With all the traveling I do, my iPod keeps me sane. I enjoy listening to audio-books and also downloaded news, music and fiction programs.
1. Escape Pod - one of my favorite programs, with new science fiction short stories every week. They also have some affiliate programs - horror stories on Pseudopod and the soon to be launched fantasy program, Podcastle.
2. BBC has a whole bunch of great feeds - I download the two daily news programs on Global News Hour from BBC's World News Service, plus 'From our Correspondent' and documentaries. Check out their podcasts page. They even have football news in Mandarin; wish I could understand Mandarin.
3. I love science, especially astronomy. Astronomy Cast has a great weekly podcast. This past week, the topic is "How Big is the Universe?"
4. Quirks and Quarks, presented by the CBC is another fun listen.
5. When I lived in the US, I listened to National Public Radio all the time. When I moved to Asia, I had to deal with the loss of my main addiction. For a while, Audible had the programs, "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition" but they stopped offering these downloads (apparently copyright stuff) and I listen to past programs when I have a broadband conncetion. However, NPR offers many podcasts such as NPR Books, NPR Science and Health, Story of the Day and World Story of the Day, all of which make me very happy.
6. NYU has a Wagner Public Service podcast is a recording of the school's speakers program which explores different aspects of social issues, such as their "Conflict, Security and Development" series, which is very thought-provoking.
7. Podrunneris a great podcast for exercise music. DJ Steve Boyett puts together mixes in various speeds that stimulate any intensity of travel, from walking to fast runs. There's a new intervals podcast as well as groovelectric, with a R&B and Motown flavor. I read some time ago that running or exercising to music does help to keep you going.
8. Lifehack has a podcast. I often look at the blog to get ideas on making my team work more effectively.
9. Since I also try to write science fiction, a few writers podcasts that I enjoy. Writers on Writing has interviews with writers; I just listened to an interview with Ursula Hegi that I found very inspiring. Writing Challenges, from the University of Warwick, has thoughtful ideas on approaching writing. The Odyssey Writing Workshop has selections from their annual writers' workshops. All good podcasts presenting thoughts on the nature of writing.
10. And one of the best podcasts is Science Talk, a weekly series from Scientific American. They present interesting interviews from people who wrote the feature stories in the magazine plus the funniest quiz show called "Totally Bogus."
There are lots lots more. Podcasts, which you can probably say is another child of globalization, help me keep my mind active while traveling!
Most of these programs can be accessed by iTunes, so all you have to do is search podcasts in the iTunes music store, or subscribe on the websites by clicking the iTunes button and everything is set.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Pakse morn 11 mar
After our long trip down here to Pakse yesterday, I got up early to stetch my legs cramped by the journey. This is a landing for short distance passenger boats at the confluence of the Xedon and Mekong rivers. A Chinese temple is on the point at the other side of the river.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Long trip today
We got out of the office late, and just arrived in Pakse, where we're having dinner, a few beers and some internet.
This village was collecting funds for their temple:
And the kids having a good time stopping cars to accept our donations:
and the sunset:
This village was collecting funds for their temple:
And the kids having a good time stopping cars to accept our donations:
and the sunset:
List #10: Ten Rivers whose sources are in Tibet
The whole is interconnected. Years ago, rivers facilitated travel and trade. Now, we call it globalization with three dimensions that define it - spatial, temporal and cognitive.
There is more movement across borders - both tourism and elective travel though also the flight of people across borders, either looking for work or looking for a safe place to live. Airports that were built just a few years ago have to be expanded because of need. UNHCR estimated that in 2000, there were 22 million refugees fleeing conflicts across the world (this is before the war in Iraq; UNHCR also does not include internally displaced people in its figures).
Temporal aspects of globalization includes the ever decreasing amount of time to communicate. I remember when I first worked in Thailand in the mid 1980's - communication was by telex (this was even pre-fax days), few houses had telephones (had to wait in line at the first stores that had telephones), and even letters took several weeks or a month to arrive (if they got there at all). Now, with internet, people can learn quickly about things that are going on. I get e-mails all the time requiring immediate responses (no more luxury to think). People on the street can send their cellphone videos and images to CNN. Everything is immediate.
Cognitive aspects of globalization refers to the exchange of ideas and is probably the most important dimension. My staff communicate by IM and chat rooms with other people in other countries. I can do my continuing medical education programs on-line and teach medical topics by researching on the web. It's exciting - and threatening.
On 10 March, 1959, the people of Tibet rose up against the Chinese who came to liberate their country. The Dalai Lama himself had fled across the mountain ranges to India. On this day, demonstrations have started in China, protesting Chinese occupation. This will be a story to watch.
But to get back to the topic - my list for the day. Back in the old days, the rivers that connected the world were physical ones, not the rivers of the internet. Here's a list of the rivers that start in Tibet, which were and still are the main arteries for transportation and trade. These are the great rivers of Asia - and my own Mekong is one of them:
1. The Mekong is the 11th longest river in the world, stretching 3,032 miles from the Tibetan Plateau to the mouths of the Mekong in Vietnam. Because of rapids and shallow water conditions, it's not navigable along its whole length - though long sections are open to river travel. The Khone Falls divide the river near the border of Laos and Cambodia; an endangered species of freshwater dolphins live around these falls. With globalization, there have been efforts by all the countries along the Mekong to take advantage of it - by damming the tributaries that serve it and blasting the rapids, which can have a devastating effect on the fish species that need the rapids to breed.
