Today we woke up and loaded the vans at 615am. We drove for only three hours this time to the Scheiffer institute, a private hospital that treats leprosy patients. We all did some wound dressing changes on the patients. This would have been easy, if it had been in the US because we know how we do it. Here there are different instruments and routines for doing it so we had nursing students from this hospital help us along the way. It was fun to see these students and how they are learning. A group of the girls was giggling and laughing at me and I didn't know why until one had the courage to come talk to me. They said I looked like someone and they got too shy to tell me who. The women here i noticed get embarrassed and shy very quickly and go silent or run away. It's pretty cute, it's almost like having a shy 12 yr old in a grown womans body. In this case they were 18 year olds so it is even more expected.
So we cleaned wounds and ate lunch. Then we had a lecture from a couple of the hospital's doctors about leprosy. It is fascinating to hear about the stages of this disease and how to treat it.
A few notes: leprosy is a bacterial infection. It is spread airborne and by droplet contact. It is easily treated with antibiotics but any nerve damage done can not be fixed so it is important to find it fast and seek treatment but the stigma around it slows people from coming forth with it. Leprosy hospitals are few and far between but are essential to helping end this stigma (this hospital for example sends people back to their original homes and acts as if it is like any other infection- which it is). These hospitals don't receive funding bc it is said that leprosy is no longer a problem although this hospital has 20 new cases a month coming to them. Just a few facts.
After the lectures we went to a small group of leprosy afflicted individuals and met them. They requested a few songs so we sang I am a child of God, Lead Kindly Light, How great Thou art, and I need Thee every hour. Those kind and gentle people have such sweet and pure spirits. The Spirit was so strong and I kept thinking about how everyone, everywhere is a child of God. He loves those people. The name of this small village is Shanti Village. Shanti means Peace, I think that fits very well. These people will be made whole one day. I know that for sure.
We are staying the night at the hospital guest house and it's not as nice as The Elephant House (the volunteer quarters at Rising Star) but it's just fine. We got ice cream after dinner so all is well with the world. Tomorrow we have s long way to go so we are starting to drive at 5 am. Should be another great day in India!
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