Dear All,
The main thing this week was a couple of days spent in local poor villages doing basic medical screening. The children screened ( over 300) were a delight of course. And a variety of conditions were detected : conjunctivitis, TB, scabies, a damaged cornea which would have cost the girl her sight but will now get treated, a thyroid imbalance. A good many were malnourished and vitamins were given out.
It was a cheerful co-operative atmosphere. I had thought it may possibly be a sullen one. The children were with their parents. They are all sponosored children of World Vision who link with Kothara to do this. They had to be photo-ed too and stood deadly serious for this to happen. We sponsor a couple of childen with another charity and receive such photos of them. We had hoped they did not mind having to be photo-ed for our sake but these kids were OK.
The villages were an education. Cow dung houses with cow dung patios. Feels very nice underfoot. I'm going to apply to our Parish Council and the Diocesan Parsonage Board for a cow dung extension to our Rectory. Animals over the place as usual, oxen, goats, chickens, once a monkey on a chain picking the fleas off a dog's back. Low roofs of sheet corrugated metal covered with ceramic tiles of some sort. Then firewood on top, or drying hay, or cereals laid out to dry.Women in bright saris and jewels, amazingly clean and lovely like something out of Arabian Nights , slashes of colour in the otherwise drab squalor of it all. The men by contrast largely dirty sitting in groups on their haunches.
Tommorrow I preach in Chapel for the last time. In the evening we are being cozened out to Amravati for the graduation ceremnoy of some students from the Bible College there. We've spent a lot of time this week in a truck already and the invite is not from Kothara but a visiting cleric. Whatever, Monday sees away from here to Nagpur. Overnight there, then, Tuesday morning a flight to Delhi and linking up with the UK supporters coming out from London for a 10 day tour. Many thanks for previous prayers for our travel. we would appreciate them again, that we connect ok with the UK supporters who land at a different terminalNo promises we can get on line after this point. So - this may be good bye. We will try internet cafes and such but time may be tight. Will do our best.
Either way, thanks for all the interest and support and prayers. Glad we have done this blog. Both for you and us.
Friday, 12 March 2010
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
At the top is a photo of all the hand surgery patients on the hospital steps prior to discharge. They return for physio in 3 weeks.
We did warn you! Here's us gowned up for the re-constructive surgery. The other two guys are Drs Kumar (the big expert, on the left) and Dr Steven Massey of Kothara here who is not a surgeon but helped at the "camp" with all the administration. We went out with him today around some local villages screening for medical needs, together with World Vision workers. The villages were fascinating, the photos show a classroom andone of ourteam puttingup an eye testing notice like an optician's here but only using one letter.. We have lots of photos of the lovely children but we aren't putting them on the web. Thanks for many kind responses re Kate and Omar, our daughter and son in law. It's all tailing off now thankfully we assume after the arrest and charging of a man for the offence.
We did warn you! Here's us gowned up for the re-constructive surgery. The other two guys are Drs Kumar (the big expert, on the left) and Dr Steven Massey of Kothara here who is not a surgeon but helped at the "camp" with all the administration. We went out with him today around some local villages screening for medical needs, together with World Vision workers. The villages were fascinating, the photos show a classroom andone of ourteam puttingup an eye testing notice like an optician's here but only using one letter.. We have lots of photos of the lovely children but we aren't putting them on the web. Thanks for many kind responses re Kate and Omar, our daughter and son in law. It's all tailing off now thankfully we assume after the arrest and charging of a man for the offence.Sunday, 7 March 2010
March 4-7th
Dear All,
A quick post whilst we have internet. Connection has been very iffy for some days. First, thanks for a series of comments. Our recent e-mail has obviously stung you into action. We are very grateful and will reply to particular queries raised by e-mail.
Since our last posting we have been in the operating theatres again watching reconstructive surgery done. This a means of re-connecting people's fingers, feet and eyelids with live tendons where their muscles have been paralysed by the effects of leprosy. We saw the world's most practised and profficient reconstructive surgeon, Dr Vijaya Kumar, in action. He is much decorated for his work. He was also a very nice chatty man, cheerfully talking to us whilst cutting and sewing away merrily. He set up some good photos of it all for us. We are not puttingthemon the blog -they are not for the squeamish. We will however post some unflattering ones of us in our surgical gowns etc (not for the squeamish either) and one of all the post-operative patients , some 70 of them, in a group photo with their plaster pots on. The whole place has been flooded with folks going about with arms, feet, elbows (sometimes the nerves in the elbow are attacked) and faces swathed inpot and/or bandaging.
Dr V proved to love cooking after his 12 hour stint in surgery and cooked us up fantastic dishes here in the guest house on two consecutive nights.It was all very convivial ; we were seven around the table and in contrast to the two of us in "hill station" mode.
I preached in Chapel yesterday to a full house congregation swelled by the patients. It was a moving address in that most of them had moved out before I'd finished. Some before I'd really got started. Perhaps it's that it was in English untranslated. Or that they are Hindus. Or that they have innate good sense. I'm to do a Lent Prayer Meeting on Wednesday. I bet they can't wait.
The work for this week otherwise will be to try and get some of the long-stay patients to tell us their stories and to lead a couple of workshops for the opthalmic students. Snake-hipped young ment these, aged about 20/21, immaculate in white uniforms and black belts. On Wednesday and maybe Friday too we will go out with a team led by Dr Steven Massey from here into some local villages. We are not entirely sure just what to do. We think it is screening and education work, encouraging people to disclose and seek treatment if they suspect they may have the disease. It will be good to get off campus agin and to taste local village life.
Advance warning that we may be nearing the end of the blogging season. A week today we leave Kothara to go to Delhi and there join a group of TLM UK supporters on a 10 day tour of TLM India installations in the Delhi triangle area, plus a bit of tourism. We shall be seeing the Taj Mahal for instance. We are looking forward to it. We can't guarantee internet access and suspect the days may involve a lot of early starts and travelling. However we will do our best.
And finally..... we suddenly realised this morning that Elizabeth's back has given no trouble at all for three weeks. So, we praise God and thank you for your prayers. Funny how one takes good things for granted. We'll try and post the photos above mentioned this afternoon. Leeds United continue to slide in League One. One bloggee refused point blank to pray for them -what kind of support is that?
A quick post whilst we have internet. Connection has been very iffy for some days. First, thanks for a series of comments. Our recent e-mail has obviously stung you into action. We are very grateful and will reply to particular queries raised by e-mail.
