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BLOCK 1
Our plane just
touched down and it’s 5:30am. The heat and humidity are
intense and I find it hard to breathe. No matter how
much I prepare myself for these kind of conditions, it
seems that every fiber of my body forgets what it was
like the time before, and it’s a surprise every time.
The second half
of my 11 hour flight between London and Calcutta was
very turbulent, we were unable to find any kind of real
sleep because we were constantly being asked to put our
seats back up and to tie our seat belts. Therefore I was
truly exhausted when I arrived at the airport, but when
I saw my brother Joseph, patiently awaiting my arrival
with his usual friendly and warm smile, I couldn’t help
but feel a little bit of welcoming energy coming back
into me. Since we had arrived very early in the morning,
we were able to avoid the rush hour traffic and we made
it to Amtala in a little over one hour.
I don’t have
much of an appetite (one small meal per day and a snack
in the evening is sufficient). I know I must be
offending some of the people around me, but with this
suffocating and ever present heat, I am just not hungry.
For them it’s always an honor to prepare and serve food
to a guest. They always serve us first and they are
careful to pick the best pieces for us and they feel
content in this knowledge. I try my best to accept their
kindness and appreciate the food laid out for me. Before
I head out to sleep, Lily prepares a nice warm glass of
milk, in which she puts some liquid vitamins and serves
it to me with 2 cookies.
Tonight I made
it into bed for 21:30, my first two days have really
drained me. As I get ready to lay down, a large insect
scurries along the side of my luggage….Well I guess I’ll
be sharing my sleeping quarters tonight, it doesn’t seem
to want to leave and I am much too exhausted to start
chasing after it.
No need for an
alarm clock to get me up in the morning, because at 3:45
am there is a bell that rings to announce to the
villagers that it’s time to get up and say the morning
prayers as is Muslim tradition, they give thanks to the
Lord for his protection during the night and to ask for
his blessing for the day to come.
The days are
still un-relentlessly hot, Joseph explains to me that it
is abnormally hot this year, even the people from the
surrounding area are having problems adapting because
the heat came suddenly instead of gradually like in the
years past, so they haven’t been able to slowly
acclimate their bodies.
What
makes things even more difficult is that we are
experiencing planned black outs because of certain
economic factors. They usually occur in the afternoon or
in the evenings and sometimes in the middle of the
night. I must plan the use of my laptop, the charging of
my batteries for my digital camera and the use of the
ventilator that is in my room. I find it difficult but
at the same time it makes me conscious of how lucky and
how much we take it as a given that we will have
electricity available whenever we need in Canada.
For me Saturday
was my first ASHABARI clinic since my arrival. From week
to week I will tell you of the different patients we
meet and how we can truly impact another human being
life.
The first case
that I want to tell you about is a sweet little girl who
is 9 years old, her name is Shoripa, and she suffered
multiple burns on her neck and chest. The skillet that
her mother was using to cook some « Chapitas » tipped
over spilled onto her which made her clothes catch fire.
Part of the money we have collected in 2006 permitted
her to receive the necessary skin grafts to help her,
Every day she comes to the center to do the exercises
required to improve the flexibility of her neck and arms.
BLOCK 2
I never thought
I would one day be looking forward to the rainy season.
