chapati party and tiny bundles

5 month old baby...2.6kgs. Severely undernourished

Sewa Ram, passed away last night

Splash water theme park shinadagins. Hired swim suits AMAZING.

Chapati Party......Making chapatis for dinner.

Another intersesting week at the ashram!

Have had some cool times and some sad ones too....The good ones first! Went to a local water "theme park" with our friends that also work for the ashram Ray and Louise with their two kids Sam and Hunter. This place was so funnily dodgy in terms or rust everywhere (tetanus....tick), shallow landing pools after the slides, and slimey looking water. Fun though! Was abit overwhelming getting surrounded by the locals and harassed into going to the "water disco"....ok ok so I was keen to go in the first place im not gunna lie.

Then there was hired costumes......AMAZING!!! I have never felt so flattered and feminine. haha. Jake flat rufused the mens hired costume. Floral speedos wernt his thing aparently.

Also have been helping in the kitchen abit with the chapatis. Shesh I never knoew it was sucha process! They have a team of about 8 guys making these every night.

We had a patient pass away last night. He was one of our TB patients that had alot of other illness going on. I have been really challenged on my world view of what is "the best" treatment for patients, and dying with dignity. India is so so different to what I know in so many ways. Their view on life and loosing life is one of these. I get torn between wanting to do what I know and have experienced, and being aware that this is their culture and who am I to change it.

Big thoughts.....very differnent experiences......

Today we had a visit from our Rajasthan neighbours. These are a group of farmers who live south of Delhi in a massive state. These farmers are nomads and live in very very basic tents (ie thin steet of plastic over 2 bamboo poles), when it gets to winter they move their families and herd of animals to delhi as there is more grass for their animals.

They have camped up right next to the ashram and I now sleep with ear plugs from the noise of the cows scuffing their huge horns all night against our bedroom wall.

They are VERY private people and do not ask help from people other than their own so we were suprised to see them in the clinic. The husband and wife had with them a 5 month old baby who had been having dirrohea and vommiting the past 5 days. When the mother pulled back the blanket and showed me the baby I gasped. This baby was tiny. It was so badly malnourished and was the size for a premature/very new born baby (2.6 kgs). Its legs were just skin and bone. I cuddled it and was so so aware of how fragile she was. Being the 5th child in this family and being a girl meant that this family has not alot of regard for her surviving.

We took them to the Doctor yet the family did not want her admitted as they "needed to move the cow herd". Prioritys. The only thing we could do was buy them the medications she needed and pray she gets given them and when they return in 10days she is still alive.

Definatly felt so helpless. You can only try so hard but sometimes people just dont want the help.

India is so full of beauty and tragidy rolled in together.

road rage and festy feet

NZ crew at the ashram-Sharlene and Scotts last night. Jake me and Jenny with the Woolstons

Munched foot guy after dressing was first taken down.

Venod sitting in his brand new wheelchair watching the fireworks!

Diwali festival lights at the kids house

Jake playing cricket out the back of the ashram with the local kids.

It has been an eventful week! Firstly we had the Diwali festival on Saturday...this is where all the indians go crazy with fireworks and lights and THEE loudest sounding firecrackers you can get....I was walking down the local market street and one of these went off beside me-thought I had just been shot at! Crazy kids! We celebrated at the ashram with all the volunteers pitching in to get fireworks...let them off that night with not the most safety savvy patients iv met! There was alot of screaming and cheering going on. Good times!

Another bit of cool news is Venod who I talked about last blog got given a brand spanking new wheelchair! Yay!! He is getting up in it for about an hour each day.

Jake had taken an ambulance load of paraplegics/amputee's down to south Delhi to a Spinal Hospital. Here the management told Jake that they would supply us at the ashram with 7 BRAND new wheelchairs for free...AND will fit and supply all our patients in need of limbs with FREE prosthetics! So stoked!

Be so good to get these patients back on their feet with new limbs so they can get intergrated back into the community.

On another day Jake picked up a guy who was sitting outside a local governement hospital-he had been sitting there for 3 days with bandages to his head, arms and foot. He is a pick pocket and a drug addict from delhi. While pickpocketing on a train he either jumped to escape or was pushed onto the tracks sustaining injuries. After going to this hospital he was either discharged or simply walked out (possibly to get high again).