2. The Yangtze is the third longest river in the world - 6,300 kilometers in length. It starts in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau and exits China at Shanghai; it is fed by more than 700 tributaries. The Three Gorges Dam has had a major impact on the environment of the river, as well as causing human migration (displacing more than one million people) from communities along the banks of the reservoir. (Update: a Scientific American article details the issues in which the Chinese government is now admitting to the environmental changes caused by the Three Gorges Dam)
3. The Yellow River is the sixth longest river in the world, 3,398 miles in length. It is referred to as the "Cradle of Chinese Civilization," where the first communities developed because of its favorable growing climate. Like the Yangtze, it is being exploited through the building of dams (12 are noted in the Wikipedia article). In recent years, the river flow has decreased, affecting people who need the river for their livelihoods. History and culture link.
4. The Indus River - is the most important river in Pakistan, and flows along the driest areas of the world along its 1, 976 length. A picture of the delta is here.
5. The Brahmaputra - is the major river of Bangladesh and India along its 1,800 mile length.
6. The Ganges River is 1,557 miles long and flows through the most densely populated areas in the world, providing their water for drinking, cooking and bathing as well as being a religious shrine in motion.
7. The Salween River is unique - there are no dams along its course, and it is the longest undammed river in SE Asia. The river is not navigable because it runs through isolated countryside, high cliffs and rapids. However, there have been proposals - and opposition - to dam the river, which would provide more wealth to the Burmese junta.
8. The Yarlung Tsangpo River is the source of the Brahmaputra.
There is more movement across borders - both tourism and elective travel though also the flight of people across borders, either looking for work or looking for a safe place to live. Airports that were built just a few years ago have to be expanded because of need. UNHCR estimated that in 2000, there were 22 million refugees fleeing conflicts across the world (this is before the war in Iraq; UNHCR also does not include internally displaced people in its figures).
Temporal aspects of globalization includes the ever decreasing amount of time to communicate. I remember when I first worked in Thailand in the mid 1980's - communication was by telex (this was even pre-fax days), few houses had telephones (had to wait in line at the first stores that had telephones), and even letters took several weeks or a month to arrive (if they got there at all). Now, with internet, people can learn quickly about things that are going on. I get e-mails all the time requiring immediate responses (no more luxury to think). People on the street can send their cellphone videos and images to CNN. Everything is immediate.
Cognitive aspects of globalization refers to the exchange of ideas and is probably the most important dimension. My staff communicate by IM and chat rooms with other people in other countries. I can do my continuing medical education programs on-line and teach medical topics by researching on the web. It's exciting - and threatening.
On 10 March, 1959, the people of Tibet rose up against the Chinese who came to liberate their country. The Dalai Lama himself had fled across the mountain ranges to India. On this day, demonstrations have started in China, protesting Chinese occupation. This will be a story to watch.
But to get back to the topic - my list for the day. Back in the old days, the rivers that connected the world were physical ones, not the rivers of the internet. Here's a list of the rivers that start in Tibet, which were and still are the main arteries for transportation and trade. These are the great rivers of Asia - and my own Mekong is one of them:
1. The Mekong is the 11th longest river in the world, stretching 3,032 miles from the Tibetan Plateau to the mouths of the Mekong in Vietnam. Because of rapids and shallow water conditions, it's not navigable along its whole length - though long sections are open to river travel. The Khone Falls divide the river near the border of Laos and Cambodia; an endangered species of freshwater dolphins live around these falls. With globalization, there have been efforts by all the countries along the Mekong to take advantage of it - by damming the tributaries that serve it and blasting the rapids, which can have a devastating effect on the fish species that need the rapids to breed.
2. The Yangtze is the third longest river in the world - 6,300 kilometers in length. It starts in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau and exits China at Shanghai; it is fed by more than 700 tributaries. The Three Gorges Dam has had a major impact on the environment of the river, as well as causing human migration (displacing more than one million people) from communities along the banks of the reservoir. (Update: a Scientific American article details the issues in which the Chinese government is now admitting to the environmental changes caused by the Three Gorges Dam)
3. The Yellow River is the sixth longest river in the world, 3,398 miles in length. It is referred to as the "Cradle of Chinese Civilization," where the first communities developed because of its favorable growing climate. Like the Yangtze, it is being exploited through the building of dams (12 are noted in the Wikipedia article). In recent years, the river flow has decreased, affecting people who need the river for their livelihoods. History and culture link.
4. The Indus River - is the most important river in Pakistan, and flows along the driest areas of the world along its 1, 976 length. A picture of the delta is here.
5. The Brahmaputra - is the major river of Bangladesh and India along its 1,800 mile length.
6. The Ganges River is 1,557 miles long and flows through the most densely populated areas in the world, providing their water for drinking, cooking and bathing as well as being a religious shrine in motion.
7. The Salween River is unique - there are no dams along its course, and it is the longest undammed river in SE Asia. The river is not navigable because it runs through isolated countryside, high cliffs and rapids. However, there have been proposals - and opposition - to dam the river, which would provide more wealth to the Burmese junta.
8. The Yarlung Tsangpo River is the source of the Brahmaputra.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Kathin ceremonies
There are a lot of merit making ceremonies before the Lao New Year. Villages get together and collect donations at each store and people in each house will have a fund-raising ceremony sometime during the year - aside from money they also bring items that the monks need during the year such as robes, flashlight batteries and laundry soap. These small ceremonies are called Kathin. Often families will bring materials for each other the monks, in orange buckets and wrapped with orange cellophane.
