#5-My third day- a day of contrasts.

A day of raw contrasts.
What is your definition of opulence? Ostentatious exorbitance? I have lived my life having thought it was the place you live, the clothes you wear and the exotic and expensive things that you eat.  Today I was humbled and angered by the contrast of the "haves" and the "have nots".
Here on Saibai the islanders enjoy a simple life, devoid of clutter, hustle and bustle, and the material things of metropolitan Australia. Some might even suggest that these people live in the third world. But these islanders enjoy health care at their beckon call. If they need to be flown by chopper to the mainland then "so it shall be done". Adult and child health checks are routinely performed, by us; primary health nurses. The service and resources offered to those villagers is better than the primary health we get in Toowoomba!!! Yet 3 km away on PNG, in Sigabadu, and Mabaduan, the clinic is non existent. On Duan, the bed is there with no mattress. There is no medications and the clinic has no nurse/ doctor or support. PNG nationals make the journey in over crowded dingies, with boat fuel prices that approximate $5/litre for their outboard motors. Those that can't afford fuel sail across in makeshift outriggers or converted tinnies with bamboo rigging... Just to access Our health care! For these folk there is no accommodation , no food, no access unless it is an emergency, and if they need admission but it is not urgent... Stiff !!
I had a man today, his wife and 20yo son. The man was 42. 1 month younger than me... He looked 62. He has been fitting for 3 days. . It took me 5 hours to work him up, diagnose and treat (very long story and impressive history) but the net result I'd that he is a brain damaged nursing home candidate, living in the PNG jungle with his family who care for him around the clock, with no resources, no phone, no clean water, no electricity, no Blue Nurse visits... Nothing. And when I had finished with him today... That is what I had to send him back to! But this man had no way of getting back to PNG, because there was no boat for him, the dingy he came across on has broken down!!!  After feeding him and his family (a no no!!!) and using our phone and car to look around the village for a local that might house him and his family for the night, I carried him into my ute, and drive him to this slum where he was put to rest on a plank of wood under a verandah.  And this is where he and his wife and son will spend the night in the pouring rain.   If he was blessed enough To have been born here ( just 3km away) , he'd have been an Australian citizen, and flown to a warm hospital bed in Thursday Island. My heart bleeds for his situation. A man my age, who was not blessed as I have been blessed.
Now before you get all "harden up Rob" on me.  Know this, ... there us no way, that having seen what I've seen today, that u can tell me that there us justice or fairness and equity in this world.

I bought a fish of a villager today. It was 20kg Barramundi. I bartered the price down to $40. That same fist in Brisbane fish markets would sell for $15-$25/kg ($300 - $500).... Now that is opulence. This $40 dollars  (I earned in under 1 hour) will feed that family for 3 weeks, of flour, rice, sugar, and other staples. So I have a dilemma; did I do these people a favour? I feel like I ripped them off, yet they are feeling they won the lotto.
I know I'm rambling, but I'm unsettled tonight, and when I reflect on my day, I feel a bit sad, and a bit lonely, and a bit culture shocked, and a bit angry with natural injustice, and a whole lot blessed for what I have.