Day 12: Medical!

Yay!! Another medical day!  I look forward to medical days.  Every day here is beyond amazing, but medical days are full of life changing experiences.

As always it was a looong drive to the colony. We had to drive out and around through Chennai to pick up the nurses so it took about two hours to get to the colony, when we later found out on the way home it is just a short 40min drive if we took a different route.  When we arrived at this colony, I was shocked.

A creepy little cemetery across the street from the colony.

Entrance into the small colony.

Looking down the road from the van, the colony is just this small lane of tents made of sheets and tarps.  There was one grass shack and the small church at the end.

Our first view of the colony.

I was told this was the poorest colony, but they have ALL been poor.  There is poverty everywhere here.  The villages outside the school are literally grass huts and naked jungle babies everywhere, but this colony, was by far, the worst.  It was so far away from any civilization.  There was a gate and barbed wire around a tiny row of homes. (If you could call them that)  As we entered the gate and looked down the row, I think everyone was in shock.   They lived in tiny little shacks made of sticks, garbage, and sheets or tarps if they were lucky.  It literally looked like a hobo town out of a movie.  They had a community shower, which was just several mosquito and fly infested buckets of water behind a ragged curtain, hung between the trees and fence.  I have never witnessed anything like this in my life.  These people live like this every single day.  This is where they wake up; this is where they raise their families.  No running water, no toilet, no kitchen.  Just a pot over a fire and barely a roof over their heads.  As soon as we got out of the van there was a lady crying and holding her hands out to us.  She had just been diagnosed with leprosy and sent to the colony.  She was silent our entire visit.  You could see the lice crawling in her hair, and see the pain in her eyes.  In America I feel that even I myself would take pity on this woman, but here, in this colony I just wanted to help her.  I wanted her to know that we loved her. 

Getting set up in the small church down the street.

Soon after we met this woman, a man wanted me to hold this baby.  He was the cutest chubbiest little boy! He was so good and just snuggled up to me as soon as I held him.  I felt so much pain, thinking about this precious little boy growing up in this colony, I thought about my friends babies back at home, and how blessed they are to be born by beautiful parents, in America.  How many opportunities these children will get throughout their lifetime that would only be in this child’s wildest dreams.  This was the saddest, poorest place I have ever seen in my life, and to think of raising a child here… and then I met his mother.  His mothers name was Mary; she was a beautiful girl and a former student at the Rising Star Outreach school.  She dropped out after 8^th standard, and when we asked why, she would not give us any details, we later found out it was because of her arranged marriage.  She told us she was 21, but Shawn, the dance teacher knew her from the school and she was only 16-17, her little sister is still a student at the school and I know her well.  Mary was so smart, her English was amazing, and honestly one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen, she did not belong here.  It really hit me hard in this colony what these people’s lives might be like.  At first I was worried that I would not be able to handle seeing blood, or infection, or the physical effects of leprosy.  I never would have imagined that it was the unseen effects that would be the hardest to handle.  Seeing Mary back in the colony, stuck in an arranged marriage with a 6 month old child at 16 and having NO way out was the most emotionally difficult thing I have had to handle while I have been here.  I just kept thinking of little Ruthish, or Basha, or Vishva, or Veera, or ANY of my little boys, I can’t imagine them living in these colonies.  To think that this is what they come home to for the month that they are away from the rising star breaks my heart.  I can’t bear to think that they might not take advantage of the opportunity they have with the Rising Star Outreach program, that there is a small percent that drop out and go back to the colonies because of family pressures.  I can’t get Mary out of my head.  I wish I could help her.  At least with the patients I can clean and dress their wounds and there is hope that their ulcers and infections will get better.  Mary, a woman in India, is seen as a second-class citizen, without her education, and belonging to a leprosy-afflicted family, she has nothing and there is nothing I can do to help her.   Mary told us all about her drunk husband and showed us ALL of her photos and sponsorship letters from the Rising Star Outreach.  Her sponsor is Shawn Bradley, NBA player Shawn Bradley.  I wonder if he knows or cares how she is doing.

Ready!!

This man had gangrene in his ulcers.

So sad, we tried to clean out as much of the infection as we could.

He will eventually lose his leg.

I was at the bandage removal station today.

 This man was blind.
Such a little sweetie.

