When we returned from our trip to the north of India, we were surprised by the change in weather here in Vellore. Even though it probably seemed hotter in comparison with the cool, crisp weather of the north, there was a definite change in the atmosphere. It is now hot, a little muggy, and there have been rain storms for the past couple of days. It was in one such storm that we trudged our way through the back paths of CMC to the home of Dr. Jayenth for tea. It was a little difficult to find their apartment building, but we eventually found it with the help of a passerby. The apartment building was several stories tall, and each door was marked with the name of the inhabitants. We were a little surprised to see that every door had physicians' names on them. When we found Dr. Jeyanth's residence, we took off our shoes and were excitedly welcomed by him, Nikita, his three-year-old daughter, his wife, an anaesthesiologist at CMC and his mother and father-in-law. They all lived together in the one-bedroom flat that was both simple and beautiful. Many of Nikita's drawings and photos lined the walls, and it was obvious how much they adored her. We soon found out that "tea" was a full dinner, a delicious combination of appam and a Keralan curry that Dr. Jeyanth's wife had prepared. She filled our plates over and over, even when we insisted that we were full and couldn't possibly eat another bite.
"No, come come. Fill your plate again. Oh at least have another appam. You can do that."
Their hospitality and warm generosity was so touching, and we all ate until we were stuffed. The rest of the evening was spent discussing how our time in India had been, ophthalmology training in the U.S. and just general relaxed chit-chat about life. They got out seveal albums of their most precious photos to share with us, and we leafed through the pages of their lives, exclaiming over the pictures of Nikita as a tiny baby and then at her first birthday party, which is an enormous celebration in India (there were about 100 people at her first birthday party!). The evening ended all too soon, and we snapped several group shots using the self-timer. The icing on the cake was when the mother-in-law, Mercy Christopher, asked me if I was on Facebook and told me she would add me as a friend. Taking some pictures on her phone, she said,
"Don't worry. I'll tag these on FB."
We then headed to Darling's for dinner, a farewell celebration for Thanuja who would leave for some traveling to her family's home in Sri Lanka as well as some shopping with her mother in Chennai. I was sad to say goodbye to another one of our wonderful Australian friends, knowing that we would have to part ways with Aylin on Friday. These three girls-Louella, Thanuja and Aylin-have made our time here so much fun. Along that note, we had a surprise visitor...Louella! She had been feeling a little lonely in Chennai, staying there two days before her flight, when she decided to come back to Vellore for Thanuja's farewell dinner. We were all excited to be together again, and had a lovely time at dinner sharing stories and eating my second meal of the evening.
During my second day of CHAD, Julie, Michael and I were fortunate to go on home visits with Onyx Paul, one of the young nurses that works at CHAD. As we climbed into the CMC van and drove away from Vellore and into the villages, we learned that as a nurse, she cares for approximately 25,000 people in the rural areas. On her nurse runs, she is accompanied by a health aid, and today it was young and beautiful Priya. They made quite a sweet pair, Onyx in the blue nursing sari and Priya in the pink health aid sari. Onyx explained that these home visits were essential to so many patients in these rural villages who didn't have the means to make it to the main CHAD center as frequently as they needed to be seen for various medical problems. In India, a manual laborer makes about 50 rupees a day (the equivalent of an American dollar), so skipping a day of work to go all the way to CHAD creates a huge hardship so their health becomes neglected. Hence CHAD set up these wonderful visits to distribute medications, assess new and chronic probelms, provide antenatal care, and to just share the mission of CHAD, to provide compassionate care for anyone in need.
Our first visit was to the home of a family to which a baby had been born one week ago. The infant had a proximal femoral deformity, so Onyx assessed his hips and followed up on the scan taken at the hospital with the family. They made arrangements for the child to return to CMC in a few weeks for further investigations. The family was young and beautiful, obviously happy about the new bundle of joy in their lives.
