Last Days in Calcutta

The last few days we were in Calcutta felt like the hottest. These are the days when I got my first few "real" medical experiences. Two were during our shopping visit to the New Market. I was wearing my PAs for Latino Health t-shirt which says "Physician Assistant" in English and in Spanish, but I think they recognized "physician" and asked if I was one. Knowing what it takes to explain it to people in the U.S. where PAs are common, I didn't want to drag that out into broken English, so I reluctantly said, "Yes."

The first was one of the vendors who complained of his hands and feet sweating all the time, and more if he drank tea or ate eggs. One of my classmates had something similar and the only treatment that worked for her was surgery to cut the nerves to those sweat glands. So I tried my best to explain that. He said that he also gets a high fever every couple of months, so I asked if he'd had malaria before. He said yes, but they told him it was gone.

The man that carried some of our purchases around with us in the market was the second. I guess he overheard the conversation inside, so while I waited for the girls outside with him, he asked what he could do about his knee hurting occasionally. He looked to be about 60 years old, so I figured it was probably some arthritic-type pain starting to set in. I suggested that he take 2-3 ibuprofen every 6 hours when he has the pain and he asked me to write it on a piece of paper, my first prescription!

On our last morning on the way to the Mother Teresa headquarters for a tour and pictures, I ran into one of the volunteers from the House of the Dying that I had seen the day before. He is British and must have just left his hotel. He recognized me and asked that dangerous question, "Hey, you're a doctor, right?" Hesitantly again, I said that I was. He told me that he had stepped on a rusty nail that morning and the hotel people cleaned it up pretty good and put antibiotic ointment on it, but they suggested that he get a tetanus shot. His question to me was whether he really needed one since he didn't like needles at all. He was disappointed with my answer, so I asked him when his last one was. When he replied that he has never had one, I told him he needed one. Grasping for straws he asked what could happen. When I told him he could become paralyzed, he decided to take my advice.

This will be my last entry for India pictures though I have many more that I'll eventually be posting on my photo-sharing site when I get a chance. Next stop, Nepal!

One of the open-air convertible busses.Joe and the Gibsons at one of our favorite restaurants.

Just outside the New Market. (I know, not very new looking is it?)April checking out some shoes in the market.

Another street shot on the way back to the hotel.Five of us crammed into one of the tiny taxis for our last trip to the House of the Dying.This is Kalighat Temple, one of the holiest sites in Calcutta. It is surrounded by vendor booths and goods related to rituals are sold inside as well.Kalighat temple's next door neighbor is the House of the Dying.

Here's the entrance. When it started raining, the little old lady in the white(ish) wrap on the steps came inside and I swear it was like looking at Yoda waddle around. I would be surprised if she topped 4 feet tall!This is a view from the second floor balcony above the entrance.To the right you can see the gilded dome from the Kalighat temple.At the mother house, Mother Teresa's tomb was a little more ornamented this time. We took our last group photo in India here as we flew to Nepal just a few hours later.In the time to pack up my tripod, our group had filtered out and some of the nuns came in for prayers at the tomb.Me at the front door.Some of the girls catching a ride back to the hotel.
This is the entrance to our hotel "Housez 43". It's interesting how many of the nicer buildings are set in behind the street shops.We found this P.A. Booth at the airport once we got through all the security checkpoints and thought it would be a hoot to have our Physician Assistant students (and graduate) make ourselves available. We did ask permission. Crazy Americans!!!

The Brick Factory

Just across the field from the orphanage lies one of the typical brick factories from that side of the world. I mentioned it in an earlier post while I was still there that it was quite the throwback in time and space. I felt very awkward walking into their workspace like a disrespectful, gawking American. But I tried to show as much respect as I could, making sure not to get in anyone's way, and trying not to take photos that would any further reduce their dignity. Thankfully, they didn't seem to mind us much. Perhaps it was a boost for their dignity that a group like ours would take the time to admire their work. This was one of those many moments when my mind couldn't entirely wrap around what I was seeing, that this would still exist somewhere in the same world we live in today.

The long handcart path to the kiln. They had walk about a quarter of a mile one-way.The ladies crouched down a little to pick up or were handed bricks by the men to balance on their heads. The men carried more across their shoulders. These were the dried bricks ready to be fired in the kiln.This is one of the entrances to part of the kiln, and yes, it's as small as it looks. With the little claustrophobia I have, I can't imagine crouching down to tote loads of bricks into a giant, underground oven. The guys on top with the sticks are stoking the fires through holes in the top.Here's a closer view of the stokers and their baskets of coals. The guy in the black pants and gray polo shirt is the manager of the place.While on top of the kiln mound, I noticed this young man to the right working hard down below. What drew my eye to him was that he was moving in an unusual way, then I noticed that he had to move himself around with his arms, resting on his knees becuase there was absolutely no muscle on his lower legs. In the closer crop you can see the thinness of the dark line to his foot. For his own dignity, he maneuvered himself so that he was sitting on the side where the bricks lay on the ground with his legs between the bricks. His leg was entirely hidden by the thickness of one brick high. When I pointed him out to Dr. Taylor standing next to me, he said that a person like that back home would be sitting in his hosue comfortably on disability. True as it is, there is much good and bad to that statement. Regardless of his condition, this young man was working for his living, and not just sitting in a cushy wheelchair at a computer all day. There is a lot that we can learn from pictures like this.

