Introducing Jake Combe…
Jake Combe is a student of life, educated by his immersive experiences and driven by a trivial pursuit of freedom and belonging. His distinct lucid voice brings tales of human struggle to life. A true wanderer, he writes about the experiences that have led to his evolution as a person and his developing perspectives of life.
Jake is interested in exploration of the world and its occupants, and strives to bring the world closer together through literature and art. He is interested in aligning himself with marginalised minorities and learning their stories then bringing them to a wider audience to overcome the anonymity of the world’s hardship.
Some Published Articles in various media.
An Indiscriminate Killer
It is a disease that is primarily isolated to the remote villages of central and west Africa, near tropical rainforests. But the deadly Ebola virus – if not contained – can quickly spread between people, causing severe Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) which has a case fatality rate of up to 90%.
During the most recent outbreak in the north-east Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it was not just locals that suffered. 24 of the 79 confirmed, probable or suspected cases reported by the ministry of health have been foreign health care workers – five of which, have currently resulted in death.
“The repeating story is always that there’s incredible incidence among health care workers,” says Peter Jahrling of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, an expert on the lethal Ebola virus (speaking to Richard Knox of Shots: NPR’s health blog). “It’s usually the medical staff that bears the brunt of it.”
Transmission of the virus is generally attributed to direct contact with blood and body fluids. Therefore, health workers resort to wearing protective suits and avoiding all unnecessary contact with victims. But limiting contact is not always possible when an epidemic occurs in a poor, isolated area which has no access to a modern hospital.
The health workers struggle to receive adequate support from the government of DRC. The country itself is failing to address the overwhelming health crises because of an infrastructure which has been crippled by decades of corruption, conflict and misrule, resulting in a crumbling health sector. Only last year, DRC came bottom of a United Nations development index.
Problems begin with the locals’ minimal knowledge and understanding of the virus. When they witness the protective equipment donned by health workers, perception grows amongst the community that the hospital is just a place where people go to die.
“If you don’t hang IV lines and do things that look medical, if you just put people in beds and walk around in protective gear and don’t touch anybody, well, why would they want to come there?” said Dr. Armand Sprecher of Doctors Without Borders (in an interview with Shots from the Doctors Without Borders operation centre in Brussels).
“We have a horrible time marketing our treatment unit because patients are not seeing a benefit to come in when we don’t produce a lot of survivors,” Sprecher says.
Fuelled by the knowledge of health care workers dying of Ebola in hospitals, infected locals stay away, allowing the virus to spread through the community.
In many ways, foreign health workers are fighting a war they are currently unable to win. Battling the perceptions of the locals, they are faced with the prospect that they cannot do anything for Ebola patients but give them fluids and other supportive care. Despite development of experimental drugs to combat Ebola, research suggests that any antidote will need to be administered within 24 to 48 hours of exposure to the virus, before symptoms appear.
Dr. Sprecher believes that an effective treatment must be discovered.
“If you had something in the refrigerator on standby, it might make it easier for the health care staff to engage with the patients,” he says, “if they knew there was something that might help them in the event of something awful happening.”
In the meantime, the virus will remain indiscriminate to those infected. And despite the best efforts of foreign health care workers to combat the unpredictable outbreaks, they will likely continue to be one-third of the casualties, regardless of the stringent safety precautions they follow.
By Jake Combe.
The newly developed Australia Chinese Theme Park company
The “unbeatable Australian environment” combined with the “most wonderful parts of China” will become the basis for the proposed development of a China theme park on the central coast, north of Sydney.
For years, China has asserted itself as Australia’s most important trading partner, investing in key industries. The country is vital to our future prosperity. Now China has directly aligned itself with the tourism sector.
Currently Australia’s fastest growing and most valuable international tourism market, Chinese visitors accounted for more than $3.8 billion in 2011.
“There are lots of benefits in Chinese tourism,” said Amanda Li, Secretary General of Australian Chinese Theme Park Pty Ltd (ACTP), the company behind the development.
“China is so big, people cannot travel all around the country. But the China theme park will contain the most wonderful parts of China with the unbeatable Australian environment. This unique and novel project definitely will attract Chinese tourists and, of course, tourists from all over the world.”
Recently formed, the ACTP has been “established specifically for this project”, securing the rights to a $10 million, 15.7 hectare parcel of land in Warnervale from the Wyong Shire Council.
Purchased by the council in 1977 for $30,000 the sale of the land to the ACTP, an “Australian company overseen by all Australian board members”, marks the end of Wyong Shire’s involvement with the project.
Mixed reactions from locals to the proposed Chinese cultural theme park have conflicted with the council’s motivation of money, jobs and investment. Opposition has been somewhat negated, though, by promoting a boom of 500 direct jobs during construction and 1,000 jobs post-completion anticipated for the Central Coast.
But there are questions over the potential for success, even though the council remain adamant that it will appeal to many people, including those travelling to or from the Hunter Valley.
Despite recent suggestions, the Wyong Shire Council have assured their ratepayers that they are not “footing the bill.” Ratepayers will “actually benefit out of the deal courtesy of the significant profit of the $10 million sale of Council land.” It is the ACTP who is “financing the deal, not Council.”
The ACTP will submit a “normal” Development Application “just like any other developer wishing to invest in the Shire,” although it is currently “early days.”
Plans to begin building are scheduled for 2015, with completion of the seven uniquely themed sections reflecting Chinese life and culture targeted for 2020. The $500 million committed to the project by ACTP consist of funds “from private companies in China.”
