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Guide on a Yak
Perry Estelle © 2003
Christian.talkingheads@spyderweb.com 8/7/2001
Dear Beau
Get yourself over to Taylor Towers Rest Home, Framlingham at noon today. I got a phone call from the manager there. Your interview is with David Douglas, great nephew of Ernest Shackleton the late great explorer. We are editing tomorrow for Sundays supp. Usual format, (g.o.l.d.) greatest achievements, own testimonies, levels of endurance and last but not least death defying acts etc… blahdeblah. Hit him before lunch. Before he's liable to nap or get medicated. I want a five thousand draft on my desk tomorrow, double spaced. No excuses, have him sign the consent form. Plenty of portrait shots and loan some photos of his expeditions etc, leave that to Geoff from FOCUS, he will meet you there. Tape it and get at least an hour with him. Who is he exactly? Nobody has read about him because he is a stealth explorer. Never been exposed. He is hot property now, so nab his story before the other rags find him.
Take a cheque book. Offer a thousand, go to two. The guy is in pretty bad shape but lean on him for information. He has climbed out of woodwork to talk about what drove guys like him. What it takes to conquer all odds. He wants to clear up the misconceptions about nutters like him, you know, schizoid, power crazy, egocentric control freaks that can never settle down and destroy their families because they would rather pace the planet than see them. You know the crack. Stuff like, why he got the call of the wild etc. Are they sexually impotent and have to prove their manhood? Are they social cripples or plain hate normality and comfort?
Dig deep, don't ask the obvious or it will be your arse in a sling! Its got to read like a Captain's log on a real crap day in the life of an explorer. Find out about his childhood, any weird shit as long as it sells this edition an plumps our sales. That last draft on home-made inventions was a fiasco so now is your chance to redeem yourself and maybe renew your contract. Buzz me when your done."
Trevor
"Where the fiddly fuck is Framinglam?" Beau cursed through a mouthful of Marmite on toast. Scrambling for his trousers and printing off the message. He scooped up his laptop and ripped a shirt off a hanger.
Christian Gray was a freelance journalist who like the rest of the species were under threat. At thirty six years old he had worked briefly for some pretty impressive scientific research periodicals. He had come a long way since writing for his St Ives parish council magazine. The Readers Digest and the National Geographic were under his skinny belt and he had covered a lot of environmental issues for Greenpeace.
The tall Geordie had worked on building sites for cash in hand at the opposite end of the country before his partial success as a writer, to pay for his scholarship at Cambridge. Perfect timing as he graduated just at the same time the construction industry was feasting on the fatted calf of the housing boom in the late eighties.
He loved the rough and tumble of his breakneck speed lifestyle. Forget editing and being roped to a desk. Drinking vending machine sheep-dip was not his cup of tea. Pouring over proofs was like reading his obituary. He wanted the cut and thrust of reporting and he had an ulcer to prove it. The highlight of his career being one of the paparazzi arrested at the scene of Princess Diana's car crash.
Being a reporter was a bit like acting. There was a lot of competition and few good parts. Sometimes you had to tug the jacket of the guy in front to get ahead. He was hard to nail down. Running away from his smothering middle-class family at eighteen to join the Foreign Legion for three years, taught him his aggressive existence. He earned his nickname, Beau, not in Corsica during his basic training. In civvy street he was being sent up over a cartoon character and it stuck.
He dreamed of being a real hero since boyhood. He found out being a coward had better appeal. Wearing a pulse for instance.
He had worked for "Foxhole publishing" for over a year and so far only been given crumbs from the table at "features" and he still ached to get off the bottom rung. He had not worked for over three weeks and had scratched around the office. Surfing the Net. Flirting with the baywatch material at reception. Kicking his heels and becoming stir crazy. He had earned his "rites de passage," yet, he was stuck in dry dock. In a fit of boredom he left the office with the full intention of getting caned on cognac. This he accomplished too successfully and was complimented with all the traditional physical responses resembling a Mother and Father of all hangovers. His mouth felt like a monkey slept in it. He had swollen lips, teeth that itch and a pair of bullet holes for eyes.
Grabbing a tube of "Pringles" and stuffing an oversized pickled onion in his mouth he hopped into his Beetle. Checking for his Lansprazole medication in the glove compartment for associated symptoms of stomach abuse. Through his gritty eyes he drove at speed with a planet sized map engulfing him. Christian was one of those people who was an excellent map-reader but was inept at re-folding them. Sods law that the place he was to head for, was either an ugly tear or crease stuck together with cola.
Crunching up the pine-lined drive of 'Taylor Towers' he checked his 'Accurist', cussing at his less than prompt arrival. Spinning in a circle he wedged the Voltswagon at an angle gouging the gravel where his car went into a epileptic death throes, with James Cagney-like pre-ignition.