In this picture, the women at the end of the line bring the 'money tree' to the temple followed by a crowd of people from a village near the temple. After circling the temple three times with their offerings they enter the temple to join the monks in chanting.
There are also big merit making ceremonies, call Maha Kathin, maha being the Pali word for 'big'. Families will do this kind of ceremony every five or six years. The first day of the ceremony is in preparation, bringing all the items that people are donating, and gathering them on a bed with a canopy over it (I believe this symbolizes the reclining position of the Buddha when he left his human form to enter Nirvana. The following day, monks come to the house to chant in the early morning and people offer food. Then people go to the temple and make the offerings of the money and other articles that have been donated.
List #9: Places I'd like to visit
Some of these places are places I'd like to return. Others, I've ever been to.
1. Japan - anywhere. I'd like to take a long tour of the whole country - if I could somehow afford it. I've been through the airport so many times, and each time the plane takes off, I tell myself that I should get off and stay a few days before going onward.
2. Luangnamtha, Laos - I have friends up there, and everyone raves about it. But it seems that I only visit different places in Laos if I have work to do there. And then, I only get to see the work I'm working on!
3. I'd like to return to the places I visited in India in 1988 - Calcutta, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Dharamsala. I stayed in Dharamsala, currently where the Dalai Lama's house and the Tibetan government in exile is located. I stayed there for a month, spending time in the wonderful Buddhist calendar and sitting in meditation classes. India is both the most wonderful place in the world, and the worst.
4. Vietnam - it's next door and I got there at least once/ year. There's so much to see. I'd like to spend more time in the south next time I get to take a vacation.
5. Mongolia - that would be so exotic. And difficult travel.
6. I'd like to go to China - but I can't even wrap my mind around where I'd like to go, the country is just so big.
7. Some friends of mine have talked about taking the Orient Express across China to Moscow, traveling around before and after, but while we make plans for 'next year,' it hasn't happened yet.
8. Greece
9. Turkey
10. And too many other places!
1. Japan - anywhere. I'd like to take a long tour of the whole country - if I could somehow afford it. I've been through the airport so many times, and each time the plane takes off, I tell myself that I should get off and stay a few days before going onward.
2. Luangnamtha, Laos - I have friends up there, and everyone raves about it. But it seems that I only visit different places in Laos if I have work to do there. And then, I only get to see the work I'm working on!
3. I'd like to return to the places I visited in India in 1988 - Calcutta, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Dharamsala. I stayed in Dharamsala, currently where the Dalai Lama's house and the Tibetan government in exile is located. I stayed there for a month, spending time in the wonderful Buddhist calendar and sitting in meditation classes. India is both the most wonderful place in the world, and the worst.
4. Vietnam - it's next door and I got there at least once/ year. There's so much to see. I'd like to spend more time in the south next time I get to take a vacation.
5. Mongolia - that would be so exotic. And difficult travel.
6. I'd like to go to China - but I can't even wrap my mind around where I'd like to go, the country is just so big.
7. Some friends of mine have talked about taking the Orient Express across China to Moscow, traveling around before and after, but while we make plans for 'next year,' it hasn't happened yet.
8. Greece
9. Turkey
10. And too many other places!
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Mekong river meditation
Picture of man standing on a fishing platform on the river. At this time of the year, the river is just a few inches deep at this location in Vientiane, Laos (Ban Watthy Tai, almost out to the airport). The town across the river is Sri Chiang Mai, Thailand
List #8: International Women's Day
March is Women's History Month and the 8th is International Women's Day. While the day celebrates the achievements of women, in many countries, including Laos, it is also a second Valentine's Day. In particular, the men do the cooking and cleaning for the day as well as giving gifts.
I'm going to the health club for a little while, then going to a friend's house where we'll have an all-women's party with her relatives. In the past, I've spent Women's Days in the provinces where we work. In Xieng Khouang, we usually would have a picnic in Phoukout district next to the Nam Yen river. Last year, I had an abscessed tooth so missed out - I spent the day traveling to Bangkok.
From the official International Women's Day website, I learned that this is the one hundredth anniversary of Women's Days marches, starting on 8 Mar 1908!
Here are a few things I found out about International Women's Day
1. First celebrated in the US in 1909 in a decree issued by the Socialist Party of America.
2. In 1911, it commemorated the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, where 140 women died when they couldn't exit the building because only one exit was accessible, and the fire escape collapse as the workers fled.
3. 8 March became a day for protests against poor working conditions. In 1908, a march against poor working conditions drew 15,000 women in NYC.
4. During WWI, women staged peace marches in Europe on 8 March.
5. Although the Soviet Union promoted observance of the day, it did not become a holiday until 1965.
6. In many countries, men give women small gifts in appreciation.
7. In other countries, including Lao, women have their own parties during the day and evenings.
8. In India, where there is a large middle-class of working women, 8 March is particularly significant.
9. In 1975, with the UN Year of the Woman, the holiday became officially recognized by the UN.
10. In 2005, the UK Trades Union Congress supported 8 March becoming an official holiday (don't know if this has happened)
International Women's Day Entry on Wikipedia
I'm going to the health club for a little while, then going to a friend's house where we'll have an all-women's party with her relatives. In the past, I've spent Women's Days in the provinces where we work. In Xieng Khouang, we usually would have a picnic in Phoukout district next to the Nam Yen river. Last year, I had an abscessed tooth so missed out - I spent the day traveling to Bangkok.
