Colonies

Originally posted on September 19, 2011.

Each Monday and Friday, I go out with the Rising Star Medical Squad to different leprosy colonies. Here we give each patient a watered down doctor’s appointment. We take their blood pressure, they see the doctor for check ups on other things, we wash their feet and soak their ulcers, and then we rewrap the wounds and in bad cases even cut out part of the ulcers. That part is done by actual certified nurses of course.

This past week was extra amazing in the colonies, as I felt their complete gratitude for our help. These people literally have nothing, everything has been taken away from them. But as we come in each day, they are joyous and beautiful. You feel their spirits glow and your heart is so full.

On Monday, we went to Moogdavali, or just Moot. This is the smallest colony we tend to, and they are so bad off that they can’t gain anything for themselves. We brought along a month’s supply of rice and other things for their nutrition. There are 7 patients and they each live in a tiny room. How small? Put your arms out to this side. That is how wide. Now take 7 steps. That is how long. They each barely fit.

The man above is Jayaraj, he is the leader of this particular colony and is still doing very well for his health. This man is a complete goon. The whole time I was washing his feet, we were dancing together. We would do the sprinkler and the robot. He just laughed and laughed and said, “super!”. After we finished up, we turned on some Tamil music and had a dance party, doing the Macarena. As we left, he hugged us each saying “Nandri, vanakkum.” (Thank you, goodbye.) I sincerely admire this man.

On Friday, we went to Bethel Nagar. This colony is fairly bigger and pretty well off. The whole colony lives on one road. Some of the patients have children and they have created quite a family town. But the children who grow up there have never been farther than the end of the road and that much exposure to the leprosy, puts it in their destinies. The people are beautiful, I don’t know another word to describe them.

I had to walk quite far through the town to the water pump to fill up my bucket. Now, I’m not the strongest and compared to these woman who carry tons of hay and water on their heads, I looked pretty pathetic. I had my bucket and one of the woman walked me down to the pump. I was only going to fill it up like three quarters of the way in so I could carry it back with out it all spilling out. But the woman wouldn’t let me do it. She was trying to communicate to me the best she could to tell me that I was being dumb not to fill it up all the way, but then she gave up and just filled it up all the way and stuck it on my hip. A few woman taught me how to carry it and not let the water spill and then they made fun of my trying to do it.

Here, being white is something you have to get used to. No matter where you go, there is someone who has never seen a white person before. And they think it is so exciting- they wave, point, and whisper. Especially a white person in a Chuddadar or a Sari- they think it is hilarious. So as I was walking with my big bin of water, in my Chuddadar, down the street, the family of one of the patients was taking pictures of me and laughing. So I just stopped and smiled for them to get a good shot.Meet the staff:

Vel- the medical driver. He was the driver that picked me up on my first day and is absolutely amazing. He is so fun to talk to and he is totally into a bunch of American stuff that is just hilarious.Navamani- the ulcer nurse. She is the one that goes into the wounds and really cleans them out. It gets pretty gross. Sometimes she even cuts of big chunks of dead limb. The first time I went out with the medical squad, we had to buy some waste bins and she had me go out into the streets with her. The whole time, she made me hold her hand everywhere we went. And if some one tried to touch me or talk to me, she would step in front of them and just start howling in Tamil. Very protective of their white folk.Dr. Souguna. So doctor's in India are a whole topic of their own. They don't have to do like pre-requisites in school in order to get into doctorate programs, so they just go right into them, and basically they don't have much schooling. YET, they are treated with so much respect. For instance, she doesn't help with anything. She sits in the van and waits for us to set up and then immediately when she is finished with her work, she goes back to the van and waits for us to clean up. Kind of funny.

Sharmilla- the head nurse. She takes care of everything and makes sure we are all doing our jobs. Along with passing out medications and supplies that the patients may need. She is so fun! She always passes out Milk Bikis- which are like these milk crackers and have become my favorite thing in India.

Kim- in this picture she is taking the patient’s blood pressure and pulse, but we switch jobs like every other time. She is from New Jersey and I love talking to her. She is so personable and outgoing. She is the one that has helped me fall in love with the colonies and the work we do.

Anyway, the working in the colonies has taught me so much. It has expanded my heart and these experiences have already changed my life.