Thanks to those of you who have emailed or written, much appreciated!
Adopted Yolnu Family
Hi, my name is Wangirri (meaning grey heron bird). I am from the Dhurrkay family, part of the Wangurri tribe, and my skin name is Bangadee.
Last week I had the privilege of being adopted into a Yolnu family by one of the “Strong Women” workers at the Health Centre. I’m still learning what it all means, and who all my relatives are, but it has opened up a lot of doors into the community. One of the first questions people ask is have you been adopted; then proceeds a lively discussion of how you are related to them, who you know, and where you live.Going Bush
On the weekend, my ‘ngandi’ (mother) took me out bush to her Homeland. With 10 of us piled in (and on) a ute and we bumped over the sandy track up to the north end of Elcho Island. The scenery on the way was amazing – lots of wildlife, beautiful flora, and many little bushfires cleaning up after the cyclone (last wet season). The day was spent at a beautiful beach: fishing; netting; catching crabs; cooking damper; lots of eating; swimming; and snoozing under trees. I came home hot, exhausted and somewhat red – and looking forward to next weekend!
Crocs, crabs, cockatoos and other cool creatures
My curiosity has been having a field day out here with so much to explore. Wildlife is such an example. The other day I spotted a frill-neck lizard, who liked me so much he opened his frills and blew me a kiss (or was it a hiss, hmmm). Black cockatoos, hawks and sea eagles are regularly spotted gliding overhead. Dozens of crazy little hermit crabs scurry over the wet beach sand. Fish fill the waters, and I’ve even spotted dolphins leaping out in the sea.
But most exciting was my discovery down at the beach the other morning. It was the first time I’d visited this particular beach, and as I scrabbled down the rocky cliff overhanging the beach, I spotted a black rock-like object just offshore. When it fully surfaced and began gliding towards deeper water I realized it wasn’t a rock, but a crocodile – and a big one too. Being familiar with Steve Erwin’s efforts as the Crocodile Hunter, and with “see one, do one, teach one” running through my head from medical school, I hurried down to get a closer look. [This is the part where I’m meant to bring the story to climax with a dramatic escape from the jaws of death. However, that may be pushing creative license a little too far. So I’ll leave it at that, and allow you to form your own satisfactory conclusion.]Health
Work at the clinic has got rather busy lately – as I’ve taken on a few little pet ‘projects’. These involve: Men’s Health; Rheumatic Heart Disease; and Hepatitis B infection. You heard about my role as the “Men’s Health Sexpert” last letter, and the jobs just grown since then.
Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) is a serious condition involving heart valve damage following a simple throat or skin infection. The highest rates in the entire world are recorded among TopEnd Aborigines (for reasons unknown). A number of kids got picked up with heart murmurs (possible RHD) at a recent school screening, so my job is to follow them up and make sure they get seen by a Cardiologist. This is proving more difficult than it sounded – when I visited the school last week not a single one was in attendance. I was told that they “could be anywhere in Arnhem Land” (such is the mobility of the population here).
Hepatitis B infection is also very common up here in the TopEnd (estimates as high as 10%). While acute problems are not too bad, Hep B can lead to liver cirrhosis, failure and cancer later in life. Until now, chronic Hep B carriers on Elcho have not been followed up adequately and no testing has been done on their household contacts. [The mistaken logic has been that Yolnu here don't live long enough to get the complications] So over the next 3 weeks I’ll be attempting to follow up all the Hep B carriers and their families as I can find. If all goes well, I’ll have a workable protocol to leave behind. The Darwin CDC (Centre for Disease Control) are the authority on this sort of thing up here, so I’ve had lots of guidance from them thankfully.Newsbites
There’s been a few significant happenings outside of my TopEnd experience recently:
- My sister, Serena, has just got engaged to Matty King (a top bloke and close family friend in Tassie). So huge congratulations to them! And best wishes for planning next year’s wedding and move to China!
- Job offers for Internships next year have just been released. After a difficult choice between two very different jobs (Alice Springs District Hospital, Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne), I’ve accepted a job at Monash Medical Centre. So I’ll be based in Melbourne for another year, hopefully with a couple of terms at rural Victorian hospitals.
Plans
Last email I listed some plans for my stay here – here’s how I’m going:
- Visiting communities out in the Homelands – fly out with Homelands Health on Tuesday
- Meeting the Traditional Land Owners – yep
- Going bush, maybe even some hunting and fishing – yep and will do more
- Playing basketball and footy – footy yes, b’ball not yet [Footy was a real experience. Picture 50 guys on a dirt/gravel oval, shirts vs skins, all in tussle. It was the first time in footy I’ve been outrun by so many other guys. Had an awesome time – returning with cuts, grazes, bruises and a layer of red dust covering me. Loving it!]
- Lots of beach and swimming – yep, and more planned
And here are some for the coming weeks:
- More of the above…
- Visit the Men’s cultural centre
- Spend time at the school
- Establish the Hep B management and screening protocol
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