At our stop in the next village, we heard the beating of drums and loud music. I asked Onyx what it was, and she explained that it was a funeral. She pointed out a large structure across the road, made of wood and covered in flowers, and told me that that was what the deceased would be cremated on. She told us that funerals in India have lots of music, dancing and people generally get intoxicated. Obviously quite different than the ones in the United States. We passed by the large cluster of mourners on the road, and Onyx told us we had to stop by because they would be upset that CHAD hadn't been at the funeral. The dead man was in a rectangular glass box, his face painted with beautiful designs and the box adorned with multiple strings of flowers. A group of women sat on the floor, rocking back and forth with their arms around one another, a woman that was obviously his wife was wailing and had tears streaming down her cheeks. In a moment that was both beautiful and horrible, I watched Onyx take the woman in her arms and give her comfort, as the three of us stood awkwardly on the periphery, not able to take our eyes away from the dead man lying in plain sight directly in front of us.
The visit to the next home was quite sad. It was to follow-up on the death of a twenty-three day old baby boy. In accordance with local superstition and beliefs, the family had fed the baby a concoction made of tree bark to "cleanse the stomach" as according to tradition. The baby had gotten very ill from it and aspirated, leading to pneumonia and sepsis which caused his death. Onyx spoke witht he very upset mother and sighed as we walked to the next nurse visit.
"The only way to get around this is education." She said simply.
In the home of our next patient, a very sweet, very pregnant young woman, we did an antenatal check to assess the lie of the baby and check its heart rate. Onyx was alarmed at the first feel of her abdomen, concerned it was breech, but after more palpation breathed a sigh of relief that it was not. This patient was one of Onyx's helpers when she came to the village, and she accompanied us on the rest of the visits, pointing out the correct homes of people for us. As the woman walked ahead, Onyx asked me if I had noticed the large amount of bangles that the woman wore on both wrists. She explained that until 30 years ago, death from childbirth in Tamil Nadu was extremely high. There was even a saying, "that with every birth comes a death", speaking of the high rate of complications and mortality for these young mothers. So from this sad pattern came the tradition of a ceremony at 38 weeks of a woman's pregnany in which she was brought to her mother's house and decorated with beautiful bangles, flowers and an ornage sari. In the event that the woman does not survive the birth, her mother and family make sure she feels beautiful and cared for. It made me sad to think of such sadness in a time that should be so joyous, and I was glad that obstetrics had been improved over the last thirty years with places like CHAD and the primary health centers (PHCs, which are government run). The PHCs and other government hospitals are even offering incentives for women to deliver in hospitals and these centers instead of at home, paying them 6,000 rupees to have their babies in hospitals. CHAD is not yet able to compensate women for the expenses, but it is currently in the works.
As we visited another patient for an antenatal visit, we heard someone call Onyx's name from down the street. It turned out to be her first-grade teacher who invited us into her beautiful home for conversaton, fresh-squeezed grape juice and snacks. She and Onyx had a very special relationship, and the teacher's pride in her former student was evident as they talked about old times and sang one of the songs that she had taught her students many years ago. The teacher led us to her beautiful garden to show off her handiwork, and asked to take photos with the three of us an Onyx. Once again, Indian hospitality touched my heart and reminded me of how lucky I am to be able to experience this culture.
The rest of our day of home visits was full of patients who were so happy to see the CHAD patients, and constantly wanted to invite us into their home and show off their most precious things. My favorite was a tiny calf, just a few weeks old, that the family had named "Peacock" in Tamil. The way that the people here revere cows just amazes me. They pretty much have free reign wherever they choose to roam.
We broke for lunch in the back room of a daycare center that helped single mothers and mothers with disabilities. We tiptoed by rows of adorable sleeping children at naptime, many of them covered in flies which didn't seem to bother them one bit. I was particularly taken by a chubby little boy whose hiney was hanging out in the open. We sat on straw mats in the room and we all shared the lunches we had brought. Ours were parcel lunches from the campus canteen, and Onyx brought delicious food from home that her mother prepared, which she proceeded to force on us with the utmost kindness. If we ever refused her, she would just look at us aghast at how we could do such a thing. I told Onyx that she had a lot in common with my dear Grandma Mary in that they both love to feed people wonderful food and watch them enjoy it. Maybe Grandma Mary is part Indian!