Some of the workers' kids gathered around to see the funny looking visitors. They got a treat to see themselves on the digital camera displays.This young couple must be from a different shift.Hiking back to the orphanage to say our good-byes.On the way back into town, this high-rise apartment complex caught my eye in the contrast of poverty all around it.

Springs of Life Orphanage

On the first Saturday in India, we went out to a Seventh-Day Adventist associated orphanage to attend church meetings and to spend time with the kids. Several in our group were asked to participate in the services and classes. Rita helped with a little story for the children. Nancy, Thad, and April helped with some special music. Pastor Rich and Jay taught a couple of the Sabbath School classes, and Pastor Rich gave a sermon during the main worship service.

There are much smaller personal spaces in India, and more social touching. It is common for best friends to walk holding hands or have a hand or arm on the shoulder of another, regardless of whether they are girls or boys, men or women. While I'll admit, I was always a little weirded out by adult men holding hands, the hand leaning on the shoulder was kind of cool, and it was all very special with the children at the orphanage holding your hands.

We were treated to a tour of the grounds by the director with the kids all in tow. The compound, like most places, was completely walled in. The chapel building was rather small and all the buildings were very utilitarian. The are in the process of constructing a new building for vocational training. Part of the training for the kids currently enrolled there is helping with the construction and finishing of the building itself. They have many garden plots for the older children to learn how to raise different crops, partly of their choosing. They are rewarded by being able to sell their harvest back to the orphanage for money, so the better they take care of it, the more money they get.

The orphanage also owns many acres of fields surrounding the compound where they grow rice. They have tried other crops that are worth more, but the local villagers pride themselves on being dishonest. They view that anything they can get, especially from those whom they see as being wealthier (i.e. anyone associated with Americans), if they don't get in serious trouble, it is a blessing to them.

They tried potatoes. The kids would have to go dig up the potatoes when they were very small because if others noticed, they'd be gone quickly. They tried raising corn, which grew very well and is worth substantially more than rice. They even had sentry shifts with the boys holding sticks around the corn fields. The villagers would sit outside the field and watch, and as the guard changed, the people would make a run for the corn, grab some, and sit and eat it in front of the next boys that came out.

They caught a couple people fishing in their pond which they had stocked with fish. When the director asked them if they knew whose fish those were, they replied, "Yes, they are yours." He told them that if they would only ask to fish there, they would be happy to share, but they ignored him and continued fishing. The next day 20 people came out and fished at the pond. So, they've settled on growing rice like the many acreages surrounding them which provides little incentive for others to steal it.

After the tour, we had lunch with the kids and then played with them. We made all sorts of balloon shapes, hats, and played games, and chased around. I missed some of this since I hid away in a classroom upstairs to print off some pictures of the morning's activities to leave with the director. I bought a tiny little photo printer to take on the trip for just that sort of thing. It's a Canon Selphy CP-720, and the prints were a big hit.

Here's some views on the road out to the orphanage which was just outside of Calcutta. Here's some of the "lawn mowers" at work on a soccer field in town, there were small herds of goats helping too.

Here the shacks are built along the large silver water main to take advantage of all the leaks.Here's one of the corner fresh food spots.

Here's a shot of folks hanging off a packed train headed into one of the main stations for the morning.Some of the more ecologically friendly transportation.The manicured welcome mat in the lawn of the orphanage.Joe and Nancy participating in a class.Another class with Nyahon, Carrie, and Terry visiting.

Some of the little girls leading the class singing with Thad, April, Rilla, and Ellen visiting.The lesson on the famed felt board was Rebekah at the well. The kids got a kick out of seeing the pictures of my Rebekah in the little scrapbook Rachel put together for me to take on rotations.

Pastor Rich preparing for services with the orphanage Director.Thad, Nancy, and April leading the music.Some of the older girls had prepared a special song.Nancy favoring us with a special solo.Pastor Rich, doing his thing.

A look at the new building.Some of the student gardens. The building in the background has the dormitories, the cafeteria, kitchen and a few classrooms.Carrie and Lacey hanging out with some of their boys in the shade.The lines in the ground are the beginnings of a foundation for a large swimming pool near the back wall of the compound that will also act as an irrigation reservoir with a drain to the field.Lacey chasing her little brothers. They loved it!
This is a butterfly that I saw on some of the flowers there.The giant balloon man we left guard while we went to see the brick factory.