After over five days of the wifi at the volunteer house being down, Shaelagh and I finally managed to get the internet to work via ethernet! Woohoo, go us! So I figured I would use this opportunity to post a quick update along with some photos Shaelagh has taken. First for a quick recap of this weekend... Saturday was Shaelagh's 21st birthday! Turning 21 doesn't quite hold the same significance in India as in the US so we celebrated with a hike to Suicide Point (where I hiked the first weekend I was here) and then a trip to town for wifi and birthday desserts! Shaelagh took some awesome panaromas on our hike that really capture the beauty of the hills a lot better than a single picture. Prepare to be blown away...
Absolutely breathtaking!
Mountain selfies, because why not?
As I mentioned in my last post, we were asked numerous times for pictures this weekend. After dealing with a lot of whistling and hollering out of the windows of cars and buses filled with male Indian tourists this morning, we decided we much prefer when people actually stop to talk to us and then politely ask for a picture. Blending into the crowd does have its benefits.
Posing for a picture with some fans.
After walking at least 10 miles on Saturday, we woke up feeling pretty tired on Sunday. We headed into town to get wifi again. We had planned to walk around the walk but ended up bailing since we were exhausted. We headed home and then went for lunch at our favorite spot down the street, which we dubbed the "Omelet Place" because of their delicious onion omelets we always get as a side to our rice. We then headed to a community-wide meeting of the Women's Self Help groups that I am working with for my Women's Health Program. They women were all so welcoming and it was awesome to see them all come together. They even welcomed us as special guests by giving us bouquets of wildflowers. Arun talked to the women about the program. Most of them don't know english so I didn't think I would be talking, but next thing I know Seline (community leader of the SHGs and FIMRC nurse) is asking me if I want to talk. I decided to go for it (with Arun translating) and briefly introduced myself, thanked the women for their hospitality and told them I was excited to get the Women's Health Program rolling. It was a pretty cool experience to get to talk to the women even though there is a language barrier.
Now for some more pictures...
The view from Pasam.
Panaroma of the double rainbow!
Enjoying the PB and chocolate chapatti "crepes".
A picture from Nathanael Creche.
I hope you enjoyed the updates and pictures!
Liz
Awesome pictures! Happy Birthday to Shaelagh.
ReplyDeletehello Lizzie -your blog and pics are awesome. I have enjoyed reading your blog and of course seeing the beautiful countyside, people, food, etc. I think it is so great that you are doing so much for these people who need so much. I looked up dalit, and it means untouchable, right? If so, does that mean all the people that come to the clinic are untouchables? Have the class prejudices started to erode in India much? I know that they now have some representation in the Indian legislature, but I would imagine these culturally ingrained prejudices would take time to change. I also saw that their was a church on one picture you pointed out, is it is Catholic church. Do you have a chance to go to mass there? Is there any Catholic or Christian community in the area? I imagine it is almost all Hindu. I do recall in Mombasa there is an ancient Catholic community that tradition says was founded by the Apostle Thomas. That is a long way from Jerusalem. Does the clinic have an denominational connection? What is the connection to ND?
ReplyDeleteWell, enough with the questions. I am so proud of you Lizzie for this work you are doing. I would have written earlier but it took your IT challenged uncle, me, quite a while to figure it out.
Much Love, Uncle Peter
Hi Uncle Peter!
DeleteI am glad you are enjoying my blog! Dalit does mean untouchables, but it really just refers to the lowest class and the poorest people. The clinic serves the outskirts of town so most of the patients are pretty poor but some of them do have decent income (by local standards). The creches admit children based on home visits to determine which children come from the poorest families and are most in need. The traditional class of untouchables doesn't completely correlate. The class prejudice has faded a lot e.g. now the caste system is really just used for arranged marriages. Arranged marriages and dowry are still very prevalent. I am not sure what denomination the church is, however, there is actually a large christian population here. Kodaikanal was actually founded by Christian missionaries. I haven't been able to go to mass. I believe there is a Catholic church somewhere in the area but our house is further from town than I expected so I don't think it is in walking distance. A nurse that works in the clinic goes to church and I thought about going with her but I am not sure what her denomination is and mass would be in Tamil. FIMRC and its clinic does not have a denominational connection but one of the hospitals we work with, Pasam Trust, has Christian ties and the creches have Christian ties as well. I applied for the internship and an associated grant through Notre Dame. ND acted as a liaison in the application process but there aren't any direct ties between ND and FIMRC.
I think I covered all your questions but feel free to ask more!
Love,
Liz