To top off an already great day, we had one of the hostel staff's sister come to Cristine and Julie's room at night to do mehndi on our arms! She skillfully drew the most beautiful and intricate designs in henna on our arms, artfully sculpting flowers, birds and other exotic figures freehand without a second thought. I was quite surprised at how dark orange it stains your skin. I hope it will last for awhile, but at least it will last long enough to show Landon when I meet him in Singapore on Friday evening. I'm glad that I will have a visual reminder of wonderful India when I board the plane on Friday and say a sad goodbye to the country I have grown to love so very much.
"No, come come. Fill your plate again. Oh at least have another appam. You can do that."
Their hospitality and warm generosity was so touching, and we all ate until we were stuffed. The rest of the evening was spent discussing how our time in India had been, ophthalmology training in the U.S. and just general relaxed chit-chat about life. They got out seveal albums of their most precious photos to share with us, and we leafed through the pages of their lives, exclaiming over the pictures of Nikita as a tiny baby and then at her first birthday party, which is an enormous celebration in India (there were about 100 people at her first birthday party!). The evening ended all too soon, and we snapped several group shots using the self-timer. The icing on the cake was when the mother-in-law, Mercy Christopher, asked me if I was on Facebook and told me she would add me as a friend. Taking some pictures on her phone, she said,
"Don't worry. I'll tag these on FB."
We then headed to Darling's for dinner, a farewell celebration for Thanuja who would leave for some traveling to her family's home in Sri Lanka as well as some shopping with her mother in Chennai. I was sad to say goodbye to another one of our wonderful Australian friends, knowing that we would have to part ways with Aylin on Friday. These three girls-Louella, Thanuja and Aylin-have made our time here so much fun. Along that note, we had a surprise visitor...Louella! She had been feeling a little lonely in Chennai, staying there two days before her flight, when she decided to come back to Vellore for Thanuja's farewell dinner. We were all excited to be together again, and had a lovely time at dinner sharing stories and eating my second meal of the evening.
During my second day of CHAD, Julie, Michael and I were fortunate to go on home visits with Onyx Paul, one of the young nurses that works at CHAD. As we climbed into the CMC van and drove away from Vellore and into the villages, we learned that as a nurse, she cares for approximately 25,000 people in the rural areas. On her nurse runs, she is accompanied by a health aid, and today it was young and beautiful Priya. They made quite a sweet pair, Onyx in the blue nursing sari and Priya in the pink health aid sari. Onyx explained that these home visits were essential to so many patients in these rural villages who didn't have the means to make it to the main CHAD center as frequently as they needed to be seen for various medical problems. In India, a manual laborer makes about 50 rupees a day (the equivalent of an American dollar), so skipping a day of work to go all the way to CHAD creates a huge hardship so their health becomes neglected. Hence CHAD set up these wonderful visits to distribute medications, assess new and chronic probelms, provide antenatal care, and to just share the mission of CHAD, to provide compassionate care for anyone in need.
Our first visit was to the home of a family to which a baby had been born one week ago. The infant had a proximal femoral deformity, so Onyx assessed his hips and followed up on the scan taken at the hospital with the family. They made arrangements for the child to return to CMC in a few weeks for further investigations. The family was young and beautiful, obviously happy about the new bundle of joy in their lives.
At our stop in the next village, we heard the beating of drums and loud music. I asked Onyx what it was, and she explained that it was a funeral. She pointed out a large structure across the road, made of wood and covered in flowers, and told me that that was what the deceased would be cremated on. She told us that funerals in India have lots of music, dancing and people generally get intoxicated. Obviously quite different than the ones in the United States. We passed by the large cluster of mourners on the road, and Onyx told us we had to stop by because they would be upset that CHAD hadn't been at the funeral. The dead man was in a rectangular glass box, his face painted with beautiful designs and the box adorned with multiple strings of flowers. A group of women sat on the floor, rocking back and forth with their arms around one another, a woman that was obviously his wife was wailing and had tears streaming down her cheeks. In a moment that was both beautiful and horrible, I watched Onyx take the woman in her arms and give her comfort, as the three of us stood awkwardly on the periphery, not able to take our eyes away from the dead man lying in plain sight directly in front of us.