Leprosy attacks the muscles around your toes and fingers, this is why most of them have mangled or missing toes, and their fingers are curled and and missing.

These people have such positive attitudes.  It is amazing to work with them and feel their positive energy, when all you want to do is cry.

They just move on down the line through each station.

Once we set up our stations in the small church they had built at the end of the row of houses, we were surprised to see that there were only 5 patients we were treating.  Mary told us this was because the men and women in the community with leprosy could not afford to miss work and receive treatment.  This is so sad to me, that they have to work sunrise to sunset, manual labor, to raise barely enough money to scrape by and survive, and they cannot put their own health first.  We are so blessed in America.  People complain about not being able to afford health insurance or prescriptions, yet these men and women can’t miss a day of work to get treatment for their leprosy and gangrene because they have to go cut crops and they are still smiling and acting like they don’t even realize how sad their lives are.

I forgot to mention that TODAY is Annund’s birthday!!!! He turned 36! We love Annund.  He seriously has been the best driver/body guard.  We put a little treat bag of our American treats together to give him at the van this morning.  He loves American treats and always wants to try anything we bring with us!! We made a pit stop on the way to the colony this morning and we were all so confused at what was going on and why we were stopping!  Annund left the bus, and when he came back he had the BIGGEST smile on his face!! He pulled out one chocolate bar for every one saying “chocolate party, chocolate birthday party.”  It was awesome!! He was so excited to eat chocolate with us for his birthday!! We all sang happy birthday to him, and it was such a fun way to start the day!

When we left the colony, since we were done so quickly with so few patients, Annund wanted to take us on a little adventure for his birthday.  He just kept saying “Emo Chicken, Emo Chicken,” “Big Chicken,” we were sooo confused at what we were about to see haha.. and when we pulled up, it clicked.  We were at an emu farm.  Biiiiig Chiiicken!! Annund loves the emu farm.  We fed the emus and got back on the bus to our next stop

"Emo Chicken!"

We pulled over off the side of the freeway and Annund hopped a fence.  When he returned he had a HUGE armful of sugar cane.  This day just got a little better.  He gave us each a stalk of sugar cane, showed us how to eat it, and we gnawed on it the whole way home!! Yumm!! He said people in India brush their teeth with it. With sugar!! Sweet! (Literally)

Annund was so excited about his birthday surprise, I'm not exactly sure he knows how birthdays work... isn't he the one that is supposed to get all the surprises?

Yumm!! 

Fresh Sugar Cane.

We made a quick stop at the Junction for Coke’s and ice cream, and then it was back to the Rising Star!

At the school, the kids had planned a HUUUGE water fight; all of the volunteers were invited if they wanted to participate…umm HECK YES!  We had a BLAST at the water fight!! There were girls waiting outside of the elephant house for us and they blasted some of the other volunteers with water balloons. Krissy, Sam, and I filled up our buckets and somehow we all ended up soaked before we even got halfway to the school!!! I didn’t bring my camera to the water fight, but I saw a few floating around, so I will try to find some fun pictures and post them later.  

Veera dumping water on Krissy!

The kids LOOOOVED the water fight!!! This was seriously a highlight.

We did henna again during family time.  Seriously, the kids LOVE it.  It keeps them entertained and allows us to get to know them better one on one! It has been so fun.  I am going to miss these boys so much!! They are starting to ask when we are leaving and how many more nights we get to have family time.  It kinda bums me out that they are so used to volunteers coming in an out of their lives so much.  I have loved these kids SOOOO much and I will miss each and every one of them for a loooong time when I get home, it’s hard to think that by next Monday we will be replaced, with new volunteers who will love them, bond with them, and then leave.  I seriously wish I could bring them home…. SO BAD.

Overall I think today was the hardest day for me emotionally, so much to process from the colony, as well as starting to realize how soon we are leaving.  As much as I’m not ready to come home and I wish I could just move in, I am also ready to see my family, to eat American food, and sit on an actual toilet lol.  Today is the first day I have thought… when it’s time to go home, I will be ready.  I cannot wait until I get to come back here, and I hope it will be very VERY soon.  India has my heart, but I am really starting to miss home.  Once again, I just wish you could ALL be here.

Good Night!

Love You! 

PS. Internet was shut down for a few days, so look for lots of blog posts in the next couple of days to catch up!