The heat is oppressive and suffocating. I am pretty much
confined to staying in Amtala because the trip to
Calcutta and back would take 4 hours by bus and with
this heat it is dangerous to suffer a heat stroke. I
tried it earlier this week and it took me two days to
recover. Let me describe what that trip entailed : It
was 2 hours inside an overcrowded bus that contains
twice as many passengers then it is conceived for. No
matter if we are standing or sitting down it is
completely exhausting. You must imagine standing in
this continually jarring bus ride with all these people
pressing against you on every side. The heat makes
everyone perspire but since we are all so closely packed
together it is very hard to get any sort of personal
space in order to stretch or change positions. You
would think that if you were sitting in one of the seats
it would be much better, you are quite mistaken because
when you are sitting down, all the passengers that are
standing will deposit their belongings on you, if they
don’t do this, they cannot stand solidly and keep
balanced with the movement of the bus and an injury is
sure to occur. You must experience first hand a bus
ride in India to appreciate what I am trying to relate
in this description. Just imagine sitting on a bus seat
with too many people per seat, having everyone around
you deposit their luggage on, and around you, people
standing inches away from your face so that it blocks
any kind of fresh air from reaching your nostrils. Well
when we finally arrive at our destination after 2 hours,
my body is aching from every muscle from trying to keep
myself balanced because of the constant jarring and
movement of the bus, and the ever present extreme heat
and the lack of fresh air, makes me feel completely
drained of all my energy, and you know what?…. the day
has only begun. I know full well that at the end of my
day I will need to do the same trip back. I must really
find a foothold in Calcutta so that I can spend some
time in each place without having to make this
exhausting trip every time between Amtala and Calcutta.
This week
Joseph and I were supposed to go search and buy a
suitable piece of land for the refuge that we want to
build. Unfortunately we will need to postpone everything
because Joseph is sick. He seems to have gotten infected
by some virus that we think a small girl brought with
her when she visited the clinic on Saturday. Just like
her, he has a high fever and a deep cough. He has been
bedridden all day and his wife Lily who is a nurse takes
good care of him. Life is so different here, we have
absolutely no control over our time schedule, it really
is the temperature and our immune system that dictate
what we can or cannot accomplish on any given day.
Since I
couldn’t do much here to make my projects advance, I
decided to go to Calcutta, and so I left very early this
morning, around 6am. The trip was not all that bad, if
you exclude the accident we had with a rickshaw scooter
going from Zoradocan to Amtala, The roads being
extremely narrow and with the extreme heat, people’s
patience were very thin, and you get the impression
everyone is in a survival instinct frame of mind, even
when they are driving. It is so narrow that many times
vehicles pass so close to each other that the mirrors or
handles scratch the other ve hicles
close to them. This
 morning
we were lucky, there were only three of us seated in the
back seat of the rickshaw, sometimes we are 4 or 5. The
only thing I remember seeing is the huge front bumper of
a transport truck, bearing down on us as I looked to the
right side of the rickshaw, I barely had time to move my
body to the left and pull my shoulder in, then the
truck’s front end passed inches away from my head and
ripped the top of the rickshaw. At that point everyone
left their vehicles and the two drivers started arguing
for about 15 minutes. You can well imagine the
agitation, the accusing words of incompetence between
them. Finally the crowd that has gathered around us,
gave reason to the rickshaw driver and we were now on
our way again with a newly ripped « sunroof ». The
rickshaw driver has to absorb the damages and the truck
driver is considered incompetent by everyone, and it’s
considered history and everyone goes back to their
routines. We finally arrived in Calcutta at 8:30am. I
went to do my errands on foot, all the time having the
heat and humidity stealing what little energy I had left.
It’s always
surprising to see so much poverty in Calcutta, people
living on the streets and under overpasses and bridges.
These humans are forced to live like animals, sleeping
directly on the hard ground. You can see the fleas
jumping in their hair because there are so many of them,
let’s not forget the fleas on their bodies and the scabs
that have formed on their skin, that they continually
pick and scratch to alleviate the itching. These kinds
of conditions are inhumane.
When I see so
many people suffering these kinds of conditions on a
daily basis, I find my little 1-1/2 room apartment to be
like paradise, I have the utmost respect and admiration
for their courage to endure these difficult conditions,
they deserve all the help we can give them.
BLOCK 3
Now that Joseph is feeling better, we were able to visit
a few pieces of land. He his eye on one in particular,
it’s only about 1 kilometer from here, and he is sure it
would be perfect to build the women’s refuge.
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It is far enough removed from the small road in
order to avoid infecting the nearby villagers if
ever there was an epidemic outbreak.
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It is close enough for him, to make it easy to
manage.
