All day today there has been music playing over a loud speaker in the village of Mungeli. It filled the background of our conversations as we made rounds with Dr. Anil Henry and toured the hospital. Dr. Henry tells us it there’s a celebration or festival going on. This is the thing to do in India when someone has something to celebrate. “The louder you are the more important you are,” he says.
The music is mixed with the sounds of construction workers pounding away. There is construction going on everywhere. There will be another floor for the Rambo school, another boarding house for the the nursing students and a new building so they can replace the water tower that fell down. A new cancer treatment center that will be opening any day.
But I think the best sounds I heard today were during morning chapel – dozens of nursing students singing praise songs in Hindi and English. Two girls in front played percussion as all the girls clapped their hands.
Chris heads up quality control and community health manger here and is making sure we keep busy. We’ve each been assigned two student nurses to help us out while we’re here.
After a delicious breakfast made by Tripti at the guest house, we hopped on a bus with the nursing students to visit a nearby village. We walked with the girls as they went door to door to ask the residents if anyone was in need of medical care. A temporary clinic was sent up to treat the sick. Carla, Nancy, and Sandy all remarked how similar the clinic was to the ones they worked in on their missions to Nicaragua.
The 3rd and 2nd year students showed the 1st year students what to do as we walked through the village. Gather information about health issues and living conditions, but the most important thing is to talk with the families and get to know them. Betsy asked the girls as they set out, “are you nervous?” Some admitted that they were. Many of the houses are constructed with a kind of courtyard in the middle. Some of the houses are painted bright colors, like yellow and orange. Clothing is laid out to dry on the rooftops. Cattle are all over the village, often just outside the homes. Small calfs might can even be found inside the residence.
For the rest of the day many of us hope to meet up with the people we working with next week. Hopefully we can visit the nurses again tonight and maybe squeeze in some shopping in town.
Louise
