Happy Thanksgiving!

November 19, 2012  Thanksgiving Week

As I awakened this morning, in great anticipation of the day, we were greeted once again by the smoky hazed air, brought about by the fires keeping people warm these cold nights. Cold here means under 80 degrees. Last night it dropped to around 60, so it was very cold.  After a slow and unsuccessful attempt to get on the internet, the day began.

A cup of coffee means Nescafe instant, with buffalo milk.  No Splenda left, so it leaves me wanting for more…For the second cup, we wait for the electricity to come on for the day.  It was then off to school( a short walk, though 10 times a day, we can walk miles) for opening prayer.  We were greeted by many girls, delighted at the photos and art work I hung yesterday on the freshly painted walls.  The fresh paint was our gift to the school.  Art and photos look so much better on clean walls! 

As classes began, so did my search for a social studies teacher, as we brought blow up world globes to share.  Learning aids are minimal, at best. The girls, as well as many of the teachers, have no concept of the world. We hope they are used, not as balls to kick, or mobiles to hang high out of reach, but so that the girls can learn where countries are.  Besides India and America, I don’t know if there are any other countries they know of.  We like to show them America, and the route we took to fly here, over Greenland and Russia. 

I then headed back to the apartment to do some wash.   Washing is all done by hand, in a bucket. Sometimes warm water, sometimes not.  Since it is so dusty here, the wash needs to be rinsed several times for the water to go from gray to clear.  Have you ever tried washing king sheets in a bucket? Come along with us. Wash sheets, on at a time, rinse and spin by hand, down a flight of stairs, one sheet at a time, to meet the challenge of getting them on the clothes line without letting them touch the dirt. Time taken?  ½ hour. That’s all I can do in a day! Washing machines are marvelous!

As I was finishing that project, I was reminded of how spoiled we as Americans are. A pair of black cotton leggings, brought from home, worn many times, now with holes and a bleach stain.  I love bleach, as it is the only cleaner I have here.  I bought a new pair of leggings in the village($4) and threw the old ones away.  That’s what we do, isn’t it?  The maid comes back with our trash can, pulls the pants out, and asks, in Hindi, if she could have them. How embarrassed I was! This was a gift to her, and can certainly keep her warm for time to come. 

Rachmi and I head into the village to pick up eyeglasses for the 5 students we took to the eye doctor last week.   On the way, she wants to stop by her house. They are all so proud to take us to their homes.  As we take a “short cut”, across the buffalo yard in the middle of the village, stepping carefully, we then climbed through stones, rocks, sewage and buffalo dung, to get to her home. A young girl greets us, so when I ask, I am told she is 17, her name is Poonam, and she does not go to school. Her mother “expired” 7 years ago and her father does not agree that girls should go to school.  How heartbreaking this story is repeated hundreds of thousands of times in India!

 

We arrive at the eye doctor(no, you don’t want your eyes checked there!), to pick up 5 pair of glasses that we paid $30 for, to include the exam.  Since parents don’t want their daughters to wear glasses(no one will want to marry them!), Mike and I have a job to do!  We had fun, though the girls were initially nervous and reluctant, when we took bicycle rickshaws twice for this experience. The drivers of the old, rickety carts raced each other down the market road, weaving between the buffalo, monkeys, pigs, dogs, trucks, busses and cars. Not to speak of the throngs of people.  Our first trip? Doctor closed! The next day we did this again, doing all we could to make these girls feel special, explaining they will be able to see better, have no more headaches, and letting them put mine on, so we could tell them how beautiful they looked.