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The women will have more than enough room to move
around in the yard without being crowed together.
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There is enough land to allow us to expand the
refuge in the future if we desire.
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The only problem is that the level of the land is
too low compared to the surrounding area and it is
very muddy and clay based, we will need to raise the
height of the land and level everything before
starting. This means we will be unable to start
construction of the building itself during this
visit. We need to wait until the end of the rainy
season to allow the land to dry completely before we
can start filling and leveling the land, and then
proceeding with the construction, this will take us
to February or March 2008.
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The advantage is the price, it is extremely low and
even with the filling and leveling of the land, it
will still be less expensive.
Joseph has assured me that he will personally take
pictures during all stages of the construction and he
will send us the pictures if I cannot be there myself in
February 2008. On our side we will send a newsletter to
all churches and schools who contributed to the fund
raising of this project, to show them the finished
project including pictures and descriptions.
Presently, Joseph is
negotiating the price of the land, and as soon as I have
some new informations, I will transmit them to you all.
Until then no pictures can be taken because we are
negotiating using the traditional customs in the area,
and by experience that means a long and hard negotiation.
On my side I am going to find a place to live in
Calcutta, so I can continue my work with the Sister’s
missionary of Charity (Mother Teresa’s congregation) on
a 3 day a week basis, after which I will come back to
Amtala, so I can continue working with Joseph on the
land and refuge (budgets, plans, etc) and make sure
everything is progressing as it should. At the same time
I will participate in the weekly Saturday clinic in
Ashabari, and I will keep you informed of what is going
on by using this diary.
This
week at the clinic of AshaBari, I met a man who has
epilepsy and unfortunately suffered a  seizure while
riding the workers train, which is always overloaded and
everyone hangs on as well as they can in order to make
the trip. When he suffered the seizure, he fell from the
train and landed across the tracks, and the train ran
over him, cutting off his two legs and part of his left
hand. He has been seeking refuge in the shelter for the
last year and Brother Das will try and find some
artificial limbs for him.
BLOCK 4
Everything went quite well last week at the Sister’s
place, even with all the changes that have happened.
Sister Peline who had been in charge of the Dying
Destitute of Mother Theresa for the past few years, was
transferred to Singapore last year. It is now Sister
Trislet who is replacing her. Many rules have been
changed since she has taken over, but overall we have
learned to cope and the work is just as interesting as
always. The sisters are now in charge of applying
bandages and giving out medication, which gives us more
time to spend with the patients and help the ones who
cannot feed themselves during the meals.
Many of these patients are without any family to help,
so just the fact that we hold their hands and listen is
of great comfort to them. I have also restarted to
practice my skills as a physiotherapist because many of
these patients are in dire need of exercise. All those
who have been in closed and cramped areas and have
passed the majority of their time bent over and resting
on their heels, are no longer able to completely stretch
their legs. We must therefore massage their legs and
slowly stretch them out until they can regain their full
range of motion, we then help them to stand up and start
to walk around and strengthen their muscles. The goal
here is to encourage them to return to a normal routine
of life. Mostly because of the pain, they lack the
self-motivation to exercise by themselves, but with us
there encouraging them; they are making some wonderful
progress.
We presently have a lot more men then women in Kalighat.
There are many varied cases here, such as burns, severe
injuries to feet and hands, malaria, gout, high fevers,
flu, pneumonia, asthma, cancer, skin cancer, boils,
dehydration, etc….
The only volunteer nurse on staff in Kalighat is Theresa
Volpato, she has been working with the Sisters 9 months
out of every year, for the last few years, she takes
care of some of the bandages needed by the men, I
followed her and offered any assistance as best I could.
She is an excellent and gentle hearted woman, in whom
you can feel the teachings of Mother Teresa and her
principals of working with love in your heart and in
your actions. I have much admiration for this simple
and honest woman who gives so much of herself to help
others who live in poverty in Calcutta.
This week on Wednesday the monsoons started, they
arrived about one week later than usual; they should
have started around the 8th of this month.