The visit to the next home was quite sad. It was to follow-up on the death of a twenty-three day old baby boy. In accordance with local superstition and beliefs, the family had fed the baby a concoction made of tree bark to "cleanse the stomach" as according to tradition. The baby had gotten very ill from it and aspirated, leading to pneumonia and sepsis which caused his death. Onyx spoke witht he very upset mother and sighed as we walked to the next nurse visit.
"The only way to get around this is education." She said simply.
In the home of our next patient, a very sweet, very pregnant young woman, we did an antenatal check to assess the lie of the baby and check its heart rate. Onyx was alarmed at the first feel of her abdomen, concerned it was breech, but after more palpation breathed a sigh of relief that it was not. This patient was one of Onyx's helpers when she came to the village, and she accompanied us on the rest of the visits, pointing out the correct homes of people for us. As the woman walked ahead, Onyx asked me if I had noticed the large amount of bangles that the woman wore on both wrists. She explained that until 30 years ago, death from childbirth in Tamil Nadu was extremely high. There was even a saying, "that with every birth comes a death", speaking of the high rate of complications and mortality for these young mothers. So from this sad pattern came the tradition of a ceremony at 38 weeks of a woman's pregnany in which she was brought to her mother's house and decorated with beautiful bangles, flowers and an ornage sari. In the event that the woman does not survive the birth, her mother and family make sure she feels beautiful and cared for. It made me sad to think of such sadness in a time that should be so joyous, and I was glad that obstetrics had been improved over the last thirty years with places like CHAD and the primary health centers (PHCs, which are government run). The PHCs and other government hospitals are even offering incentives for women to deliver in hospitals and these centers instead of at home, paying them 6,000 rupees to have their babies in hospitals. CHAD is not yet able to compensate women for the expenses, but it is currently in the works.
As we visited another patient for an antenatal visit, we heard someone call Onyx's name from down the street. It turned out to be her first-grade teacher who invited us into her beautiful home for conversaton, fresh-squeezed grape juice and snacks. She and Onyx had a very special relationship, and the teacher's pride in her former student was evident as they talked about old times and sang one of the songs that she had taught her students many years ago. The teacher led us to her beautiful garden to show off her handiwork, and asked to take photos with the three of us an Onyx. Once again, Indian hospitality touched my heart and reminded me of how lucky I am to be able to experience this culture.
The rest of our day of home visits was full of patients who were so happy to see the CHAD patients, and constantly wanted to invite us into their home and show off their most precious things. My favorite was a tiny calf, just a few weeks old, that the family had named "Peacock" in Tamil. The way that the people here revere cows just amazes me. They pretty much have free reign wherever they choose to roam.
We broke for lunch in the back room of a daycare center that helped single mothers and mothers with disabilities. We tiptoed by rows of adorable sleeping children at naptime, many of them covered in flies which didn't seem to bother them one bit. I was particularly taken by a chubby little boy whose hiney was hanging out in the open. We sat on straw mats in the room and we all shared the lunches we had brought. Ours were parcel lunches from the campus canteen, and Onyx brought delicious food from home that her mother prepared, which she proceeded to force on us with the utmost kindness. If we ever refused her, she would just look at us aghast at how we could do such a thing. I told Onyx that she had a lot in common with my dear Grandma Mary in that they both love to feed people wonderful food and watch them enjoy it. Maybe Grandma Mary is part Indian!
To top off an already great day, we had one of the hostel staff's sister come to Cristine and Julie's room at night to do mehndi on our arms! She skillfully drew the most beautiful and intricate designs in henna on our arms, artfully sculpting flowers, birds and other exotic figures freehand without a second thought. I was quite surprised at how dark orange it stains your skin. I hope it will last for awhile, but at least it will last long enough to show Landon when I meet him in Singapore on Friday evening. I'm glad that I will have a visual reminder of wonderful India when I board the plane on Friday and say a sad goodbye to the country I have grown to love so very much.
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