Mae Tao Clinic

This place is great. Wierd, but great. I've settled down in a nice guesthouse and met a wierd mix of folks. Virtually everyone I have met is here solely to volunteer with one of the many non-governmental organizations (NGO's) in the area. I have met only one person who has actually been backpack travelling through SE Asia. Most of the folks at the guesthouse are either volunteering to teach English to Burmese or volunteering at the Mae Tao Clinic (a few medical students and EMTs, but strictly observing, apparently). It is a strange collection of people from all the world, a bunch of do-gooders, actually. Freaks.
So I'm not really up to speed on the situation here, but the government in Burma is a military junta that placed the leaders of the popularly elected political party under house arrest back in the 1990's, and they have skirmishes with the rebel army in the Karen state in Burma (across the border from Mae Sot), which sometimes causes refugees to flee into Thailand. At the same time, like many border towns, the local economy thrives on the illegal border crossings. I have heard that maybe a third of the local population consists of illegal aliens, many of whom work in sweat shops in the local economy. These Burmese have no rights, so there are NGO groups here helping out with their plight (I can rhyme!).
The Mae Tao Clinic, where I have been the past couple of days, sees Burmese people who are either living in the area, or have travelled from smaller villages in Burma. The clinic looks like a refugee camp and makes the Krabi Hospital look like a modern sparkling facility in comparison. They have "medics" who do almost all of the caregiving in pediatrics, primary care, ob/gyn, and surgical departments. There are only two or three Western docs there right now...After tomorrow, there will be only two (me and someone else). The clinic sees a couple hundred patients a day. It is awesome. I have only been there a couple days (I'm working in the outpatient department!), and I've already seen a few cases of malaria. Back home, someone with fever, mild headache, back/neckache, and general discomfort would probably have a viral syndrome; here, it's probably gonna be malaria. My first patient was a doozy -- a 13 year old kid jaundiced with ascites! I was thinking, "Dude, are all your patients this messed up?" There are also lots of amputees from landmines in Burma. (Reminder to self: don't go trekking in Burma.)It is a whacked world, but it is fun being here.
This weekend a group of us went off to visit a gibbon sanctuary, where there were rescued gibbons in cages. Some of them were blind, crippled by polio, and amputees...man, it was like Mae Tao clinic all over again! We also visited a waterfall which was nice and cool. I will try to upload some photos soon.
I would tell you that I've rented a 100 cc scooter for the month ($86!), but I don't want to scare my parents. (Hey, Mike D! Remember me getting crushed by your bike? You should see me now!)
Tomorrow I have to help give a lecture on heart problems, which will be interesting since they have no diagnostic tests other than a blood pressure cuff and a stethescope. This is an awesome time.