Starting at dawn it was as dark as if we were in the
middle of the night. The constant lightning was a
beautiful sight but the accompanying thunder was very
loud and frightening, The rain poured out of the sky,
so much so that within the first hour 10 inches had
accumulated, but luckily it calmed down and it
accumulated much more slowly around us. As I made my way
along the AJC Bose Road, I had water up to my knees and
the people and animals that I met along the way were
completely drenched and shivering from the cold, I
immediately went to the small market that was nearby to
buy some towels and I distributed these with some hot
tea to those who needed.
Here in Calcutta, when the rains come, everyone tries to
shelter themselves as best they can, but when it comes
down very hard, no one stands a chance because of the
drastic temperature drop in the absence of the sun. If
the sky clears slightly during the day and the sun is
allowed to shine it’s warm rays, then most get a chance
to dry off and recover a bit of their bodily heat, but
if the sun stays hidden behind the storm clouds, then
the people stay wet and cold and then the chance of
catching pneumonia is almost assured.
Many of you have asked me if I have seen a difference
from year to year when I visit the region, one major
difference that I can see, is the cleanliness. In the
past, during the monsoons we could see waste and feces
floating on the roads when the water would accumulate.
This year I found it to be much cleaner, even thought
the water that accumulated was dirty there wasn’t an
enormous amount of waste and feces in the streets. This
will greatly help in controlling epidemic outbreaks
which are very common during the monsoon season.
BLOCK 5
Many
new patients have been brought to Kalighat this week,
one of them is a patient that
has
severe
burns to half of her face, her breasts, part of her left
shoulder and her right
shoulder to the tip of her fingers of
that arm.
I don’t know what
happened,
but the worst part for her is that she is still
conscious. From
her right arm parts of the flesh were peeling
and falling away as we led her to a bed. For now she
has been given some sedatives, and we have applied some
white cream, and all this has been covered with gauze
and a special kind of paper, it’s a technique that has
been developed for certain types of burns.
There are
also two women who have suffered some trauma to their
feet, which will probably lead to amputation, in both
cases you can clearly see parts of bones, tendons and
muscle which are no longer covered by any skin or flesh
on the top half of their feet.
There is this
one old woman who was brought in, who was starving, and
I was having a hard time keeping up and supplying her
with much needed food. She seems to have suffered a
stroke, because half of her body is no longer mobile.
She looked like a newly hatched chick, with her mouth
wide open, with almost no teeth left, so she chews
mostly on her gums and pretty much swallows what she
has, whole, and reopens her mouth quickly for the next
portion of food. I had to give her a second serving
because she was not filled with only the first one,
after which she drank a glass of water, and ate a few
pieces of mango and immediately felt asleep.
In the male ward, a young man
in his thirties, is lying on the bed and you can clearly
see he is missing all of his genitalia, no penis, no
scrotum and the region close to his rectum is still very
infected, and all around this area is an open wound.
Teresa tell me that when he arrived he was infested with
worms, and it is these worms that have done all this
damage.
 Still
in the men’s side, there are also quite a few that have
severe wounds to their feet, but they seem well underway
to recovery.
I can’t help
but admire all these people that are suffering greatly
but do not complain about their fate. Just having a
roof over their heads, food in their stomachs, and a
feeling of security that comes with having time to
recover fulfills them, and they suffer without a word.
Of course
when it’s time to clean and redo the bandages you see
some tears, grin and bear it attitude throughout the
painful procedure. Once the task is accomplished, you
will not hear any sort of complaints. Never does anyone
ask for their medication or food in advance, they
patiently wait for it to be given to them. They are
really survivors considering the fact that they do not
have the quantity and quality of food we have in North
America.
Living here,
makes me realize how lucky we are to have such a
quantity and variety of foods in our homes, here workers
eat without exception the same thing every day of every
week, contrary to us in North America, who eat for
pleasure; …they eat to survive….. Since my arrival the
menu has been the same, Rice, Potatoes, Eggs, Coconut
and some tea. Some are lucky and will have once a week
some fish or chicken, I am of course talking about the
average worker of Calcutta and not of the poor who live
in the streets or those who can afford a better life in
the more prosperous cities of India.