From the official International Women's Day website, I learned that this is the one hundredth anniversary of Women's Days marches, starting on 8 Mar 1908!
Here are a few things I found out about International Women's Day
1. First celebrated in the US in 1909 in a decree issued by the Socialist Party of America.
2. In 1911, it commemorated the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, where 140 women died when they couldn't exit the building because only one exit was accessible, and the fire escape collapse as the workers fled.
3. 8 March became a day for protests against poor working conditions. In 1908, a march against poor working conditions drew 15,000 women in NYC.
4. During WWI, women staged peace marches in Europe on 8 March.
5. Although the Soviet Union promoted observance of the day, it did not become a holiday until 1965.
6. In many countries, men give women small gifts in appreciation.
7. In other countries, including Lao, women have their own parties during the day and evenings.
8. In India, where there is a large middle-class of working women, 8 March is particularly significant.
9. In 1975, with the UN Year of the Woman, the holiday became officially recognized by the UN.
10. In 2005, the UK Trades Union Congress supported 8 March becoming an official holiday (don't know if this has happened)
International Women's Day Entry on Wikipedia
Friday, March 07, 2008
List #7: Follow-up on my list for the week
Out of the list I posted at the beginning of the week, I got the following done:
1. Work plan for March
2. Bought a new propane tank so I can cook now.
Unfortunately, I forgot to get the tank on the list. I was working along on stuff this afternoon when I realized that the bank was closed already. Sigh.
1. Work plan for March
2. Bought a new propane tank so I can cook now.
Unfortunately, I forgot to get the tank on the list. I was working along on stuff this afternoon when I realized that the bank was closed already. Sigh.
Friday Sky Watch!
The latest business along the Mekong - you can go up in the balloon if you pay 20 USD for 5 minutes. Although a lot of people were staring, no one was taking advantage of this deal!
Sunset highlighting the roof of the local Buddhist Temple.
When I'm in Vientiane, this is what I see from the window of my office. If I get stuck for words while writing something, I can always look on the temple and gather some inspiration.
Child Mortality and Burma
T.R. wrote a moving entry about the situation in Burma - Putting a Human Face on the Politics of Poverty which included a reference to an entry I wrote about the high child mortality rate in the country. Unicef, in its annual report State of the World's Children, estimated that the under five mortality rate is 104/ 1,000 live births. In the post written on the Tricycle blog, there was a link to another article. The original article was taken off the site so I did a little more digging.
I did find the International Herald Tribune Article - As many as 400 children die daily in Myanmar, the second worst record in Asia.
According to an article in the The Irrawaddy, 7 Feb 2008 ( Unicef chief says International Newspapers misstated Facts ), Dr Osamu Kunii had sent a letter to the Minister of Health apologizing for his comment, where the AP article had quoted him as saying that between 100,000 to 150,000 children under five die every year (that would mean 270 to 400 children per day). According to the state run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, WHO statistics indicate that the under five mortality rate is 66/ 1,000.
I then look at the article at the Mizzima News website - Junta Combats Unicef data with dated government statistics The mortality rate cited by the Junta comes from WHO data published in 2004 and collected in 2003, using information from government sources. The new UNICEF data was collected by a "the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, which includes UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and the United Nations Population Divison." This data was collected in 2006.
There is also a difference in the procedure in collecting and analyzing the data. "the UNICEF figure is a projection as opposed to a historical statistic. The under-five child mortality rate, as calculated by UNICEF, estimates the number of fatalities to occur if the current situation and factors inside the country remain static over the ensuing five years." However, more recent WHO - SEARO data (on its web site ) also confirms the UNICEF data. They give the under five mortality rate as 105/ 1,000 (boys: 116, girls: 93 and average 105).
When I looked at the Burma /Myanmar section of the SoWC report, I spotted discrepancies with the news articles above. Instead of having the 4th worst under-five mortality rate (as stated in the Irrawaddy article) , Myanmar ranks 40. That looks like a misprint - and it does look like it ranks #2 in Asia, though quite a bit behind the number one contender, Afghanistan.
There are plenty of other countries that compete for worse child mortality rates: 1. Sierra Leone (with a child mortality rate of 270/1,000 - more than one quarter of their chilren!), 2. Angola, 3. Afghanistan 4. Nigeria 5. Liberia, 6. Mali 7. Chad, 8. Equitorial Guinea, 9. DR Congo, 10. Burkino Faso.
Interesting enough, the web page of the report does not point out how bad the health system is. It says, despite a long period of relative isolation and other political constraints, Myanmar possesses good technical capacity and can successfully undertake major initiatives when there are clear objectives and high-level commitment and support, combined with national mobilization and adequate resources. Examples of these are the National Sanitation Weeks, National Immunization Days (NIDs) and efforts to achieve Universal Salt Iodization and vitamin A supplementation, which have significantly advanced the achievement of the World Summit and National Plans of Action goals. And while the under five mortality rate is high at 104, the rate in 1990 was 130.
So there are a couple of points that can be gleaned from the above information:
Another point about data. Collecting public health data is a challenge in developing countries. Telecommunications is rough - in remote areas, telephones are rare and service erratic. Internet is not available in rural areas and often reports and health statistics have to be sent by letter, or by bus. I imagine that the methodology used by UNICEF (which I can't find in the SoWC report) includes sampling urban and rural areas and then doing statistics on the data.