The building looked like those run of the mill Transylvanian-type x-stately homes. A monstrous building that no doubt was commandeered for half its true value from skint aristocrats. Sold to the state for a song. Cloisters, a peacock on the lawn and lots of recent attempts to kit the building in a wheelchair friendly way. To give it all the wholesome ambience of Auchwitz. No big chimney or striped overalls. Just a smell of wee in the day room.
Beau was shown through a catacomb of corridors watching a twitching panty-line through white polyester. The well defined calf muscles belonged to a care assistant called Beatrice. Apart from a face hard enough to roller-blade on, the body she had borrowed was quite dazzling. Making a little rubbing noise with man made fibres as she showed him into a darkened room. She motioned for him to take the biro from between his teeth and switched on a red light that spilled onto the back of an empty wheelchair. She spun it around and to the reporters surprise it was not empty at all. Inside hid a crumpled little man with bones jutting out angularly.
He made Posh Spice look obese. He was around 72lb in weight, gaunt and staring. Goggly eyes with egg coloured whites that peered with drooping lids at the two silhouettes at the door frame.
"Mr Douglas, Mr Gray from "Hell on Earth" magazine is here to see you." The dainty pair of buttocks wisped in the bare room and deftly bent down to remove a bag of dark brown liquid from the side of the wheelchair. She snapped on a fresh clear plastic bag that mysteriously started to fill again with the same tea coloured fluid.
"Dinners in an hour Mr Douglas, I'm sure Mr Gray has enough time to ask you his questions until then. Now don't overtire him Mr Gray, will you?" The red light softening her pinched expression.
"I'm sorry, but can I have more light to take notes?" Beau apologised for having to conduct an interview what appeared to be inside a photographers darkroom.
"Do you have a dictaphone?" The nurse asking in that "have you been a good boy today" fashion. Beau's first instinct to the tired question was to respond with "no I use my finger to dial usually" but refrained with a degree of modesty in case such humour might fall on rocky ground and be dashed to pieces.
"Yes I do, I guess we can manage, thank you." She smiled with a knowing smile. She caught the grateful eyes of the reporter at home on her neat bosom. She inhaled, smoothing the front of her pop-a-way uniform aware of the interest shown and smirked. Playfully fondling an earring she flashed her eyes and twirled out the door. Beau looked on favorably at the pert wiggle adapted for his benefit as a set of heels disappeared down the hall.
"Stop gawping lad, she has three kids and has seen more willies than you could shake a stick at." The bony little figure from the wheelchair spoke weakly in a soft whisper that sounded like he was gargling with gravel. He then cleared his throat in such a way his voice needed someone else aprt from himself strong enough to get behind it.
"Now, if you don't mind I have about three months to live and time is precious. I'm broke, and this place costs two hundred pounds a day so get your narrow arse in here and pass me my bloody morphine."
A gnarled hand appeared from the tiny heap of broken flesh with skin stretched over them like doped tissue over balsa. Ugly scars covered the wrist and fingers in different shades of colour, giving them a twig-like appearance. They pointed to a clear measured flask on the cradle table the other side of his cot-sided bed. Straining to see in the starved red light Beau got a closer look at his candidate. The emaciated form was dressed in a type of ribbed thermal all-in-one. A romper suit so close-fitting, his ribcage poked through like a miniature covered wagon with a toast rack for support. He looked like a propped up stocking stuffed with stair rods. Beau pulled up a chair and greeted the shadow of a man and sat across from him.
" Very pleased to meet you Mr Douglas and thanks for creating this little chat. I hope we can both learn a lot from it. I have just this consent form for you to sign, then we can proceed." Beau read the logistics from the form as the man nodded in agreement.
"Consent forms, I've signed a few of those beggars this week I can tell you. I've donated anything that the living can use from what's left of me. To be honest, everything still works apart from the lungs and liver, so why don't you put your name down for my other bits? Lets see, do you fancy a couple of kidneys, or ta cornea? One owner, very high mileage though. About 800,000 thousand miles in total. All except my feet of course. I wore those out. In fact they don't exist." The croaky little man laughed pulling up his elasticated leg bottoms showing his visitor a vacant space where his slippers should be."
Beau thought either he had been ambushed as a surprise guest on "Trigger happy T.V" or he was getting acquainted with a stand-in for a sequel to the Michael Jackson 'Thriller' video.
The man could not look less like an explorer. His face and head exhibited about four days growth of hair all over. He was blind in his left eye. The pupil an opaque whitish grey. He was in his forties but looked ancient. His forehead furrowed like a scored and basted gammon. Liver spots festooned his face, which was as wrinkled as a baked Bramley. The skin raw and bitten by the elements over the years. His lips were non-existent and his fore-lips split in several places. He had the neck of a tortoise.
Beau looked at the rest of his minute frame and guessed they both must be the skinniest people in the world. At least he had a 'pick' on himself. A glass eye had more meat on it than the poor fellow opposite.
He restrained a 'walk over the grave' type shudder and snapped on his tape machine. The interview followed in two way dialogue for the next forty two minutes. With the catheter only interrupting when the man minus feet, had to squeeze a lemon.