Since our last posting we have been in the operating theatres again watching reconstructive surgery done. This a means of re-connecting people's fingers, feet and eyelids with live tendons where their muscles have been paralysed by the effects of leprosy. We saw the world's most practised and profficient reconstructive surgeon, Dr Vijaya Kumar, in action. He is much decorated for his work. He was also a very nice chatty man, cheerfully talking to us whilst cutting and sewing away merrily. He set up some good photos of it all for us. We are not puttingthemon the blog -they are not for the squeamish. We will however post some unflattering ones of us in our surgical gowns etc (not for the squeamish either) and one of all the post-operative patients , some 70 of them, in a group photo with their plaster pots on. The whole place has been flooded with folks going about with arms, feet, elbows (sometimes the nerves in the elbow are attacked) and faces swathed inpot and/or bandaging.
Dr V proved to love cooking after his 12 hour stint in surgery and cooked us up fantastic dishes here in the guest house on two consecutive nights.It was all very convivial ; we were seven around the table and in contrast to the two of us in "hill station" mode.
I preached in Chapel yesterday to a full house congregation swelled by the patients. It was a moving address in that most of them had moved out before I'd finished. Some before I'd really got started. Perhaps it's that it was in English untranslated. Or that they are Hindus. Or that they have innate good sense. I'm to do a Lent Prayer Meeting on Wednesday. I bet they can't wait.
The work for this week otherwise will be to try and get some of the long-stay patients to tell us their stories and to lead a couple of workshops for the opthalmic students. Snake-hipped young ment these, aged about 20/21, immaculate in white uniforms and black belts. On Wednesday and maybe Friday too we will go out with a team led by Dr Steven Massey from here into some local villages. We are not entirely sure just what to do. We think it is screening and education work, encouraging people to disclose and seek treatment if they suspect they may have the disease. It will be good to get off campus agin and to taste local village life.
Advance warning that we may be nearing the end of the blogging season. A week today we leave Kothara to go to Delhi and there join a group of TLM UK supporters on a 10 day tour of TLM India installations in the Delhi triangle area, plus a bit of tourism. We shall be seeing the Taj Mahal for instance. We are looking forward to it. We can't guarantee internet access and suspect the days may involve a lot of early starts and travelling. However we will do our best.
And finally..... we suddenly realised this morning that Elizabeth's back has given no trouble at all for three weeks. So, we praise God and thank you for your prayers. Funny how one takes good things for granted. We'll try and post the photos above mentioned this afternoon. Leeds United continue to slide in League One. One bloggee refused point blank to pray for them -what kind of support is that?
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Wed 3rd March, 2010
Today is a day of preparation. The 70 or more new arrivals are being assessed for the surgery "camp" which begins tomorrow. It is essential that their ulcerations are free of all infection if the reconstructive surgery can go ahead so patients are highly motivated to clean their hands and feet thoroughly. Here is a young man cleaning what is actually quite a deep ulceration on his heel with a piece of roof tiling. We are privileged tomorrow to gown up and be observers of the operations. They will include work on the tendons of hands to rescue the facility to grasp, and to reduce 'clawing'; work on the tendons in the foot to avoid foot-drop and consequent lameness ; and work on patients' eyes to restore the ability to blink. Leprosy attacks the nerves which control this and sufferers, unable to fully cover the eye with each blink become prey to eye ulceration and infection and ultimately blindness. Apparently it's all hands on deck as the camp only comes around about quarterly. We were in physio this morning watching them assess people to see if surgery is actually required. There was a young boy who had been on medication for a year whose hands have not clawed and whose overall condition is such that he will not need sugery, just ongoing medication and diligent care of himself. We couldn't tell if he and his father were pleased or not with this news.
Pix of the Conference
On the left is a pic of the canteen where we ate lunch each day. The cook was really good and produced great meals including two barbeques in the evening. There was a TV in the corner of the canteen and Andrew watched Tendulkar collecting runs one day. We never quite mastered the art of eating with our fingers.Below is a snap of the classroom scene as Rev Job is preparing to lecture. All was done much more formally than in the UK. On the right is the official photo of the conference with delegates, taken just before we left to return to Kothara.
As promised, some pix of our recent trip to Allahabad for the Conference. On this first post three of the city itself. On the top right is a snap taken through the windscreen of our jeep. It shows something of the congested chaos of the traffic. Unlike the M25 though, it all keeps moving - all of it, all of the time. And somehow nobody seems to get killed. Rule of the road seems to be - keep going where you want to go, no matter who is in the way and they'll get out of the way.
This second one is of the Ganges bank and a little of the huge open space which accomodates 30 M people every 12 years. Next one 2013 if you fancy coming. Long queue for the toilets at times. You can just see some of the many boats which ply a trade taking worshippers out and the rubbish at the fringe of the waters.The light shirted figure at the left is Immanuel, a TLM counsellor from the far South of India, it took him nearly three days to arrive here. Next to him is Rev Job, with whom we co-facilitated.
This one is of Nehru's House, as mentioned in the earlier post.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Back from the Conference (2.3.10)
Hello everybody,
As we suspected there was no easy internet access all last week to keep up the blog.
We travelled to Naini a week ago for the conference and back again yesterday. Long and tiring journeys. I'll not be so quick to slag off Britsh Rail next time. We had hours of delays, which is we understand very much the norm hereabouts, and anyway the journey was twelve hours each way. Once on board all that time, we got to reading. I read "The Island" by Victoria Hislop (atrocious but for its leprosy content) and "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson (sublime).
We were very kindly received in Naini. It is a suburb of Allahabad, popn 1 million, on the banks of the Ganges. During a break in the conference we were taken to see Pundit Nehru's house. He was India first Prime Minister, father of Mrs Ghandi, a later PM and grandfather of her sons, Rajid and Sanjay both of whom were also PM for short times. Quite a dynasty. Indira Ghandi and Sanjay were both assassinated in office. Rajid died in an aircraft accident. So lots of tragedy too. Sonia Ghandi, Sanjay's widow, is the Chairman of the ruling Congress Party at the moment. She is Italian and had played no part in India's volatile politics prior to being widowed. She is proving to be a wise and acceptable ruler according to those we met at Naini. She is not herself PM nor holds any other office but is the power behind it all. The house was well worth seeing. Three tiers of balconies around a spacious villa. There is a square projecting bit of balcony on the first floor from which Mahatma Ghandi would address mass crowds from time to time, a thing quite easy to imagine when you stand on the spot. Ghandi and Nehru were political allies and much of the planning between them to agitate for Independence was done from this house. It all made me want to brush up on the fight for Indian independence and the tragedy of partition betwen India and Pakistan in 1947 onwards.
