My reviews of Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology continue with “Yeyuka,” a story by Australian author Greg Egan that was originally published in Meanjin in 1997.
Martin is a surgeon from Sydney, Australia, who decides to leave the modern world of healthcare to volunteer at a university hospital in Uganda. There he experiences firsthand the effects of a terrible new disease called Yeyuka, which emerged after the eradication of HIV. With the help of Ugandan medical personnel, Martin does his best to treat the disease, but despairs due to the lack of HealthGuard technology that has made such diseases a thing of the past in wealthier nations like his. Things come to a head when the Australian surgeon decides to get the hospital a proper HealthGuard machine, but finds that doing so means he must enter a world of shady connections, unlicensed software, and a literal life-or-limb decision during an encounter with bandits.
As a protagonist, Martin is a typical Westerner trying to appreciate the daily struggle that is life in Africa. He soon comes to see just how brutal and bleak things really are and what sacrifices he himself has to make, being so far away from his HealthGuard-protected world and so desperate to make a difference. His Western spirit is contrasted with Ugandan characters like Iganga and Masika, who maintain a stoic facade and have no illusions about the despair of their profession in the face of the Yeyuka problem.
As the foreword to this story indicates, this tale is more about ideas than about a genuine character arc, although both character and plot development are still strong. What we get is a look at the proliferation–or lack thereof–of modern medical technology and procedures into less-developed regions like Africa, especially where in areas where disease runs rampant and the resources to combat it are lacking. It’s a straight-up declaration about one part of the world sealing itself off with magic cures and technology while exploiting the chaos of other regions with only a handful of advanced technology and a trail of broken promises.
“Yeyuka” works as both a character story and an idea story. It might be a little exposition heavy at first, but it pays up beautifully in the end with Martin’s journey as a doctor. It’s a story told with despair and cold hard facts, which sadly seems to be one of the more effective ways to tell a story about Africa and its many problems.
—
Bibliography: Egan, Greg. “Yeyuka.” Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology. Ed. James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel. San Francisco: Tachyon Publications, 2007.
Mr. Rhapsodist 