Living Solo and a Look at Things to Come

Sunday marked the departure of the four other volunteers who I had been living with for the past week. I have to admit I was a little jealous they were headed home. Although the volunteer house is definitely a lot quieter now, being the sole volunteer left meant I got my pick of beds. I was quick to move to the only double bed in the volunteer house!

My new digs!

 Being the only volunteer here also means we no longer need to be picked up and driven to work by Mubarak. Instead, I get to hop on the back of Arun's motorbike! This is also the first time I've ridden a motorcycle. It is a fun way to get to work and enjoy the scenery, however, the traffic in Kodaikanal is hectic so my first ride was a little nerve-wracking. I was definitely glad to have a sturdy helmet unlike most of the locals who forgo helmets! I took a video of part of my ride to work this morning but I'm not sure how to add a video to a post. Instead you get this gem:

Rocking the motorcycle helmet.

We headed to Pasam for the day. I first headed up to Dr. Mascarenhas' office to observe some general consultations. We had a little bit of a late arrival to Pasam due to a flat tire, so 11:00 tea time came quickly and I headed downstairs to join the rest of the staff. Today's tea was complemented by some delicious homemade chocolates (chocolates are one of the specialities Kodaikanal is known for). After tea, I headed into the dressings room to assist one of my favorite nurses Sangeeta with a fresh dressing for the epileptic woman (can't remember if I mentioned her before). After we finished up the dressing, Sangeeta told me that was the last dressing for the morning but it was clear she didn't want me to leave! I decided to hang out with her for a while and helped her make some medicine covers from old newspapers. You basically tear up newspaper into 16ths and then cut, fold and paste the rectangles into little envelopes that will slide over strips of pills. Sangeeta kept talking out the windows to the nurses passing by below telling them that she had a friend (aka me) hanging out with her. I told her I was 19 which she thought was pretty young but she is only 23 so we are actually pretty close in age.

Arts and crafts Pasam style.

After hitting up a nearby lunch joint with Arun, we returned to Pasam and I observed Dr. N's cases for the afternoon. He saw 15 cases including multiple instances of worms, fungal infections and a 20 year old girl with gestational diabetes. It's a little scary to think I am almost the same age as her! We then headed back to the volunteer house for the night.

As a FIMRC ambassador, I am responsible for planning and implementing a project during my internship. I have to submit a proposal to the FIMRC headquarters in a week so I started brainstorming today. I think I am going to work on starting up an after school program at the creches (daycare like programs for children ages 2-5) for older children who have graduated the creches and are in grades 4th-6th. According to Arun, these kids already can come to the creches in the afternoons but there is no structured program in place. I am hoping to implement a program that combines health education and fun activities especially those that give the kids a chance to get in some exercise! The creches are closed in the month of May because that is the main summer vacation month for schools in India so I haven't been able to visit any of the creches yet. However, starting in June we will be visting the three creches we partner with once a week. In other things to look forward to, another ambassador, named Shaelagh, is coming June 3rd and staying for 8 weeks. Two volunteers are also coming from June 8th to June 22nd. It will be nice to have so more company soon, especially now that I have secured prime sleeping location!

Also, our maid just told me I need to learn Tamil (the local language) so I going to try and see what I can pick up over the next couple weeks.

குட்பை 

Liz

(goodbye in tamil, spelled phonetically kutpai)