Both the UNICEF report and the WHO website in Myanmar indicate the need to stay cool, and work on public health issues. In one article above, a government official said that they are happy to continue to work with UNICEF. Hopefully, this kind of engagement until some kind of solution can be found, will help to lower these awful public health figures.
The news articles, even coming from a great source such as the Irrawaddy, may present the facts but may also neglect to fill in the whole picture and may turn up the volume on emotional impact. People can poke holes in the story and end of discrediting all the valuable information. Because - ultimately - what does the figures mean? 104 child deaths out of 1,000 births. It means that 10% of the children born will not reach their fifth birthday, one of of ten. Even the figures cited by the Junta, 66/1,000, means 1 out 17 are horrendous.
Some links:
The Irrawaddy is a print and online news daily founded by Burmese activists who fled the country after the 1988 crackdown. Based in Chaing Mai, Thailand, it has been covering the situation in Burma consistently since 1992. While it is promotes the pro-democracy movement, it is not associated with any of the political groups opposing the junta, making it one of the most credible sources for news about Burma.
Aung Zaw is the editor and founder of the paper. He was a student at Rangoon University at the time that the pro-democracy movement started. He fled his home country in 1988 and found refuge in Bangkok, where he started to write articles for the English language papers. His web site has his biographer and links to articles he has written for The Irrawaddy, The Nation (Bangkok English language newspaper), The Bangkok Post and the Asian Wall Street Journal.
Burmanet News collects news feeds on Burma from around the world.
WHO's web site in Myanmar. While the web site may not seem exciting - in fact, strangely calm given the turmoil in the country, they show that there are steps being made, even if it's coming from an international organization.
I did find the International Herald Tribune Article - As many as 400 children die daily in Myanmar, the second worst record in Asia.
According to an article in the The Irrawaddy, 7 Feb 2008 ( Unicef chief says International Newspapers misstated Facts ), Dr Osamu Kunii had sent a letter to the Minister of Health apologizing for his comment, where the AP article had quoted him as saying that between 100,000 to 150,000 children under five die every year (that would mean 270 to 400 children per day). According to the state run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, WHO statistics indicate that the under five mortality rate is 66/ 1,000.
I then look at the article at the Mizzima News website - Junta Combats Unicef data with dated government statistics The mortality rate cited by the Junta comes from WHO data published in 2004 and collected in 2003, using information from government sources. The new UNICEF data was collected by a "the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, which includes UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and the United Nations Population Divison." This data was collected in 2006.
There is also a difference in the procedure in collecting and analyzing the data. "the UNICEF figure is a projection as opposed to a historical statistic. The under-five child mortality rate, as calculated by UNICEF, estimates the number of fatalities to occur if the current situation and factors inside the country remain static over the ensuing five years." However, more recent WHO - SEARO data (on its web site ) also confirms the UNICEF data. They give the under five mortality rate as 105/ 1,000 (boys: 116, girls: 93 and average 105).
When I looked at the Burma /Myanmar section of the SoWC report, I spotted discrepancies with the news articles above. Instead of having the 4th worst under-five mortality rate (as stated in the Irrawaddy article) , Myanmar ranks 40. That looks like a misprint - and it does look like it ranks #2 in Asia, though quite a bit behind the number one contender, Afghanistan.
There are plenty of other countries that compete for worse child mortality rates: 1. Sierra Leone (with a child mortality rate of 270/1,000 - more than one quarter of their chilren!), 2. Angola, 3. Afghanistan 4. Nigeria 5. Liberia, 6. Mali 7. Chad, 8. Equitorial Guinea, 9. DR Congo, 10. Burkino Faso.
Interesting enough, the web page of the report does not point out how bad the health system is. It says, despite a long period of relative isolation and other political constraints, Myanmar possesses good technical capacity and can successfully undertake major initiatives when there are clear objectives and high-level commitment and support, combined with national mobilization and adequate resources. Examples of these are the National Sanitation Weeks, National Immunization Days (NIDs) and efforts to achieve Universal Salt Iodization and vitamin A supplementation, which have significantly advanced the achievement of the World Summit and National Plans of Action goals. And while the under five mortality rate is high at 104, the rate in 1990 was 130.
So there are a couple of points that can be gleaned from the above information:
Another point about data. Collecting public health data is a challenge in developing countries. Telecommunications is rough - in remote areas, telephones are rare and service erratic. Internet is not available in rural areas and often reports and health statistics have to be sent by letter, or by bus. I imagine that the methodology used by UNICEF (which I can't find in the SoWC report) includes sampling urban and rural areas and then doing statistics on the data.
Both the UNICEF report and the WHO website in Myanmar indicate the need to stay cool, and work on public health issues. In one article above, a government official said that they are happy to continue to work with UNICEF. Hopefully, this kind of engagement until some kind of solution can be found, will help to lower these awful public health figures.
The news articles, even coming from a great source such as the Irrawaddy, may present the facts but may also neglect to fill in the whole picture and may turn up the volume on emotional impact. People can poke holes in the story and end of discrediting all the valuable information. Because - ultimately - what does the figures mean? 104 child deaths out of 1,000 births. It means that 10% of the children born will not reach their fifth birthday, one of of ten. Even the figures cited by the Junta, 66/1,000, means 1 out 17 are horrendous.