We also saw the Ganges. Allahabad is home to a confluence between the Ganges and another river, the Yamuna. This site is sacred to Hindus and every year there is a "mela" or religious gathering to which 2/3 million will come at a certain time of the year deemed to be particularly auspicious in order to bathe in the sacred waters for purification. Every 12 years there is a special one attracting, wait for it, 30 million or so worshippers. I must say the area beside the banks is huge, but 30 million I simply cannot imagine. There was an old sadhu or holy man down there. Some live there permanently, I think. He was just in a loincloth , had a dirty bag of kit beside him, a large white beard and was speaking into a mobile phone.
The conference itself was very worthwhile, we thought. Thanks for praying for us. There were 13 delegates who were all but one of the TLM Counsellors in India. Some had travelled just short of three days to get there. We worked with Karen Warne a NZ counsellor and wife to TLM's International Director and with Rev Job Jayaraj, from the Church of North India. Both were very impressive and a pleaure to work with. The counsellors themselves are humbling people to meet. They work under difficult conditions with an absolute passion. They described to us some of the cases emotional suffering as a result of the terrible stigma attached to leprosy. It's awful to hear and they live with it. Let alone the patients of course.They seemed to appreciate our stuff which was basic enough, but most of them have not had specific clinical training in counselling. We ended feeling the whole encounter was one to treasure. We hope to write it up more fully over time.
We are now back at the ranch in Kothara. This week we will be concentrating on the reconstructive surgery offered here periodically. Two surgeons are due to arrive tomorrow to strengthen the staff and some seventy or more patients have arrived in readiness. We were on the ward round this morning when they were being checked over. It was sad indeed to see mostly fit youngish men in need of the surgery and three young boys, about ten years old. According to the WHO and the Indian Government leprosy has been officially eliminated in India since 2005. Well, they should have been in that ward round this morning, is all I can say.
That's it for today. Thanks again for your prayers. We would value further ones for us observing these operations and learning about the surrounding and vital supportive therapy, largely physio.
Hopefully, we can post some of our Naini photos next time.
As we suspected there was no easy internet access all last week to keep up the blog.
We travelled to Naini a week ago for the conference and back again yesterday. Long and tiring journeys. I'll not be so quick to slag off Britsh Rail next time. We had hours of delays, which is we understand very much the norm hereabouts, and anyway the journey was twelve hours each way. Once on board all that time, we got to reading. I read "The Island" by Victoria Hislop (atrocious but for its leprosy content) and "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson (sublime).
We were very kindly received in Naini. It is a suburb of Allahabad, popn 1 million, on the banks of the Ganges. During a break in the conference we were taken to see Pundit Nehru's house. He was India first Prime Minister, father of Mrs Ghandi, a later PM and grandfather of her sons, Rajid and Sanjay both of whom were also PM for short times. Quite a dynasty. Indira Ghandi and Sanjay were both assassinated in office. Rajid died in an aircraft accident. So lots of tragedy too. Sonia Ghandi, Sanjay's widow, is the Chairman of the ruling Congress Party at the moment. She is Italian and had played no part in India's volatile politics prior to being widowed. She is proving to be a wise and acceptable ruler according to those we met at Naini. She is not herself PM nor holds any other office but is the power behind it all. The house was well worth seeing. Three tiers of balconies around a spacious villa. There is a square projecting bit of balcony on the first floor from which Mahatma Ghandi would address mass crowds from time to time, a thing quite easy to imagine when you stand on the spot. Ghandi and Nehru were political allies and much of the planning between them to agitate for Independence was done from this house. It all made me want to brush up on the fight for Indian independence and the tragedy of partition betwen India and Pakistan in 1947 onwards.
We also saw the Ganges. Allahabad is home to a confluence between the Ganges and another river, the Yamuna. This site is sacred to Hindus and every year there is a "mela" or religious gathering to which 2/3 million will come at a certain time of the year deemed to be particularly auspicious in order to bathe in the sacred waters for purification. Every 12 years there is a special one attracting, wait for it, 30 million or so worshippers. I must say the area beside the banks is huge, but 30 million I simply cannot imagine. There was an old sadhu or holy man down there. Some live there permanently, I think. He was just in a loincloth , had a dirty bag of kit beside him, a large white beard and was speaking into a mobile phone.
The conference itself was very worthwhile, we thought. Thanks for praying for us. There were 13 delegates who were all but one of the TLM Counsellors in India. Some had travelled just short of three days to get there. We worked with Karen Warne a NZ counsellor and wife to TLM's International Director and with Rev Job Jayaraj, from the Church of North India. Both were very impressive and a pleaure to work with. The counsellors themselves are humbling people to meet. They work under difficult conditions with an absolute passion. They described to us some of the cases emotional suffering as a result of the terrible stigma attached to leprosy. It's awful to hear and they live with it. Let alone the patients of course.They seemed to appreciate our stuff which was basic enough, but most of them have not had specific clinical training in counselling. We ended feeling the whole encounter was one to treasure. We hope to write it up more fully over time.
We are now back at the ranch in Kothara. This week we will be concentrating on the reconstructive surgery offered here periodically. Two surgeons are due to arrive tomorrow to strengthen the staff and some seventy or more patients have arrived in readiness. We were on the ward round this morning when they were being checked over. It was sad indeed to see mostly fit youngish men in need of the surgery and three young boys, about ten years old. According to the WHO and the Indian Government leprosy has been officially eliminated in India since 2005. Well, they should have been in that ward round this morning, is all I can say.
That's it for today. Thanks again for your prayers. We would value further ones for us observing these operations and learning about the surrounding and vital supportive therapy, largely physio.
Hopefully, we can post some of our Naini photos next time.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Monday 22nd February, Visit to the School
These pictures are of the laboratory at Kothara School which we donated to from Kelbrook all those years ago. It was very moving to stand in it this morning. I 've no idea just what our money went towards. The laboratory is the only specialist room in the school. Otherwise it has 10 classrooms off a central square and a few offices and storerooms. Mr Chaudre, the Head, (in the picture) has been there since the late 80's but he has no memory of the lab being equipped. Anyway, there it is and, as the school as 350 pupils it should get some good use. It was a delight to see the children learning and we see them playing every day as their playground is on two sides of our Guest House.
Tomorrow we leave early for this conference, travelling all day, arriving into the night, most of it by train. It should be an experience. We would appreciate your prayers for it.It's the main thing we are contributing to whilst we are here and we would like to feel we have done some good, however small.This will be our last post, we imagine, for a week. We travel back all next Monday. We are not sure whether we can get on line, or will have time to blog even if we can, whilst we are away. Thanks again for the comments. And we will be in touch in a week's time.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Photos at last
At last! Some photos for you. The top right is of the new Outpatients Department openend in 2002. It sees a lot of action ,some 150-180 patients per day, Mon -Fri. This is where most of the professionals we have been meeting work most of the time, but not exclusively so.