Beau: "Mr Douglas you are probably the world's best kept secret in the sphere of intrepid world travel. Before you take us on a very different journey to share some of your experiences, can you tell me why you wish to divulge your life story at this late stage and why you find yourself here at 'Taylor Towers' convalescence home? "
Douglas: "Because I'm dying and it is a good a place as any (smiling wryly). I suffer from Cogan's syndrome which is a protracted type of altitude sickness. It means I have spent too long without proper oxygen, enough liquid and appropriate diet. Over four thousand metres the body is starved of oxygen and this causes the lungs to become waterlogged. Acclimatization took three days, but there was never time for that. Coming down too fast can give the 'dry bends' too.
(he paused for breath)
"Blue babies" will die if they don't get oxygen. I rationed cycIinders in order to get to where I was going and keep enough on the way back. My lungs are too scarred for me to climb stairs let alone another mountain. A body only reminds you when you should quit when you throw up, get confused or make a bad judgement. Then its too late. You've buggered your body if you invite that kind of prolonged trauma. You don't stop and check your powder compact for a blue complexion when its forty below and six miles higher than sea level.
(Mr Douglas coughed a gurgling cough)
I'm not here because I am disabled. In my view there is no such word. Its a helluva label. The mind, is the only disabling weapon.
(still coughing)
Beau: "How were you disabled..excuse me…disadvantaged physically?"
Douglas: "I lost my feet on a Caribou hunting trip in Quebec in ninety two. I was solo and not out to kill Caribou, but to count them. I was meeting the Innu nomads to help them conduct a census of the falling numbers.
Beau: "For what purpose?"
Douglas: "Since the late eighties Nato have been low-flying tactical fighter jets over the territory between Labrador and Quebec. 10,000 sorties a year, over a half-million square miles of Innu homeland. Its 'freaked' herds of Caribou out of their habitat. They don't feed or bear as many young. There are just a few thousand compared to several million just ten years before. Only a handful remain today.
Beau: "How do a few planes passing over destroy a herd of wandering Caribou?"
Douglas: " Hey,.. if you were had been grazing for centuries in complete peace and quiet and suddenly a million dollar fighter plane, every twenty minutes, swoops across over your head at six hundred miles an hour and just thirty metres above you, how would you feel? Huh?
The herd are dramatically traumatised by this shit. They travel five times further a day to try to escape the noise pollution. The last remnants of herds are seriously underweight and neurotic.
Beau: "What has this got to do with losing your feet? Was it frostbite?"
Douglas: "Frostbite, my arse. I formed a protest group from the hardcore Innu warrior faction and chose a platoon of saboteurs from an underground party of warriors. They were basically guerrilla mercenaries. They were sick of the uninvited guests. Bloody yanks tearing up their homeland. By day they were fisherman and farmers. By night they were freedom fighters. They fought for their herds. Their families. Their livelihood. They fought for their own survival. The best the natives could do was to machine-gun the jets after dark. No light and a fast-moving target proved fruitless time after time. They heard some reports of only minor damage to aircraft. Never shot any of the suckers down though……….. A real David and Goliath scenario. They knew when the sorties would fly and just took pot-shots. It is all they could do."
(Mr Douglas looked momentarily despairing)
"They are still fighting the planes today. Arrested for acts of aggression under International Law almost daily."
(Mr Douglas stopped and poured morphine into what was left of his mouth losing half of it on his stubbled chin.)
"They believed their land to be their birthright. Who can blame them? I just helped them while I was there. Their Fathers were all elders in the community. They encouraged it. They took responsibility for their own actions.,………. Nato does not. We took a sled team to Goose Bay, East of the homeland territory. One of a number of U.S.A.F military installations……. I managed to smuggle in a set of charges, befriending a security guard and posing as a troops entertainer. I got a pass with forged papers……….. One night I set timed explosives at the base of the air traffic control tower. The timer was set too tight and twenty pounds of Semtex blew me across an airstrip."
Beau: "What happened next."
Douglas: "The base commander had me in the infirmary where I was given large amounts of blood and E.C.T……. The Whitehouse had me deported. When they realised I was not going to keep my mouth shut, they threatened to withhold my passport and make me a political prisoner. I was followed by the C.I.A for months……… The paradox was that they were more worried about bad press than National security…….. They paid me to disappear………. Which is what I'm good at."
"A year later I was airlifted out of Canada and literally dropped in the middle of the Amazon, just outside Sarawak. I walked two hundred and fifty miles in a two weeks. I had no money or food, just a First Aid kit and my crutches. Survival was not a problem. I made a compass from what was around me. I found berries and roots to eat. Slept up in trees. That was in eighty nine."
