A different way of looking at South America
Door: Jorrit
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Jorrit
19 Januari 2014 | Colombia, Bogota
A flick of a finger, a blink of an eye. That's what it feels like being in this continent again after having been home for half a year. Although some visit South America once in a lifetime - and consider that enough - I just landed for the third time on these lands, and everything feels strangely familiar; the rush hour traffic through which my airport pick-up delivers me home, the salsa beats blaring through the streets, thick smog wavering over the city is nothing new to me. Colombia is definitely a country worth mentioning apart though, as I will discover in the next coming months.
Big difference is that I will be staying at one place and actually have a tight schedule. Because this time it's time for me to actually DO something while being abroad. And then I mean do in the sense of whatever is widespread socially accepted, instead of some inconsistent 'search for myself' propaganda in which I could perfectly mask my previous travels. So, different way, different country, same adventure and challenges.
And a challenge it will be: Although Colombia has the same main death cause as Western Europe (Cardiovascular accidents) it still remains subject to a wider variety of death causes such as communicable diseases and injuries (And then they mean the kind of injuries you get when you get kidnapped by the FARC, for example). Also, malnutrition and infections are still a main problem for children in this region. Regional and Columbian health care standards have improved over the last decades though, and even patients from the Dutch Antilles and other neighbouring countries get flied over to receive treatment from here. What that means in real day-to-day life I will discover in the next 2 months, I am more than curious to experience all the things I heard so far from South-American health care systems: 'Aristocracy, only for the rich, desorganized, desillusioning, and so forth.' As I spoke to my guest family where i reside at the moment, I found out that docters here make a tiny wage compared to the netherlands and that most if not all effort must come from 'almost' cherity. Only the plastic surgeon seems able to climb out of this desolate valley of poor political strategy. Because politics is where it all starts, it seems to me. Time to find out how this works in real life and soak all that intersting info up like a sponge. With this questions raised, it seems to be developing in a 'community' medicine internship indeed.
I'd be happy to keep you reading in the next few months. Maybe less so on daredevil vulcanotop stories, but more so about my findings on a healthcare system in a developing country. The pics will be according to the difference, so that's a excuse (or warning) in advance.
Big difference is that I will be staying at one place and actually have a tight schedule. Because this time it's time for me to actually DO something while being abroad. And then I mean do in the sense of whatever is widespread socially accepted, instead of some inconsistent 'search for myself' propaganda in which I could perfectly mask my previous travels. So, different way, different country, same adventure and challenges.
And a challenge it will be: Although Colombia has the same main death cause as Western Europe (Cardiovascular accidents) it still remains subject to a wider variety of death causes such as communicable diseases and injuries (And then they mean the kind of injuries you get when you get kidnapped by the FARC, for example). Also, malnutrition and infections are still a main problem for children in this region. Regional and Columbian health care standards have improved over the last decades though, and even patients from the Dutch Antilles and other neighbouring countries get flied over to receive treatment from here. What that means in real day-to-day life I will discover in the next 2 months, I am more than curious to experience all the things I heard so far from South-American health care systems: 'Aristocracy, only for the rich, desorganized, desillusioning, and so forth.' As I spoke to my guest family where i reside at the moment, I found out that docters here make a tiny wage compared to the netherlands and that most if not all effort must come from 'almost' cherity. Only the plastic surgeon seems able to climb out of this desolate valley of poor political strategy. Because politics is where it all starts, it seems to me. Time to find out how this works in real life and soak all that intersting info up like a sponge. With this questions raised, it seems to be developing in a 'community' medicine internship indeed.
I'd be happy to keep you reading in the next few months. Maybe less so on daredevil vulcanotop stories, but more so about my findings on a healthcare system in a developing country. The pics will be according to the difference, so that's a excuse (or warning) in advance.
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19 Januari 2014 - 11:05
Mahlet:
Colombia! Such a beautiful country with beautyful people (might even be my favorite in Latin America :)) envy you for having the chance to really discover the real Colombian way of living. Keep us updated!
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19 Januari 2014 - 11:16
Lotte:
Jorrit, enjoy! I would definitely go for a too small balcony! ;) Looking forward to your stories coming months! -
19 Januari 2014 - 21:39
Annemarie L.:
Ha Jorrit,
Dank voor dit eerste bericht .. het zal inderdaad een heel andere ervaring met Zuid Amerika zijn ... niet als reiziger. De verschillen in gezondheidszorg systemen en hopelijk leer je veel als arts in wording, dat is het doel. Ik ga je weer volgen en ben erg benieuwd naar je ervaringen.
Groetjes vanuit IJsland. -
20 Januari 2014 - 16:07
Tonny De Vries:
Hoi Jorrit!
Schrijvende dokter...of dokterende schrijver...Jongen wat kan jij het allemaal mooi verwoorden! Ik kijk nu al uit naar de volgende berichten! We zijn reuze nieuwsgierig wat je mee gaat maken..Jij natuurlijk ook!
Hoe primitief zal het zijn, welke mogelijkheden zijn er, welke kansen ... Jij gaat het ontdekken!!
Liefs! -
22 Januari 2014 - 13:56
Fanny:
Salsa beats blaring through the streets! :D
This time, will you finally take some lessons?
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