Health Exams for the Kids

This week, we have continued our work at the leprosy colonies and began to work with the kids more as they have come to school and need health check-ups, de-worming, anemia screening, delousing, etc. Today, we divided into two groups, and we did health check-ups on 200 kids! It was a lot of fun for me, and a refreshing change from our normal routine. We started out with the kindergarten-age kids and then worked our way up each standard (grade). The health exam consisted of height, weight, vitals, eye test, and head-to-toe assessment. It was fun to practice my nursing skills and interact with the kids one by one. It was an adventure, though- I actually found a small spider in one of the little girl’s ears! The little ones were so dang cute- some of them were afraid of us and afraid of what we were going to do- even the thermometer scared them. Since the physical exams were pretty harmless today, I am worried for how scared these children will be when we have to prick their finger for the anemia screening tomorrow. Hopefully they forgive us for what will probably be a traumatic experience. The older kids were a different story. They were interested in everything, and they wanted to touch everything. A few of the little boys kept flexing their arm as I was taking their blood pressure. The eye check-ups were hilarious with all of them because here in India they pronounce their letters with a Y in front. So, if they are saying M- it sounds like “Yem”. If they are saying X- it sounds like “Yex”. It was also pretty fun to see how well they remembered my name after only meeting them once! The only problem is that most of their names are so difficult to pronounce that I have a difficult time remembering so many names! –But I am working on it, and I am progressing. I really appreciate the nick-names that the kids have that are so much easier to say!

 At play time (recess) I learned how to play Cricket and then played with the kids on the playground. I found one of the boys that had a scraped knee that I had bandaged just earlier that day. His bandage had fallen off, so we decided it would be best to find my Neosporin and a band-aid. We became good friends. Next, another boy brought his little brother to me so that I could fix his new scrape. I soon became the playground nurse- which actually was a lot of fun!

We had a funny experience when we learned that it was one of the Indian nurse’s birthday- we began singing right away only to realize in the middle of the song that none of us knew her name! We laughed and laughed and then sang the song from the beginning with her name in mind (Sheeba) Today after all of the physical exams, we had a break and had some dinner. Next, we went to give them each a “de-worming” pill and then join them for the nightly reading time in the hostel. Julia and I read with a group of boys last night, and they told us that we should come back again tonight. They are ages 13-16, names: Satish, Subar, Muhan, Sakiash (many of these nicknames) and they are so funny. They don’t let us get much reading done, but they do love to talk. Last night we talked about the variety of foods- the funny thing was that all of their favorite foods were pizza (although it is so opposite from the rice and curry that they usually eat). Tonight they told us about all of the American movies that they liked to watch (X-men, Horton Hears a Whoo, Tangled. . . anything besides romance movies) They are pretty funny to interact with because sometimes their accent is so strong even when they are speaking English that it takes me some time to figure out what they are saying! They laugh at us because they probably think that we are so weird!! Julia and I left tonight laughing so hard that our stomachs were sore!

I have completely gotten tired of taking pictures which isn’t a good thing. I just am sick of it haha, so the pictures are fading. I wouldn’t be upset at all if someone just told me at the end that they had taken a bunch of pictures of our experiences and had me in them- nope- I wouldn't be upset at all!

It’s funny how it goes being gone for a month. A month doesn't seem long when I plan my trips, but after two weeks of the trip I begin to realize that I still have two more weeks! It is so enjoyable, but I definitely miss Tyler and get anxious to see him and talk to my parents on their mission. I also have a bit of anxiety to go home only because I know that I am just going home to say goodbye to my family all over again so that I can move to TN. It is painful for me to even think about right now. The good thing is that I really am so excited to be with Tyler in our new home that we will be BUYING. That’s pretty dang exciting. It will probably be a roller coaster of emotions- just like this trip and will probably include an excited stage, a realization stage, a mourning stage, and then finally acceptance. Haha- not to be depressing, but change is crazy, and I have a pretty crazy year just full of changes.