Past Programs
Health - 2008
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Taking the Waters... in Moree
23/11/2008
There is an ancient tradition of taking the waters at natural hot springs. It continues today at Moree in flat, dry, north-western New South Wales. Each year hundreds of thousands of eastern Europeans journey to the hot pools of this very old style, Australian country town in search of health and rejuvenation.
The annual spring and autumn visits by the Europeans feel ritualistic; Hungarians, Croats, Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians, Italians, Turks... The visitors immerse themselves each day, sometimes for hours, interweaving their lives and sharing tales about the miracles performed by the waters.
They are mainly old. Many of them have been living in Australia for more than forty years. They often speak little English and perhaps because of this, word of the wonders of Moree's waters have not permeated the wider Australian community.
The faces of the people taking the waters in this story are as marvellous as their voices and we have created an audio slideshow, as well as a separate photo gallery, to share them with you.
Despite What They Say
19/10/2008
Babies born with HIV 22 years ago were expected to die, but Shaynon has gone on to live a fairly normal life with a young family, and to enjoy unprotected sex. Despite the odds, his female partner Jessica remains HIV negative.
Twenty-two years ago, in the city of Perth, baby Shaynon was born HIV positive. At the time nobody knew if this little boy would survive and doctors could only guess how long he might live. Medics concluded that if Shaynon lived to the age of ten he would have done well in the longevity stakes.
The public were afraid of people like Shaynon, and the media misrepresented his condition, making people fearful not only of the HIV virus but also of people carrying it. Fear, confusion and misinformation abounded.
At the age of 10 Shaynon believed his time had come. He began to act out and ran away from home, spending time in squat housing and eventually foster care. He also questioned his fate and the expertise of the medical fraternity regarding what they told him about HIV and AIDS.
Birthday after birthday rolled around and at the age of 16 Shaynon took an interest in Jessica, whom he met while she was working at Hungry Jacks. They started dating. It wasn't long before Jessica's parents learned about Shaynon's condition and her father told the love-struck Shaynon to stay away. But they were determined not to let Jessica's parents get between them, and snuck around behind their backs.
Today Shaynon and Jessica have been together for six years and now have two young children. We are aware Jessica is HIV negative, as are the couple's two children.
What's intriguing is that Shaynon and Jessica conceived their little ones naturally and without practising safe sex procedures. Nor did Shaynon 'wash his sperm' -- a precaution usually taken by HIV infected individuals wishing to conceive.
Having lived with HIV for 22 years, Shaynon has invested a lot of time into researching the virus. He has developed some pretty radical views about the ways in which HIV is transferred and how to avoid infection.
Shaynon's story is unique and confronting. The medical profession will not support his challenging stance about HIV but he is OK with this. An HIV free partner and healthy children are testament to his belief that there are a lot of misunderstandings about HIV. His lifespan has more than doubled the predicted time it was said he would live. Despite the odds, this is Shaynon's story.
Green Tea and Landmines
09/03/2008
We're heading to the Thai-Burma border to the highly politicised town of Mae Sot. The streets of Mae Sot are full of stories of loss and death and flight. Some Burmese people crossed the border into Thailand illegally and have been living here for twenty years, many for more than ten, while thousands are arriving right now.
Another fifty thousand people live in Mae La, the nearest refugee camp. And there are a hundred thousand more refugees in other camps in Thailand. But possibly the most overwhelming fact is that about two and a half million Burmese have fled their country for Thailand, many simply in search of work. Burma remains one of the poorest countries in the world and the protests against the military dictatorship last year did little to change the lives of people.
While we're in Mae Sot we visit the extraordinary Dr Cynthia Maung's Mae Tao Clinic. It's as much haven as clinic. Funded mainly by foreign donations, Mae Tao Clinic runs the training centre for the Backpack Medical Teams and the Free Burma Rangers, both of whom illegally cross the border back into Burma to help the country's ethnic minorities survive the onslaught of the Burmese military.
The clinic is also where people come to vaccinate their babies, to be treated for malaria or cholera, or to receive a prosthetic leg when they've lost theirs to a landmine. Many of the villagers who come to the clinic are fleeing the Burmese military after being forced to act as unwilling porters, or even as human landmine detectors.
We also meet long-time political prisoners from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, as well as Karen and Shan ethnic Burmese working to help their own people in their struggle against the military inside Burma. Over the last ten years the Burmese army has destroyed around three thousand ethnic villages. Some of the people from those villages are now living in hiding inside Burma; some are in Thailand. Many of them are children who have crossed the border alone.
- Watch the short documentary Steps to Freedom, filmed inside Burma by the Free Burma Rangers.
Smokers and a Pleasure Worth Dying For
27/01/2008
Once smoking was regarded as both a pleasure and a right; and wherever you looked, advertisers had a brand for you. Whether your secret self image was international jet-setter or cowboy, sophisticated gent or regular Aussie larrikin, the enticement was there to light up. Not any more. Yet smoking is still legal and still brings great pleasure to millions. Smokers are just more conflicted now.
Today's cigarette packets are decorated with pictures of gangrenous feet and victims of mouth cancer. The message is strong - and repulsive - but are you going to give up? How does one renounce that path to relaxation and that connection with your vision of a more glamorous or masculine self? How do you beat addiction - and would you be the same person if you did?
In the 1950s, smoking was a family affair.
