spending some time in Vandelor - 7.6

I joined the medical team today at Vandelor, a colony of patients and their families near the school. It was very similar to other times that I have gone – we have a blood pressure station, a medicine station, a “check-up” station where they talk with Dr. Susan and get all of their paper work filled out, and a feet washing, oiling, and bandaging station.
I want so much to talk to these people in their own language. Sometimes there will be someone who knows both Tamil and English, but more often than not, you have to find other ways to communicate. There was an older man who came in today for a checkup and to have his feet cleaned and redressed. He saw that I had a camera and anxiously pointed to me and then to him over and over, apparently wanting a picture. He would be smiling really big before the picture, and then he would stop smiling for the picture. I kept saying no! and would make a smile with my fingers pointing at the corners of my mouth and point for him to do it. For some reason he thought this was really funny so he would do it back with his hands and laugh and show all of the patients and make them do it. Soon enough, there was a small group of patients sitting in line to talk to Dr. Susan and they were all grinning from ear to ear! That was probably one of my favorite parts of today…


*"Grandpa" with his grandchildren and daughter :) - he was so proud of his grandchildren and kept asking for us to take more and more pictures of them






So many people are just looking for someone to talk to. They just want to know that someone cares and knows how they feel… a friend. For example, as we were beginning to clean up all of our supplies and load up a bus, there was a lady standing outside by the building. I just went up and introduced myself and was trying to get her to tell me her name… I don’t think that she quite understood though. After only a minute I could see that she had tears welling up in her eyes and she started talking very fast in Tamil. I could not understand a word that she was saying, but from her hand gestures thought that she was saying that she and her four children were hungry. She continued to cry and would lay her head on my shoulder just sobbing. I finally got one of the other patients that I had worked with earlier to translate for us. She told me how her husband had just been taken to the hospital about a week ago and had been diagnosed with leprosy. They have four little children that were at school at the time, but she was not sure how her husband was going to support the family any more. We just sat there and hugged and I told her that I would keep her and her family in my prayers. That was all that I could do. They had packed up the bus and were ready to go. I said my goodbyes and hugged her one last time. I wish that there was more that I could give to her and her family, but you have to focus on what you can give and then give all of that.
*My friend waving goodbye through the bus window :)


Their lives reap humility. Everything about their lives makes them focus on God and for the most part, that is how all of the patients that I have worked with have been- they have been and are suffering through many things, but they still have a beautiful way of finding joy and praising God. They are a great example to all of us of how we should be. (just a side note, every patient that I have met follows Hinduisim, but what is interesting is that they will pray to God, our God, and praise Jesus… so they believe in Jesus as well!).