Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Translator

I sat in OPD with Gustav, a Norwegian medic. Our translator was an amiable woman with questionable work ethic. She yawned throughout, occasionally wandered off, and sometimes had to be asked twice to translate for us.

At one point she started picking her nose, completely unashamed, really digging her finger around and checking curiously to see what she'd dug out.

But she was nice, and friendly, and got on well with the patients. The second-last patient didn't even mind when she interrupted the doctor's questioning and exclaimed, "I need some medicine Gustav!" whilst filling out a prescription form for herself.

Ignoring the actual patient, she started describing her mouth ulcers in great detail. And nobody minded. Welcome to Zambia?

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