(more morphine)
"Two weeks later I met members of the Kayapo. The tribesmen led me to a village near Sumatra. They let me eat with them and even sleep with their women. They realised that I was no threat to them………………"
"The Chief whose name was Kinahino was not chosen for his great hunting skills. There was nothing to hunt. He was not selected for his triumph over other tribes as a warlord. The other tribes had all but disappeared. He was not chosen for his herds and crops. He had none…………. He was anointed as leader of his tribe for being the the best 'Catapillar' driver in his deforestation unit, it was the only dignity the west had left him."
Beau: " But what significance has th…..?"
Douglas: "Hey, I know of your interest in environmental issues, can't you figure it out?"
Beau: "Depletion of the rainforest, raising cattle for the burger market…..am I right?"
Douglas: "Well, you do not have to be a mathmatician to understand that when you are besieged by migrant cattle ranchers and land prospectors that forcibly take your land your only choice is to accept money from foreign investors…… Just because indigenous tribes have lived there for thousands of years, makes know difference to developers. Unless the forest people have mortgage deeds, the white man just goes right in and takes it. What would you do if the entire Aborigine nation moved into your town and set camp in your back yard? Huh, God Almighty. You'd get them arrested for trespassing for crying out loud, yet the so-called civilised city slickers just rob and destroy the environment of others without permission or consideration to those people who have dwelled there more thousands of years."
(Mr Douglas quite animated and emotional)
Beau: "What was your role in all this?"
Douglas: "It was too little too late. Let me explain something to you………………"
(Mr Douglas hitches himself up in his wheelchair and pulls himself forward)
"Deforestation alienates people from each other. Three quarters of the tree population has disappeared in the last fifty years. Half the indigenous peoples have had to live in town shanties and deprived settlements on the outskirts of cities. That's five million forest dwellers forced out of their homes, their culture and their way life………. They were not bothering anybody. Living to survive as tradition deemed, as generations did before them."
(Mr Douglas fixed in his expression and frowning)
"Unemployment has driven a once thriving and self sufficient men and women of Amazonia to destroy the very habitat that supported them and their families…. Industrialised countries in competition for hardwoods, beef, tin, silver and gold are raping entire regions of precious rainforest. The size of Wembly Stadium every minute is razed to the ground….. Penans, Kayapo, Waorani and Quicha have had there land dessimated and permanently destroyed."
(Mr Douglas visibly fatigued after his outburst and sinks lower into his seat and has difficulty breathing normally for a few minutes)
"You see, the land never recovers. Land erosion causes flooding. It impoverishes soil fertility and spreads plant disease. Overgrazing and logging have already caused an environmental catastrophe than is too devastating for description……….. It has already killed the planet for your children……Your children will suffer the consequences. Co2 emissions so high that by the time they reach my age they will all need oxygen from a machine at night, like I do. What the hell do you think this years floods in this country, were down too?"
(Mr Douglas paused, short of breath and inhaled from a nebuliser, then taking more morphine)
"……….What did I do? Once I convinced the villagers that they were destroying the future of their people I spoke on behalf of them. I petitioned the land clearance company to leave. Fifty women and children laid down in front of plant machinery for twenty four hours. The contractors refused to pay the men folk money owed for a months labour. They refused to listen. The corporate giant, McDonald's sent in a team of.….what the hell did they call themselves? Oh yes….public relations officials. They served the villagers with a writ that I had to interpret for them. It read, that if they "caused any further delays in the progress of the project they would be evicted under there own governments authority………"
"The next night, Kinahino and I stole cans of keresene from the site compound and started our own "slash and burn" campaign. We knocked out three earthmovers. Two log transporters and a several J.C.B's."
Beau: " Don't you think you were a little reactionary? Have you not heard of peaceful protest?"
Douglas: "Peaceful protest, my good eye……have you not heard of the saying, 'fight fire with fire'…it bloody works. Not to stop the death of the environment. It works for your dignity, its like taking a tight shoe off ."
Beau: "O.K, did it stop the logging?"
Douglas: "I never thought it would. I thought it might of given hope to others. To the forest people………. Make them think. Make them want to fight to survive…….. Kinahino, my fellow conspirator died dousing some plant equipment. He lit his cigarette and a canister set him aflame inside a cab………. I burned hands trying to pull him clear."
Beau: "Were you always this revolutionary? Did you get your spirit for fighting for our planet from your great Uncle?"
Douglas: "Uncle Ernie was a great team player. He listened to his men. He died exhausted from trying to motivate and inspire men against all odds and at all costs. Could you eat your own dog team to survive? Could your men have that much faith in you that they would still celebrate Christmas…. stranded on pack ice…. in a ship that was about to be crushed and sink…. without a trace…. in a moments notice? Could you look up to man that had promised you success and fame finding out later that you were sure to die a horrible death…. because of his promises?"
"Only a few men can motivate like that, but it is within all of us. The point is, whether you have the balls to use it when there is absolutely no way out…………. Remember Churchill's winning speech? The shortest speech of all time. "Never , never, NEVER give up."
Sometimes little means a lot. What about the shortest verse in the Bible. 'Jesus wept'. Two words that meant more than the rest of the entire scriptures…. don't you agree?"