“We focus on not just short-term but middle and long-term tourists,” said Ms Li. “We promote special programmes, like healthy programmes, which are good for Chinese mid and long-term tourists.”
According to Wyong Mayor Doug Eaton, the theme park will have the capacity to “put Wyong onto a major world stage.” The area is slated to become a tourist mecca and bring millions of dollars of tourism into the area, which will benefit the whole region’s economy.
Regardless, there is some speculation regarding the Chinese Government’s motivation to “build a mini Chinatown in Australia.” But since interest rates have dropped, Chinese investors have been buying real estate in other countries, and “Australia is easy pickings for them.”
China, home to over a billion people, has confronted many challenges in its fight to become a developed nation. Its development has been unprecedented in speed which has resulted in a smooth transition. The country’s latest bid for an economic stronghold in Australia is based on a long-term, resource-hungry view.
The ACTP is supported by the Australia China Foundation Association (ACFA), a non-profit, bi-national organisation dedicated to trade and investment opportunities between Australia and China.
By Jake Combe.
Sydney needs a second airport because…
The belief that Sydney’s Kingsford-Smith airport can cope with demand beyond 2029 shows a “lack of understanding,” says industry expert, Warren Bennett. There is a “desperate need” to start building a second airport before the end of the decade to assist Australia’s busiest airport.
Servicing over 35 million passengers last year, an independent report commissioned by Transport Minister Anthony Albanese in 2009 predicts passenger demand in the Sydney region will more than double by 2035, then double again by 2060.
The Joint Study on Aviation Capacity for the Sydney Region report, which was released earlier this year after being overseen by a committee of government and industry experts, warns that all flight slots will be allocated by 2027. By 2035, there will be no capacity for additional growth at Kingsford-Smith.
In the early 1920’s, when the airport opened, there were few obstructions to the site, which was surrounded by a racecourse, gardens, Cooks river and Botany Bay. But over the last few decades, governments have battled against the airport’s capacity to handle growing numbers of passengers, though little progress has been made in the search for a viable solution besides a number of controversial proposals.
During the 1970’s, the Major Airport Needs of Sydney group was established to identify potential new sites, selecting Badgerys Creek and Wilton as suitable options.
When Bob Hawke was in power, a quarter of a century ago, the Labor government purchased 1,700ha at Badgerys Creek, in Sydney’s west, with the intention of building Sydney’s second airport. Though, in 2003, Simon Crean announced Labor would not build an airport at the site, saying that it was no longer suitable.
Despite experts announcing it as the best option, the land remains untouched to this day, while other sites including Camden, Richmond and Canberra are now being considered.
The No Aircraft Noise Party was formed in the 1990’s in opposition to the third runway built at Kingsford-Smith. The runway was a controversial issue as it increased aircraft movements over inner-Sydney suburbs.
After the Howard government came to power, arrangements were set in place with the airport to maintain flight curfews between 11pm and 6am, in an effort to alleviate complaints of aircraft noise. Wherever possible aircraft were directed to fly over water when the direction of flight is not dictated by strong winds.
A comparison between major international airports has shown that Sydney Airport restrictions are equal to the toughest around the globe. Sydney is one of the few airports in the world that enforces the 11 to 6 curfew on all passenger flights.
“It is a dead-weight cost for the Australian economy to have NSW closed at 11pm,” said Warren Bennett, executive director of the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia (BARA).
Bennett agrees that Badgerys Creek would be the best site for the proposed airport and says that a second Sydney airport should be curfew free.
Neil Hansford, an aviation analyst, says modern passenger craft are no louder than the freighters which are permitted to fly during Sydney’s curfew.
“The noise profiles of these planes are very similar,” said Hansford, when considering the differences between aircraft. “There’s no reason why they couldn’t take off and land as long as it was over Botany Bay.”
Restrictions on night flying are imposed by a governing body to limit exposure to aircraft noise during night hours.
LAX is the primary airport of Los Angeles, California, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. Last year it was the sixth busiest airport in the world servicing over 60 million passengers.
Like most major airports in the US, LAX does not have night time flight restrictions. Though, a voluntary agreement exists between the city and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) determining that all late night arrivals and departures are over water to mitigate noise complaints from surrounding communities. However, during times of low visibility or high winds, flights will operate the opposite way over the city due to flight safety.
Top advisors to the federal and NSW governments have stated that without a second Sydney airport the economy of the state and nation will be negatively impacted. It is expected that the Australian aviation system will experience increased flight delays, and roads around the Kingsford-Smith airport will be gridlocked.
The wait for a second Sydney airport will continue until politicians can no longer ignore airline congestion and delays, and finally select a suitable site to build the new airport.
By Jake Combe
Published Books
Fighting For Freedom: Sometimes Doing The Right Thing Ain’t Doing The Right
About this book
When Jake Combe stumbles upon the corruption and exploitation of an uneducated and impoverished community of a remote Tanzanian village, he is compelled to find a way to help the struggling families. But he soon finds himself at the centre of a turf war over the freedom of the children, as he fights for his own safety – battling death threats, imprisonment and debilitating health crises. Inspired by his love for a young local woman, he begins to question what is important to him and the lengths he is willing to go, in an effort to offer what he feels is right. As a result, his once strongly held ethics are challenged and begin to blur between what is morally right and wrong.
Offering an intriguing insight into the problems that continue to plague the developing world, this incredible true story is testament that despite our best efforts, not all stories will finish with a happy ending.