Its been an interesting couple of days here. Yesterday we went on another village visit (pictures attached, the first pic is of my room). What is amazing to me is I’m actually starting to be so familiar with villages that I can tell the differences between them in terms of size, wealth, etc. We were looking at pictures last night and discussing that while we are taking them it seems like no big deal but then we looked at them in a different way and though how really amazing they are and that anyone back home would be thinking "wow." Brings you back to the reality of the situation.
The village we went to yesterday was “really nice” and I use that term loosely because I realize by Western standards its not. Anyway, the village has been very successful with the health program, which of course leads to success in all other areas. All the women have businesses now and the village has clean water pumps, etc. We met one woman who thanks to the women’s group (empowering groups that help women get money loans, etc) now has goats and an acre of land and a house. I joked with the group that she is actually better off financially than I am! We also saw a good program they have to help any malnurished children to ensure they are eating. Basically they bring the kids and moms into this room and stay there all day and weigh them every couple of hours to make sure the food they are eating is helping them to gain weight (picture of child eating the banana is one example, the dark around his eyes is coal, something they do for Indian kids because they believe it widens the eyes and helps eyesight).
Today I witnessed my first caesarian. Awesome. There really are no words and seeing life come into the world was incredible. The way the Dr. just put her hands in there and pulled out a baby! I won’t go into all the gory details but it was very cool. However, while it was all happening I couldn’t help but think about all the hardship this little boy was going to face. I was also thinking that the mom would be very relieved it was a boy and that is just such a sad thought. He was very healthy though and I’m sure I’ll be checking on him during the next few days!
This afternoon we had a “personal development” class, which so far have been some of my favorite class sessions. You all know I love reflection :) Today we talked about values and people we admire (funny that I was the only person who put Oprah…) Its no surprise that the people we tend to admire live the values we like, most of us had the Arole family and of course my parents were numero uno on my list.
Many of us had similar values that we found important (family, health, service, justice, compassion). It was an interesting discussion with Dr. Shoba (the daughter of the couple that started the program) about how these values have led us here and that while everyone chooses their own values, your upbringing and environment have a strong impact on them. One of the things we discussed is that while we all have these values we might not be actively living them and that it can be a life process. I definitely found that true in my case and one value that I have and really want to live more actively when I get home is service.
She made some pretty profound statements that I totally agreed with all sort of centering around the idea of making decisions that are a part of your values. She made the point that being “static” in your life is not a good thing and you should always be trying to make your life creative and making an impact on those less fortunate than you. Again, something ringing very true for me and my life choices in the past few years. Of course in a room full of people in India wanting to do global health and work for the poor it was kind of like preaching to the choir but hearing it from someone who has lived her life that way was totally inspiring. She also made the point that we are so fortunate to get international experiences because learning from other cultures expands your world in so many ways beyond what you know. Again something I couldn’t agree with more.
Anyway, it was very thought provoking and I feel drained for today! Luckily its Friday…tonight we have a poker tournament with a 100 rupee buy-in (a little over $2). Fortunately for me not everyone grew up playing poker (who knew it wasn't a normal family event?) so I feel like I have a good chance. Tomorrow we go see the markets which should be interesting and tomorrow night we are having a “party” (again using the term loosely) with pizza and beer! There is much excitement about that.
Today I witnessed my first caesarian. Awesome. There really are no words and seeing life come into the world was incredible. The way the Dr. just put her hands in there and pulled out a baby! I won’t go into all the gory details but it was very cool. However, while it was all happening I couldn’t help but think about all the hardship this little boy was going to face. I was also thinking that the mom would be very relieved it was a boy and that is just such a sad thought. He was very healthy though and I’m sure I’ll be checking on him during the next few days!
This afternoon we had a “personal development” class, which so far have been some of my favorite class sessions. You all know I love reflection :) Today we talked about values and people we admire (funny that I was the only person who put Oprah…) Its no surprise that the people we tend to admire live the values we like, most of us had the Arole family and of course my parents were numero uno on my list.
Many of us had similar values that we found important (family, health, service, justice, compassion). It was an interesting discussion with Dr. Shoba (the daughter of the couple that started the program) about how these values have led us here and that while everyone chooses their own values, your upbringing and environment have a strong impact on them. One of the things we discussed is that while we all have these values we might not be actively living them and that it can be a life process. I definitely found that true in my case and one value that I have and really want to live more actively when I get home is service.
She made some pretty profound statements that I totally agreed with all sort of centering around the idea of making decisions that are a part of your values. She made the point that being “static” in your life is not a good thing and you should always be trying to make your life creative and making an impact on those less fortunate than you. Again, something ringing very true for me and my life choices in the past few years. Of course in a room full of people in India wanting to do global health and work for the poor it was kind of like preaching to the choir but hearing it from someone who has lived her life that way was totally inspiring. She also made the point that we are so fortunate to get international experiences because learning from other cultures expands your world in so many ways beyond what you know. Again something I couldn’t agree with more.
Anyway, it was very thought provoking and I feel drained for today! Luckily its Friday…tonight we have a poker tournament with a 100 rupee buy-in (a little over $2). Fortunately for me not everyone grew up playing poker (who knew it wasn't a normal family event?) so I feel like I have a good chance. Tomorrow we go see the markets which should be interesting and tomorrow night we are having a “party” (again using the term loosely) with pizza and beer! There is much excitement about that.
2 comments:
What a wonderful blog! Can we make donations somewhere to the program you are using?
u must have had an amazing time..
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