The contrasts.....

Parvi and his new bride!
Wedding rituals
Confetti and fireworks everywhere!
The ladies.....
Jake and I with Parvi-on his horse drawn bling cart...so cool!
Trying to dance Indian styles.....
Sick homeless man we picked up from Yamuna Bazaar
Lil homeless kids on the filthy Gangee river
Jun Jun rocking his new legs!!!

Oh man....this place called India has so so many contrasts...the rich to the poor, the happy to the depressed, the generous spirits and the greedy. I have been truley overwhelmed by this all.

It has been an eventful week. Myself, 2 other nurses from our clinic, and a few other guys from the ashram went into delhi to Yamuna Bazaar. This is where the homeless, druggies, and "the lowest of the low" hang out. This is a stretch of about 1km from under a big bridge in old delhi and along the Yamuna river. They are huddled under holey blankets or clustered in small groups to keep warm over a small fire, or shooting up with dirty needles.

As we were arrived we were approached by police men telling us to quickly get out of here as these are "dangerous people...criminals...".

As we walked through the streets and along the river I was lightly showered with ash-from the burning bodies on their funeral piles along the river.

The homeless people here know we are from the Sewa Ashram now so do not try to hurt us....they tell each other in Hindi "no these are good people....they are ok here".

We walk among the curled up bodies pulling blankets back to see if they are still alive and if they need help. We also ask they small gathering crowd who are the sickest and who need help the most. They quickly show us.

We found two people that needed our help urgently-the first the man in the photo, is severely malnourished and covered in his own poo and wee. The thin holey blanket offers little warmth and he lies on the grass. The stench is potent. He has suspected TB.

If he had been left another day or two he would surely be dead.

The next is a patient with leprosy who has a foot wound. Once back at the ashram with the patients I pulled off his foot dressing that had been in place for over a week to have thick pus ooze out everywhere. He was covered in head lice which crawled over his clothing-we had to burn these to get rid of the critters. The thing that got me was he gripped onto his dirty pus covered cloth that was around his foot as it was one of his only possesions. We finaly convinced him it was ok to burn it and we would provide him with new clothes. Tears welled up in my eyes.

These patients are doing abit better now-the infected foot guy is getting heaps better, and the other man with TB is doing ok. They are both eating and drinking and able to take their medicine so its just a waiting game to see if their bodies can do the rest of the healing.

I am so glad we could help these two men....there is so so many more but if we can help a few it is better than nothing.

The photo of Jun Jun with his new legs is for you Sharlene! He lost his legs when he fell off a train when he was drunk with a friend. His friend died but he survived but lost both his legs. Finaly being able to walk again will be such a great step (mind the pun) for him in terms of his confidance and independance. Yay!!! He was one of Sharlene's favourites and often tells me to straighten my hair to look like beautiful Sharlene. Haha gotta love him.

Last night we went to an AMAZING wedding of Jakes friend Parvi. He got married in a Hindu ceremony. Jake, myself, Louise, Jenny, Ray and lil Hunter went along and us girls loved loved loved getting dressed up in our saris's and bindi's! The wedding place was amazing, a huge lawn adorned with lights, ribbons, countless food tables and stalls. The cermonys they did were so fun and felt like such a priveledge to see. One of my best experiences in India so far for sure!

We danced and ate naan bread made right in front of you, and chatted to the curious Indians who were definatly wondering what the bunch of white people were doing there.

The contrast here is incredible. Am working on where I fit in it and being able to enjoy the luxuries we have, yet knowing where the thin line is of being ignorant to the needy. All in a days work though......Am doing well, keeping reletively healthy and am not too homesick.

So alls good!

Lots of love....Ruth