An Ugly Sunday

So this Sunday was not nearly as uplifting as last Sunday...

I woke up late with only 15 minutes to catch my normal bus to the Kalighat clinic so I decided to stay behind and just catch another. I asked the next bus to come along if it was going my direction and he said yes... so I got on. Turns out, I ended up way out in a slum on the outskirts of Kolkata... and just in case you were wondering, slums in Kolkata are not the friendliest of places to end up.

After many rocky, broken-English conversations with the locals, FOUR bus rides, and spending 15 extra rupees on bus fares I finally made it to work... an hour and a half late. As if that wasn't a bad enough way to start the day, things just continued to slid downhill from there...

When I arrived I was just in time to grab a stretcher and help my Irish friend Ciara carry in a new patient. Earlier that morning, Meredith had found the man on a platform at a train station. He was off in a dark corner and had obviously been put there and left for dead by someone (probably the police). When she found him he was very weak, having trouble breathing, and laying in a pool of his own blood.

While in the taxi, en route to Kalighat, the man stopped breathing and died. As I learned that day, the practice here is to clean the body in a way that honors the deceased person and then dispose of their body in a respectable humane fashion. I had to bring him into the showers and remove his clothes to wash his body.

What I saw next was easily the most horrible wound I've ever seen in my entire life! He had two very large bloody wounds, one on each ankle. Each one was teeming with more maggots than I'd of ever thought possible! From a distance it was like a swarm of movement on each leg... And the smell... oh my God! By writing this, I'm not trying to gross you out, I just want you to know how bad it really was. I very nearly lost my composure. In fact, I'm not sure how i didn't. If I'd of had time to eat breakfast that morning I would've lost it for sure.

As we rinsed off his body I just kept trying to pull myself together and the thought kept crossing my mind, "I have absolutely no training to handle stuff like this." I really had no idea what I was doing AND there was no one that spoke English there to help me figure the whole mess out! I think it's safe to say doctors and paramedics in the U.S. never see shit like this! Maybe homicide investigators do... but rarely.

With my right thumb, I reached down and closed his eyes. After cleaning his body we wrapped him neatly in beautiful white linen and placed him in the morg room to be cremated later. On the way into the morg there's a sign that reads, "I'm on my way to Heaven" and as you're leaving there's one that reads, "Thanks for helping me get there."

That night when I laid down to go to sleep I couldn't get that man's face or mangled body out of my mind. Meredith couldn't either... We were both filled with anger and disgust at the apparent indifference and numbness of the locals towards the plight of a suffering and dying fellowman. This is something that I grew to understand a bit better as I learned more about India and how things are here.

We thought about how scared and painful that man's last few weeks must have been. What it would feel like to be laying there horribly wounded and dying and to have people only walking around you and staring, but nobody stopping to help you!

How screwed up is it that no one stopped to help this man sooner? He must have had those wounds for several days. Poor guy...

Ever sense yesterday afternoon I've had a low-grade fever and just generally feel like crap. Your prayers and the sending of healing energy would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Love Jeremiah

Things I’ve observed

Here in India:

There is one main type of car. It's diesel, old-fashioned looking, and apparently only comes in taxi yellow, gray, or white. Everyone drives one. The police, the press, normal people, taxis, everyone...

Everywhere you go there are men holding hands. It's a very common site to see two men walking down the street holding hands here...

There are swastikas everywhere. On cars, the sides of building, temples, all over. They mean something different here, but it's still a bit odd for me.

If you make a purchase and they are short a few cents making change for you they will just give you some sweets or something from next to the register.

Be wary of anything on the menu referred to as "hot" or "spicy".

All movies at a theater start at 6pm.

There are two types of beer (kingfisher and black label) and they both suck.

Bikes can move mountains. Seriously, the loads I've seen some of these guys pulling with their bikes (with no gears) puts pedicabbing to shame. (I will post pics)

Autorickshaw drivers are all crazy.

Not honking your car horn constantly appears to be illegal.

The older men all dye their beards and hair red! (kind of cool)

The sacramental "drink" offered to you in any Hindi temple is probably water from the Ganges and will make you sick.

The ceiling fans are amazing (seriously, you could propel jets with these things).

That's all... just a few observations.

Sunday Mornings at Kalighat

So today was Sunday morning at Kalighat which is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. Why? Because the sisters I work with have Sunday morning mass at the Kalighat house for the destitute and dying… Indian style! Sunday mornings are always interesting, but today so much happened it was like a Sunday morning on crack!

But first, a few quick pre-mass stories.

