Raft
By: Howard Goldenberg.
Publisher: Hybrid Publishers
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Ormond, Vic
Language: eng
Number of pages: 225
ISBN-13: 9781876462857
Subjects: Goldenberg, Howard; Aboriginal Australians -- Social conditions -- 21st century; Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs; Aboriginal Australians -- Health and hygiene
Description: 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.