The top left picture is of the Hospital's main gates off the road. The bullock cart speaks for itself. The litle black vehicle to the right is one of the pack-'em-in scooter type taxis which are all over. You see 12-15 people in one of them no trouble. We think they go by the name "tuck-tuck"
but htis may not be right. You wil se the schoolgirls i nthe foreground. They are puplis at Kothara School which we are to visit today. We'll make another post for that.
but htis may not be right. You wil se the schoolgirls i nthe foreground. They are puplis at Kothara School which we are to visit today. We'll make another post for that.
The third photo is of the young couple at the wedding reception of last Sunday week, as mentioned in the blog for then.
Sunday
hi everyone
Today has been a quiet day. Andrew preached in the morning service here and we went along to sunday school during the afternoon for 45 minutes. They use fuzzy felts just like St Giles and Plaxtol do, so we felt very much at home and understood the story even though it was in hindi. We could also join in the actions of the songs.
After church we were invited over to coffee with Dr Asha and Dr Steven and spent a pleasant time chatting about rural life in the UK and India. Out here the poor live in the country and the rich in cities, it seems as though this is often reversed in the UK. Because Kothara is in the middle of nowhere this is making it extremely difficult to recruit doctors to the 2 vacant posts, and they would be glad of prayers that suitable candidates with a vocation apply soon.
The wireless connection has not been working for most of the day so we have done numerous puzzles (thanks Coba) and even resorted to watching some Indian TV -A is currently watching Aston Villa v Burnley so you can see how desperate things are! Back to work tomorrow!
Today has been a quiet day. Andrew preached in the morning service here and we went along to sunday school during the afternoon for 45 minutes. They use fuzzy felts just like St Giles and Plaxtol do, so we felt very much at home and understood the story even though it was in hindi. We could also join in the actions of the songs.
After church we were invited over to coffee with Dr Asha and Dr Steven and spent a pleasant time chatting about rural life in the UK and India. Out here the poor live in the country and the rich in cities, it seems as though this is often reversed in the UK. Because Kothara is in the middle of nowhere this is making it extremely difficult to recruit doctors to the 2 vacant posts, and they would be glad of prayers that suitable candidates with a vocation apply soon.
The wireless connection has not been working for most of the day so we have done numerous puzzles (thanks Coba) and even resorted to watching some Indian TV -A is currently watching Aston Villa v Burnley so you can see how desperate things are! Back to work tomorrow!
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Saturday 20th February
Dear All,
Largely uneventful day today. More preparation for Naini next week and then just chilling out in our guest house. The great joy was of seeing Kate, Omar, Ben and Mikey on webcam whilst skyping this morning. We really must get fully fitted up with all the gear when we are home.
Advance warning : the blog will very likely need to stop from next Monday onwards for a week. We leave for the cousellors' conference at Naini, Alamabad, on the Tuesday. We will be very busy and don't know what intenet access we will have. We will do what we can, but no promises.
Best wishes, Andrew & Elizabeth
Largely uneventful day today. More preparation for Naini next week and then just chilling out in our guest house. The great joy was of seeing Kate, Omar, Ben and Mikey on webcam whilst skyping this morning. We really must get fully fitted up with all the gear when we are home.
Advance warning : the blog will very likely need to stop from next Monday onwards for a week. We leave for the cousellors' conference at Naini, Alamabad, on the Tuesday. We will be very busy and don't know what intenet access we will have. We will do what we can, but no promises.
Best wishes, Andrew & Elizabeth
Friday, 19 February 2010
Friday 19th February
Evening all.
Main thing today for us was doing our first seminar. This was for the nurses and was on basic counselling skills. We have done loads of such things before in our time so why we were so nervous is a mystery, but we were. It went off all right too. The nurses were fine, intelligent and co-operative. The nurses hold a key position as they are on the wards for long hours and often enough the patients will unburden to them. As one of them said today,
" Yes, they tell me when they are thinking of committing suicide."
Suicide has been selected as a topic for next week's conference, asked for by the counsellors themselves we understand, so it sounds to be a real problem. We had not heard much about it until arriving, not that we've picked up anything about it happening on site. It certainly must be shattering to realise you have this dreaded disease and it is no surprise that many must contemplate ending it all. So, if we assisted these nurses at all with some basic skills then, well and good.
The hot weather continues and we are glad of the cool in the guest house. We have now tried two indian breakfasts, poha which is fried curried rice and nuts, and patatas, which is curried mashed potato and is salty and had with chapatis. Walking round the campus we came across a teak plantation, planted by a former general secretary of TLM. Teak is grown all over the area and looks suprisingly wandy and not at all solid. Lots of trees are beginning to lose their leaves as the weather hots up, but thankfully it is still cool at night. We keep reading of the freezing temp in the UK and hope things improve for you soon
Bye for now
A & E
Main thing today for us was doing our first seminar. This was for the nurses and was on basic counselling skills. We have done loads of such things before in our time so why we were so nervous is a mystery, but we were. It went off all right too. The nurses were fine, intelligent and co-operative. The nurses hold a key position as they are on the wards for long hours and often enough the patients will unburden to them. As one of them said today,
" Yes, they tell me when they are thinking of committing suicide."
Suicide has been selected as a topic for next week's conference, asked for by the counsellors themselves we understand, so it sounds to be a real problem. We had not heard much about it until arriving, not that we've picked up anything about it happening on site. It certainly must be shattering to realise you have this dreaded disease and it is no surprise that many must contemplate ending it all. So, if we assisted these nurses at all with some basic skills then, well and good.
The hot weather continues and we are glad of the cool in the guest house. We have now tried two indian breakfasts, poha which is fried curried rice and nuts, and patatas, which is curried mashed potato and is salty and had with chapatis. Walking round the campus we came across a teak plantation, planted by a former general secretary of TLM. Teak is grown all over the area and looks suprisingly wandy and not at all solid. Lots of trees are beginning to lose their leaves as the weather hots up, but thankfully it is still cool at night. We keep reading of the freezing temp in the UK and hope things improve for you soon
Bye for now
A & E
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Thursday Feb 17th
Hi All,
Sorry to be late with this but we lost wi-fi last evening, something which happens a bit here we gather.
