Forget Hopkins, try this for reality TV

Today we had the opportunity to watch an artist at work. As you know, Sivananda takes care of leprosy patients: medical care, surgeries, rehabilitation, all for free.

We got to watch two hand surgeries today. My descriptions will not do the surgeries justice (Dr. Beine is much better at it than I ever will be). But over the course of several hours, we saw a deformed hand get reshaped to something functional–tendons were exposed, cut, rerouted, and sutured to their new homes, all through incisions no more than a centimeter long.

Stop and look at your hand. Make a fist. Wiggle your fingers. Pick up a coin or a pencil. The hand is a remarkably complex appendage, and these docs are doing complicated surgeries on patients affected by leprosy so they can have a shot at a productive, meaningful life.

All this out of the goodness of their hearts.

It’s Fantastic………….

So officially I am now staying at the Sivananda Rehabilitation Home in Kukatpally, Hyderabad. Although I have been eager to share my experience by writing, unfortunately the computer access has been very limited here at the home. For those I haven’t talked on the phone, 15 hrs in the plane did go by fast, granted I did watch “finally” – I am Legend and the Iron Man. Ride over from the airport at 3 am, to the place I stayed for a day, believe it or not, was fast yet bumpy. Traffic in Hyderabad or most cities in India is definitely an experience as there are no rules (that are followed), no dividers, 15 different vehicles, honking every 5 seconds along with the pedestrians, cramped together, walking, slithering, all in a rush – one more than the other, buses making left turns from far lanes, motorcycle stopped in the middle of a road to talk on a cell phone or eat an orange, a scooter undergoing a transaction in a middle of a big intersection with a papaya vendor also strolling in that mess with his 4 wheeled wooden cart while rest of the world trying to weave there way around them beeping incessantly, and my shocking observation, not a single loud curse word heard from any of the drivers. To top it, the most daunting task has been to actually cross the road because NO ONE will stop unless you just throw yourself on the road with traffic coming your way at 45km/hr, stick your hand out to stop them, and if you are not run over, you can make it to the other side. Yes, I have a new respect for the yellow cab drivers in NY now.

Anyways, after reaching home, I slept for a couple of hours and was woken up by an aroma of burning coal outside of my window. Yes, it was the IRON MAN (unfortunately not Robert Downie Jr.) but literally a man who irons clothes for a living. My first day was very relaxing, pleasant and beautiful. That evening we drove around Chaarminar, necklace road, a lake with the Buddha’s statue, and finally a temple down the street ending my first day with the delicious home cooked four course dinner.

On August 25^th – I moved into my room at the Sivananda home. Luckily, my roommate from Chicago, there for the last two months, has been fantastic. She made sure that the room was lizard free, I had plenty of water, volunteered to venture out in the traffic with me for “bare” necessities. Just short of knowing telegu and her appearance, she could easily pass for a native as she is able to finesse her way gracefully through many situations, knows everyone, and seems to be everyone’s favorite.

 

August 26^th – My reason to come to SRH, I made my way to the HIV home for the children. The most amazing thirty children, all HIV (+), abandoned by their family or homeless, most of them appear younger than their stated ages, perfectly happy in their own small world yet seeking attention desperately. They greeted me with so much warmth and excitement, wanting to show me their art work, singing songs and addressing me as “akka” a telegu word for a big sister. Their ages, 5 to 15 yrs, in one classroom, one teacher working to give an individual attention, juggling all subjects and grades till the 4^th standard. Honestly, I have never seen as many children together in such harmony with each other. This is and is going to be the most emotional part of my journey and as to even make an attempt to describe my experience would be challenging and unjust.

Rest of the day was social and educational. I finally met with rest of the group from Case and we all shared our experiences, gave/heard lectures on numerous topics/diseases that we were to experience at SRH. To sum it up so far – a perfect weather, perfect food, perfect accommodation and now I anticipate already a perfect company.

 

Aug 27^th– stay tuned

 

What more do these children have to go through?

So I am sure that most of the CIT2 people will be blogging about the trip to the orphanage. To say that it was both unsettling and phenomenal is an understatement. Not much makes me take a step back and be speechless, this is one of them. Many stories will be talked about by many other people, but there is one that I want to make sure you know about.

The lady who helps run the orphanage was kind enough to introduce us to some of the kids who were at the HIV orphanage. She introduced us to set of 3 brothers (one who was not there as he was quarantined with the Pox virus). The eldest brother was no more than the age of 10. Apparently, before coming to the orphanage, this band of brothers were homeless as both of their parents had apparently died secondary to complications with AIDS. The eldest brother was out panhandling for money so that he could be able to get enough rice to make food for his brothers. He felt it was his duty to make sure that his brothers survived. If it wasn’t for him stepping forward and making ends meet, we don’t know where the three of them would be now. Luckily, they were able to make it to the HIV orphanage and are leading a healthier life.

This is just plain amazing on so many levels. Amazing in a bad way that this likely 7-8 year old child had to “grow up” and make ends meet to feed his family. Amazing in a good way that he was able to do that. Amazing in a bad way that none of his family (aunt, uncle, grandparents) were willing to help him out. Lastly, amazing that they were able to make it to the orphanage and try to forget about the life that they once led.

