo River.   We are getting nowhere interesting people in what we do know... so the role of a consultant who knows "dick" about residential boys' detention centres was right up our line... and in keeping with all the similar skilled consultants that the hospital paid a bundle for.   And it is a paid Road Trip!  

•  Life is almost always ambiguous.  [Notable exceptions are spouse and grandchildren.]   Do you remember my commenting on the blue-green strands (they look exactly like seaweed… though that is not something I really want to consider) that regularly appear in my tap water and what a benefit they are to me as a reminder not to drink the tap water… Well, they also clog up my shower!   Ugh.

• Today, Saturday, is World Food Day [and World Hand Washing Day] and is the culmination of the Freshmen nurses Nutrition Course and they have a Food Sale… [The cafeteria closes, so there is no competition.]  Now the students – or their mothers – cook up a storm, as well as decorate the classroom with all the vegetables and fruits of Guyana.   It is a major event in the grading of the batch – visiting staff always compare it to their own – usually superior -- freshmen try.   All the food stuff will disappear down to the last mango… Of course, the profits go to a good cause – The Christmas Party for the Class.    I tried using my sainted mother’s guilt-ridden expression of, “What about donating it to all the hungry children in the world?”  and they told me, “Rev. John, we are the hungry children of the world!”  Funny thing: I think we said the same to my mother… Poverty must be a relative thing…. And it also depends on whether it is Lima Beans, too.   Well, they did have a petition for all to sign to end hunger... or something.