Raft

by Howard Goldenberg

Every year for over a decade Goldenberg, a white middle-aged doctor, has spent numerous periods working as a relieving doctor for Aboriginal communities in remote places. On these visits he has observed and recorded Aboriginal Australians' lives without resorting to simplification or glib solutions. Among his true stories we meet psychotic Elijah who believes he is Satan's boss and cannot die; a dehydrated baby whose mother gambles away money for food; an old lady who receives a gashed head while fending off a thief stealing her money - her husband. In the midst of tragedies, suffering and moral ambiguity, these stories also tell of cultural richness and common humanity. Goldenberg writes: 'Aboriginal Australians are not at peace. They are variously unwell, underfed, overfed, afflicted excessively by our lifestyle diseases, confused by our drugs and drink, endowed with income but not with work, living in sickening poverty in paradisiacal places; and distracted from their serious cultural business by the trappings of our serious cultural emptiness.'

Genres: Australia, Nonfiction, Indigenous

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[David Holford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard Goldenberg blew into the Aboriginal Medical Service where I work and entertained us with his stories for one short week before he was gone. This book continued that experience for me and I am grateful to have both met him and to have read it. For any of us who like him who have asked the question, “what am I, a white, middle aged, middle class person doing, writing in other people’s backyards?” this is a book which resonates, and even Aboriginal people working in such settings will, I believe, appreciate his writing. There is a stark realism here combined with humour and compassion. If non-Aboriginal people want to understand the so called “gap” between indigenous and non-indigenous health that is talked about so frequently in the media these days, read this book. It is easier to look away, but if you want to open your mind to one of the important issues of our day, these will be hours well spent.

[Julieanne Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

After my first stint as a kiwi registered nurse in the Riverina at a base hospital I was pleasantly surprised to find this book called "Raft" in a second hand bookshop in Napier, New Zealand. The author, Jewish GP, Howard Goldenberg was raised in Leeton in the Riverina and has done at least 50 two week stints in Aboriginal communities. This book must have found me!
And like me, his exploits brought immense personal growth and challenge. His effort to be a healer admidst tragedy is commendable but ineffective. For him Aboriginal health is a course in historical colonial disasters. While I am at the beginning of my journey as an agency nurse I have already been affronted and surprised by country Australia and I haven't even ventured to these hard ancient places yet. It seems that services barely keep the healers afloat let alone recipients of care. I nearly fell off my raft in country Australia.
Howard frames Aboriginal struggle through his male dominated Jewish perspective in a whimsical style. I felt he was unable to escape his place of privilidge but he was acutely aware of it and his own limitations as a white fulla medic in the outback. The book read like the Hebraic Lamentations of The Bible. It was pained, desperate, ironic and spiritual. As I read it I became aware that the very geography had spoken to Howard's soul and left indelible connections. The parallels between Indigenous hurt and the Jewish holocaust seem a long bow to draw but the author had to translate what he saw through his own personal framework and on the face of it this seems obnoxiously offensive and self centred. However it would be naive of me not to understand that we take our own selves into health care and during the delivery of that care we cannot completely divorce ourselves from our own personal suffering and stories. Advanced practitioners understand that therapeutic use of self is not necessarily damaging and Howard's high level of self awareness and reflection is a safeguard.
Nobody takes on these experiences and leaves as the same person. During his time as an outback doctor Howard is exposed to heat, red dirt, sand, violence, loss and grief to the degree that during one of his walks he sees the blood of a victim on a walking trail. Protective mechanisms kick in and Howard believes in his mind that it is red paint until police prod him back to reality. This spoke to me of the endurance, psychological numbing and adaptations to stress a fly in/fly out health professional must have. I was pleased at how many times Howard humbly deferred to battle weary outback nurses and how he saw himself as a cog in a destructive malfunctioning white machine. He did not paint aboriginal life romantically, citing the endemic sex and substance abuse he found and diseases of poverty entrenched by a heartless distant central government.
The theme of a raft, cast adrift and marooned on an ocean of national shame is poignant. I have no idea why I, as a white New Zealander nurse would want to be near that raft but I hope I can return to Australia soon for another contract. I aim to edge closer to that spectre again.

