last blog for now....

Seems so crazy to sit here and try and write a last blog.....we are currently in Bali, Indonesia having a lil holiday on the way home, which to be honest now I'm here is the perfect transition back to living life in NZ....

Our last days at the ashram were chilled..a few last minute errands to the tailor (nice wee dress made for the equivalent of $3nz..), sorting out our heavy packs and spending time with the patients. So hard when they all ask "when are you coming back....please stay....come back very quickly..." . I want to say yes to all of these but we are also so torn in that we have not been home for 2 years now and miss our family and friends like crazy!

I really feel like this wont be the last time in India. Although some days il quite honestly say I hated the place, other days I just loved it. It is a country of opposites and extremes and am incredibly grateful to have had that time we did. It is beautiful and ugly, crazy and peaceful, greedy and generous. It ignited a passion for the poor and needy that I will pray I keep for the rest of my life....wherever that will be in the world!

What I have come to realise is that there are poor and needy people throughout the world. Yes there is a desperate need of aid and a revolution amongst the poor country's like India...Africa...China and many others.
I am completely positive we need to stop being ignorant to the struggles that go on in these country's and realise our responsibility to help.
A huge way to help is obviously financially. Find places that are trustworthy (cue the plug for the ashram....http://www.sewa-ashram.org) but also sponsoring a child, and putting a little money aside to help people you know of going to these places to help "on the ground".
I know I am changed forever from working in Delhi, but also can totally see how this is not every ones calling here !

I love the quote Mother Theresa said when talking about the poor in the 3rd world and the poor in the west. She said something like (sorry don't have direct quote)..."Yes we have many many poor in India, but you in the west are suffering from a much greater need-the poor in spirit. There are many people dying of lack of love and community".

I kind of want to take this as a mission statement for myself and I know Jake stands with me with saying that wherever we are in the world......its so so important to be aware of all that are around you. We do not live in a bubble as I like to sometimes think...so caring for others and giving out wherever you feel called is needed in all parts of the world. Trust me it will actually end up giving you so much reward in helping others. Brilliant.

Just a wee note to say thanks to all that have read the blogs-I know they have not been easy to read sometimes. Was real life for us though, and showed real lives of a tiny fraction living in Delhi.

Be encouraged that we can all achieve so much in this life time and if we are remembered for our bank accounts, new gadgets and latest threads then I feel we would have failed.
Build relationships and reach out to help others in all aspects of their lives. We have been given so much in lovely New Zealand and around the world that we are lucky to have alot more we are able to give out.

Thanks again for reading and your encouraging words.....made our tough days so much more doable. =)

Loads and loads of love...
Ruth and Jake

Yamuna Bazaar pick up

Homeless guy sleeping right beside the open sewer.

Waiting to see the Dr for his TB medication

The drop in centre with the local sewer running through.

Junkie in the trash.

This is Gopal on the street-traffic and people all around but not one who helped.

Sonu having his wash and shave

Gopal's swollen and dirt encrusted feet waiting for his shower.

Sonu tired and broken.

Sonu.

Had thee craziest last few days.
Went to Yamuna Bazaar with the head nurse from here (Uwe) and an Indian worker to look for new patients. We went first to a drop in centre in the heart of the bazaar where junkies and the homeless can receive free Dr treatment and clean needles. They work in two tiny dark rooms which sit right beside the open sewer. I had to step in this to get across to the small building. Nice. Got to take a few photos which was cool because usually you don't really wanna take out a piece of equipment that's worth a good 6 months of dirty drugs to them.

We drove to another spot in Delhi and weaved our way through the small streets through cows, rickshaws, scooters and cars to a small lot filled with trash and junkies.
As we walked through the trash I looked down to notice all the used syringes and needles sticking up through the rubble thinking thin jandals were not the best footwear I could have worn.
I found myself surrounded by junkies one wielding a needle and syringe totally off his face asking to money for "his two children". The look in his eyes of sheer desperation for drugs was so awful. I stepped around another passed out guy and found one patient with one leg missing and the other leg a big wound so we picked him up and chucked him in the back of the ambulance.
By now a crowd had formed as they do when you are the only white people they'd ever see in their part of Delhi. They surrounded the ambulance and one junkie who had just tried to grab the other male nurses camera asked us for money. When told no he reached in to grab the ambulance keys out of the ignition. After some yelling pushing some guys from the street pushed a few of them back so we could drive off.

We did a quick drive by the Bazaar again and found two guys a few metres apart. One was so emaciated and dirty and cried out in pain as we lifted him him up and into the ambulance. The other I found him completely naked under his disgusting thin blanket which was dark with dirt and flies.
We headed back to the ashram to shower and clothe them.
Seeing them naked and broken as a few other workers washed and shaved their heads was heart wrenching. They were the skinniest guys I have ever seen. Gopal could not lift his head he was so weak, and even after the full showering and shaving we still could not get rid of the flies.

Over the next few days we gave then the best medication and care we could and started TB medication for both of them. Sonu was the first to give up his fight in life. His lung collapsed late Saturday night. He was rushed to hospital but was refused by two hospitals after taking one look at him in his state and knowing he was sputum positive TB. The third hospital after alot of persuading intubated him but it was too late.

Gopal dying yesterday gutted me. I had spent so long with him begging him to eat and getting it interpreted he had to fight to stay alive. He asked for Pepsi which I got and then bribed him to eat a few spoonfuls of rice. Late yesterday afternoon I found him unconscious and after doing everything we could he started seizuring. After an agonising two hours waiting with him he died.
So frustrating as I wanted these two guys so badly to have a new chance in life, a little help out of the pits of destitution so they could see that they were important, and so worth loving and living.
Crying in my room that night Jake reminded me that even though they died, they did not die like a dog on the street as they would have. A little comfort on a crap night.

Holi, and the first of the goodbyes.

Bipul with his hand in the cookie jar

Some of the rad staff at the ashram.....

Sam wasting Prakash

Jenni's last night-dinner at the gorgeous Praseeda's

A few of her 17 kids....

One of the guys in the local market sitting on his fruit throne.

Celebrated parts of a festival over here called Holi. This is one of the huge Indian festivals where everyone goes crazy buying colorful paints and powders for a en mass water and dye fight.
The streets are bathed in a rainbow of colors and the silly people wearing their best shirts on that day trudge home to the washing machine.
Helped start the celebrating in the afternoon by myself and Sam starting a mass water fight....all fun and games until someone brings out the packet color dyes! Also hilarious until you try and scrub your face and the colors don't come off with the layer of skin that did. haha.

Had to say goodbye to another kiwi volunteer the other night Jenni-had an incredible selection of our favourite Indian foods (rice and dhal did not make the list) at Praseeda and Prakash's house while playing games with their brilliant kids. Lovely night. Crazy to think we only have 8 days here to go......