Today started out so awesome. We went as a group to Valdular
Colony, which has become my most frequently visited colony. I swear that more
then half the times I have been able to go out to medical it has been to
Vadualr. Of course that’s not a bad thing, just funny to me. It’s a cute little
colony, complimented by tons and tons of creepy looking goats that we may or
may not sometimes “talk” with and they sometimes “talk” right back.
And there is this man---
I can’t think of his name to save the life of me right now, but
he sings songs for us every time we come. He also sings songs using his tambourine. We
love him. Actually, when we were done
working today he invited us into his house for an encore performance in which
he used his tambourine. The picture in that video isn’t as good as the one
without the tambourine but you get the idea.
***apparently my videos do not want to work so you'll just have to imagine it for the time being***
I was working the nail clipping station today, which is one
I haven’t done before. I had no idea something so simple could be so hard.
Because of the damage leprosy inflicts on the fingers and toes, it can be
challenging to access the toenail let alone actually trim it. Of course they
are very dirty underneath as well. I would have such a hard time relying on someone else
to do even the simplest of act for me. The humility and thankfulness our
patient’s have never ceases to amaze me.
One of the perks of being here long term is that you start
to match up which children at the school come from which colonies. The kids
love to see pictures of home, and it is so fun to have to chance to get to meet
their families as well. This little on is the younger sister to one of our UKG
(kindergarten) students-Kavia. Besides the “slight” family resemblance but even if
there wasn’t their personalities match pretty spot on.
Kavia
Kavia's litte sister
I honestly don’t know if this lady has children at Rising
Star, but I know I have seen her pregnant lots of times, only this time she was
showing off her 3 week old baby girl. I was in love. It is common for infants
and children to have makeup drawn on them in the form of eyebrows and/or
“beauty marks” such as the circle on her little forehead. I’m pretty sure the
parents do the eyebrows instead of hair bows, but the other marks are there to
protect their child from evil spirits. Interesting huh?
Little brother was feeling super left out with all the focus on his baby sister--so he made sure we took a picture of him too.
And here are a few more pics just for fun
Except wait-I have a story about this. This happened a couple of weeks ago at this colony, I just haven't written it down. If patient's have prothesis, they usually take them off and then proceed to visit each of the medical stations we have set up. There are about 8 stations all together, so sometimes their prothesis will end up on the other side of the room from them. There is one particular man in this colony that always seems to put a lot of distance between him and his leg. He could be doing it on purpose for all I know, but I decided that I was going to bring it over to him. Nice thought right? Well regardless of my intentions one of the nurses, Navumani, scolded me for picking up this man's prothesis and walking it over to him. I know she was doing it out of love because I didn't have gloves on at the time, and as a result she made me hand sanitize then and there, but it was a little shocking. It is actually pretty hard to get Leprosy, and it was not like I was touching any open wounds or anything, but at the same time it was sweet of Navumani to be so concerned and so conscious of what is going on. She's got my back I guess. I guess its just good to know that while I am on the other side of the world, away from my family and friends, that I still have people watching out for me. Everyone needs people to watch out for them, no matter where they are or how old they are.
Sadly, our high from spending the morning at Vandalur ended when we got back to the campus. Our internet was out but one of the girls here has an international plan so she was still getting updates. She got one asking about Yemily's dad because of some things that were being posted on facebook. My heart just sunk when I heard that because he had been sick while Yem was here this summer, but he was doing better as far as we all knew-Yem included. I couldn't personally believe what was being said unless I saw the news myself. It seemed to take forever for the internet to work again, but as soon as it did I wished it wouldn't have brought with it the news that it did, but it was true, Yemily's dad earned his angel wings. We got everyone together and said a prayer for Yem and her family, for comfort at this trying time, but I personally have been feeling just sick about it. My heart just aches for her. Of course every situation is different, so I can't say I know how she is feeling, but I have a pretty good idea and I know its not pretty. Yem is strong and she will make it through, it is just so sad. One of my biggest fears of coming to India is that huge things would happen to/in my family and/or close friends lives, and I wouldn't be able to be there to show my support. So far that has happened in more then a few ways, which is hard for me. I know everyone can manage just fine without me, I just want to be there to do things for them too. I guess this is just one of the ways India is stretching me and teaching me new things. If only learning didn't have to be so hard.