The sad thing is, that this wasn’t the worse story. We heard of another girl who witnessed her mom get stoned to death by her neighbors because they found out that she was HIV (+). So then, the girl came around to proudly show us her drawings and one of them made me almost break down. It was of her house with a snake on the outside ready to attack. I just couldn’t believe it.

As Brian will talk more about, they will overcome….

We shall overcome

I think this was an very interesting day for everyone. i am writing this independently of the others, so if we cover the same stuff, I apologize.

Today, our second day at Sivananda, we visited the DOTS program, the workshops, and the children’s HIV orphanage. I have to say that it’s amazing what they are able to train the patients to do to become productive citizens. I do think that Americans are definitely the wimps when it comes to learning marketable skills. They’re making their own metal furnishings, including all the hospital beds, bicycle rickshaws, all the cloth bandages, sheets and towels they use, school uniforms for their children, candles…and that’s just the ones who can’t realistically get work outside the home.

The children’s HIV orphanage was amazing. They currently have about 30 children, and are expanding to take 20 more. Some of them are true orphans–one or both parents died, leaving the on the streets begging, scavenging, even looking after each other. Others are orphaned by social stigma. One girl and her grandmother were kicked out by their family when they found out the reason for the girl’s recurrent illnesses: she was HIV positive. The 75 year old grandmother realized she could not care for both herself and the granddaughter, and dropped her off at Sivananda.

Almost all the children there came in severely malnourished and failure to thrive. Most had opportunistic infections: diarrheal illness, recurrent or persistent infections. Everyone there seemed to respond to HAART. Some of the most important things they did for these children were to provide them with clean, safe drinking water and healthy food. Treating infections and getting them on antiretroviral therapy also helped, but meds don’t help if you keep getting infected.

They are all bright, and happy to see us. I gave them the shiny Ticonderoga pencils that I brought along, and they in turn made us cards welcoming us, and showed us their sketchbooks of art.

I asked the doctor how many orphanages there were in Hyderabad. She could only come up with 5 in the state. Hyderabad is a city of at least 10 million.

What I was thinking about the whole car ride home (in monsoon rains, mind you) was how much work needs to be done, and it’s not really fancy research, or complicated interventions:

–Clean, hygenic drinking water

–adequate sewage systems

–access to health care

–fighting the social stigma of HIV, even among health care providers. (It’s kind of interesting, leprosy, the old stigmatized disease, is now becoming rare, and they’re closing down leprosy blocks at Sivananda. They’re expanding to serve HIV patients, the new stigamatizing disease)

–fighting malnutrition

Back in middle school, I attended week long youth church retreats looking for some inspiration. We had talked about people having “mountaintop” experiences where one has a moment of clarity. Today was the mountaintop experience for the trip so far. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

I marvelled at how much good Sivananda has been able to do with the children. They all seem healthy, eager to learn, and most importantly just be kids. I know a lot of their stories are just going to run together in my mind as time goes on. I am amazed at their fortitude and resilience. Whether or not she knows what she was singing, what brought tears to my eyes was when one of the girls in the orphanage wanted to sing us a song. We listened attentively as she sang “We Shall Overcome.”

Magic Masala Potato Chips and Other Amazing Things in Hyderbad

As you can tell by the previous posts, we made it safely to Hyderabad and have been touring the facilities at Sivnanda Rehabilitation Hospital (Check out their video if you have not seen it yet). I have been blown away by the hospitality they have shown us in our two days here and the keen interest they have taken in our education.

Today, we received a lecture on the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme from one of the most self-less and compassionate physicians I have met in all my travels. Dr. V. Reddy is a spry 70-something year old gentleman who ‘retired’ in 1995, only to join the group at Shivananda as the RNTCP was just getting going. The Programme was a huge undertaking by the central government to attempt to better diagnosis and treat the millions of people afflicted with TB. It involved setting up multiple clinics and start directly observed treatment of TB. Since the programme went nationally in 2006, it is estimated it has saved over 1.1 million lives. Dr. Reddy is personally responsible for the TB care of over half a million people in his cachement area and oversees about 5 smaller clinics. And he does this all for free. And to top it off, he has started working at a Perinatal Clinic trying to prevent materal-child transmission of HIV because he no one else would do, so he volunteered (for free). He was truly inspiring and makes me feel like I am not doing enough.

Other Amazing Things in Hyderabad:

1.) The Lays Magic Masala Potato Chips. They go well with the Thums Up soda.

2.) The stories of the children in the AIDS orphanage. Amazing in a different sense of word. Others will blog with details, but stoic Tim felt tears well-up in his eyes hearing who these poor children were ostracized by their families and shunned by their community. Thank God they have found a home at Sivananda.

UPDATE: KBA, I have learned why they don’t use Mother’s Milk empirically here. Ceftriaxone has better Salmonella coverage and about 20% of the positive blood cultures at MGMCRI&RI grew Salmonella.