Raj and Lois in Timor

Brief updates on the week that has just passed: I spent the mornings at the Centre for National Rehabilitation (CNR) in Becora. It's a beautifully neat and well-run day rehab centre (with dormitory, no inpatient wards) entirely staffed by Timorese physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, orthotists and social workers. I met the Rehab lead, a cheerful senior physio who had trained in Indonesia. His love for the work is infectious. I was assigned to supervise Dr O and Dr P from the Family Medicine (FM) training programme- one lean and sinewy, the other burly and squarish, like characters in a 相声 . They have a lot of ground to cover in this four-week posting (the first and fourth weeks are on rehab, the middle two on Nutrition and Interventions in Domestic Abuse). I am proud of them for fighting through a great deal of condensed Adult + Paediatric Neurology this week. My first moment of joy – when Dr P grinned from ear to ear as he successfully performed the mano...

R and I just finished a week of intensive Tetun. 4 hours a day, for 5 days. (I achieved my short-term goal of being placed in the same class as R, hooray!) In the afternoons, we work on various projects- R on a strategic review, me on the manual for village workers. On Tuesday, I delivered my first tutorial to a group of 20 Timorese doctors who are in training for a postgraduate family medicine diploma. On Thursday, I went to a lovely clean rehab centre in Becora, on the east side of town. They deliver physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and prosthesis and mobility aid manufacture and training. Kapaas , super. We met J today, who advised us to 1) be patient 2) remember to invest in relationships 3) understand that trust takes time We are house-hunting. The dry season is turning to the rainy season ( tempu udan ), though our tutor explains that this intermittent light rain is not the true tempu udan but a preceding tempu haas funan - mango flowering season.   My ref...