Report of 18 Nov 2015
Good evening!
It is dusk. The Bay of Bengal is still under haze, but not due to rain. The sun peeped out today - halleluia! The city is water-logged and flood relief efforts are underway, with the Banyan doing its part and cooking food for inundated neighborhoods. Truly, it is a privilege to work here.
I ventured out to our seaside village clinic on Monday. It was slow-going as the roads were flooded and I had no idea what was under the standing water - road or jagged potholes. I like our car, and would like not to sustain damage, so crawled along. The main road to Kovalam was dug up, so I had to take a circuitous route, but got there. We thought there would be minimal patients due to the rain, but there was a ceaseless procession of them. Fever, cough and cold. Arthritis, worsening. It felt good, so very good, to return to work.
The children of our patients did not go to school, the Government having declared a holiday for schools. So all were at the clinic, milling about and gabbing. They ate a late lunch with us. It was wonderful to see them dry, safe and fed; the alternative is to have a mother with untreated mental illness and be marooned in the streets without food or with alms if the mother were lucid enough to beg/have her child beg. We are saving a few souls, aren't we, a little bit at a time.
Classes resumed for the health care workers (hcw's) and we talked about heart disease as well as monsoon-related illnesses. The hcw's are a motivated and fun bunch, and we laugh a lot during classes. Not having daughters, I find myself quite responsible for these young women. Especially as I age. I was 40 when I started working in India and am now a middle-aged, grey-haired 52.
We Skyped with our sons last week and that was grand fun. Also involving laughter, the boys' senses of humor came to the fore and it was a most enjoyable session.
I swam today, in an effort to reduce thigh blubber. As said blubber has existed for over 25 years, I am not holding my breath that it is going to vanish, to be replaced by rippling musculature; however, it was grand to exercise.
Unw -
R
It is dusk. The Bay of Bengal is still under haze, but not due to rain. The sun peeped out today - halleluia! The city is water-logged and flood relief efforts are underway, with the Banyan doing its part and cooking food for inundated neighborhoods. Truly, it is a privilege to work here.
I ventured out to our seaside village clinic on Monday. It was slow-going as the roads were flooded and I had no idea what was under the standing water - road or jagged potholes. I like our car, and would like not to sustain damage, so crawled along. The main road to Kovalam was dug up, so I had to take a circuitous route, but got there. We thought there would be minimal patients due to the rain, but there was a ceaseless procession of them. Fever, cough and cold. Arthritis, worsening. It felt good, so very good, to return to work.
The children of our patients did not go to school, the Government having declared a holiday for schools. So all were at the clinic, milling about and gabbing. They ate a late lunch with us. It was wonderful to see them dry, safe and fed; the alternative is to have a mother with untreated mental illness and be marooned in the streets without food or with alms if the mother were lucid enough to beg/have her child beg. We are saving a few souls, aren't we, a little bit at a time.
Classes resumed for the health care workers (hcw's) and we talked about heart disease as well as monsoon-related illnesses. The hcw's are a motivated and fun bunch, and we laugh a lot during classes. Not having daughters, I find myself quite responsible for these young women. Especially as I age. I was 40 when I started working in India and am now a middle-aged, grey-haired 52.
We Skyped with our sons last week and that was grand fun. Also involving laughter, the boys' senses of humor came to the fore and it was a most enjoyable session.
I swam today, in an effort to reduce thigh blubber. As said blubber has existed for over 25 years, I am not holding my breath that it is going to vanish, to be replaced by rippling musculature; however, it was grand to exercise.
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
4:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home