Beau: "Who are your role models and what was the young David Douglas like?"
Douglas: "My real role models? Those I really admire? I tell you who…..let me see…….what's the opposite of consumer?"
"……………..Four percent of the population, that's who. Two hundred and fifty million peoples from seventy different countries. Distinct, proud people who only want to defend their land not destroy it……… What the West has done is strip them of that right. They are the strongest most powerful of us all. With the least influence……… Without them we would not be who we are. Without their knowledge we are nothing. We do not share the same relationship with our planet as they do. We do not have the same sense of belonging they have."
"……..A Duwamish chief told me once... he said… that every part of Earth was sacred to his people. Every sandy shore…every mist in the wood…every humming insect. All is holy and preserved in the deepest memory of our people."
Beau: "I thought you would hail someone like Scott of the Antartica or Sir Edmund Hillary. Do they not have a place in your heart?
Douglas: "Eddy is a pussy. He's a namby pamby squish dick.
Beau: "You denounce one of the greatest explorers of our time? How can you dismiss his bravery and skill as an expeditionist?"
Douglas: "Listen to me…. Hillary was a boy scout. Enid Blyton should have auditioned him for the famous five. I went on only one expedition with him. K2 …and one hour from the summit, hell, I forget what he said to the guide….. and then he stopped. He wanted someone else to take the flag so they could have the credit. Imagine that. He organised the climb and funded it, then just plain gave the glory away…….. Would you share your City & Guilds or English degree, or whatever got you your credentials to be here, with anybody else? Anyway, he climbed mountains because at sea level he was a crushing bore. I'm not sure he went climbing simply because he was crap company. People probably sent him up there if they wanted to have a party at base camp."
(Mr Douglas chuckled, then coughed and swigged more morphine)
Beau: "Have you nothing of honour to say for Sir Edmund?"
Douglas: "I believe he has stopped climbing now and does a lot of fundraising and charity work for the Himilayan people now, I guess that is his only redeeming feature. I admire him for that. He suffers from what I have."
Beau: "What, chronic altitude fatigue?"
Douglas: "No a sense of duty to the first peoples."
Beau: "Thank you for your honesty. Somewhat cynical honesty. May I call it professional rivalry for now? Yet, surely there is one person whom you admire, past or present?"
Douglas: "If I must I guess, it has to be Old Teddie Roosevelt."
Beau: " Why him? I read somewhere he was the original "Far West Hunter" and loved to shoot what are now a protected species, do you excuse him?"
Douglas: " Yes, but you said it. They were not protected then. The only endangered species then was the Dodo bird or the American Bison. There was no multi-billion dollar food chain in the late eighteen hundreds……. 'Huntin', shootin' fishin' was part of growing up. Guns and self protection were normal. What he shot, he usually fed his family with, except on big game expeditions. He did that in Africa like our own Royal Family did and still do. I do not agree with the wholesale slaughter led by consumerism, like Whale and Shark murder. You see, a hundred and fifty years ago there were barely a billion people on the planet. The earth was teeming with wildlife. There was no ozone depletion. Cars were rare. Cities tiny."
(Mr Douglas used the nebuliser and re-composed himself)
"………….Apart from bear. He hunted bear, for sport. But bears were a great threat then to the human community. Buffalo were wiped out for hide by both the Red Indians and the White man……….. We are all predators………….. Particularly the ancient peoples and there descendants today. Like I said, Shackleton ate the last husky to survive, destroying his hope of transport home. You do not kill what is there to save you. You respect animals as your equals. They need you ……and you need them."
"……………Look at the earliest cave paintings of prehistoric man. They actually worshipped the animals they slew. They sought a balance between themselves and the animals that provided food, transport, clothing and shelter……… They understood the animals………… They learned from them. They emulated them. Guided by them…….. They did not live in luxury. They had, and still have minimalistic life styles. No waste. No storage. Just survival and respect for that which kept them alive, warm and fed. The Comanche and Cheyenne regarded all the animals they hunted as sacred and god-like…………"
(Mr Douglas gesturing to pause and taking more painkiller)
"…………Let me tell you about a people I met in South Africa. If the rest of the world took a leaf out of their book they may save this sick and fated chunk of rock for a lot longer……… The 'San desert people' live the most frugal existences. They co-operated with the environment…….. They became the environment……….. In times of drought, the women cease to conceive to preserve resources. An adaptation phenomena that still baffles anthropologists…………. This leaves the men to hunt for water and have less dependants. They use every part of the animal they hunt. Get this … they even store a precious amount of water in ostrich eggshells under the ground for extreme emergencies. They have no possessions or elaborate costumes. This gives them unrestricted freedom of movement individually and as a group……………"
"………….They have restored in me a whole knew meaning to the phrase.. 'sometimes little, is more.' If we sacrificed more as a population we could give so much more back to our environments."
Beau: " I agree, but we digress, can you tell me why the late President Roosevelt impressed you so much."
