down to days

We are down to the final days! Last minute events include packing, going to the store for odds and ends I don't have at home, packing, reading the required book Jamkhed, packing, making copies of our daily events calendar for the parental units, packing, worrying, praying, and packing.

The book that I'm reading, as mentioned above, describes the series of events that led Drs. Raj and Mabelle Arole to be the creators of the Community Rural Health Project.  It's truly amazing what they have created.  Through their training at Johns Hopkins for their Masters in Public Health and also through their experience growing up in India, they recognized the health problems faced by the underserved and poorest populations in India.  They then targeted these issues, realizing that health care must involve both curative and preventative medicine.  For example, they kept seeing repeated cases of cholera.  The Aroles soon realized that it was not enough to just cure the disease and send patients back to their villages, (where poor sanitation and unclean drinking water still prevailed) for they would end up at the hospital with another case of cholera again soon.

So the Aroles led a response to these issues: trying to eradicate all social and economic problems that so heavily influenced patients in these rural areas.  They raised funds for the building of wells, providing clean drinking water to villages.  They educated a few people from the villages to become village health workers - and they in turn cared for the village with simple and practical health care knowledge.  The Aroles empowered the underserved, and empowered women, to have the tools both socioeconomically and medically, to improve their health and their lives.  Through this, they also defied the caste system in these Indian villages, because the communities understood their reliance on each other and on the village health worker, regardless of that individual's caste. It's completely incredible.

Reading about all of this fires me up, because it involves both social justice, and caring for those who have been forgotten.  Health is so intimately related with quality of life, and all people deserved to have an opportunity to have optimum health.  I can't wait to see all of these issues and solutions in action in Jamkhed.  I'm looking for all the ways that this trip will educate both my mind and my heart. Thanks for listening to my rant.

6 days till departure.

just under the two week mark!

Here it is: a map of the country of India. Where we are going, although it is kinda blurry, is the pink Regional State in the southwest part of India called Maharastra.  That's where Jamkhed is.  And, crazy enough, India has it's own time zone - it's 10.5 hours ahead of Michigan.  Just some info that we've learned in the past few weeks.

So I'm starting to pack things up as our departure date draws nearer.  On our packing list are some interesting details, including packs of tissues to use as toliet paper (for squatty potties that supply no toilet paper for you), 5 safety pins for the women to pin up and wear sari's (can't wait for this!), a tub of peanut butter for when Indian food is not very appetizing, and an around the neck passport holder for the times when we're in the city or otherwise sight-seeing. 

I can't believe it's almost time to go.  At this point, I go from being really excited to really anxious.  I'd appreciate any prayers for safety, especially all of our plane rides, and for God's blessings on our trip.  Well, that's all I have to say for now.
-Carolyn  (13 days till departure)