Today we went to the slum village of Udayan Pally. We left the guest house at 6:45 in the morning and all piled into the car to drive about 20 minutes outside of the main city Kolkata. As we drove out, you could see the poverty become more evident. It was also interesting to see all the children in their uniforms heading into town for school. The most interesting thing to me is that there is no division between poverty and higher class. You will see a nice building and right in front of it there is someone living from a tent. When we arrived at the village, all the people living there came out to look at us. You could immediately see the poverty. The houses were nothing more than shacks and the amount of trash on the either side of the "road" was amazing. As we walked in, we couldn't really tell much else about the village or the people because we were so focused on our feet and where we stepped. It is about a 5 minute walk into the village, but it took longer due to all the mud. There were places where you couldn't avoid putting your foot in the muddy water and places where your feet slid when you put it down. Thankfully, no one fell!
When we arrived at the school, most of the children were already there. The kids in the morning class ranged in age from about 3 to maybe 10. They split into 3 groups, lower level (still learning letters and numbers), middle level and high level. The age does not determine their level, but their knowledge! They start their morning with prayer and then it was time to learn. I worked with the younger group of kids. We worked on numbers, colors, and body parts. Then we sang some songs with them. After the younger student's finished with class, we had a time of chapel. They sang some songs in Bangla and then Kevin shared his testimony. After prayer timea and a few more songs, the little guys left for the day and the bigger kids settled in for their school time. As the little kids left, we gave them a snack of a banana and some cookies. Then we served to the bigger kids. Then the teachers at the school served us snacks! Wow! Then it was time for lessons. We helped the kids work on their counting to 50. They sat and wrote each number and then spelled it out from 1-50. While they were doing that, we were able to talk more with the teachers. Santu is 22 (ish) years old and is a believer. He lives at home with his parents and at one point his father told him that if he attended church, he would disown him. Yet Santu perservered and prayed that his dad would change his mind. His father did and now Santu is permitted to go to church and also to work at the school. He told me his life mission is to help spread the gospel! What an amazing man of God he is! Raju the other teacher is just as amazing, but I didn't get his story. Around 1230, we left the school house to head to a mall (with western toilets!) for lunch. I remember thinking that it hadn't been too hot that morning. Of course it was hot, and of course we sweat some, but not as bad as I had thought we would!
For lunch I ate Indian food at the mall (love some chicken tikka masala!). Then after but lots of water and one more trip to the toilet, we loaded back up in the van and headed back to the school to work with the women in the sewing group. Mary shared with the women what we would be doing and then we sat with them to help some. I do remember thinking at this point just how HOT it was in the school. Sweat dripping from our bodies! Gross....and yet, so refreshing! The sweat helped to cool us as we sat there with the precious women. The teachers in the school were also very kind to be sure that there were chairs by the two fans in the room so we could sit by the fans when needed to cool off some! While the women were working on sewing, a man came into the village to do a puppet show. It was fun to watch the crowd gather and how they reacted. We couldn't understand a word of the story (obviously!) but we knew he was telling the story of a wedding. It was fun to be able to get some pictures of the village and the people in the village at this time. And the people in the village who had gathered were very kind to make sure no one got in our way of seeing it!! Once the sewing class was over, we began to set up for our first medical clinic. Rudra kept referring to Bill and I as doctors. We both corrected him several times before he explained that the people in the village saw us as doctors. Later A. explained to me that with my nursing degree, I am almost as educated as a doctor in India. He said that nurses are expected to do all the grunt work (what a CNA does in the states). Cool! :) We saw patients for 3 hours I believe. This clinic was all pediatrics! I was right at home! I think we saw 60 patients! Meta was my interpreter and she was amazing! Also, another American nurse came to help out. She was a valuable assest as Christy and Mary learned to run a "pharmacy"! We gave alot of vitamins and deworming medication. Then we were all tired and it was time to head back. A. ordered pizzas for us as we were on our way back to the guest house. When we arrived, the pizza was there and we ate and headed to our rooms for air conditioning and showers! Ahhh...I will never take AC or a shower for granted again!
