"Everything worth anything is both terrifying and beautiful." That was Kim's morning thought for the day, and I think its completely true. We all have to sacrifice and step beyond our boundaries in order to discover something more. I hope I can fulfill this during my time here in India, and remember how fortunate I am to be here and serving others.
We have a saying here at RSO: "TII" or "This Is India". Basically it means that you just have to go with the flow, since anything can happen at last minute's notice! With that thought, today we started out a bit later than planned (since van was being fixed!) We actually ended up taking the Jeep and squished all 10 of us into it! I was amazed the guys could fit in the back haha. We left the hostel at 9:45 a.m. and headed to a birthing clinic, which is a part of a larger public healthcare clinic. When we arrived we were asked to remove our shoes (eek! in a hospital?) and realized everyone was barefoot! We walked around the clinic and talked to the mothers and their new babies. We also got to see a birthing room, which is very spartan and different from those in the US. One of the doctors came to speak with us and told us a bit about the clinic - apparently it is the equivalent of a Medicare clinic, as all of the healthcare and medications are free for the mothers. The mothers on average stay for 72 hours after they have given birth and are also given free food. However, all of the mothers stay in a large room filled with rows of beds. There is absolutely no privacy there! I was so surprised there were also no incubators or cribs for the babies - they simply were placed on small towels and slept on the twin beds with their mothers in one large room. We learned that there is one public healthcare clinic for every 30,000 people across India. Afterwards we left to return to RSO and stopped by the "Junction" to get ice cream and look at jewelry.
In the afternoon we relaxed for a bit in the recreation room and listened to music, played with Eric's iPad (with great results!) and then Lisa, Eric, Tyler, Nathan and I ran the clinic from 4:30 to 6 p.m. We saw only 2 patients during clinic duties, so the rest of the time we played medical trivia which was really informative and hilarious. We then headed to dinner. Our dinner was delicious - we had iddly with coconut and tomato chutney. Hands down my favorite dinner at RSO so far! After dinner, Lisa, Eric, and I put on "Spy Kids 2" for family time. Unfortunately the little ones didn't get to see much becuase their bed time is at 8 p.m. (and family time starts at 7:30 p.m.) but I sang the little ones 5 songs and was thrilled that they were asleep by the third one! Some of them were even lightly snoring! According to Derek (our summer coordinator) they made him sing them to sleep when we were overnighting at Andrah Pradesh! I didn't realize how much I missed seeing my boys. They are such sweet and generous kids, and I'm so lucky to get to be their "big sister!" (Gandhymati, our house-mother who takes care of all 18 of them, told them they should call us "sister" instead of "aunty" because we're close to them in age.) Fine by me! Gandhymati also cut us fresh mango which was delicious. Tomorrow we will give dental screenings to the kids!
We have a saying here at RSO: "TII" or "This Is India". Basically it means that you just have to go with the flow, since anything can happen at last minute's notice! With that thought, today we started out a bit later than planned (since van was being fixed!) We actually ended up taking the Jeep and squished all 10 of us into it! I was amazed the guys could fit in the back haha. We left the hostel at 9:45 a.m. and headed to a birthing clinic, which is a part of a larger public healthcare clinic. When we arrived we were asked to remove our shoes (eek! in a hospital?) and realized everyone was barefoot! We walked around the clinic and talked to the mothers and their new babies. We also got to see a birthing room, which is very spartan and different from those in the US. One of the doctors came to speak with us and told us a bit about the clinic - apparently it is the equivalent of a Medicare clinic, as all of the healthcare and medications are free for the mothers. The mothers on average stay for 72 hours after they have given birth and are also given free food. However, all of the mothers stay in a large room filled with rows of beds. There is absolutely no privacy there! I was so surprised there were also no incubators or cribs for the babies - they simply were placed on small towels and slept on the twin beds with their mothers in one large room. We learned that there is one public healthcare clinic for every 30,000 people across India. Afterwards we left to return to RSO and stopped by the "Junction" to get ice cream and look at jewelry.
In the afternoon we relaxed for a bit in the recreation room and listened to music, played with Eric's iPad (with great results!) and then Lisa, Eric, Tyler, Nathan and I ran the clinic from 4:30 to 6 p.m. We saw only 2 patients during clinic duties, so the rest of the time we played medical trivia which was really informative and hilarious. We then headed to dinner. Our dinner was delicious - we had iddly with coconut and tomato chutney. Hands down my favorite dinner at RSO so far! After dinner, Lisa, Eric, and I put on "Spy Kids 2" for family time. Unfortunately the little ones didn't get to see much becuase their bed time is at 8 p.m. (and family time starts at 7:30 p.m.) but I sang the little ones 5 songs and was thrilled that they were asleep by the third one! Some of them were even lightly snoring! According to Derek (our summer coordinator) they made him sing them to sleep when we were overnighting at Andrah Pradesh! I didn't realize how much I missed seeing my boys. They are such sweet and generous kids, and I'm so lucky to get to be their "big sister!" (Gandhymati, our house-mother who takes care of all 18 of them, told them they should call us "sister" instead of "aunty" because we're close to them in age.) Fine by me! Gandhymati also cut us fresh mango which was delicious. Tomorrow we will give dental screenings to the kids!
One of the nurses with a newborn!
The birthing room - pretty sure it was the only one in the clinic!
Natu, a newborn baby girl! (Just born 1 day ago)
The birthing clinic
Lisa and I during our clinic shift from 4:30-6 p.m.
She was checking to make sure I had a heartbeat.
The boys watching "Spy Kids 2"
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