The office visit was fascinating. The eye doctor was very nice, spoke some English, and appeared as competent as it gets here.  He worked with equipment that was probably retired from the US in 1960. One girl was so very nervous, and did poorly because she was so nervous. We were told that malnutrition is the cause of most of their eye weakness.  Nutrition is our next project! When we left, I gave all of the girls a florescent, glittery peace symbol, brought from Michael’s in the US. None knew when this symbol meant, so we explained. Despite poverty,  these girls have been blessed to not know war, only peace, as Hindus in India.  I made a pact with all, signed them up to be members of the “glasses club”, and had them promise they would stay in school, wear their glasses and have them when we come back again. After bringing their glasses back today, and handing them out, we retested them and they were all so excited to be able to see. I think we have some converts! We even had several other girls come to the health room to tell us they need glasses.  We will provide for all who need, and hope to change their attitude towards wearing glasses.  One senior, one of the only ones we have seen wearing glasses told us, “My decision is to be able to see”….

I go with Rachmi, to the doctor, as she has a severe toe infection, which has continued for the past month. It looks horrible, and she has been in great pain. We walk into this doctor’s hut, she sits down and introduces him as the father of two of our teachers.  His office is small, old and dirty. His desk includes an old, rusty open container with cotton and gauze. He opens a jar, smears orange stuff on her toe, and very tightly wraps her toe, so inflamed with gauze.  She winces in pain. No gentle medicine here! He finishes, picks up a water pitcher sitting on the desk, pours it over his hands as the water runs onto the floor. Hands clean, ready for the next one….She pays him20 rupees(40 cents). I now know we have the very best and cleanest, most advanced medical facility in town. I just hope Rachmi doesn’t lose her toe to this infection. 
 

After school, we went on another village visit to see Sevilla.  This Class 9 student is as irritating and needy as any we have met.  She has hounded us since day 1.  “More” should be her middle name. When I give her a bracelet, she wants another. When I take a photo and give her the print, she wants more. She is merciless, and makes the greatest, pleading faces you can imagine. I love to mimic and whine back at her. She appears at the Health Center at least twice a day, to ask for something, to tell me she has headache, needs glasses, needs anything.   So, today was finally the day we knew we would make the visit.  As she dragged us by hand or arm, in and out of many homes(there is no knocking here, and anyone can wander through your house at any time.)  No one seems to mind. It’s not unusual for 15 boys to come into the house(remember, no doors, no windows) and just stare.  One occasionally takes out his cell phone to snap a photo. And the staring continues….And they wander away.

Sevilla and company( we now have a whole herd of kids along) take us into another home, to see one of our young girls making roti(think pita bread). As we watch and snap a photo of this cute, little girl, I ask about her parents. Her father is in Delhi, her mother is gone.  It is sobering to be reminded how many children are orphans , fending for themselves.  Being raised in their community, maybe every child is being watched over by the elders. This can mean anyone older than themselves. May God continue to watch over them  all.   Including the boy we met last week, walking on all 4 like a monkey, as the result of polio.  Another scene forever etched in our mind!

So, here I sit and write(electric will be back on at 8 p.m., a nightly thing), I feel so blessed to have had the gift of living, giving, and working among these people, who count amongst the world’s very poorest. The amazing thing to watch is that the children, despite unimagined hardships, are happy. They don’t whine for more, they don’t complain when asked to do a chore. They don’t make long lists for Santa for things they will never play with. Stones and old bike tires with a stick are their toys.  Their closets are not filled with clothes, unworn and outgrown.  Their 2 uniforms, often with holes and stained are what they choose to wear every day of the week, as there is no choice.  Many  come to school in flip flops, though all have received their one new pair of shoes since we arrived. They are saving them, not wanting to get them dirty. 

I enjoy my Mountain Dew, as I finish this up- my new India drink, complete with ice cubes! Progress since 2010 visit is ice cubes!! The cashews taste good, as I know dinner will leave me wanting for more. Cold rice, overcooked hot and spicy cauliflower, and roti isn’t much of a dinner for us. Yet, thousands of children in this village will go to bed with empty tummies tonight, so, why complain? At least the cashews(and my chocolate Cadbury bar for later) will hold me over. 

Our mission has been accomplished( 2 days left to go!). We have left these people an incredible gift. The gift of health care.  Without good health, opportunities are limited…Wishing you the gift of good health, and a Happy Thanksgiving. Let’s  focus on our many blessings, rather than what we wish to be different in our lives.