Some links:
The Irrawaddy is a print and online news daily founded by Burmese activists who fled the country after the 1988 crackdown. Based in Chaing Mai, Thailand, it has been covering the situation in Burma consistently since 1992. While it is promotes the pro-democracy movement, it is not associated with any of the political groups opposing the junta, making it one of the most credible sources for news about Burma.
Aung Zaw is the editor and founder of the paper. He was a student at Rangoon University at the time that the pro-democracy movement started. He fled his home country in 1988 and found refuge in Bangkok, where he started to write articles for the English language papers. His web site has his biographer and links to articles he has written for The Irrawaddy, The Nation (Bangkok English language newspaper), The Bangkok Post and the Asian Wall Street Journal.
Burmanet News collects news feeds on Burma from around the world.
WHO's web site in Myanmar. While the web site may not seem exciting - in fact, strangely calm given the turmoil in the country, they show that there are steps being made, even if it's coming from an international organization.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
List #6 and Thurday Thirteen : edition #5 - Famous Women
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8 March is International Women's Day. It's a holiday here in Laos, where the men are supposed to cook and clean and take care of the women for the day. Today many of the hospitals and school have programs about the rights of women, with skits and music followed by lunch. In honor of the day for remembering famous women, I wrote up this list of known and lesser known women - politicians, diplomats, scientists, artists and authors. Some are famous; some I have never heard of, but it's a day to research and think about how the rights of women had to be fought for. For many of these women, being your own person was way ahead of its time. 1. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian author now living in the US. Her book Half of a Yellow Sun starts just before the Biafran conflict and follows the lives of three characters as their lives and ideals are touched by the war. This book won the Orange Award for first novel. Her original short story is here 2. Zora Neale Hurston Raised in Florida, Hurston later moved to NYC to study anthropology under Franz Boaz and Ruth Benedict. Doing field work in African-American folk lore, she later became a writer exploring these themes in fiction. Her most famous work was Their Eyes were Watching God. As a black woman, she herself was between worlds. Her writing did not appeal to whites but her African-American objected to her accepting assistance from outside the community. She returned to Florida and died in poverty. The author Alice Walker rediscovered her works. 3. Hypatia Philosopher, astronomer and mathematician, living in Alexandria, Egypt between 370 to 415 AD. She was the first known woman involved in the sciences, and believed that scientific principles rather than mysticism explained the natural world. Because of her radical views which offended the church, she was killed by a mob while driving her chariot. Not much is known about her because her written works were destroyed with the library in Alexandria. 4. Pauline Kael Famous film critic for the New Yorker magazine. 5. Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850 - 1891) While many women take it for granted that they can study and attend university, this was not the cultural norm in Sofia's Kovalevskaya's early life. Her father allowed her to study math but when he refused to allow her to study abroad (at that time Russian universities denied admission to women), she married to be allowed to travel to Germany with her husband. Studying abroad was still difficult, but she eventually became the first woman to teach in a European University and the first woman to be on the editorial board of a mathematical journal. 6. Doris Lessing Writer, social critic, and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. Although her most famous work was The Golden Notebook, she also wrote short stories and science fiction. Her work explores contemporary life and transitions. I remember seeing a YouTube video of her being told she had won the Nobel Prize - like "so what?" Trying to write more about this amazing woman and author would be too difficult - so I won't try. Look her up on the web and read her works. Doris LessingQuotes 7. Nefertiti A mystery woman, who married the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) and started the cult of sun worship. I think most people know her name more than that of her husbands, from the art that survives of her image. She lived at the time of the Eighteen Dynasty, about 1400 BC. 8. Cixi (or Tz'u-hsi or Hsiao-ch'in) (1835 - 1908) The minor concubine of the Chinese emperor Hsien-feng. The bio on the about.com site is very exciting and full of intrigue. 9. Wangari Maathai Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in 1940, she has been a major figure in Kenyan environmental movement, forming the 'Green Belt' movement to plant trees to deal withKenya's deforestation. She fought hard all her life to study - first to even get through school, then to study in the US and finally to receive her PhD in Kenya. She was impressed for her views in 1991 and suffered head injuries while taking part in a demonstration. In 2002, she was finally elected to the Kenyan Parliament. 10. Olga of Kiev 890 - 969 and known as the founder of Russian Christianity. 11. Eudora Welty Somehow I have never read anything by Eudora Welty. Her entry here is to remind me that I should. 12. Kiran Desai is an Indian author now living in the US. Her first book, Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard established her reputation as an author. Her second book, The Inheritance of Loss, set in the hills of northern India is a meditation on change and loss and won the Booker Prize. 13. Emma Goldman Anarchist, women's rights advocate and writer, Emma Goldman was born in Lithuania and migrated to the US to work in the textile trade. She became an outspoken member of the anarchist movement and served time in jail for resistance against the draft laws. After WWI and the Russian revolution, she moved to Russia but became disillusioned with the Soviet system. She remained in Europe. Links about famous women: about.com has a nice women's biographies page. |
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Wednesday, March 05, 2008
List #5: Some links for today
I've found these blogs via Google's 'blogs of note' and one on the livejournal spotlight. They're worth checking out!
1. People Reading - I saw the URL on the blogger dashboard. The author interviews one person a day who is reading a book. Apparently, it's very easy to find people reading books in all sorts of places in San Francisco.
