Today is thursday.
You can definitely see a relationship between the environment and the health of the children. The schools we visited on tuesday had children with the worst health of the ones we have seen thus far. On all other visits, the streets and air were clean, there were people out working and greeting us as we walked by. On tuesday the visit consisted of a long walk stepping over cow pies, swatting off bugs, and holding our breath due to the lingering smell.
But today we got to check the kids' pulses, and listened to their hearts and lungs. They were all really calm which made this a pretty simple task.
Today we saw two different schools. Nothing too exciting. But afterward we went to the orphanage. This place was AMAZING! It was absolutely gorgeous. All of the children were healthy and happy and spoke english so well. They had regular scheduled classes and the kids were all really obedient and polite. We all really loved it there. We were expecting a really depressing experience. I got some great pictures of the kids being silly.
Afterward we worked on some more TB mapping, had class, dinner, and then our first Hindi lesson :) We all needed that pretty badly. The children here speak english really well because they are taught in english at school. The adults are the ones that don't speak it so well.
Yesterday my group went out into the community and visited 2 schools. The doctors let us check vitals of the kids which was really cool cause I've never done that before, although most of the other students have because they're pre-med. Each school only had 3-4 children when we showed up and they were very quiet and reserved. Several of the children had ringworm. You could see red patches on their cheeks. The doctors also looked at the whites of their eyes and could see that many were also anemic. Apparently many children in India only have 1 to 2 meals a day and usually those meals are provided by the school. I think that probably correlates with how relaxed they are in comparison to American children who eat a lot of carbs and sugar throughout the day.
You can definitely see a relationship between the environment and the health of the children. The schools we visited on tuesday had children with the worst health of the ones we have seen thus far. On all other visits, the streets and air were clean, there were people out working and greeting us as we walked by. On tuesday the visit consisted of a long walk stepping over cow pies, swatting off bugs, and holding our breath due to the lingering smell.
But today we got to check the kids' pulses, and listened to their hearts and lungs. They were all really calm which made this a pretty simple task.
It rained a lot which sucked cause there was a lot of walking to get to the schools.
After the second school though, one of the mothers invited us back for chai and, SO WEIRD, her husband is the guide we had for our trek! He showed up half way through us having chai. We are planning another trek to a hot spring and he said he would take us.
After class we went out to a place on the main strip called Chopsticks. I have to admit, even I am getting sick of the Indian food :/ So we all ordered a crazy amount of chinese. The whole table was covered with bowls of all different foods. It was really exciting! Afterward we went to Dylan's in old Manali to get freshly baked cookies (I just tagged along since I couldn't enjoy one) It poured the whole time. When we got to Dylan's we met a man who was backpacking from Israel. He told us funny stories about his travels and all the people he had met. I love how friendly everyone is. You can just sit down and talk to a stranger for hours.
Afterward we worked on some more TB mapping, had class, dinner, and then our first Hindi lesson :) We all needed that pretty badly. The children here speak english really well because they are taught in english at school. The adults are the ones that don't speak it so well.
Emily, Christine, and I just got back from a cookie hunt/shopping excursion. It was really fun but the streets are insanely busy right now. And there were a lot of cows out..
and a few yaks. Still trying to get used to that.
Oh, and yesterday while I was walking to the first school, I tripped over a rock going down a hill and snapped my sandal. So out of desperation I put a hair tie around my shoe and foot. Stylish.
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