Life, here has settled into a routine somewhat. Chapel after breakfast at 8:00am. Then we have spent the mornings in preparation for this four-day conference at Allahabad (to the North from here. A "short" 10 hour train journey awaits us next Tue). In the afternoons we have crossed to the Hospital campus and been meeting the staff. Two more interesting people yesterday. A fascinating time in physio learning about the various treatments for ulcerations and the importance of the surgical sandals ( "chappas", we think they are called) made for patients. We learnt that these too are stigmatising and that they are now trying to manufacture more trendy footwear but still with the microcellular rubber soles which are moulded to each individual foot. and then an interesting chat to the pharmacist.
Our evenings are atmospheric, it feels like being in a hill station under the Raj. The servants, gone now from serving us our supper. The place hushed with shadows and the tropical moonlight, the fans turning softly. And we spend our time doing puzzles and writing emails and blogging.
Bye for now
A & E.
Sorry to be late with this but we lost wi-fi last evening, something which happens a bit here we gather.
Life, here has settled into a routine somewhat. Chapel after breakfast at 8:00am. Then we have spent the mornings in preparation for this four-day conference at Allahabad (to the North from here. A "short" 10 hour train journey awaits us next Tue). In the afternoons we have crossed to the Hospital campus and been meeting the staff. Two more interesting people yesterday. A fascinating time in physio learning about the various treatments for ulcerations and the importance of the surgical sandals ( "chappas", we think they are called) made for patients. We learnt that these too are stigmatising and that they are now trying to manufacture more trendy footwear but still with the microcellular rubber soles which are moulded to each individual foot. and then an interesting chat to the pharmacist.
Our evenings are atmospheric, it feels like being in a hill station under the Raj. The servants, gone now from serving us our supper. The place hushed with shadows and the tropical moonlight, the fans turning softly. And we spend our time doing puzzles and writing emails and blogging.
Bye for now
A & E.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Wednesday 17th Feb
Dear All,
First a reply to some of your comments, for which thanks but none yet abusive enough to click the "Report Abuse" button which I want to do, so come on guys get going.
For Sally F - no, we haven't yet mastered posting photos, though we intend to have a go, before much longer. We'veonly just started bloging at all - so give us a chance, Sal. For Brian A - we will be catching a train next Tuesday to go to Alhahabad. "Only a 10 hour journey", they tell us. And once we join the travelling party from the UK in March we will be catching at least two more.Will let you know all about it.
Today we spent the morning preparing our seminar for the nurses on Friday pm and then some of the stuff for the conference next week. Elizabeth is an extremely difficult woman to work with. All her ideas are contrary to mine. This meant we spent much longer doing this than I had imagined but the arguing was fun after a bit.
As we finally declared an end to hostilities and were about to sign the peace treaty we were skyped, no less! Our first ever skype. A bit faint but perhaps this was because it was from NZ. We are just so international these days. Someone called Karen Warne who is co-ordinating the conference. Amazing to be here in the middle of India, talking through the laptop to someone on the other side of the world. We were on for ages and all for free. Later we got a skype message from TLM UK Head Office. We have put our nearest and dearest on our skype list but needless to say, after years of mocking us for being so untechnical and out of date none of the kids has accepted us yet.
Rest of the day was doing more interviews with staff. Some very touching. A man who has worked here for over 35 years first came when nobody would come and work because of the fear of contagion. A young man who had a good job, packed it in because he was missing christian fellowship and wanted to get back to going to church. He has taken a significant drop in salary but has no regrets at all. He had a lovely smile. It was very heartening talking to him.
That's about it for today but one prayer point : Leeds Utd lost again last night, 1-2 at home to Walsall. It's getting serious guys, we need to pray.
First a reply to some of your comments, for which thanks but none yet abusive enough to click the "Report Abuse" button which I want to do, so come on guys get going.
For Sally F - no, we haven't yet mastered posting photos, though we intend to have a go, before much longer. We'veonly just started bloging at all - so give us a chance, Sal. For Brian A - we will be catching a train next Tuesday to go to Alhahabad. "Only a 10 hour journey", they tell us. And once we join the travelling party from the UK in March we will be catching at least two more.Will let you know all about it.
Today we spent the morning preparing our seminar for the nurses on Friday pm and then some of the stuff for the conference next week. Elizabeth is an extremely difficult woman to work with. All her ideas are contrary to mine. This meant we spent much longer doing this than I had imagined but the arguing was fun after a bit.
As we finally declared an end to hostilities and were about to sign the peace treaty we were skyped, no less! Our first ever skype. A bit faint but perhaps this was because it was from NZ. We are just so international these days. Someone called Karen Warne who is co-ordinating the conference. Amazing to be here in the middle of India, talking through the laptop to someone on the other side of the world. We were on for ages and all for free. Later we got a skype message from TLM UK Head Office. We have put our nearest and dearest on our skype list but needless to say, after years of mocking us for being so untechnical and out of date none of the kids has accepted us yet.
Rest of the day was doing more interviews with staff. Some very touching. A man who has worked here for over 35 years first came when nobody would come and work because of the fear of contagion. A young man who had a good job, packed it in because he was missing christian fellowship and wanted to get back to going to church. He has taken a significant drop in salary but has no regrets at all. He had a lovely smile. It was very heartening talking to him.
That's about it for today but one prayer point : Leeds Utd lost again last night, 1-2 at home to Walsall. It's getting serious guys, we need to pray.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Tuesday 16th Feb
Today we did two main things.
First, we watched some eye surgery - cataract removals. Never been one for watching such stuff on the telly but it's diferent when its live and for the good of the TLM patients here. We saw six of them done, took about 15 minutes each. Kothara provides general eye surgery for the local community and has lots of customers. They pay half the rate private hospitals charge and the income shores up the work with leprosy patients which is offered free of charge. Also there are connections with the leprosy work because leprosy sufferers also have cataracts and can't see properly to look after their hands and feet, so it's good to have the facility.
Second, we spent the rest of the day intreviewing various staffers to find out their stories and what their work here involves. We met the chief nurse, the radiologist, the accountant, and the reception team. Oh, and we saw the lens workshop for the specs making dept, an ingenious place with a variety of marvelous antiquated machines which cut, grind turn out the lenses.
A good day, again lots of info.
Elizabeth would like continued prayer please for her back which gave her more trouble than ever last night - an unacountable pain in the lumbar region.
cheerio
A & E
First, we watched some eye surgery - cataract removals. Never been one for watching such stuff on the telly but it's diferent when its live and for the good of the TLM patients here. We saw six of them done, took about 15 minutes each. Kothara provides general eye surgery for the local community and has lots of customers. They pay half the rate private hospitals charge and the income shores up the work with leprosy patients which is offered free of charge. Also there are connections with the leprosy work because leprosy sufferers also have cataracts and can't see properly to look after their hands and feet, so it's good to have the facility.
