Ok, so I have been really bad at writing here the last couple weeks. Soooo, this is going to be fairly long I think. Things have been super busy. I spent the last couple weeks changing dressing to a badly burned bum every morning (cutting dead, burned skin off of someone's burned arse first thing in the morning is not the most appealing thing to do first thing in the morning... trust me), seeing kids for numerous aches, pains, colds, cuts, boils, and of course the odd rat bight. One of the girls came into see me with a "sore head", so before I suggested taking the hairclip out of her hair which was right where she said her head was hurting, I decided to take a look. So, I start feeling her head and realize it has lumps all over it, decide should probably put some gloves on before I look further, then take a closer look at the "lumps" and her hair.... so she has head lice (which isn't unusual) but she had been scratching her head and the scratches got infected. She had scabby, puss oozing sores all over her head. So much so that her hair was caked to her head and smelled really badly :( Head lice shampoo and antibiotics and hopefully her head starts to heal!
On Thursday, Liz and I jumped on the train at 7:30am and headed out to Nallasopara (the second school). It is about an hourish train ride from Bandra (where we are in Mumbai) then a rickshaw ride and a long walk down to the end of a lane to the school! They have just built a new school in Nallasopara in June with separate classrooms all with doors, a huge office, and fenced in school yard where they are planting trees and hoping to start a garden! It was great to see the school and the kids there. We spent half a day there then headed back to Mumbai to go look for dental supplies..... looking for anything in India when you don't know exactly where it is, is always a mission! The first place we looked for, nobody had a clue where it was. We finally found a place sorted out dental equipment and then realized we were both really hungry. The only place we could find was a semi-sketchy "family restaurant" with A/C. Probably the dingiest place EVER and the A/C consisted of 2 fans blowing. Our waiter was incredibly excited (I think doesn't see many white people, let alone women!) to see us and kept going on and on in hindi smiling and laughing (halfway through eating, when he was walking back and forth talking to himself, we decided he was high) and talking about krishna (the only phrase we could make out)! Anyhow, somehow we did not end up deathly ill from eating there and the food was good!
Friday was my last day at the school, and Aarti and one of her brother's showed up!! We had seen them on the street with there parents for the past couple weeks, but their parents weren't bringing them to school. On Wednesday her mom showed up and Tania gave her a pretty good lecture about her not bringing her kids in to the school so they could eat and get free medical care ect. Apparently it worked. I weighed Aarti and at 16 months old, she is now 5.5kg (the wt of an 8mo old baby). In the last year she has gained just over 2kg :( Somehow she is still alert and attentive. She can't walk or crawl. She does manage to sit up on her own, but not well. She is very much a fighter. Hopefully they will keep coming to the school and she will gain some weight.
The other high point Friday was Vikas finally (with only one reminder) went through and did his weekly checklist, including going through and counting all of the medications and listing them all!! Also, he took a couple kids for follow-up appointments without me saying anything to him!!!!! You have no idea how many frustrating days I have had in the past month, constantly reminding and prompting him to do things! It was such a relief to see that things may really have sunk in!!!
Sunday night (well, early, early, as in 3am early Monday) I jumped on a plane for a 9hr flight to the UK! My flight got in at 7am and was met at the airport by Sascha (who had gotten up at 4am to drive 2 hours from Belper, through London traffic to pick me up!) and we promptly decided to make a road trip/detour to Oxford for lunch and a visit before heading back to Belper. Now I am trying to adjust to the cold, have developed a bit of a cold (which started at the airport in Mumbai), slightly jet lagged, and catching up with great friends!!
On Thursday, Liz and I jumped on the train at 7:30am and headed out to Nallasopara (the second school). It is about an hourish train ride from Bandra (where we are in Mumbai) then a rickshaw ride and a long walk down to the end of a lane to the school! They have just built a new school in Nallasopara in June with separate classrooms all with doors, a huge office, and fenced in school yard where they are planting trees and hoping to start a garden! It was great to see the school and the kids there. We spent half a day there then headed back to Mumbai to go look for dental supplies..... looking for anything in India when you don't know exactly where it is, is always a mission! The first place we looked for, nobody had a clue where it was. We finally found a place sorted out dental equipment and then realized we were both really hungry. The only place we could find was a semi-sketchy "family restaurant" with A/C. Probably the dingiest place EVER and the A/C consisted of 2 fans blowing. Our waiter was incredibly excited (I think doesn't see many white people, let alone women!) to see us and kept going on and on in hindi smiling and laughing (halfway through eating, when he was walking back and forth talking to himself, we decided he was high) and talking about krishna (the only phrase we could make out)! Anyhow, somehow we did not end up deathly ill from eating there and the food was good!
Friday was my last day at the school, and Aarti and one of her brother's showed up!! We had seen them on the street with there parents for the past couple weeks, but their parents weren't bringing them to school. On Wednesday her mom showed up and Tania gave her a pretty good lecture about her not bringing her kids in to the school so they could eat and get free medical care ect. Apparently it worked. I weighed Aarti and at 16 months old, she is now 5.5kg (the wt of an 8mo old baby). In the last year she has gained just over 2kg :( Somehow she is still alert and attentive. She can't walk or crawl. She does manage to sit up on her own, but not well. She is very much a fighter. Hopefully they will keep coming to the school and she will gain some weight.
The other high point Friday was Vikas finally (with only one reminder) went through and did his weekly checklist, including going through and counting all of the medications and listing them all!! Also, he took a couple kids for follow-up appointments without me saying anything to him!!!!! You have no idea how many frustrating days I have had in the past month, constantly reminding and prompting him to do things! It was such a relief to see that things may really have sunk in!!!
Sunday night (well, early, early, as in 3am early Monday) I jumped on a plane for a 9hr flight to the UK! My flight got in at 7am and was met at the airport by Sascha (who had gotten up at 4am to drive 2 hours from Belper, through London traffic to pick me up!) and we promptly decided to make a road trip/detour to Oxford for lunch and a visit before heading back to Belper. Now I am trying to adjust to the cold, have developed a bit of a cold (which started at the airport in Mumbai), slightly jet lagged, and catching up with great friends!!
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