John James came to East Timor from Perth in October 1999 on board HMAS Jervis Bay to see if traditional Chinese medicine could help solve the country's chronic health problems.
Ninety per cent of his patients have worms and 60 per cent have TB or malnutrition or both.
Seven years after he arrived the 62-year-old has become part of the landscape. He walks his rounds -- up to 20km a day -- treating illnesses ranging from TB to schizophrenia. He often walks all day.
After having his medical kit, computer, camera, vehicle and just about everything else he owned stolen from his modest home on the edge of town, the former Sydney man operates on a shoestring. He eats what the locals eat and sponsors 30 local kids through school.
is meagre lifestyle means almost all the money he has -- $50 to $100 a month -- goes towards treating the people.
After suffering numerous setbacks in his attempts to set up a Chinese medicine clinic, he linked up with local legend Dr Dan Murphy and now runs an outpatients clinic.
John said most of East Timor's health problems were related to malnutrition -- even before the current strife people were lucky to get a feed of rice, tree flowers, pumpkin leaves and, if they were really lucky, some dog meat, bat or lizard
"I saw an APC run over a dog the other day and within seconds 20 people were scrambling to get to the carcass," he said.
"People are starving and they have developed a system of dealing with it -- they steal."
Traditional law is banned so the old system of settling disputes -- where the village elders got together to strike a deal -- no longer applies.
"The courts can't settle these disputes so they will fester and the UN won't be able to do anything about it," John said.
Despite the hardships John James says he will stay in East Timor until he dies.
Local man Carlos Viegas summed up what Dr J means to them: "He is a giant here."
