Dusty Dili

27 June, 2011. Between Timor Leste and Micronesia, heading NE approaching the equator. We’ve completed the mission in Timor Leste and are underway to the Federated States of Micronesia. The conditions in Timor were different from the previous missions in several respects. This is the dry “winter” season in Timor (winter solstice occurred south of the equator), and Dili is on the dry leeward side of the island. So our days were hot, dry, very dusty (they haven‘t paved paradise yet), usually with a decent breeze in the afternoons to blow the dust over everything and everyone. It appears that most families cook over wood fires, trash is burned, and other fires of non-obvious origin are burning most of the time, so the air quality was bad from the dust and smoke. Little wonder that most of our Timor patients complained of cough and runny nose, because we were experiencing the same. Hydration was even more important here because the sweat was dried away before you realized you were sweating. Unlike the lush greenery of our previous mission sites, Dili’s landscape looks much like California’s coastal mountains in summertime. However, the personnel who traveled by helicopter to remote clinical sites on the windward side of Timor reported that it was cooler, moister, and a thick fog rolls in around 2 PM. Very few Timorese speak English, and unlike Pidgin, Tetum is not similar to English, so we relied on our interpreters to communicate with our patients. Most of our interpreters were university students - either local Timorese majoring in languages or Indonesian medical and nursing students volunteering with the NGO HOPE Worldwide (a separate group from Project HOPE). Unlike the previous mission sites, there were only a few dozen patients waiting for us to arrive each morning instead of many hundreds waiting, however the Timorese arrived at a steady pace throughout the day and we were usually able to see everyone that came to the sites. We saw over 1200 patients at the main clinic on last full day. The medical conditions differed also - e.g. many more upper respiratory complaints in Timor and fewer lower extremity wounds. I was lead nurse for the 3 days at the first Dili clinical site, so I was on my feet in the sun for the entire days trying to ensure that all nursing functions went smoothly - I now have full appreciation for my compression socks, 50+ SPF sunscreen, and a 3-liter Camelbak hydration bag filled with electrolyte solution. Our multi-national military and NGO nursing group are a delight to work with, and we gelled quickly considering that most only arrived a few days earlier during crew change in Darwin.

The Dili Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 7K occurred while we were here, and I volunteered with a multi-national first-aid team at the medical tent at the finish line. It was a big, festive event with several thousand runners/walkers/wheelchairs, including about 100 from our ship and hundreds of exuberant school kids. I heard that the men’s division of the marathon was won by a Kenyan while the women’s division was won by a Timorese. The race started at 6:30 AM around sunrise, and by the time most people were finishing the temperature was in the mid-80s. We treated more than a handful of runners for heat exhaustion, some of them requiring IV fluids for rehydration.

My liberty time in Dili was spent browsing through the local handicrafts market, which consisted primarily of hand loom weavings remarkably similar to those of Central America, climbing the 585 +/- 5 steps up to the statue of Jesus Christ standing on a globe atop a promontory overlooking the harbor, and enjoying refreshments on the beach or at a beach-side restaurant. The sunsets were spectacular red. See pictures on Flickr.

We’ll be crossing the equator on the evening of Monday 27 June. The ship had a line-crossing ceremony for Pollywogs (sailors crossing the equator for the first time) on the southbound crossing between Hawaii and Tonga, but unfortunately for those of us who came aboard afterwards no ceremony is planned for the northbound crossing. Apparently King Neptune won’t recognize me as a Shellback in the absence of a ceremony or certificate. I foresee another equator-crossing trip in my future to remedy this. I’ll be spending mornings during our passage to Micronesia volunteering in the ship’s medical ward where I continue to see interesting illnesses and injuries. It’s hard to believe that the mission adventure is nearing the end and I’ll be home in a month’s time.

Cheers to all!