I had a feeling that I could be someone...

"India is a place where a Jet and Bullock cart can travel together and not have an accident." This is how Dr. Ramasamy opened his lecture on children's preventative health today. He talked about the importance of vaccines and education on health in general. Someone asked if he got frustrated by people who didn't want to vaccinate their child because of the suspected health risks. His response was that he did not get frustrated instead you would try to find out what they had problems with and address those issues to try to convince them. He was not only a brilliant man but also a fun speaker. He was the first to open a pediatric clinic in Coimbatore. It was pretty amazing.

The other very inspiring person at Shanti Ashram is the director. She is an amazing person, and very humble about it all. She went to medical school (I believe in India) then to Harvard for public health, and now runs the NGO, and is on an advisory council to the government. She is truly an amazing and kind woman.

After our talks today, we went into a village to see an MMR vaccination clinic in action. It was pretty much exactly what I expected after seeing the hospital last time I was here. Not at all what we would define as sterile, but pretty close to how the British handle things. and 1.2 billion people go to these hospitals/clinics so somehow it works. I just have to get outside of my American box to understand how. Pictures and descriptions later.

After that we were invited to the president of Shanti's house for lunch. They cooked us extra mild, extra indian food that was AMAZING. And the best chai I've had since I have been here.

After lunch there were more presentations and then I came here to blog and work on my assignments.

I've noticed that when we have to have things translated, when its women who do it we get the entire conversation word for word, but when its a man translating they don't do everything, sometimes they skip entire topics. It's kind of frustrating when that happens.

This computer just got really slow so I guess that's enough for tonight. We only have one more day at Shanti and then we'll be leaving Coimbatore on Saturday morning.

On to essays and dinner.

:)