Douglas: " If you did any history, you can see that he was not just a plain old President. That was just the icing on the cake of a career unequalled by any man…………"
"………..He was the man, make no mistake. He was the Mayor of New York. A police commissioner of the Big Apple too…….. Later a Governor. Secretary of the U.S Navy. He won a Nobel Peace Prize. He even stood for an finishing a vigorous speech with a bullet in his chest after an attempt to assassinate him. That gets a few brownie points don't you think?"
Beau: "Incredible…you still seem reluctant to praise you piers…why?"
Douglas: "I believe that all the western world take the credit for what their indigenous cousins already know……. We so-called 'pioneers' are only second guessing……… The writing was on the wall long before civilisation……. It is our modern society that suffer primitive ignorance. We have not learned anything from those who, although they may not have a website or a mobile phone, possess the real depth of wisdom….. the real icons of discovery…... People who have listened to Mother earth and show real intelligence."
"………The West have destroyed hope in these people and their culture. Some are fighting back. Like the Aborigines. They refuse to accept help from state-run welfare programs. They don't want charity. They just want to be left alone. They have over thirty of there own healthcare services all over Oz………. and a television network."
"……….Another paradox is….. In order to survive they have to accept some of the culture from those who have invaded theirs. The problem is the attitude and lack of communication from the whites. Aborigines have been treated like dependant children. Not allowed any control when it comes to running their own country. Bad housing, ill-education, unemployment and anti-social problems, are the product racial intolerance over two hundred years….. It is only now, that there is more effort by the Australian government to reverse the damage to an entire race of indigenous people. If you were a proud Aborigine man that had watched four generations of your family persecuted by a boatloads of criminals….would you ever trust a white man again?"
"………….It has taken all this time to get senior governmental positions for a few Aborigines. It is only in the last ten years there are Aboriginal organisations backed by government money. It will take a long time to see the Aborigines exercise their true rights again. Maybe decades."
(Mr Douglas showing signs of exhaustion uses his nebuliser again)
Beau: "I guess we all know the issues you have raised here,…"
Douglas: "Please don't patronise me Mr Gray……. Its easy to watch crucial issues or what is happening in the world when you can watch only a portrayal of the facts from the comfort of your own home….. If people spent as much time doing something pro-active as they do watching 'News at Ten' or 'Wildlife on One', then we would probably give our planet another stay of execution. Its only when you see it with your own eyes….. You live with it….. You talk face to face……… with a threatened community, that you only begin to understand what we are doing to them."
"……………Every time you buy a cup of tea, do you ever stop to think of the starving family that has to make that possible for you? The process before you actually drank that cup of tea? The fact that an entire family on the other side of the world would have to work all day for the price of that cup of tea……….. that you are drinking………. Think about it."
Beau: "So you blame suburbia and consumerism. That we have taken choice from others in order to enjoy choice ourselves…that we deprive those who feed us from commercial greed. Here, in the bread basket of the world, so to speak…… Is that it?"
Douglas: "Well put, Mr Gray. Well put….. You see, I know not all of us have not had the same opportunities I have enjoyed…….. to travel the world…. to spend all my time meeting unfortunate and oppressed people, all over the place……… I have no family……… I have no family apart from those I share the globe……… Like the song says "where ever I lay my hat, that's my home." Nevertheless, I still have a duty to others."
"………………If you have a fire in your backyard you do something about it. Whether you are a wage-slave in a jelly factory…….. or a wealthy entrepreneur…….. Listen up, Mr Gray if anything you do,…….. eat,……… buy,……. sell,…….. grow, ……..wear or drive has a threat to the environment, or a community, wherever they are in the world, you have an obligation to boycott it…… If you rob nature it will rob you…… It can be your best friend or your worst enemy…….get me."
Beau: "Surely we would all have to live like Monks and Nuns in that case. Isn't it is up to the governments of poorer countries to provide for their population? Why should we impoverish our own country by bailing out others who cannot get there act together?"
Douglas: "Look at the States. They, through commercialism and ignorance is one of two hundred countries in the world……. Yet, it is responsible for a quarter of the earth's pollution. They refuse to cut down emissions. They claim that they plant more trees than anywhere else and so such 'precautions' will counteract their industrial carbon levels…….. How stupid………. What point is there in planting a tree….. if you plan to poison it on the same day? As for governments taking full responsibility, that is wholly irresponsible of us to expect them to do so. Forgive my irony. Look, did you ever read Dr Seuss?"
Beau: "I confess, not for some time, can we stick to fact, not fantasy, Mr Douglas?"