2. Fake Plastic Fish - Again, a blogger blog of note. The author says, "Fake Plastic Fish is my attempt to live sustainably by significantly reducing my plastic consumption and plastic waste, from carrying my own bags when shopping to drinking from a reusable metal water bottle to using solid shampoos and lotions instead of those bottled in plastic. Each week I photograph and tally my plastic waste. The amount has gone down a lot since I first started, but as you can see from the following picture, even someone like me who is trying very hard can still end up surrounded by plastic." When people think about what can be done for the environment, it can make your head spin. This down to earth blog shows what we can do.
A little aside here - unfortunately, plastic is seen as modern and therefore, wonderful, in Asia. I've seen so many people putting aside containers made from bamboo leaves, cloth or bamboo containers for carrying purchases, and plates made from plant material in favor of brightly colored plastic. I've got to start my staff with this list.
3. The Carrot Revolution - An art educator website with interesting ways of looking at things and educating about art.
4. For a Good World - A livejournal community, the maintainers post a link each day about community organizations doing good and simple acts to make the world a better place.
5. The Postit Project started as documentation of the bloggers doodles drawn on post-it notes and has expanded. I never thought... but some of the drawings and collections of drawings are cool.
1. People Reading - I saw the URL on the blogger dashboard. The author interviews one person a day who is reading a book. Apparently, it's very easy to find people reading books in all sorts of places in San Francisco.
2. Fake Plastic Fish - Again, a blogger blog of note. The author says, "Fake Plastic Fish is my attempt to live sustainably by significantly reducing my plastic consumption and plastic waste, from carrying my own bags when shopping to drinking from a reusable metal water bottle to using solid shampoos and lotions instead of those bottled in plastic. Each week I photograph and tally my plastic waste. The amount has gone down a lot since I first started, but as you can see from the following picture, even someone like me who is trying very hard can still end up surrounded by plastic." When people think about what can be done for the environment, it can make your head spin. This down to earth blog shows what we can do.
A little aside here - unfortunately, plastic is seen as modern and therefore, wonderful, in Asia. I've seen so many people putting aside containers made from bamboo leaves, cloth or bamboo containers for carrying purchases, and plates made from plant material in favor of brightly colored plastic. I've got to start my staff with this list.
3. The Carrot Revolution - An art educator website with interesting ways of looking at things and educating about art.
4. For a Good World - A livejournal community, the maintainers post a link each day about community organizations doing good and simple acts to make the world a better place.
5. The Postit Project started as documentation of the bloggers doodles drawn on post-it notes and has expanded. I never thought... but some of the drawings and collections of drawings are cool.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Buddha images at Wat Phiavath
Walked around the temple next to our office and took this picture. 4 mar
List #4: Featured pictures listed on the main Wikipedia page
In trying to find something else in Wikipedia, I looked at the main page - they have interesting pictures of the day. Here are a few from March and February:
1. Cappadocia is a central province in Turkey. One of the parks is a UNESCO heritage site, with 'fairy chimneys,' landforms with harder layers above softer rock layers that erode into tall columns.
2. Life cycle of the Emperor Penguin, complete with the ice berg.
3. Rosie the Riveter, the archetypal image of the thousands of women who worked in the factories and munitions plants during WWII.
4. A humpback whale breaching In the article, it says that they could do this as a form of communication or to rub off parasites. I think they do it for fun.
5. The Citric Acid Cycle I used to know this, after having studied it in high school and in prerequisite courses for both my nursing and then PA degrees. Can barely recognize it now.
6. This picture is really WOW - Eruption of Mt. Etna in 2002 as seen by the International Space Station.
7. The Vinland Map, a copy of a 13th century map which is believed to be the first map showing the outline of the North American coastline.
8. The two-toned moon Iapetus, taken by the Cassini orbiter in its tour around Saturn.
9. A ball captured by strobe light, showing how it loses energy with every bounce.
10. The Rainflower which grows in Indian and islands in the Indian ocean. An incredible piece of flora!
1. Cappadocia is a central province in Turkey. One of the parks is a UNESCO heritage site, with 'fairy chimneys,' landforms with harder layers above softer rock layers that erode into tall columns.
2. Life cycle of the Emperor Penguin, complete with the ice berg.
3. Rosie the Riveter, the archetypal image of the thousands of women who worked in the factories and munitions plants during WWII.
4. A humpback whale breaching In the article, it says that they could do this as a form of communication or to rub off parasites. I think they do it for fun.
5. The Citric Acid Cycle I used to know this, after having studied it in high school and in prerequisite courses for both my nursing and then PA degrees. Can barely recognize it now.
6. This picture is really WOW - Eruption of Mt. Etna in 2002 as seen by the International Space Station.
7. The Vinland Map, a copy of a 13th century map which is believed to be the first map showing the outline of the North American coastline.
8. The two-toned moon Iapetus, taken by the Cassini orbiter in its tour around Saturn.
9. A ball captured by strobe light, showing how it loses energy with every bounce.
10. The Rainflower which grows in Indian and islands in the Indian ocean. An incredible piece of flora!
Monday, March 03, 2008
fishtank
There are two kinds of culture that I write about - traditional culture and dorky culture. This fish tank inside an old TV set that I saw in a restaurant in Vientiane is an example of dorky culture.
List #3: Things I have to absolutely get done this week
Just in case anyone thought that living in an exotic country means you do exotic things, here the list of mundane things that everyone faces, around the world:
1. Get a haircut. While getting a shampoo and a head massage is a nice plus to any haircut, having an audience, especially one that wants to touch the foreigner's hair, means you really have to get your strength up. I vow to get sheared this week - with hot season coming up, I just can't deal with my shaggy mop.
