...and Parting thoughts

I think it's fair to say that I have a love-hate relationship with China. Although, maybe I should emphasize it more, given what follows, my love for China should hopefully be obvious, ... Arguably the most enjoyable year of my life was spent in Taiwan (culturally, if not politically, China). In the mainland as well, particularly in the smaller cities and the countryside, there is just so much to appreciate--the scenery is incredible, the people are amazing, and the food... despite all the fear-factor type snacks (which I've mostly avoided), we've made amazing new culinary discoveries every day here. My current favorite is a wild fiddle-head fern that the Dai minority people eat. And since we've been in Kunming, we've constantly had people who were friends of friends go out of their way to treat, entertain, and take care of us. For those things, I'mincredibly greatful, and will always love the people of China. As far as the more negative feelings, things get more messy. This is the second time I've had to abandon professional plans in China due to barriers placed by "collaborators" for reasons that were never transparent... The first was when I had planned to do dissertation research in China toward a PhD in public health (in the end I decided to get a masters degree instead...). I was going to take part in a multicenter rotavirus surveillance project, under the auspices of the International Vaccine Institute in Korea. My job was to involve coordinating data collection between 6 or 7 hospitals, visiting each one to ensure consistency of data collection, then assembling and analyzing the data. Those plans fell through a month before my planned start date when the Chinese collaborator (whom I never met), refused to allow the project to continue if there was a foreigner (me) in a supervisory role. It was clear that he never had any interest in letting me be involved, but that wasn't made apparent until plans were well under way. Fast forward to today. I am now a bona-fide pediatrician, with something meaningful to contribute for the good of Chinese kids, not just a research project. I am backed by an organization with tremendous depth of expertise, an amazing international track record, and a lot of capital. There is also a very pressing need for pediatric HIV care here, with an estimated several thousand kids infected in this province... [I have edited the middle of this post, cutting out some sections that are too sensitive to keep on a public site. If you would like to read the entire blog, please e-mail me. Suffice it to say that we are unable to do the clinical work here that we had originally hoped, primarily for lack of identified patients, despite the estimates of thousands of infected children. ] Although my role is a small one, I do think that our leaving is a big loss for China, and is symptomatic of a major problem within the Chinese bureacracy. I will still be able to go to Lesotho, see lots of children, hopefully impact their lives and make a meaningful difference. I also will get to travel and reap the cultural rewards inherent in this experience, so although I'm frustrated, I'm really not losing out. I wish I could say the same for the HIV positive kids in Yunnan.