Categories: television, australia
Date: 19 February 2008 11:14:39
A rather dramatic story in tonight's episode of Foreign Correspondent on ABC1.
[You may remember my complaint about the new logo; to be honest, it doesn't look too bad as a watermark.]
While the report was about the prohibitive costs of Australian anti-venom in Papua New Guinea, and the large death toll and lack of anti-venom in communities and even the hospital in Port Moresby [PNG's capital], it took a rather dramatic twist when one of the main interviewees, David Williams [snake handler, medic, teacher and research scientist], was himself bitten by a snake and was rushed to hospital in a very bad state. When they got to the hospital, the vial of anti-venom given to him was the last one they had. Thankfully, he lived.
Also quite sad was the black-market trade of anti-venom: particularly as some sold is useless against snake bites in PNG. It was nice to see the Health Minister taking such decisive action.
The other story, of a much more pleasant nature, concerned using Arctic ice to make beer in Greenland. All rather entertaining. Though what struck me the most was the gloriously bright and different-coloured houses in this small village in Greenland: rather than dull bricks and such as is found here, red, green, yellow and blue -- among others -- houses were scattered on the hills and such of the town. Wonderful: such variety.
If the reports are put up for download, I particularly recommend the first -- and the second one for a feel-good report.