Though it's not officially a festival per se, it still causes quite a raucous in these parts. For days now there have been fireworks popping off every night. Fun to watch, not so fun when you want to go to sleep and it sounds like a war outside your bedroom window. Diwali typically covers 5 days. From what I understand you exchange sweets with your friends, people perform a ritual similar to spring cleaning in their houses, some may even buy new pots and pans....oooooh.....ahhhhh. But at the end of the day it is really all about the lights. It is lit up like Christmas around here. People light their diyas, or oil lamps, they light sparklers and fireworks. And there you have it. Happy Diwali everyone!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
A world of good
"What we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others echoes throughout the ages" ~ Unknown
For our wedding we asked that in lieu of physical gifts that our guests could donate money so we can help the poor people of India. Who needs a brand new set of china when there are much less fortunate people than us who barely make enough money to eat every day? I met Dr. Josephine several months ago. She is a lovely Indian woman from Tamil Nadu area. She spent 12 years in Spain to study and go to medical school. When she returned to India she knew she wanted to put some of her money towards helping those less fortunate than herself. She puts a lot of her own money towards children near her neighborhood that live in a slum. Unfortunately, girls here aren't as valued as their brothers who are sent off to school. They are often relegated to cooking and cleaning and many of the girls look after the family because the mother has had to go to work because the father is an alcoholic. Anyways, Dr. Josephine has taken 60 girls of various ages under her wing to provide them with the basics of education in a makeshift school. Other than her own money, she often relies on generous donations (like yours) from foreigners or from anybody who is willing to help. She provides the essentials like backpacks, clothing, and toothbrushes. Very basic things. Things you and I probably take for granted. Recently I was invited to take part in a vaccination campaign to provide typhoid inoculations to people of the slum. Typhoid is a disease that is transmitted by the ingestion of food or water that has been contaminated by the feces of an infected person. Typically this is not a problem in the modern world where there are modern sanitation techniques. Here in India, sanitation is hard to come by. Men urinate wherever a dog can urinate...so that is everywhere. Typhoid causes a myriad of symptoms some of which include: gastroenteritis, fever, dehydration, and if left untreated can lead to intestinal hemorrhage and perforation. Modern day medicine can treat these symptoms but another thing these people lack is *surprise* lack of medical care. So basically it can be fatal.
For our wedding we asked that in lieu of physical gifts that our guests could donate money so we can help the poor people of India. Who needs a brand new set of china when there are much less fortunate people than us who barely make enough money to eat every day? I met Dr. Josephine several months ago. She is a lovely Indian woman from Tamil Nadu area. She spent 12 years in Spain to study and go to medical school. When she returned to India she knew she wanted to put some of her money towards helping those less fortunate than herself. She puts a lot of her own money towards children near her neighborhood that live in a slum. Unfortunately, girls here aren't as valued as their brothers who are sent off to school. They are often relegated to cooking and cleaning and many of the girls look after the family because the mother has had to go to work because the father is an alcoholic. Anyways, Dr. Josephine has taken 60 girls of various ages under her wing to provide them with the basics of education in a makeshift school. Other than her own money, she often relies on generous donations (like yours) from foreigners or from anybody who is willing to help. She provides the essentials like backpacks, clothing, and toothbrushes. Very basic things. Things you and I probably take for granted. Recently I was invited to take part in a vaccination campaign to provide typhoid inoculations to people of the slum. Typhoid is a disease that is transmitted by the ingestion of food or water that has been contaminated by the feces of an infected person. Typically this is not a problem in the modern world where there are modern sanitation techniques. Here in India, sanitation is hard to come by. Men urinate wherever a dog can urinate...so that is everywhere. Typhoid causes a myriad of symptoms some of which include: gastroenteritis, fever, dehydration, and if left untreated can lead to intestinal hemorrhage and perforation. Modern day medicine can treat these symptoms but another thing these people lack is *surprise* lack of medical care. So basically it can be fatal.
But thanks to our friends and family we have prevented this from happening in at least 210 slum people that live in the Hauz Khas area of Delhi. All of them were children (only about a handful were screaming) and a few of their mothers....and even one very tall grandma! All of the vaccines were bought by our guests that donated money and I was able to administer the injections!!
Dr. Josephine, the kids and the moms, Glen and I all thank you for being so kind with your money. Thank you for helping us help others. Peace and love everyone!
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| Typhoid vaccine campaign |
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| The lovely Dr. Josephine |
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| Drawing up 210 vaccines |
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| My first victim ;-) |
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| The kids were so brave |
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| Screening |
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| More screening |
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| They got sweets after their jabs |
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| A very tall Grandma! |
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Ch-ch-ch-changes
My goodness there have been a lot of changes in cyberworld these days. Funny how much bitching people do when Facebook updates their website. It makes me realize that people don't like change unless they're consulted first. Hey people! It's a FREE service and it's OPTIONAL!! You don't HAVE to use it! Quit grumbling! I say this as much to you as I say it to myself as I caught myself bitching this morning when I wanted to make a post and noticed that this good old blogger website had finally updated some templates. I am not super computer savvy and wanted to personalize this blog a little more. I notice my friends are able to personalize their blogs but I'm a little more retarded than them I guess. I've tossed around the idea of using wordpress.com instead but I hear that is just as much of a pain and you really just have to navigate and figure it out no matter what site you use. Since I'm no pro at this I think I'll just stick to what I have going on here.
With that being said I'm hoping that the new design will inspire me to write more refreshing posts!
With that being said I'm hoping that the new design will inspire me to write more refreshing posts!
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