Douglas: "Let me make this point. Seuss and Dahl had a habit of writing stories for kids……. that if a few adults read they might learn too…….. About priorities and survival of the species. Seuss in his kids book "Horton hears a who" lies a vital clue to individual duty………
It goes "…an the Elephant smiled 'do you see what I mean, they proved they are persons no matter how small. And their whole world was saved by the smallest of all…' 'How true, how true'… said the big Kangeroo..and from now on, you know what I'm planning to do? From now on, I'm going to protect them with you!!'…and the young Kangeroo said,..ME TOO!! From sun in the summer. From rain when it's fall-ish, I'm going to protect them. No matter how small-ish!!!…………………"
"By denying others we are denying ourselves."
Beau: "This is all very 'green-thinking', but what would be your advice to others before we move on."
Douglas: "It is not for me to dictate the conscience of others. I would only say that if you decide to join that great voice. You have to stand on tippy-toe to be heard. Let your contribution, however small, be a consistent one…………. It may not stop our destruction of the world…………….. Armageddon is not just a movie anymore. Yet, we may halt the fatal collapse of the planet for our children, if we all do something now…………. Whether, its making a personal commitment to re-cycle at home…………….. Collect for a charity. Fundraise……………………. Petition third world governments. Send aid or but products and crafts to aid cultural development. Get familiar with what's happening outside your front door. Its only distance that separates you, neighbours who need your hope and help them."
Beau: " I asked you about your childhood and we got distracted….what was it like growing up..did you always dream of becoming an explorer. Perhaps, you did not visualise that you would be so controversial, or shall we say…unconventional, as far as men of discovery go, but nonetheless for that… what drove you as a child to adventure in the great outdoors?"
Douglas: "I always had a problem with four walls, I guess. I was always going missing. I hated my bedroom. I used to have a tree-house though and I read a lot. My Mother said that she was always calling out the fire brigade to get me off the top of something. I was not interested in making friends or co-operating with the school system. I was always playing truant and I got expelled once."
Beau: "What was your greatest accomplishment?"
Douglas: "Being initiated as a Mohawk Indian."
"…………..I stood before the eagle, which signifies power. As part of the rites of the ceremony I had to capture a wolf alive without using weapons. I succeeded and lost my sight of my eye in the process. A small sacrifice. I am also vice president of the Akwesasne Freedom School for Mohawk children. Once a year I am allowed to sit with all the Chiefs of over 200 North American tribes………. Famous, major tribes, that may ring bells to you, like the Blackfoot, Iroquis and Bella Coola………… It is my greatest honour to serve them, although I will not sit at their right hand much longer. I don't care about dying. I'm more worried about never seeing those kids again."
(Mr Douglas weeps briefly)
Beau: "Do you need a moment?"
Douglas: "I'm fine."
Beau: "What is your greatest wish, green issues to one side, that is? What do you hope for
in your personal life after such a full and rich journey, already?"
Douglas: "I would like to have sex again before I die."
(Mr Douglas composed and laughing)
Beau: "I'm sorry I am unable to assist you in this…..but did you ever have…..did you ever have a sweetheart on your travels?"
Douglas: "Many….I've been in jail in sixteen different countries too. I don't like balls and chains. Only one that I ever loved. Her name was Gita. I met her on the West coast of India. She was a healthcare worker in Bengal. She was a tribal herbalist in Maharashtra and involved with the Karjat study. She was pioneering traditional Indian medicine that is now recognized by the western world."
"………It takes seven years to clinically perfect a drug in our community. She was head of a project to benefit the Kameng people in Aranachal Pradesh. She was refining a native herb called Chitella Thirrhosa. A plant based contraceptive. It is a traditional remedy for muscular pain but her studies revealed that taken by men on a regular basis that it had properties that it made men temporarily, sterile with no lasting or damaging effects…….."
"………….I helped her run some clinical studies and we got very close. I tried to coax her back to England to get funding and promote research for what I think you might agree, a wonderful and potentially revolutionary natural and effective safe mode of contraception. She was too interested in keeping her work local. She did not want to exploit her people and her findings…………."
"………….You see, her knowledge was sacred and part of her peoples heritage. She wouldn't sell them out. In the wrong hands it could end up in sex shops or be sold as a gimmick. Used responsibly it would, if properly documented and expanded, change the face of medical history. It could shape our understanding of cultural medical care and its benefits………………."
"………………She was refused recognition for her work by the Bengal medical board. I rallied a protest outside the embassy and then I chained myself to the car owned by the president of the World Health Organisation. Mr Bruce Devore, WHO'S president, was visiting an Aids Trust convention dinner. That part of the world has the highest population of H.I.V and full-blown Aids cases. In ninety three, almost half of the prostitutes in Bombay were infected. A lot of empty words from high ranking officials, more interested in what was for dessert. I was arrested and taken by the police militia and interrogated. They thought I was political terrorist. I was suspected of international terrorism and all because my girlfriend wanted to distribute a free health product with a government grant for conclusive testing by the authorities……….."
Beau: "What happened during your imprisonment?"