First, what I'm about to describe to you is a type of wound I've heard legends about for weeks… and today was my first time to personally witness one. There actually was a man with a hole in the top of his head ¾ the size of a tennis ball!!! Insane… And he was still alive! One of the sisters was picking, brace yourself for this one, maggots out of the wound cavity!!! Oh my God. What's crazy is that we get patients like this several times a month. Just what are these poor people doing to themselves?!?

On another note, there's a young Indian man named Jonathan at Kalighat who is in for some serious burns on his chest. He's about 23, has a wife and two kids… one of which is only 6 months old. For a Bengali, his English is pretty good. He told me that a few months ago a large vat of boiling chai tea fell landing and spilling all over his chest. Until today, I had never seen his wound without them being covered by bandages. Oh my God! It spreads from his throat shoulder to shoulder and down to a few inches above his belly button… or at least were it used to be. It's crazy to look at. He has NO SKIN. No nipples. Just bare raw inner flesh. You can see all kinds of little blood vessels and stuff. Ouch!

Each day, they swap his old bandages out for new ones. Today he asked me if I could help the Nun turned nurse while she did his bandaging. He laid on his cot with his hands up over his head and I held them while he writhed at each touch of the sisters q-tips and gauze. The whole time he squeezed my hands and wailed, "help me Jesus, help me Jesus, I trust you Jesus, I trust you Jesus" over and over pausing only for short breaths in between. I did my best to pray for his comfort and healing as she dressed his wound, but I must admit, being that close to something so insanely traumatic, I couldn't concentrate enough to get out more than a pathetic, "Help him God, God help him!"

Apparently, he thought I did alright though because as we were finishing and putting away our bandaging tools he asked the nurse if I can be the one that helps him every day. Wow! What an honor.

Now on to mass:

Today was quite a unique experience because it is the last day of Durga Puja here in Kolkata. That is a festival that celebrates the Hindu goddess Kali, the goddess of death and destruction (BTW the Kali temple is immediately next door to the house for the destitute and dying where I volunteer). Weird huh? Anyway today while sitting in the calm of mass I could hear a beautiful cacophony of noises in the background. There were crows crowing, bells were ringing, drums beating, the catholics reading their Apostle's creed, and beautiful Hindi music wafting in through the open windows. I looked out across the room and saw nuns and volunteers from all over the world here to serve the poorest of the poor. China, Korea, all parts of India, Japan, the UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, the USA, and lastly (Heh heh... sorry guys) Canada. It was total sensory overload…

While most of the patients at Kalighat are grown men, we do have one young boy (about age 10) who suffers from leporisy. He no longer has use of his legs. During the service he sat next to me and held my hand. Awwh… Anyway, strangely he studied my hand with fascination for several minutes (probably because he's never seen a white person's hand up close). Later as I stood next to him while singing, I felt a sharp pain on my foot. I looked down to find he'd ripped a scab of the top of my foot. Ouch Lil' bugger! Heh heh…

You will never guess what happened next! Just when you think nothing more could happen on an already jam packed day... just as the old Italian priest was about to give the Lord's supper his words started to slur and his head dropped. Next he slumped over, falling, hit his head on the microphone, and collapsed to the ground! Everyone rushed the stage and since the nuns couldn't lift him, one of the brothers and I lifted him onto a chair. He immediately came to, but was a bit dazed. Having many nurses on hand, they questioned him about how he felt and then, despite the protests of the nurses, the priest CONTINUED on with the service! Later we learned that he had been very sick for the last several days and had a prior heart condition. Hmm… better get that checked buddy.

Anyway, I could go on and on about all that I saw and the several Buddhist monasteries I visited in Darjeeling, or how I got a third eye mark on my forehead at a Hindi puja temple, or all the crazy scam artists I've encountered here, but I must get going soon. Maybe next time...

I love and miss you all. Hope to see you all so soon...

Jeremiah

India grows on you...

So... if I tried to catch you up on all that has happened since my last post it would not be possible. Sorry. But, I'll do my best to hit some high points.

Volunteering at Kalighat has gotten much easier as time has passed. I'm no longer in shock from all that I've seen. It's actually one of the best jobs I've ever done. By that I mean, I go home each day satisfied that I've actively helped others. The thought of going home and working a "normal" job where I'm just working to support myself financially seems weird to me now. Sorry, but it just does... I've gotten to know several of the patients fairly well (language barrier permitting) and each morning when I arrive for my shift I spend several minutes doing my rounds and saying hellos to all. It's very fun!

We lost another patient the other day, an old man who had severe burns on the bottoms of both of his feet (I never did get a straight story on what happened). Earlier that day I found him face down on the floor, he had fallen off of his cot. Poor guy. I hate to say it, but it's almost a relief that he's passed, he was in SO MUCH pain every day. He had been refusing to eat for the last several days and would wail with pain each time we changed his bandages.