Second, we spent the rest of the day intreviewing various staffers to find out their stories and what their work here involves. We met the chief nurse, the radiologist, the accountant, and the reception team. Oh, and we saw the lens workshop for the specs making dept, an ingenious place with a variety of marvelous antiquated machines which cut, grind turn out the lenses.
A good day, again lots of info.
Elizabeth would like continued prayer please for her back which gave her more trouble than ever last night - an unacountable pain in the lumbar region.
cheerio
A & E
Monday, 15 February 2010
Sunday and Monday 14th & 15 th February
Sunday was good for us. There was a very pleasant Holy Communion Service in the Chapel here, led by Dr Asha (no problems with womens' leadership here, then - hooray) and the speaker and celebrant was Rev Dr Tantarpale of Amravati who did Saturday's Bible study. He kindly invited me to help distribute the elements. All very nice. Several pre-school age children were present who found no difficulty in behaving well through an hour and fifteen minutes of adult worship, thought they made up for it, belting around the place afterwards.
In the afternoon we were taken up to Chikhaldara, a hill resort an hours away at Satpuda, 3,600 ft high. Huge cliffs with spectacular waterfalls in the rainy season so we were told, though sadly for us they are dry right now. Paid our first visit to a Hindu temple where we gave a nod, but no offerings, to Goddess Can't remember her name, goddess of money. Again the traffic and the wayside villages are unforgettable. I'll have to settle down and try to write a free-standing piece on the village scene. No time tonight 'fraid.
In the evening we were invited to attend the wedding reception for a young couple recently married in Mumbai. This was held in the field immediately outside our guest house. The groom's brother is on the staff here, we gather. A big enclosure was made replete with cream and purple hangings and a platform with a big silver two-seater throne for the happy couple. Here was some singing, a reading, a sermon and some prayers as they are christians Then they garlanded each other, cut the cake and stuffed wedding cake in each others' mouths. Then all the relations and guests started filing up to give gifts and pose for pix. There were fireworks (good ones) and then food and dancing with all the children bopping around and the adults looking on. It really was very nice, and I usually hate these things (apols to those of you whose family weddings I have attended) The was the ubiquitous video-man of course, who came right up to us during the singing, which was in Marathi, the local language. It seemed only polite to try and mouth some words rather than stand closed-mouths. So this unfortunate young couple will one day soon look at their wedding video and wonder who on earth were those odd, white strangers gawping their way like goldfish at their reception.
Monday.
Today was our first working day at Kothara. After morning prayers we joined in the morning ward-round with the doctors and the counsellor, Metali. We learned more of the medicine involved in treating the disease and, later, from Metali, some of the patients' stories. There was a man who had been dumped at the hospital gate beaten up and abandoned by a hostile family. A man who had come to the hospital in secret giving his family and neighbours an alibi of some sort, to avoid stigma and loss of business in his locality -a far from unusual thing according to Metali. There was a farmer whose labourers had refused to turn up for work once the word got out about his leprosy, though his wife remained suppportive. And much more.
The latter part of the day was shadowing Metali in the Outpatients' dept and, between patients, talking to her about her modus operandi. Here there was a poor tribal family where two women had to be told their skin patches had biopsied postive for leprosy. This is where her work in helping them come to some terms with the bad news is so vital. Altogether, it was useful learning for us though a lot of tiring listening, especially as all conversations are in the local language. Counselling here is on a different model to that in the UK, much more integral to the giving of straight health advice and much less formal and structured.
We would appreciate prayer as we feel a little daunted about how to connect and share with the staff and patients. We have been asked to lead a session for nurses on friday, and then one later for the doctors. Meanwhile we hope to see some operations tomorrow and continue to immerse ourselves in the place.
Bye for now
Andrew and Elizabeth
In the afternoon we were taken up to Chikhaldara, a hill resort an hours away at Satpuda, 3,600 ft high. Huge cliffs with spectacular waterfalls in the rainy season so we were told, though sadly for us they are dry right now. Paid our first visit to a Hindu temple where we gave a nod, but no offerings, to Goddess Can't remember her name, goddess of money. Again the traffic and the wayside villages are unforgettable. I'll have to settle down and try to write a free-standing piece on the village scene. No time tonight 'fraid.
In the evening we were invited to attend the wedding reception for a young couple recently married in Mumbai. This was held in the field immediately outside our guest house. The groom's brother is on the staff here, we gather. A big enclosure was made replete with cream and purple hangings and a platform with a big silver two-seater throne for the happy couple. Here was some singing, a reading, a sermon and some prayers as they are christians Then they garlanded each other, cut the cake and stuffed wedding cake in each others' mouths. Then all the relations and guests started filing up to give gifts and pose for pix. There were fireworks (good ones) and then food and dancing with all the children bopping around and the adults looking on. It really was very nice, and I usually hate these things (apols to those of you whose family weddings I have attended) The was the ubiquitous video-man of course, who came right up to us during the singing, which was in Marathi, the local language. It seemed only polite to try and mouth some words rather than stand closed-mouths. So this unfortunate young couple will one day soon look at their wedding video and wonder who on earth were those odd, white strangers gawping their way like goldfish at their reception.
Monday.
Today was our first working day at Kothara. After morning prayers we joined in the morning ward-round with the doctors and the counsellor, Metali. We learned more of the medicine involved in treating the disease and, later, from Metali, some of the patients' stories. There was a man who had been dumped at the hospital gate beaten up and abandoned by a hostile family. A man who had come to the hospital in secret giving his family and neighbours an alibi of some sort, to avoid stigma and loss of business in his locality -a far from unusual thing according to Metali. There was a farmer whose labourers had refused to turn up for work once the word got out about his leprosy, though his wife remained suppportive. And much more.
The latter part of the day was shadowing Metali in the Outpatients' dept and, between patients, talking to her about her modus operandi. Here there was a poor tribal family where two women had to be told their skin patches had biopsied postive for leprosy. This is where her work in helping them come to some terms with the bad news is so vital. Altogether, it was useful learning for us though a lot of tiring listening, especially as all conversations are in the local language. Counselling here is on a different model to that in the UK, much more integral to the giving of straight health advice and much less formal and structured.
We would appreciate prayer as we feel a little daunted about how to connect and share with the staff and patients. We have been asked to lead a session for nurses on friday, and then one later for the doctors. Meanwhile we hope to see some operations tomorrow and continue to immerse ourselves in the place.
