Jim speaking, Anand translating
Rev. Dhanapal on the endMeal passed out at the end of health camp.
Just Nate & I have not been sick as yet; Dr. Jim was sick today, but managed to give his presentation anyway. Today in health camp we covered: Prenatal Care basics-Dana; Eating in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding-me; Arthritis/Joint Pain-Dr. Jim; Diabetes-Dr. Jim; Diabetic diet-me; Stages of pregnancy-Dr. Jim & me. Did high blood pressure screenings again today, which were more normal with the younger (& thinner) population. Determined that the normal BMI for here seems to be ~18-19; very thin population overall, with a few overweight in the older population. I had some more questions on whether or not root vegetables should be avoided. I asked Dana to ask Dr. Mohan (spelling?) if the medical doctors here advised people to avoid root vegetables and thankfully found out that they do not. It seems that this may be coming from another type of doctor that the people may be seeing, maybe an aryuvedic doctor, tho in my research, that did not come up. So who knows? At least I was able to tell them that medically/scientifically, there was no basis to avoid root vegetables.
Rev. Dhanapal brought an electric fan today, for which I thanked him profusely. It has been very hot! I really appreciate how the women can comfortably wear long skirts and a scarf/shawl all the time, because I was very hot (& for those that know me, that is very unusual!) Free meals were given to everyone who came to the health camps each day. The meal consisted of rice and sambar, wrapped in a banana leaf (which serves as the plate), and wrapped in newspaper to keep it warm until it could be passed out. Looked and smelled very good.
All of the people here are very giving. A little boy ran up to the bus as we were leaving health camp yesterday & wanted me to have a seedpod of something. I have no idea what it is, but he was determined that I should have this.
Nate, Grace's husband, Grace, and helper.
After we got home today, Grace's flower cart was delivered. Our micro-enterprise team (Nate & John) helped Grace figure out her finances & put a plan together to help buy the flower cart, so that she could pay off her debt for her daughter's wedding. Earlier in the blog, there was a picture of Lydia and the rope-making device that we helped her buy for her business. Lydia's husband had committed suicide a few months ago, & left her with 2 children to support. The suicide rate is evidently quite high here. We also helped a couple of women get some goats to raise, and helped Pastor Suresh plan/start a tea/coffee shop, which he hopes to have his family run, so that he can devote all of his time to ministry.
Nate, John, Pastor Suresh and the tea shop.
Tonight, we were honored guests at Rev. Dhanapal's Celebration ceremony. The ceremony was very impressive, held in the street in the middle of the village. Watched a man shimmy up a telephone pole to tap into the electrical power when the electricity failed--amazing! Dr. Jim gave the message. A very good crowd, maybe ~100 in attendance. Hopefully some in the crowd will be moved to come to Rev. Dhanapal's church and learn more about the love and saving grace of Christ, that God exists whether or not we choose to believe in Him.
Celebration Ceremony
No comments:
Post a Comment