We are so
fortunate to live in such abundance in America.
Thank-you to all of you who have shared your abundance
this year with those less fortunate.
BLOCK 6
The monsoons are not stable this year, they come and go;
the temperature is constantly shifting from hot to cold,
and because of this we have had many electrical storms,
with some torrential rain falls and cyclones. The local
people tell us that it is abnormally hot for this time
of the year.
Because of the high temperatures, the airborne pollution
has trouble dissipating into the atmosphere and
therefore causes a greater concentration of pollutants,
which is already normally very high to start with. There
is so much smog in the air, that some days I feel a
burning sensation in my nostrils when I breathe.
Almost everyone here suffers from some form or other of
respiratory infection, mostly due to the infernal
temperatures. As for me, I have had a cold since my
arrival one month ago, but fortunately I don’t have any
fever.
There are many regions in the area that are presently
dealing with fever
outbreaks. Fever really
is our number 1 enemy; we have a terrible time trying to
control someone’s high fever when the outside
temperature is so hot.
Nowadays Kalighat has added another vocation to it’s
existing list, which already
included taking care of the dying and of the homeless,
they also take
care of patients who need treatment for asthma attacks
and for any fever or infections. These patients are
mostly poor workers who cannot afford both food and
medication in order to survive. Therefore the sisters
offer the medication without charge to those who need
it. Each morning the workers come by, to receive doses
of antibiotics until the infection and fever is
eliminated.
 The
work here with the sisters is as usual very enjoyable;
the newly
appointed sister in charge, Sister Tricelet puts a lot
of emphasis that we must all work with love and
compassion. Everyone in time has learned to cherish her
very authoritative and disciplined manners towards the
patients and the volunteers, because you realize that
it’s done to make everyone’s life
easier with the proper organization. This woman beams
with the love she carries with her in memory of Mother
Teresa, who herself helped so many of her brothers and
sisters in Calcutta and especially here in Kalighat
where she had her first home for those in need.
As for the pictures of Nirmal Hriday (Kalighat) I will
be able to share them with you only at the end of my
trip, because we respect a certain rule that no picture
may be taken without permission. We only get that
permission on the last day of our work here. I will take
as many
pictures as I can and will put them on the website.
 For
those of you, who have asked me include them in my
prayers, know that you are always part of my daily
prayers. It brings me strength to think about each one
of you and the efforts you have given to this cause. I
will also take a picture of Mother Teresa’s gravesite to
put on the website.
 To
all the young people who have contributed to the efforts
of the fund raising, your pictures
are creating quite and excitement. Everyone here wants
to know who you are and what your names are. They wish
they could personally meet you and give you their thanks.
If only you could see how
their faces light up with joy and the appreciative smile
that spreads along their lips when they finally get to
see a picture of all those that have put so much effort
to
make all the things being done to help them possible. A
thousand prayers and thank-you are sent your way from
each and everyone here.
BLOCK 7
One of the women that had a severe injury to her left
foot, had to have it amputated this week, it is
unimaginable that this was caused by a simple fall. This
woman comes from a small village, outside of Calcutta.
Her family being very poor and living in a small hut
with a floor made of bare earth they could not afford to
purchase the necessary disinfectants and bandages to
take care of the open wound on her foot. She did the
best she could and would go to the nearby creek in her
village to wash her wound. With the water being so
badly contaminated with all kinds of bacteria and waste,
it didn’t take much time before her wound was completely
infected and worms started to reproduce inside her open
wound. Several months later all the members of her
family searched in every place they could in order to
gather enough money to pay for a simple train ride to
Calcutta in hopes that she could be helped at Mother
Teresa’s refuge.