Jake bought him back to the ashram where he was washed, and given clean clothes. The dressings to his head and arm were taken down and was just minor stitches and scrapes.

Then we took down his foot dressing.......The stench was awful and revealed half his foot missing, the tissue to the bottom of his foot was extensivly damaged and showed all his tendons.

Half the top of his foot was also missing. The guy was in alot of pain and was running a high grade fever.

We took him back to this hospital straight away as he was heading into septic shock. The hospital turned us away after taking a quick glance to say this was "not an emergency case".

Shesh it was hard to keep polite! With a background in plastics nursing I knew he needed months worth of procedures that did not have a very good chance of healing. We returned 2 days later as requested for a second opinion which by this time the foot had become gangrenous and was amputated.

Driving the ambulance back from this hospital in the crazy delhi rush hour traffic sounded like a good challenge to me at the time so I jumped in and started driving.....About half an hour from the ashram I had a crazy driver pull up next to me, then try for the next 20 minutes to run me off the road. I had 3 sick patients, plus two other nurses from the clinic with me and I honestly thought I was going to crash and kill the people in my truck! Everyone was screaming and I was trying to stay on the road while the crazy driver in front swerved back and forth in front of me trying to land us in the ditch. We finally stopped and the police were all of sudden there-there was alot of yelling going on! We found out the guy was drunk and had taken it upon himself to try and stop our truck and take a photo of us as he thought we were using the ambulance for fun and didnt have any patients. MENTAL!!! The police were shinning their torches in my eyes and then in the back to see the sick patients. The police finally said we could go, so I had to try and get my legs to stop shaking enough to get my foot on the accelerator.

Hahaha just another day in paradise.

Other than than that we are both well...No delhi belly yet! Will keep you posted though dont you worry. Weather has cooled down so is really good. Warm days with cool nights. Perfect.

Scott and Sharlene and kids have left the ashram and fly out tonight-they have made sucha huge impact here and there was alot of sad goodbyes and tears from both the staff and the patients.

Gotta run-another curry awaits!

Arrival at the Ashram

Jake, Scott, Geaorge and Oscar at the local cricket game...madness!Sharlene, Jake and Venod.

Yay we finally arrived! Swollen cankles and a lil tired but stoked to be here. Arrived at 4am to Delhi where our good friend Scotty picked us up. Walked into the ashram after an hour drive to have a few patients shout out "Namasteeeeee" (Hello). Our good friends Sharlene and Scott with their 3 kids who have been working here the past 6 months had set our cute lil room up with new sheets and a pile of insect repelent. Wicked!

So far this week has been a mixture of emotions....trying to get used to this culture, language and where we slot into this place...so different than back home!! So cool too though too.

I reakon iv had one of the best moment of my life the other day....

We have a patient called Venod. He has been at the Ahsram for 9 months after been found on the steps of a hospital in Delhi. He was paralyed over a year ago from the waist down and had been pretty much used as a guinne pig at a hospital by the "learning doctors" for 3 months.

They then decided they had had enough lessons off him so left him on the steps of this public hospital where he sat in his own waste with no food of water for 3 days before staff at the ashram found him.

He was extremely depressed and has no family that we know of. He has been lovingly cared for here, but has been on bed rest for 9 months.....I know I cannot know what he is thinking but im sure he would be thinking if he would ever sit up again, or get to sit in the sun, or be mobile....This is where Jake came in!

He worked with Venod and was able to sit him up on the edge of the bed within the first 2 days!! Sharlene and I were a mess watching-I can only imagine how long he has waited for this and how stoked he was. He was crying too. We have now got him up into a chair for a few hours everyday and are currently waiting for his very own wheelchair to arrive. I cant wait to take him for a spin around the ashram and up the road for a bottle of fizzy! Hes now smiling and chatting and heard him laugh for the first time the other day. Totaly a differnent man than 9 months ago.

For those interested too the food is sweet. Cant stop singing "Its my cha party and il cry if I want to..." Every time we have chapatis for dinner. Sure its gunna get old soon.....

Cool.....so thats a lil snipit from week one......apolagies for sideways photo....not the best with these technical things =)