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.