Bye for now
Andrew and Elizabeth
First day here
Saturday was spent being shown around the Hospital and then talking to the Superintendent Dr Xavier. I have given an account of this in our weekly e-mail update, which all you should have received. If there is anyone out there in cyberspace who hasn't had it, please e-mail us on a.procter@live.co.uk. Otherwise we were happy to chill out the rest of the day, in our guest house, also described in the e-mail.
More anon,
Andrew & Elizabeth.
More anon,
Andrew & Elizabeth.
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Arrival at Kothara
Dear All,
Our first post from Kothara Hospital where we will now stay for a month.
Thanks for the (nine) comments from you - all lovely to receive. Two were from St Mary's Kelbrook. Do you rememeber our Home & Overseas Project from the 80's?We raised money for the School attached to Kothara. It made my heart lift to be puling in through the entry gates with their TLM sign, which I recalled from photos we used at the time and to be actually here.I remain very proud of what we all achieved in the Project and remember the big cheque being held up for the press photo with Hugh McKee of TLM being there and Bob Fort and Doug Hall. The idea for it all came from Liz Grose as I recall, who said in the PCC we could not refurbish St Mary's without we did something for those much poorer than us. So we did it pound for pound (just discovered by the way the indian laptops don't carry a pound sign on the toolbar) and raised money on an equal basis for our church and for Kothara TLM Hopsital School. Yesterday we saw the School and the uniformed kids. It's a happy/sad story. It's no longer a TLM School but a state one, though still owned and managed by TLM. The reason for this change is that the numbers of leprosy affected children have drastically reduced since the 80's. Dr Xavier the Director here told me that when he came here in 04 there were only five kids in the school. So they made it over to the govt. The decline in numbers of kids is less that they don't get leprosy but that the stigma is less and they don't get thrown out of their families like they used which is great. Dr Jai says he can get us into the school to look around and maybe see the laboratory which we donated.
Apart from that perhaps a few notes on Goa will interest you. We saw loads of birds: Brahmin kites, sea eagles, a green bee-eater, a fantastic big kingfisher, egrets, cormorants and some "flying fox" fruit bats, hanging on trees like big handbags until they took off showing a ochre coloured underbelly and a big wingspan. You don't want to be a bit of fruit around those guys. Animal - wise ; three mongoose crossed our path one day, there were water buffalo - they paint their horns red for some reason and cows wandering free down the roads.
We got bikes one day and cycled in the locality. The houses varied from hovels to sizable villas, not unlike some of those around Plaxtol. These last were in vibrant colours usually, vivid lemon, bright cyclamen, orange, acid green, shocking pink prevailing. I was imagining the notes from the Parish Council meeting, planning application section if someone fancied a creation like one of these in The Street - the word "Objection" came to mind. Its a fishing area. They go out in narrow dug-out canoes and dive for shellfish, clams and mussels mainly. We saw them doing this and also the women sitting patiently bashing the shells open with hammers.
Other than this we just spent our time enjoying the hotel and the beach. Elizabeth has forbidden me to tell the tale of her altercation over a sunbed with one of the huge, fat, blingy, shaven headed Russian mafia men who adorned the place (returning with a different girlfriend each year, according to a local jeweller, who locked up most of his stock when they came in, he said). Frankly, I would have let him have the sunbed, but not our E. I was just glad not to discover myself joining the the South Goan Diving Club briefly, wearing their new concrete diving shoes.
Out transit to Nagpur by two internal flights on sat was interesting. The flight leaving Goa Airport was 54 minutes late, so we expected to miss our connection in Mumbai, only having 40 minutes between flights. However on touchdown in Mumbai they announced the Nagpur people were to announce themselves. When we did this, the hostess summoned a bus just for us and took us over the tarmac straight to the Nagpur plane. As we climbed the stairs we expected to find it full of impatient people waiting for us, but it was completely empty. For a wild moment I thought we were to be flown by private jet, but in fact they loaded up after that. We had been bothered about missing the connection because it would mean missing those kindly waiting to pick us up at Nagpur and the whole thing seemed an answer to the prayers of those supporting us.
Nagpur is a city of some 200,000 people and they were all out on their scooters that night it seemed as we had our first taste of Indian urban traffic. If not a scooter then a push-bike and if not that then a tuck-tuck, a three wheeled affair with a cabin behind a scooter. These light vehicles are all over the road like lice. The buses and trucks (not too many private cars) plough through them regardless as did Silas our driver who rarely got off his mobile phone.
We then had a 4 hour drive to Kothara on a narrow bumpy road full of the above plus lorries. When darkness fell not all of them had lights. It was a hair raising journey with horns honking continuously as we swerved round vehicles and cows and people.
We arrived at Kothara about 9.30 pm and were made very welcome in the guesthouse with a double ensuite room. This is not what you are imagining, believe me, but comfortable if spartan and all the elderly equipment works, including a flush loo.
Bye for now
Andrew and Elizabeth
Our first post from Kothara Hospital where we will now stay for a month.
Thanks for the (nine) comments from you - all lovely to receive. Two were from St Mary's Kelbrook. Do you rememeber our Home & Overseas Project from the 80's?We raised money for the School attached to Kothara. It made my heart lift to be puling in through the entry gates with their TLM sign, which I recalled from photos we used at the time and to be actually here.I remain very proud of what we all achieved in the Project and remember the big cheque being held up for the press photo with Hugh McKee of TLM being there and Bob Fort and Doug Hall. The idea for it all came from Liz Grose as I recall, who said in the PCC we could not refurbish St Mary's without we did something for those much poorer than us. So we did it pound for pound (just discovered by the way the indian laptops don't carry a pound sign on the toolbar) and raised money on an equal basis for our church and for Kothara TLM Hopsital School. Yesterday we saw the School and the uniformed kids. It's a happy/sad story. It's no longer a TLM School but a state one, though still owned and managed by TLM. The reason for this change is that the numbers of leprosy affected children have drastically reduced since the 80's. Dr Xavier the Director here told me that when he came here in 04 there were only five kids in the school. So they made it over to the govt. The decline in numbers of kids is less that they don't get leprosy but that the stigma is less and they don't get thrown out of their families like they used which is great. Dr Jai says he can get us into the school to look around and maybe see the laboratory which we donated.
Apart from that perhaps a few notes on Goa will interest you. We saw loads of birds: Brahmin kites, sea eagles, a green bee-eater, a fantastic big kingfisher, egrets, cormorants and some "flying fox" fruit bats, hanging on trees like big handbags until they took off showing a ochre coloured underbelly and a big wingspan. You don't want to be a bit of fruit around those guys. Animal - wise ; three mongoose crossed our path one day, there were water buffalo - they paint their horns red for some reason and cows wandering free down the roads.