[Mandy Partridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Howard Goldenberg is a good man, who has addressed his white male privilege, and gone to work for remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
This narrative nonfiction book examines the gulf between European and Aboriginal cultures, and people's lives and expectations.
The good doctor fills in for the permanent doctors in remote settlements, allowing them a holiday. He meets and treats the prematurely aged, the alcoholics and addicts, as well as the casually racist tour guides and local business operators.
Coming from Naarm/ Melbourne, Goldenberg is shocked by the open racism and unofficial apartheid which he sees in the remote towns. He worked as a Flying Doctor, visiting many small towns and out-stations, and his general practice encompassed everything from birthing to fatality. Yet he maintained his decency, his humanity and his sense of humour.
Incisive and funny.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at a second-hand bookstore in Melbourne, Australia, after visiting Alice Springs and wanting to know more about the Aborigines. I never expected this book to be that good, frankly. I expected a memoir by an MD who devoted a great deal of professional time to medical treatment in the Outback. I was so pleasantly surprised that the book's writing is lovely, personal, caring, and respectful of the Aborigines. I loved Dr. Goldenberg's short, thoughtful style. Today I guess they would be blog posts. I felt I understood a lot more about the issues in the Outback re: social and economic issues. But also--he describes people with a rich culture, not just as victims.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A profound and moving insight into the lives of Aborigines in remote communities. During a period of more than a decade Howard Goldenberg, a middle-aged Orthodox Jew, made over fifty working visits as a relieving doctor for Aboriginal communities in outback Australia. On these visits he observed and recorded the lives of the people he met and treated.
The reader meets a dehydrated baby whose mother gambles away money for food; Zachariah, whose infected elbow hasn’t healed for five years; an old lady who receives a gashed head while fending off her thieving husband; and Ninnigur, one of the “Strong Women” whose tireless work helps women bring babies to term safely and to protect the next generation from malnutrition and disease.
Goldenberg writes, “Aboriginal Australians are not at peace. They are variously unwell, underfed, overfed, afflicted excessively by our lifestyle diseases, confused by our drugs and drink, endowed with income but not with work, living in sickening poverty in paradisiacal places, and distracted from their serious cultural business by the trappings of our serious cultural emptiness.”
Columnist and author Alan Gold exclaims, “Raft is a delicious, warm and endearing look at a side of Australian life known personally to very few of us. Through his measured and beautifully constructed words, we are privileged to glimpse an ancient land and its people through the eyes of a perceptive and sophisticated, but essentially generous, man. This is a book which should be in every home, and every parent’s gift to their children.”
Author Arnold Zable writes, “Goldenberg is both observer and physician, writer and participant, tenacious in his quest for understanding and lived experience, a seeker with a passionate belief in the power of the story.”
Prize-winning biographer and novelist Robert Hillman writes, “Goldenberg is a genuine artist and poet … The book works so well for three reasons: his craft, his sensibility, and his heart … a great achievement.”
Howard Goldenberg is a doctor, writer, marathon runner and Olympic torch bearer.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through the first half of this quite quickly because the author's flitting from story to story made me anxious to get a decent foothold do I could figure out what he was trying to say/show. In the second half, my reading slowed down because I didn't want the book to end.
From start to finish he presents an amazing array of different stories and people he has come into contact with in rural practice, showing me a world I've never seen but which everyone should be aware of. I admired the way he handled himself in many situations and how he doesn't overdramatise what has happened, doesn't try to seek meaning where it isn't. Having said that, there's still a fair bit of "posturing" and it's in the nature of vignettes that sometimes the glimpse given is too short to bring satisfaction or true understanding (whether that's the fault of the writing or my own immaturity is another question), but all in all I feel a wiser and richer person for having read through this mosaic of other people's lives. It's an eye opener, to say the least.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compassionate but realistic look at the situation in Aboriginal communities.

[Kate]

Great read for all people living in Australia. Humanitarian and erudite. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, especially right now.