The mobile team found her close to « Horawh Station »
and they brought her to Kalighat, but unfortunately it
was too late because the infection was too deep and
severe to be able to save her foot. The physiotherapist
that works in Calcutta, has already prepared an exercise
chart to help reinforce her right leg and also to avoid
the atrophying of her left leg muscles. She has been
assigned to me until my departure to help her do her
exercises and help her recover the ability to walk. With
these exercises both her legs will be strong enough to
receive an artificial limb next year. The healing
process of the bone and skin around the amputation area,
usually takes about 9 months before it can support the
pressure from the artificial limb. These artificial
limbs are very rudimentary, just a wooden leg with some
straps.
  This
week I was washing some women in the water room, it is a
very crude and basic washing. The patient will sit or
lay down on a granite counter and beside them is a basin
filled with some cold water. We use a small hand held
bowl to take some water from the basin and we proceed to
pour this cold water on the heads of the patient. We
then take what looks like a pot scrubbing pad, although
not as rough and we scrub this pad on a soap bar and
then proceed to wash the patient including their hair.
We rinse using the same method and we dry them with what
is essentially a dish cloth. For the patients who have
a problem of incontinence we wrap a piece of cloth that
is no thicker than a dish cloth in the form of a diaper
and tie a knot in the middle and then we dress them.
For
the washing of the clothes, we use basins that are
approximately 4 feet in width by about 6 feet in length.
First, we soak the clothes in a basin in order to remove
any excrements. In an other basin, using a stick we
wash the clothes. We then transfer the clothes into a
shallow basin about 12 inches deep an 4 feet in length
where  we
stamp down the clothes with our feet. The clothes are
brought to a large basin for a first rinse and then into
a second basin for the final rinse. The last step, the
clothes are folded in half and wrapped around a wooden
bar and wrung to remove as much water as possible. The
clothes are put in a wicker basket and brought up to the
roof to be hung and dried.
BLOCK 8
The 3rd and 4th of July were excellent days for swimming
lessons. The rain started at 3am and didn’t let up until
late in the morning. When I left for work, I had water
over my ankles and when I came home at the end of the
day, I had water up to my thighs. It was the first time
in my life that I saw buses making waves like a boat.
Since the wheels of our bus were completely submerged
under the water, we barely had any braking power and
every time the driver would apply the brakes to let some
people off, the whole bus would vibrate beyond belief.
We could feel our whole body shake from the bottom of
our feet all the way to the top of our head. From inside
the bus it was sort of funny to see all this water
around us but when it came time to get off the bus, all
of a sudden it wasn’t so funny anymore. People walking
on the sidewalks had water up to the middle of their
thighs, but when our bus passed by, the waves  would move
the level of the water up to their privates, and many a
man let out a death cry when the water would come up
that high. I can tell you from personal experience that
it really seizes you when you unexpectedly get water to
that level. Not only is the coldness of the water
unpleasant but you also have to deal with the color of
the water which is certainly not clear spring water. For
the first time I saw the drivers of Calcutta driving
slowly. They didn’t have much choice with the buses
being so light in the water, causing them to have very
little control, they drove the buses very slowly and in
straight lines. Even then the buses ran all day. Some of
the roads were completely flooded and therefore closed,
for those that dared go onto those streets, they had
water up to their waists.
The Sisters were happy and relieved to see the
volunteers that had braved the storm to come in to work
and help them. Breakfasts those mornings were quite
simple and dry. Many deliveries were unable to make it
into town, including the bananas and other fresh
products. The patients received only 3 slices of bread
with butter only on the first slice in order to make
sure there would be enough for everyone, they would dip
the pieces of bread in their tea in order to make them
less dry.
The fact that we were so few to actually make it in to
work those morning, made the work that much more
strenuous, we needed to get the same tasks done but with
half the volunteers we usually have. The Sisters coming
from the main head quarters in Kalighat to help us, were
unable to make it in, because the driver did not show
up.
We worked very hard but the day was nonetheless pleasant,
everyone gave their all, and all were joyful in their
work. The few Sisters that were present and who live in
the building were laughing and joking with us, they
really have an extraordinary sense of humor.