2. Pay my internet and utility bills. Yes, we have both utilities as well as bills.
3. Go through the mounds of documents in my office and decide which can be recycled and which to file.
4. Go to the bank. That's related to item #2.
5. Meet with staff and make out the March work plan. Yes, there is work in paradise.
6. Come back to this list on Thursday and see what got done.
7. Friday is a substitution holiday because International Women's Day is on Saturday.
1. Get a haircut. While getting a shampoo and a head massage is a nice plus to any haircut, having an audience, especially one that wants to touch the foreigner's hair, means you really have to get your strength up. I vow to get sheared this week - with hot season coming up, I just can't deal with my shaggy mop.
2. Pay my internet and utility bills. Yes, we have both utilities as well as bills.
3. Go through the mounds of documents in my office and decide which can be recycled and which to file.
4. Go to the bank. That's related to item #2.
5. Meet with staff and make out the March work plan. Yes, there is work in paradise.
6. Come back to this list on Thursday and see what got done.
7. Friday is a substitution holiday because International Women's Day is on Saturday.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
List #2: Lessons learned - my Sunday Summary
1. If someone says, "We'll just stop in for 15 minutes," plan for an hour. We made short stops at two district hospitals on Friday - while the visits were interesting and useful, we got back to Vientiane late on Friday night.
2. Be cool when people have changed things around without letting you - the boss - know.
3. Exercise is not just for physical activity but it's a time to get away and put things in perspective.
4. The same with meditation. I seem to be able to exercise more than I'm able to meditate.
5. One of the trainers told me, "It's difficult to give this class; everyone has different levels of knowledge." The reality is that people are not stamped out of a mold - even if everyone has exactly the same schooling, speak the same form of Lao, and all come from the same culture, there will always be differences. That's the challenge of teaching.
6. Always expect that travel will take longer than you plan. On Tuesday, we had to wait for a bus, which had gotten stuck in the detour around a destroyed bridge, to unstuck itself.
7. Remember to check papers and documents that I bring to the field. I thought I had packed the assignments for my school work. Oh well, couldn't do them. I wasn't too disturbed.
8. Bring some cats down south with me next time. Gotta do something about the mice in my house.
2. Be cool when people have changed things around without letting you - the boss - know.
3. Exercise is not just for physical activity but it's a time to get away and put things in perspective.
4. The same with meditation. I seem to be able to exercise more than I'm able to meditate.
5. One of the trainers told me, "It's difficult to give this class; everyone has different levels of knowledge." The reality is that people are not stamped out of a mold - even if everyone has exactly the same schooling, speak the same form of Lao, and all come from the same culture, there will always be differences. That's the challenge of teaching.
6. Always expect that travel will take longer than you plan. On Tuesday, we had to wait for a bus, which had gotten stuck in the detour around a destroyed bridge, to unstuck itself.
7. Remember to check papers and documents that I bring to the field. I thought I had packed the assignments for my school work. Oh well, couldn't do them. I wasn't too disturbed.
8. Bring some cats down south with me next time. Gotta do something about the mice in my house.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
spirit house and ladder
This is just something cute I noticed today. The people who take care of this spirit house made a small ladder so the spirits can climb in and out of the shrine easily. I always assumed that spirits could float or fly - then again, maybe the people have been feeding them well enough that they've put on a few ghostly kilograms.
Nablopomo for March - list #1
Whenever I go to Vientiane for meetings, I head to the store for a some non-Lao delicacies. I usually eat sticky rice, fermented fish sauce (if it's boiled), grilled whatever, overboiled vegetables, rice noodle soup and chopped meat salad while I'm with my staff in the field. So I enjoy exotic food when I go to the expatriate store.
Items on the list today:
1. Cheese
2. Mustard
3. Whole wheat bread
4. Granola
5. Ground coffee (Lao coffee is the best in the world but restaurants often serve only Nescafe in the villages, thinking that it's more modern!)
6. Yogurt
7. Kitty crunchies for the cats.
I bought other things, feeling overstimulated by the selection.
1. Peanut butter
2. Two kinds of cheese
3. Jam
4. Yogurt
5. Freshly baked whole wheat bread
6. Gherkin pickles
7. Mustard
8. Tuna fish
9. Freshly baked carrot cake
But I forgot the coffee! And the kitty crunchies! Well, if the cats have to suffer, that means I'll have to suffer as well.
This is Day #1 of the NaBloPoMo challenge, to write a list each day of the month.
Items on the list today:
1. Cheese
2. Mustard
3. Whole wheat bread
4. Granola
5. Ground coffee (Lao coffee is the best in the world but restaurants often serve only Nescafe in the villages, thinking that it's more modern!)
6. Yogurt
7. Kitty crunchies for the cats.
I bought other things, feeling overstimulated by the selection.
1. Peanut butter
2. Two kinds of cheese
3. Jam
4. Yogurt
5. Freshly baked whole wheat bread
6. Gherkin pickles
7. Mustard
8. Tuna fish
9. Freshly baked carrot cake
But I forgot the coffee! And the kitty crunchies! Well, if the cats have to suffer, that means I'll have to suffer as well.
This is Day #1 of the NaBloPoMo challenge, to write a list each day of the month.
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