Too Many Emotions to Count

It was an emotion packed day for me in many ways.  Our Scorpion group was assigned to medical today.  I have been looking forward to this but unsure of how I would react to seeing open wounds from the results of leprosy and whether I would be able to do all that was expected. To my relief, it turned out to be a success with only one low that happened today.  I will share that at the end of this post. 

  Everyday when medical goes out it is different.  Today we were fortunate enough to get to go to one of the boarding schools that care for the special needs children.  Some of these children were as old as forty and as young as five.  We went there to do physicals.  After I recorded their name and age we charted their height, weight and the doctor did a check up on each student.

  Special needs children are treated in many of the same ways as leprosy affected people as many are sent away and not wanted in their families.  It is unfortunate because I have always felt as I have worked with these children in school back at home as being some of the most innocent and special spirits sent from God.  We can learn so much from them.  Their unconditional love brings out the compassion in one's heart.  I feel they are sent here on earth not only to live a full life but to teach others how to have a zest for living, to love and to serve. 

This part of our day was a highlight. We sang with them, played with them and took pictures.  They love being filmed or photographed and seeing themselves afterward. What they enjoyed most though was being held or given the attention they crave so much.  I was impressed at how well cared for they looked.  The people in this school make sure they are clean, presentable and loved.  Our group was so good with these children.

We had one older special needs lady there named, Narobi.  She did not want anything to do with getting her physical done.  The teachers tried and couldn't get her to budge.  When Ray tried to get her  to come she yelled at him.  I decided to take it into my own hands.  I knelt down and looked into her eyes and spoke to her holding her hand and she responded to me.  I walked her through the check up, modeling what to do and encouraging her.  She completed it and I felt so proud of being able to reach her and work with her.  My team mates praised me and one of their teachers told me, in her quick way "Good".  

Our next destination was at a small leprosy colony to take care of six patients.  We had to test their blood sugar if they were diabetic, take their blood pressure (my job) and chart it.  After that we had to take care of the wounds on their feet.  We had to cut away and unwrap the foot and clip toenails.This is a hard job as the nails are imbedded and distorted. Savannah did a good job with this. Then the foot is washed and soaked. Stacy was very gentle. Then oil is applied to the foot. Quincy gave a good massage. Then the nurse trimmed the dead tissue off and Ray wrapped the leprosy affected feet. He was the expert wrapper.  Some of these cases were in the worst shape.  Kylie also take a picture of each foot to document the progression.  I did not take pictures as the environment felt too intimate and unfamiliar. I may get some later to show the set up of how it is done. The set up was pretty primitive. It was in the back of a small hut where one of the patients lives in. We set up a row of chairs on packed down dirt for the patients to sit on. In front of those chairs we had bowls and a stool for us to sit on.  The patients would rotate through the different chairs to get the different things done.  Everything brought in is sanitary but the location was not clean.  

Some of this can be very painful for them and some of it soothing.  The washing and oiling is very intimate and very soothing.  These are people that are shunned and untouchable in society.  They thrive on being touched and visited with.  A smile goes along way.  One man was joking with me a little.  I told him that Quincy was my daughter as she was oiling his feet. He made my day by saying that he thought she was my sister.  That day I found my new best friend.  The gratitude from these patients is so abundant.  Watching them take off their tiny, very worn, specially designed shoes and leg braces and seeing what they deal with daily moved me.  Even though they have open wounds, distorted limbs, difficulty seeing and hearing they manage to smile.  They live in dire circumstances yet will offer to you whatever they have.  It seems like those with so little are the most generous. This experience is creating change within myself.

The low for today was before we entered the special needs school.  As Quincy and I were walking in a short, very thin lady approached us and was clearly upset.  She was trying so hard to tell us of her troubles.  She was raising her hands to the sky and pleading.  We could not answer her as she spoke to us in Tamil.  I felt so helpless as I couldn't cheer her up with my words.  All we could do is hold her and hug her while she weeped.  The language barrier is frustrating as you want to communicate and help them.  The only way I can somehow feel better about this is if I make my body language clear and show empathy for that person.  I can't imagine what her trouble must have been.  I could only guess.  I just hope she understood that we cared.