When I finished my day and made it back to my room, I
hurriedly washed myself because I was very hungry and I
knew that I had one Mango fruit left from the night
before, I really felt privileged because no fresh fruit
deliveries had made it into the city because of the bad
weather.
Well to my great surprise, an uninvited guest had also
found himself quite lucky today, because when I went to
get the Mango I discovered it was almost completely
eaten, the rat that crawls around the dormitory at night
had ripped open the plastic bag and had enjoyed a stolen
meal for the day.
Lesson of the day, I mustn’t keep any food in the room
from now on, the only problem is that he doesn’t know
that, and he will always return to check for another
free meal.
BLOCK 9
This week the rainstorms haven’t been as intense, and it
really is a welcome change. I now have a much better
understanding why India’s population has so many skin
diseases, it is incredible what our skin endures with  these
kind of conditions, we go from a hot and humid day to a
rainy day, so our clothes never really get a chance to
dry out completely, we all smell like dead rats, a bit
like what your clothes smell if you forget them in the
washing machine for a while. We clean our clothes by
hand in a pot, which we leave soak for about one hour in
some water mixed with powdered soap, we then attempt to
remove the most dirt possible by scrubbing with our
hands (Long live the automatic clothes washer), we then
wring the clothes to remove as much water as possible,
and we then pass on to the rinsing of the clothes, we
empty the pot and refill it with clear water, it doesn’t
take long and the water is no longer clear, we then mix
everything for a few minutes, and we then wring the
clothes as best we can, and since we can’t hang our
clothes outside because of the constant rain, we hang
them inside and try to dry them, as much as possible,
and since we can never get our clothes to completely dry
because of the humidity and the constant rain, we will,
with time start having that particular dead rat smell.
When the sun finally comes out, it doesn’t get much
better, because even though we tried to remove as much
soap as we could from our clothes when we washed them ,
there is always some left in the fibers, and when we get
some hot and humid days, where the sun is shining we get
a very special chemical reaction between the soap
residue and our perspiration, this gives a perpetual
burning and itching sensation, if you want to make a
little fortune, come and install an automatic washer and
dryer next to the residences….
All joking aside, it’s a difficult situation, but we
have the good fortune of knowing it’s only temporary,
the people who live here don’t have that luxury, they
know they cannot escape this situation.
I have some news about the land purchase. We have
finally come to terms with the present landowner, I
don’t have all the details right now, but I will let you
know in the weeks to come. We must now make sure that
the land has a free and clear title and that there are
no leans against it, we must check in three different
regions (Amtala, Kolkata and Delhi). This should take
about a week and then if everything goes well we will
register the land and will receive the proper paperwork
I will let you know all the details as they occur.
My week with the Sisters was very nice in spite of
Sister Trislet’s absence, she was hospitalized at the
end of last week, with a high fever that she caught in
Kalighat (Mere Teresa’s dying house) I was told today
that she is getting better even though she is still very
sick, so, thank you to all who have included her in
their prayers.
Yesterday the 9th of July was a very somber day we lost
a patient in Kalighat. I stayed by her
bedside and she died at 13h30. She was a woman who
suffered from an advanced case of uterus cancer. She was
admitted last week, her cancer was generalized and she
was in extreme constant pain. when we arrived on Tuesday
morning she was lying in a huge pool of her blood, she
hadn’t called the « massy » (Indian woman) during the
night because she didn’t want to bother anyone.
That morning we washed her and put on a diaper (a real
one, like the ones we have in North America) in order to
absorb the blood she was loosing. She suffered
tremendously before she died. In the end she was unable
to swallow any kind of medication we tried to give her,
and when the nurse tried to give her the medication by
injection her veins had become so small and frail that
they would rupture every time she tried.
This has been a very hard, long and painful experience
for me, to accompany this woman to her death, but it was
even more so for her because she was conscious through
the constant pain, almost until the end.
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