Because of the recently released UN report on possible war crimes, the United States Envoy was sent to visit the area. He ended up here in the Mullaitivu District. Because of the sensitive nature of his visit, the few white people, me included, had to lay low. We were not allowed to see or greet him, and a hand shake was out of the question. MSF works very hard at neutrality and impartiality. This was a chance to see that out here in the real world. Americans are not highly thought of everywhere. Effigies of Obama were burned last week. Some of us will revertto speaking Spanish or German. Unfortunately for me, I am the only one who speaks German, so it is usually Spanish.
I was seeing a patient the other day, and was asking in Tamil if he had pain. He showed no understanding of what I was saying, and I thought, boy, my accent and pronunciation must really be bad today. However, I was immediately corrected, and told that this man was Singala, and didn't speak Tamil. What a dilemma. The Tamil women can be identified by how they dress and how they wear jewelry, but I guess that I'm not sure how to identify a Singala man, unless he has on an army uniform.
On one of my trips with the Bethel Series, I was alone in a big hotel. There was a big Asian man gazing at me and speaking English. I reverted to Norwegian so I could pretend I was not an American and could not understand English.
ReplyDeleteLay low and speak Spanish.