greasing palms

Some you might remember the P10 lunch I mentioned with so much affection back in September. I'm quite fond of this institution -- not only is it tasty, but it means that I'm not preparing a hot meal in 90 F heat, and it's so large that my inclination to prepare a large (read: hot & sweaty) dinner is quite reduced.

Anyway, I've spent the past weeks observing paediatric care in its various forms at the main hospital around here. This has, for the most part, involved following paediatricians around, many of whom are Americans. Some of them work in a clinic setting, while others are working on the in-patient ward.

These good doctors have been clued into the P10 lunch. They know it exists. Sometimes, on a very good day when they have a lunch break -- or feel like they can take a lunch break -- they eat it. But the ladies who serve this fabulous lunch eventually run out of food and/or close up shop. (This is not McDonald's, people - no 24-hour drive-thru here!) If you don't make it to them on time, you're out of luck.

Fortunately (for some), the chips ladies are a bit more flexible with their hours. This means that if it's 2pm and you haven't eaten lunch, you can get a little plastic bag of fried-and-I-mean-fried-like-hell potato pieces, and a coke. (You have have a Fanta instead, if that really lights your fire.) Seasoning the chips is self-service, so you can dump as much salt and vinegar and peri-peri seasonings on them as your little cardiovascular system desires.

After shadowing my MDs faithfully for a few weeks now, I could swear I've had chips for lunch four days out of five. I find this fascinating. Is this how doctors eat? What does this say about the medical profession? Are half the young paediatricians going to drop in the harness in twenty years? Today I couldn't stand it anymore, and I ran off at lunchtime for a meal of madombi and chicken and merogo that didn't make me feel like a ball of grease afterwards.

The other thing that fascinates me is that the doctors -- or even the nurses -- at the hospital don't send out for lunch. In Togo, you could send les petites to fetch you something (e.g., tasty rice and beans with gari [ground dried manioc] sprinked on top) from the market if you couldn't go yourself (or just didn't feel like it). Some local folks will stop what they're doing and leave for lunch -- a phenomenon that drives some American docs to distraction. Meanwhile, the American docs, when they feel they need to work through lunch, simply keeping going and then eat the kind of crap I found unsatisfying as a meal even in junior high.

I know that the private clinic I've attended sends out for its lunches, and they're delivered at lunchtime, and people can either eat while they're working or take a break if they can. Eating while working is really not the way here, but it's a better compromise -- to my mind, at least -- than eating crap.