I have lived and worked in four continents, so I have the opportunity to experience different cultures at different pace, so hence I can speak that this is faster than the cultures I’ve lived. Although it was different times and yes, other cultures may have speeded up and thinking similar, however, some cultures are more in touch with the wider environment, the natural environment and family. And animals, whereas we’re becoming more and more distanced from the natural environment, never mind our family, you know, away from our natural self. But the family is becoming a distant. I notice more of that when I went to live abroad, about 15 years ago, the family, -God where’s the family gone, we’re so distant, so dispersed and now it’s just, nobody wants to know. You can’t even look at somebody, we go on the bus or train, you daren’t look at people, because people going to threaten you or do something and that’s sad really and yet on the other hand, they say UK is a country where pets are loved a lot, animals are loved, but people, I don’t know? And also some of the eastern ways of life, you know, how you listen to your body, look after and food as well now, oh I don’t know, with beef and BSE and with animals and the bird flu, being a vegetarian versus meat eating and the impact on health, things coming. Yeah, maybe we need to listen and promote and learn from other cultures.

Well I’ve got a lot of White British friends in the church and everything. And some of them come and give me a bit of advice, and some of them said, oh, this is no life for you Anton, why don’t you put her in a home, because she’ll be happy with people of her own ag, and all these things, you’ve got your life to lea, and all these things. So, knowing they’re social starter family life doesn’t surprise me, so this is it. And then once again I find in the white British families, that even the children, -well the parents stick them in, like put them in a nursery this, that and the other, then. So when their children grow up home, and their parent’s need, they also put them in institutions, yeah it’s very sad.

There was a time I used to go and preach in the old people’s home, and then they’re there, and after I do the service, a lot of the old ladies will hang on to my hand and squeeze and won’t let me go. And then the only time you see a lot of traffic in the old people’s home are Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, that’s the time you find plenty of cars parked. Other times -dead; they’re dead, and then you some time, when I speak to them, well they are, some of them don’t even live locally, and that’s why they’re dead, yeah. And just imagine though, say as a parent, I tend to think, as a parent they bring up the children and spend a lot of time, sacrificing everything, and they expect, -well when the time comes for them they might get, you say in accounting terms, some sort of return, but no. This seems the same old story, as soon as you, -well like -as soon, in their sort of society when their parents can’t look after themselves, there goes to the institution, and that’s it. So then you can’t blame them, because they done the same thing, yeah.

Now for example I was telling, they laugh at it, I said ‘the solution for the health service is the African solution’ then they said ‘how come?’ Now if you go to a place like Nigeria or Kenya, if somebody goes into hospital the family turns up there, pitch a tent on the ground, or stick in the corridor, and then they will wash, clean, do all the things for the patient, feed them and everything. The doctors and nurses will do the clinical bit, you know, people, -all the families come, that sort of a business. Now in England you see, they expect the nurses and doctors to do everything, now of course they can do everything, but then you need money, resources, now no one in England wants to pay any tax. Take the political parties, tax is a taboo subject, so if you don’t pay tax then you won’t have the money to engage people, so either you pay tax, or the family have to do it, so this is a problem, you know. I tried to explain to them things like that, because there’s nothing new under the sun, every problem has been here before, and then instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, you ask other people, well how do you do it, then they will come and tell you.

Over there, one thing good over there, we have, when he was in New Jersey, we have two meetings a week, on Tuesday, it’s the parent and the patient, if I have a patient there, I will, I can go in there and the patient and the parent, and there will be a head nurse or a psychiatrist or somebody there to organise the meeting. And my son can say anything to me and I can give a good, -and I can answer him back. Then a psychiatrist will say, will tell my son he is wrong or I am wrong or something like that, you know. A friendly, -this thing. And to me, that is very, very helpful, because sometimes -you don’t say things in anger, things go better. My son has his view, I have my view, or my son wants something, I will say, I will try my best to do it. And that is very helpful. And on Thursday night, seven to nine, it’s only the parent meeting and the parent can voice the concern and every, -about the medication, can ask any question and can give all their views, which is, to me, is very helpful too, which we don’t have it in this country. And to me, to me that was very good, because one Sunday I went to see my son in the hospital and my son says, oh there’s no toilet paper and my son say, the patient had to use their underwear to clean themselves. So I was a little bit worked up, or something. I went to the office and here this woman, black woman, big black woman was sleeping on the chair. And I woke her up. I say, excuse me, excuse me, there’s no toilet paper in the toilet, and the patient need toilet paper. And she looked at me, she says, who do you think I am? A supply person? And I was, was really very annoyed. I say, you’re lucky it’s not my son otherwise I get a lawyer in. I would get the newspaper in too. And one thing was good, I was able to bring the matter up at the next meeting. The person which chaired the meeting was surprised, and she said to me, I’m glad you brought that up. We will look into the matter. And next week she came back, she apologised, she says, yes it did happen, and she made excuse for her. She has been working double shifts. But I said that’s no excuse, you know. And she says, thank you, thank you for giving attention to the hospital. We’ll make sure it won’t happen again. Because to me, all these meetings are important, because you can bring up what you see, you do not like, or you think is wrong.