Rain is a Good Thing

I may be spending the summer in India, but that doesn't mean my love for country music in summer has changed. As a wise man, namely country singer Luke Bryan, once said, "Rain is a good thing". Most times I would be hesitant to agree but when the community you are living in is suffering from a severe water shortage and rainbows are involved it is hard to argue otherwise! This morning was beautiful and sunny but by lunch time is was cold and rainy. We spent the day at Pasam where I got to observe two cyst removal surgeries and help with some ophthalmology cases. After waiting a long time for our driver to show up because he was delayed by the heavy rain, we headed home. No more travel via motorcycle because the other intern, Shaelagh, arrived yesterday! On the way home we pulled over for a prime photo op...

 

Why, yes that is a double rainbow!

 

The rainbows were quite the sight to see as they reached across the green hillside. In other interesting news, as we were walking around town after lunch we passed a procession for a Hindu festival. The women in the parade were all carrying some sort of pot or vase with flowers growing out of it. At the end of the procession was a shrine to a Hindu god made mostly out of flowers. I wish I could actually tell you what the festival was for but it seems there is another festival every few days and I have not been able to get a good explanation of the meaning of any of them so far.

The festival procession.

The crèches opened back up this week and we will finally be visiting them next week! I'm excited to get to work with the little kids. I'm going through withdrawal from my swim coaching days! As I mentioned in my last post, I submitted my project proposal yesterday and am waiting for feedback from the FIMRC headquarters. In a slight plot twist, my project is actually on starting a women's health group in partnership with the local women's self help groups that teach women about micro finance. Shaelagh is going to be taking on the after school program I talked about earlier. I am excited about the potential this project holds and am hoping things get rolling soon!

Liz