Douglas: " I was hung upside down and had my 'stumps' beaten with my own crutches. I had electrodes to my testicles. I was drugged with Risperadal. It is a depressant that makes the user compliant. I was made to watch videos of previous torture techniques. They broke all my teeth and busted a few ribs. They buggered me, and made me eat my own fecal matter. They made me "Suck the Subri". Its a penis shaped iron instrument which is used to polax pigs. The slaughterman holds the pigs head between his knees and hammers the pointed tip into the top of the pigs skull. The quickest and most humane method in South Asia to kill livestock. We outlawed it about thirty years ago in this country."
"………………They heated its tip with a blowtorch and made me put it in my mouth."
Beau: "What in God's name did you do? Did you have legal representation?"
Douglas: "I escaped through a sewer leading from the infirmary. I had a dry socket in the back of my mouth that was produced by a rifle butt and I hid the drugs they gave me in that and spat them out later…………. Gita had told me how to counteract the effects of the sedatives too. She smuggled barbiturates to me via a fellow health worker. I owe my life to the hospital porter who saw my plight. If had been caught his punishment would of been far worse than mine. I managed to steal the videos of torture during my escape. I posted them to Amnesty International………."
(Mr Douglas ddrinking morphine and using the nebuliser more frequently)
Beau: "What did you do, and where did you go."
Douglas: " I fled the country, working my passage on a merchant ship bound for England. I had some money hidden in an account in Delhi that was wired to me. My parents had died within two years of each other and they had left me a handsome gratuity. Spread evenly across the world for emergencies such as this."
(Mr Douglas chuckled and drank more medication)
Beau: "What about Gita?"
Douglas: "I have not seen her to this day. I have written and even tried to trace her on the Internet but it has been over eight years now. I expect she has found her feet…………………. Which,…… is more than I have."
(Mr Douglas laughed again and then visibly solemn.)
Beau: " Before I close, can I ask you about any tips for our would-be travelers and budding explorers listening to your experiences. The best advice from one of the most undiscovered discoverers in expedition history?"
Douglas: "Well, don't fall in love………. Even if the view is breathtaking it is too much to lose on an important expedition…..Empty your bowels at least once a day. ……Work out the cost financially, physically and emotionally….errm…….. Don't bother weighing the risks or you will stay at home and watch other people do it……………… Be organised……………. Keep fit……………. Take the bare minimum on trips………….. Dome tents are best. Good quality ones, that are blizzard and waterproofed properly. "Kampette" are a good make………… Thomas Black in Greenock, make them. A light threefold sleeping bag with eiderdown, again, waterproof. Hunt for skins and food if you can, en-route…………. Try not to take deerskins with you, unless you have a sled. Wear anoraks, about seven and just peel them off if you get too overheated………….. Make you tent over your sled, it will keep……….. you and your provisions dry over night. Sleep on the sled if you can………… Take good first aid…………."
When bathing in the Amazons watch out for scorpions in sponges…..those little suckers hide in everything…….. Pack any food or coffee in airtight containers……… Best stove for climbing, is 'Primus', preferably 'Butane'…………. But they are useless…… over 18,000 feet……… So take a spare solid fuel one, in case……….. or spirit fuel of course…………. A small pressure cooker is a must, it saves fuel and time…….. Insect repellent. Keep all your clothes off the ground where snakes and leeches can make a home. 'FLIT' is a good make…….. its hypoallergenic………….."
"……………Don't dehydrate. Even if your water is fresh, reboil it every time. Rationing is necessary. Balance you diet with an equal amount of minerals, salts and vitamins. Altitude, will stop an appetite and reduce the body's ability to cope with a poor diet………………….. In Quebec the Innu used a compressed ration of dried cakes made out of caribou and buffalo meat. Its a traditional preparation used internationally for travelers called "Pemmican"……….. Protein and fat is essential…… Over 11,000 feet you can lose 1O litres of fluid and twelve pounds of bodyweight……… or more…….. a day. Something supplements won't give you…. "Redoxon"….. is good, or if you don't want to use a Vit C tablet. Take a bottle of lemon juice with you. It sure does wake you up in the morning…….."
(Nurse interrupts the interview at 12.55p.m)
Nurse: " Mr Douglas, well, you are Mr Popularity today…… You have another pair of visitors waiting to see you outside."
Beau: "Well I think we are just about done now, aren't we, Mr Douglas? I will discuss your fee at a later date when it is more convenient."
Douglas: "I've enjoyed it Beau. I will be pleased to talk again should you wish. Meanwhile, please don't be offended, its probably those scary social workers again, wanting to pester me with their stupid risk assessments again. If only they knew how many of the trees I have tried to save in my life and now one has to die to find out if I can take a leak by myself they make me fill out their Goddam forms like someone really cares enough to read them.……..Nurse, tell those woolly hatted bastards, to go and haunt some other poor sonofabitch, for Chrissake. Mr Gray has to ask me a few more questions…err…don't you?
Nurse: " No, Mr Douglas, it is the Mother of your eight year old daughter. They are both here to see you. They have come an awful long way………… The lady said to tell you her name was Gita."
Interview terminated 12.55hrs
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