We got bikes one day and cycled in the locality. The houses varied from hovels to sizable villas, not unlike some of those around Plaxtol. These last were in vibrant colours usually, vivid lemon, bright cyclamen, orange, acid green, shocking pink prevailing. I was imagining the notes from the Parish Council meeting, planning application section if someone fancied a creation like one of these in The Street - the word "Objection" came to mind. Its a fishing area. They go out in narrow dug-out canoes and dive for shellfish, clams and mussels mainly. We saw them doing this and also the women sitting patiently bashing the shells open with hammers.
Other than this we just spent our time enjoying the hotel and the beach. Elizabeth has forbidden me to tell the tale of her altercation over a sunbed with one of the huge, fat, blingy, shaven headed Russian mafia men who adorned the place (returning with a different girlfriend each year, according to a local jeweller, who locked up most of his stock when they came in, he said). Frankly, I would have let him have the sunbed, but not our E. I was just glad not to discover myself joining the the South Goan Diving Club briefly, wearing their new concrete diving shoes.
Out transit to Nagpur by two internal flights on sat was interesting. The flight leaving Goa Airport was 54 minutes late, so we expected to miss our connection in Mumbai, only having 40 minutes between flights. However on touchdown in Mumbai they announced the Nagpur people were to announce themselves. When we did this, the hostess summoned a bus just for us and took us over the tarmac straight to the Nagpur plane. As we climbed the stairs we expected to find it full of impatient people waiting for us, but it was completely empty. For a wild moment I thought we were to be flown by private jet, but in fact they loaded up after that. We had been bothered about missing the connection because it would mean missing those kindly waiting to pick us up at Nagpur and the whole thing seemed an answer to the prayers of those supporting us.
Nagpur is a city of some 200,000 people and they were all out on their scooters that night it seemed as we had our first taste of Indian urban traffic. If not a scooter then a push-bike and if not that then a tuck-tuck, a three wheeled affair with a cabin behind a scooter. These light vehicles are all over the road like lice. The buses and trucks (not too many private cars) plough through them regardless as did Silas our driver who rarely got off his mobile phone.
We then had a 4 hour drive to Kothara on a narrow bumpy road full of the above plus lorries. When darkness fell not all of them had lights. It was a hair raising journey with horns honking continuously as we swerved round vehicles and cows and people.
We arrived at Kothara about 9.30 pm and were made very welcome in the guesthouse with a double ensuite room. This is not what you are imagining, believe me, but comfortable if spartan and all the elderly equipment works, including a flush loo.
Bye for now
Andrew and Elizabeth
Monday, 1 February 2010
Arrival in India
Dear Blogees,
Many thanks for all the offers to follow us and our progress.
This is just to explain that our time here begins with two weeks on holiday with eight others ,friends of ours, at a rather nice place in Goa. So you can go easy on the earnest prayer for a bit. There is no internet facility a our hotel so we wont be coming on line much.
We get to Kothara on February 12th and so will begin proper then.
Even so it is great to be in this amazing subcontinent. We have seen the proverbial cows walking freely down the busy street already, water buffalo and seaeagle. All this as well as the dust, street trading, insistent hawkers and many, many wonderful smiles.
Lots of love, A & E
Many thanks for all the offers to follow us and our progress.
This is just to explain that our time here begins with two weeks on holiday with eight others ,friends of ours, at a rather nice place in Goa. So you can go easy on the earnest prayer for a bit. There is no internet facility a our hotel so we wont be coming on line much.
We get to Kothara on February 12th and so will begin proper then.
Even so it is great to be in this amazing subcontinent. We have seen the proverbial cows walking freely down the busy street already, water buffalo and seaeagle. All this as well as the dust, street trading, insistent hawkers and many, many wonderful smiles.
Lots of love, A & E
Monday, 25 January 2010
Introduction
Hi there,
We are on our travels again. The profile picture shows us with some of the novices of the Sisters of Melanesia when we visited the Solomon Islands in 2005.
Now we are able to visit India. We shall be working under the auspices of the Leprosy Mission (www.leprosymission.org.uk) We are going to spend a month at Kothara Hospital in Maharashtra, Central India. The nearest city is Nagpur. The nearest big town is Amravati. It is in a rural setting. It has been there for 125 years . It is built on land given to TLM in 1885 by the local Rajah. The land was disease ridden, nobody else wanted it. Now it houses a large, complex hospital which offers leprosy sufferers and others besides vital help. We shall be arriving there on February 12th. Before that we are having a fortnight's holiday with friends in Goa. Our main work will be in the field of counselling support. Kothara have just appointed their first ever counsellor. We are asked to support her. Also we are to give some seminars in counselling skills to the hospital staff twice a week for 45 minutes a time. Further still. we are asked to offer counsellling to some of the staff who have needs. we understand a young couple on the staff have just lost a child and would appreciate some counselling. Finally we are to be amonst the speakers at a pan-India conference being called for TLM staff halfway through our stay.
We hope you enjoy following our progress. Thank you to all who have promised to pray for us. We would especially like prayer at this early stage for safe travel and freedom from the illness that Brits always seem to get in India. For a good holiday, in which we do some good preparatory reading to help us when we get started.
We are on our travels again. The profile picture shows us with some of the novices of the Sisters of Melanesia when we visited the Solomon Islands in 2005.
Now we are able to visit India. We shall be working under the auspices of the Leprosy Mission (www.leprosymission.org.uk) We are going to spend a month at Kothara Hospital in Maharashtra, Central India. The nearest city is Nagpur. The nearest big town is Amravati. It is in a rural setting. It has been there for 125 years . It is built on land given to TLM in 1885 by the local Rajah. The land was disease ridden, nobody else wanted it. Now it houses a large, complex hospital which offers leprosy sufferers and others besides vital help. We shall be arriving there on February 12th. Before that we are having a fortnight's holiday with friends in Goa. Our main work will be in the field of counselling support. Kothara have just appointed their first ever counsellor. We are asked to support her. Also we are to give some seminars in counselling skills to the hospital staff twice a week for 45 minutes a time. Further still. we are asked to offer counsellling to some of the staff who have needs. we understand a young couple on the staff have just lost a child and would appreciate some counselling. Finally we are to be amonst the speakers at a pan-India conference being called for TLM staff halfway through our stay.
We hope you enjoy following our progress. Thank you to all who have promised to pray for us. We would especially like prayer at this early stage for safe travel and freedom from the illness that Brits always seem to get in India. For a good holiday, in which we do some good preparatory reading to help us when we get started.
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