The other day Ramadan ended with the celebration of Eid. In Kolkata, I live in a primarily Muslim neighborhood. It was a great change from the normal busy sweltering days of Kolkata. Many of the businesses were closed, the street were strung with festive lights, and people were partying in the streets. Meredith and I got cornered by a rather rowdy group of celebrators and they made us dance with them for a while. They were playing this crazy Indian techno. So... there we were... dancing and celebrating Eid with a bunch of Muslim people partying in the streets of Kolkata. Crazy huh? I thought so.

Meredith and I are currently taking a few days off for a little R & R with a trip to Darjeeling, India (quite possibly the most beautiful place I've ever seen!!!). Tomorrow we are going on a short 2 day trek into Nepal. I'm so excited! Seriously, I cannot rave enough about the beauty of this place. There are Buddhist monasteries everywhere, amazingly scenic Himalayan mountain backdrops, and fir trees and ferns that put America's Great Northwest to shame. No joke. I now want to live here! Hmm...

Anyway, I cannot tell you how much I am loving the people of India. They are so hospitable. Everywhere I go people open doors for us, offer us special seats, go the extra mile... it's really amazing. I'm sure there are many other stories I could tell, but I've got to get to bed soon to wake up for my trek!

Love, Jeremiah

India so far

I may not have much time, so I'm just going to jump right in rather than sharing the many details I probably could.

Kolkata is chaos. It certainly has some beautiful parts like the produce markets, the flower market, the Victoria Memorial, and the Howrah Bridge to name a few, but it is still chaos. Practically anarchy. Going for a stroll through the neighborhood is exhausting and potentially deadly since you are constantly having to dodge crazy cab drivers, rickshaws, buses, and pedicabs. They will just run right over you... and they don't care.

For volunteer work I chose to work at Kalighat, the original house for the destitute and dying. It's intense. On my first day there, I helped clean up and change an old man who'd peed himself as he lay on his cot. I could tell he had a bad fever and his eyes were rolling back. He didn't make it more than a few hours longer. Primarily at Kalighat, we care for people with leporisy, injuries sustained out on the street that have become horribly infected, and all kinds of other gnarly life threatening wounds.

I must admit that after my first day here, I got really scared. Scared that I wouldn't make it here. Scared that I was in over my head. Afraid I wouldn't last. That night I prayed for God to change me, work on my heart, allow me to see these people through his eyes and to give me the strength to handle what I could only see as gross. What happened next blew me away...

The next day at Kalighat I started cutting the fingernails and toenails of all the male patients. If you have ever seen what leporisy can do to a hand or foot let me tell you, it is not pretty. There was a patient there named Cedric who had recently suffered a stoke and as I was cutting the second patients fingernails he spoke to me in English (one of the few who can). It was like he was channeling God's voice straight to me. He began to speak about how great it is to work for the poorest of the poor, to be around their beautiful spirits, to serve someone who has nothing and has never been served himself. How each little act I did to them was actually being done to God itself. Needless to say, this changed my approach to the simple task of cutting their nails. I started to take time with each one of them, hold their hands, and pray over a few of them, etc. It was awesome!

The interesting thing about leporisy is that it affects the body, but not the mind. That means inside each mangled, barely functioning body is a totally coherent, sentient person aware of his or her predicament (and the fact that they were once not like this). At Kalighat there is a young man about my age with leporisy and when I interact with him I can see the intense frustration in his eyes. He can barely control the movements of what is left of his arms and legs. I can tell he just wants to be normal again. To walk around, hang out with friends, chase after cute girls, etc. It especially sucks because he has so much life left ahead of him and now he will always need someone else's help to get by. When I looked over and saw the anger and sorrow in his eyes... my heart broke. And it hasn't stopped.

I had prayed for God to change my heart, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Each day now I grow closer to the patients I work with and it just keeps getting easier and better. I'm not saying it isn't disgusting cleaning up after a grown man who just crapped his pants (several times daily), but even that isn't so hard anymore when you can view them and their situation with compassion.

I give all the credit to God. If he hadn't of helped me I probably would have freaked out and left by now. I knew going into this that this would be intense, but holy cow, this is beyond intense!

On a lighter note, the food here is incredible! I look forward to eating here each day. Somosas, Malai Kofta, Vegetable Spring Rolls, Tibetan Bread with honey, Vegetable Curry on rice, fresh Mango juice, Nan bread, I could go on like this forever. It's awesome...

Anyway, for those of you wondering how things have been there's a small update. I hope you all keep up with me while I'm away, it's really excited to get messages from friends back home. Hint, hint...

I love you all!

Take care.

Jeremiah