I went to bed that night with a full heart!
Up for Tuesday - Sleeping in for the mornings, going to an Indian market for shopping, and then to a Chinese resaurant for lunch. After that, helping with another sewing class and then another clinic - this time adults.
(I was going to try to insert some pictures, but the internet isn't cooperating!)
When we arrived at the school, most of the children were already there. The kids in the morning class ranged in age from about 3 to maybe 10. They split into 3 groups, lower level (still learning letters and numbers), middle level and high level. The age does not determine their level, but their knowledge! They start their morning with prayer and then it was time to learn. I worked with the younger group of kids. We worked on numbers, colors, and body parts. Then we sang some songs with them. After the younger student's finished with class, we had a time of chapel. They sang some songs in Bangla and then Kevin shared his testimony. After prayer timea and a few more songs, the little guys left for the day and the bigger kids settled in for their school time. As the little kids left, we gave them a snack of a banana and some cookies. Then we served to the bigger kids. Then the teachers at the school served us snacks! Wow! Then it was time for lessons. We helped the kids work on their counting to 50. They sat and wrote each number and then spelled it out from 1-50. While they were doing that, we were able to talk more with the teachers. Santu is 22 (ish) years old and is a believer. He lives at home with his parents and at one point his father told him that if he attended church, he would disown him. Yet Santu perservered and prayed that his dad would change his mind. His father did and now Santu is permitted to go to church and also to work at the school. He told me his life mission is to help spread the gospel! What an amazing man of God he is! Raju the other teacher is just as amazing, but I didn't get his story. Around 1230, we left the school house to head to a mall (with western toilets!) for lunch. I remember thinking that it hadn't been too hot that morning. Of course it was hot, and of course we sweat some, but not as bad as I had thought we would!
For lunch I ate Indian food at the mall (love some chicken tikka masala!). Then after but lots of water and one more trip to the toilet, we loaded back up in the van and headed back to the school to work with the women in the sewing group. Mary shared with the women what we would be doing and then we sat with them to help some. I do remember thinking at this point just how HOT it was in the school. Sweat dripping from our bodies! Gross....and yet, so refreshing! The sweat helped to cool us as we sat there with the precious women. The teachers in the school were also very kind to be sure that there were chairs by the two fans in the room so we could sit by the fans when needed to cool off some! While the women were working on sewing, a man came into the village to do a puppet show. It was fun to watch the crowd gather and how they reacted. We couldn't understand a word of the story (obviously!) but we knew he was telling the story of a wedding. It was fun to be able to get some pictures of the village and the people in the village at this time. And the people in the village who had gathered were very kind to make sure no one got in our way of seeing it!! Once the sewing class was over, we began to set up for our first medical clinic. Rudra kept referring to Bill and I as doctors. We both corrected him several times before he explained that the people in the village saw us as doctors. Later A. explained to me that with my nursing degree, I am almost as educated as a doctor in India. He said that nurses are expected to do all the grunt work (what a CNA does in the states). Cool! :) We saw patients for 3 hours I believe. This clinic was all pediatrics! I was right at home! I think we saw 60 patients! Meta was my interpreter and she was amazing! Also, another American nurse came to help out. She was a valuable assest as Christy and Mary learned to run a "pharmacy"! We gave alot of vitamins and deworming medication. Then we were all tired and it was time to head back. A. ordered pizzas for us as we were on our way back to the guest house. When we arrived, the pizza was there and we ate and headed to our rooms for air conditioning and showers! Ahhh...I will never take AC or a shower for granted again!
I went to bed that night with a full heart!
Up for Tuesday - Sleeping in for the mornings, going to an Indian market for shopping, and then to a Chinese resaurant for lunch. After that, helping with another sewing class and then another clinic - this time adults.
(I was going to try to insert some pictures, but the internet isn't cooperating!)
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