Friday, July 04, 2008

You must be kidneying

Last year I took the piss in a post about how much my body would be worth with a humourous little online test called the 'cadaver calculator'.

This morning, I feel like a bit of a boob.

Page three of The Straits Times this morning features a couple of stories about a 26 year-old Indonesian bloke who will go to jail after selling one of his kidneys for 186 million rupiah ($AUD17,000).

In Indonesia, that amount of money equates to a staggering 16.5 years of hard labour - his previous occupation. After being layed off six months prior, he needed the money to support his parents and family.

The sentencing judge was reportedly quite lenient with his sentencing, taking into account his poor background, remarking "when he was identified by the syndicate as a potential donor, he was approached with an offer which for a person of his social and economic background would have been difficult to resist."

And it's not an isolated case. About a fortnight ago, The Taipei Times reported on a Vietnamese bloke who died after selling one of his kidneys in China. He went through with the ordeal because he didn't have enough money to ask his girlfriend's family for her hand in marriage, a customary cultural practice in Vietnam.

Something I'll keep in mind next time I think about whinging about the cost of beers in Singapore.

3 comments:

Mum said...

Quite common in some far flung parts of the world. Sad really that people can be so desperate for cash.

Jules said...

Hi Steve!

I just re-discovered your blog randomly through Google whilst looking for something unrelated. (Search terms: "north sydney hotel trivia". Somehow, you came up in the first page!)

It's funny, because I was just thinking about you guys about an hour ago and how I missed having you both here for dinners, trivia and coffees.

It's great to read about what you guys have been up to (that cooking school sounds awesome - very jealous. I am expecting some fantastic dinner out of you when you guys eventually return to Sydney!). Sounds like you guys are having a great time and congrats on the job.

So this comment was entirely unrelated to the post, but I just wanted to say hi. Tell Clare that I miss her heaps and I better hear from her in the form of message or email sometime soon! You guys are the ones over there having the fun adventures, so I'm sure she's got some news to tell me. (Versus my news... the most dramatic change in our lives since you left is that we have moved our trivia night and location. Woah, excitement. ;-)

Well all the best!

Jules

Belly said...

Mum
Yeah, can be a bit that way around this part of the world.

Jules
Be honest, you're looking for a new trivia venue because you've been kicked out due a to local pensioner uproar over your constant ass-whooping you give out.

Will email you soon with more news. Have you got Skype?