Greetings from India!!!

Greetings from India!!! 21 January 2009 It was a long trip, but we arrived at Cuddapah SDA School about 7:30 am yesterday morning. We were greeted by all the children of the school (approx. 850), lined up with garlands & flower petals. Their smiling faces were beautiful as we walked between the lines of girls on the left & boys on the right, all saying “Welcome to India” and showering us with flower petals. Some of the boys were assigned to carry our luggage to the guest house on the school campus where we’ll be staying during out time here. It was so GREAT to see Kotesh again! He was the Maranatha Coordinator for my team the last time I was in Rajahmundry & one of the most delightful young men in the world! After shaking lots of hands & answering the questions, “What is your name” and “How are you” hundreds of times, we were greeted by our host & hostess at the guest house, Vilma & Paul—a couple from Australia who are volunteering here at the school for six months. They are a very gracious couple who are currently living in the guest house we’ll be staying in. Our team consists of Sharla (a physical therapist) & her husband, Kevin (a hospital administrator), Paul & Vilma (both nurses), & yours truly. Next week a fourth-year medical student named Joy will be arriving to join us. We had a few minutes to get a few things settled in our rooms & then Vilma served us breakfast of porridge, fresh fruit, toast & jam. Just as we finished Kotesh & Surya (our Maranatha Coordinators) stopped by & we made plans for the next two weeks. Vilma & Paul gave us a tour of the clinic here on campus & we planned how to arrange it to process the 850 students in the most efficient manner. Then we had time for a brief nap before lunch. Vilma made an delicious spaghetti sauce filled with vegetables—including okra!!! After lunch we headed off for Cuddapah—about an hour and a half away from the school. There we exchanged money (48.3 rupees/$1 us), purchased medical supplies for the clinic & toothpaste for our village work next week, & I bought a shawl (somehow I didn’t get mine with me & I was really cold from the air conditioning in our car during the 4+ hour ride from the airport in Bangalore here to the school), time for my India cell phone, fabric for a new blouse for my sari, & a basin for the iodine water I wash my hands in. I was really delighted when our driver parked our car under the trees filled with sleeping bats that I remembered from the last time I was in Cuddapah (2003) & we went shopping on the street I remembered so well!!! After we got home about 7:30 pm, I took a shower & crashed for the night. This week we’ll be holding medical clinics here at the school for the students—mornings & afternoons. Before the morning clinic we have worship with the children & also before their supper. The clinic this morning was a little crazy. Paul & Vilma thought the school should have medical records for the children, so they purchased some special folders. Then they got a sample medical history form from someone in the States & we had copies made to put in the folders. We had only maybe 200 folders ready when the children started coming & most of the prepared folders were for children in the upper grades. My role in the clinic was to register the children. The littlest children came first & I had a very difficult time with their names, so Surya would write the name the first time on the chart & then I would write it the next couple of times. After the first batch of children came through, we had to take a break to assemble more folders. Dr. Niak, a pediatrician from the closest town, is the doctor working with our team. He is a very caring young man & a tremendous asset to our medical work. He works for the government, but he has taken some of his vacation time to come & work with the children at the school. Part of the participation fee we each paid to come on this project went to buy medical supplies, get government permits, & pay the doctor to care for the children at the school. When we took a lunch break, he came back to our house & ate dinner with us. Vilma had prepared some yummy potato-vegetable patties & rice, along with raw tomatoes, cucumbers, & onions. As we were visiting during dinner, the conversation gave us ideas to incorporate in the health talks that we’ll be presenting in the nearby villages next week to make them very practical—addressing the rural health issues the villagers face on a daily basis. I spent this afternoon assembling the medical record folders & Vilma did most of the registration. Kevin checks the height & weight of each child & Paul checks their eyes (using an eye chart downloaded from the internet this morning.) Next Sharla checks each one for scoliosis, posture, & agility to determine if they could benefit from PT treatments. The last stop is the doctor & he does a simple physical exam & then Paul gets any medications needed from our dispensary (supplied from medications Sharla & Kevin brought with them or purchased in Cuddapah). After the medical clinic closed for the day, Sharla & Kevin went to a nearby village so she could treat a little girl she met when she (Sharla) was here at Cuddapah last year. I stayed at the school because tonight was my turn to present a worship talk to the children. I told them the story about the time I got stuck in the mud, comparing that experience with getting mired down with sin—emphasizing that God is always willing to rescue us when we pray, “Lord, save me.” Afterward I was surrounded with girls. They compared my white skin to their brown skin & were eager to tell me their names & then test me to see if I remembered them! Some of the names are very difficult to pronounce—to say nothing about remembering them!!! Blessings from INDIA…where the people are beautiful, the children are irresistible, & the GOD of Heaven is blessing us—PTL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!