The day was supposed to commence at 9:30 am but we were still waiting for the driver who finally arrived at 10:15 (early by Indian standards) and we got back home at around 4:00 pm.
Our day involved visits to the following places:
• Kalyani Hospital
• School for the Deaf
• Anbagam Old Peoples Home
• Santhome Cathedral
• St Thomas Mount
It was a great day that focussed on the work that the Church of South India is involved in. We were treated with great respect and allowed to witness a lot of things at the hospital that we are sure would not be allowed in Australia - ie being present while a patient had a needle inserted in his eye to clear tear ducts, having access to their Intensive Care Unit, visiting the nursery ICU and seeing all the babies including one that had just been born, visiting the labour ward (fortunately empty at the time although that would probably have made no difference) and interrupted any amount of doctor/patient consultations where everyone stood up and was introduced. We played with the CT scan computer and I think they would probably have let us do a scan when they heard Gary was an IT specialist. Needless to say things are a tad laid-back here. Actually the equipment in this hospital was fairly modern – a lot donated by Germany hospitals and missionary societies. They are so proud of everything and to them it must seem wonderful but to us it was plain sad.
At the School for the Deaf
it was particularly heartbreaking talking to the principal as he shared his dreams for the place and then seeing the conditions that they work in and in particular visiting the hostel on the site where the boys and girls live. We would love our boys from BBC to see their accommodation – The children do the cleaning, their own washing and sleep on grass mats on cement floors. It makes the extremely hard mattress on our beds here look like feather doonas.
Here is a picture of the bath in the boy's quarters
We sat in class with some of the children. These are wonderful, committed teachers and the children are very responsive. They are taught to lip read English and Tamil and use sign language. The principal was particularly keen to see if he could arrange some teacher exchange to help his teachers.
We had lunch at the Old Peoples Home and talked to the staff and afterwards had a walk around when most of the occupants were having their afternoon sleeps. This was heart-breaking - four people to a very, very basic room with old iron beds from back in the ‘50s – no paint. These oldies look after themselves and are mostly unwanted by their families.
The Santholme Cathedral and St Thomas Mount hill are of particular religious significance to the people of India and it was good to hear the story of Thomas’ martyrdom and see various relics.
Our overall impression was the way the spirituality of the staff was lived out in their daily roles. We could not believe some of the conditions they worked in but their life of faith was evident in all they said and did.
This was especially evident at Kalyani Hospital which was celebrating its 100th anniversary. Our guide, Mary, who is one of the Training Supervisors and a tutor in their nursing school explained how they had devotions for all staff at the start of every day and on Sunday nights they have a Healing Service where patients and staff come for prayer and she told us of some miraculous healing that God has done - the Medical Superintendent and his wife actually pray for and anoint the people with oil. She even asked if we would pray for the hospital there and then. On the ward rounds we visited a 38 year old who was in a car accident and now a vegetable. She asked if we would pray for him as well and so we did.
It was a great day where our ideals and our faith were challenged at every turn.
Our day involved visits to the following places:
• Kalyani Hospital
• School for the Deaf
• Anbagam Old Peoples Home
• Santhome Cathedral
• St Thomas Mount
It was a great day that focussed on the work that the Church of South India is involved in. We were treated with great respect and allowed to witness a lot of things at the hospital that we are sure would not be allowed in Australia - ie being present while a patient had a needle inserted in his eye to clear tear ducts, having access to their Intensive Care Unit, visiting the nursery ICU and seeing all the babies including one that had just been born, visiting the labour ward (fortunately empty at the time although that would probably have made no difference) and interrupted any amount of doctor/patient consultations where everyone stood up and was introduced. We played with the CT scan computer and I think they would probably have let us do a scan when they heard Gary was an IT specialist. Needless to say things are a tad laid-back here. Actually the equipment in this hospital was fairly modern – a lot donated by Germany hospitals and missionary societies. They are so proud of everything and to them it must seem wonderful but to us it was plain sad.
At the School for the Deaf
it was particularly heartbreaking talking to the principal as he shared his dreams for the place and then seeing the conditions that they work in and in particular visiting the hostel on the site where the boys and girls live. We would love our boys from BBC to see their accommodation – The children do the cleaning, their own washing and sleep on grass mats on cement floors. It makes the extremely hard mattress on our beds here look like feather doonas.
Here is a picture of the bath in the boy's quarters
We sat in class with some of the children. These are wonderful, committed teachers and the children are very responsive. They are taught to lip read English and Tamil and use sign language. The principal was particularly keen to see if he could arrange some teacher exchange to help his teachers.
We had lunch at the Old Peoples Home and talked to the staff and afterwards had a walk around when most of the occupants were having their afternoon sleeps. This was heart-breaking - four people to a very, very basic room with old iron beds from back in the ‘50s – no paint. These oldies look after themselves and are mostly unwanted by their families.
The Santholme Cathedral and St Thomas Mount hill are of particular religious significance to the people of India and it was good to hear the story of Thomas’ martyrdom and see various relics.
Our overall impression was the way the spirituality of the staff was lived out in their daily roles. We could not believe some of the conditions they worked in but their life of faith was evident in all they said and did.
This was especially evident at Kalyani Hospital which was celebrating its 100th anniversary. Our guide, Mary, who is one of the Training Supervisors and a tutor in their nursing school explained how they had devotions for all staff at the start of every day and on Sunday nights they have a Healing Service where patients and staff come for prayer and she told us of some miraculous healing that God has done - the Medical Superintendent and his wife actually pray for and anoint the people with oil. She even asked if we would pray for the hospital there and then. On the ward rounds we visited a 38 year old who was in a car accident and now a vegetable. She asked if we would pray for him as well and so we did.
It was a great day where our ideals and our faith were challenged at every turn.
Sounds like you've had a very enlightening time. I too won't complain about my bed (or our traffic) any more.
ReplyDeletepeace and love