Home sweet home

Hi all! We have made it! After a fantastic adventure in india for 8 weeks we are finally home. It is lovely to be in a place that is cold, doesn't smell, are no mosquitoes and nice hot water! We had a great time in delhi and were very impressed with how clean and modern a city it is. We also had some hilarious run ins with auto rickshaw drivers, one ending in neil yelling "are you a rickshaw driver or a conman because I think you are a conman! ". I was sitting next to him barely containing my laughter.  Amazingly at the qutab minar we bumped into two friends from uni, steph and kerrie, so we spent our last night in delhi having delicious food and good chat. When we made it to the airport we felt as if we had survived our trip. We still had to get through the ridiculous number of queues and boarding card checks, which happened every few metres! Anyway thank you so much for praying for us and supporting us. God has been very good. It would be amazing if you could continue to remember shubhro and elisabeth and KSN hospital in your prayers!

God bless
Jenni
Xx

The length of west bengal

Hello from agra!! We've had an interesting time up till this point. Our long journey here started on thursday when we left our wonderful gangtok and took another 5 hour 11 person jeep down the mountains. We were better prepared this time and had stocked up on things from the bakery.  This satisfied my tuna sandwich craving. Yay for the sikkim! When we got to siliguri we took an autorickshaw to the station. This had 5 of us in to begin with but the driver was not satisfied so keep stopping and yelling at people to get it. When we reached the station 5 had become 9 with 2 people standing next to our bags in the luggage section! The station njp is ok. There are a lot of "hotel cum restaurant"s surrounding the station and we went to have something before our train. In one we were brought a menu so we asked for pakora (it being deep fried unlikely to upset our tummies), the man then said "5 minutes", left the restaurant presumably went to a vendor down the street. We were appalled by this but enjoyed our pakora. This system pays off when you want jelabes and cant find them as the boy will go out and buy it for you.

When we arrived in kolkata we were met by people from the company that we had arranged to see the sunderbans with. They took us to an ac jeep (a posher version of our vehicle from the previous day) and there were 5 of us in it. It also had seat belts! We were astounded by such luxury.  We drove to a port which was 4 hours away and got on a boat. We looked out over this flat mangrove jungle and it was difficult to adjust to being able to see so far in the distance. We spent 2 days in the sunderbans looking to see if we could see an illusive bengal tiger. Sadly we didn't but we saw some dolphins, a crocodile, spotted dear and lots of beautiful birds. Our tour guide, David,  is doing his phd in the ecology of the sunderbans so it was fantastic to be shown around by a true expert. The company also employs ex tiger poachers and local vilage people so we were very impressed with their ethos and felt like we were doing our bit to save the bengal tiger by helping this sort of enterprise. It was good to chill out on the boat and experience the unique environment.

When back in kolkata we decided to spend as little time in the station as possible so went from ac coffee house to ac restaurant before heading to the train. Our train took 20 hours to get from kolkata to agra. We slept for a lot of it. The 2 men in our section were great. One was in the air force and the other a business owner. Our conversation went about education and money and how much it would cost for their sons to study engineering in uk. It is strange comparing the chats we have had with younger indians to these middle aged men.

When we got to agra we were determined that as our hotel was close we should be able to walk to it. I went the completely wrong direction so we gave up and took an autorickshaw. Our hotel is low budget but very good. This morning we set off in search of the taj mahal but took a wrong turning and ended up walking in the opposite way! My map reading lets me down when there are no street signs to help! We jumped into a rickshaw and got sung to on our way to the taj. We payed him double! It was disappointing that we couldn't find it on our own but good to experience a proper bicycle rickshaw. The taj is very impressive but we would recommend going in the winter when the weather is cooler! We did manage to walk to the fort turning down offers from rickshaw, auto and camel drivers! Even in agra where there are lots of tourists we are still asked for photos to be taken with people. I must have posed with every member of one family! We dread to think that these photos end up on some mantelpiece somewhere in India!

We head to delhi tonight! Keep us in your prayers
Jx

Black market beer

Another great day in Gangtok. We went up the hill to a hindu temple to see the view from there. It was raining and misty so no view. Still it was good to see the temple and the huge statue of ganesh. We also went to a Buddhist monastary where we also encountered ganesh.

The tea here is amazing as its grown nearby. We went to a tea shop and met two american tourists who were good to talk to. We went for dinmer at the same restaurant as on monday. Today we tried special chow mein which was terrible is comparison. Still, the momo were great.

We are currently back in our favourite bar which is packed and kareoke is in full swing. We are getting to know the nepali songs, but there was also creed which was strange. Its dry day here due to a hindu festival so no beer. Although the bar keeper did come up to me and say in hushed tones "I can get you beer. we hide it in a cup". I opted for a lemonade as I dont want to offend any hindu customs. It does however, explain why the rest of the patrons are drinking out of mugs.

Neil

Don't mock gangtok!

Gangtok is a superb place! It is almost like a little tibet and most of the people here are more tibetan in appearance than indian. We went to a tibetan restaurant last night and had some great dumplings (momo) which were excellent. Although we loved konica's cooking it is really pleasant to eat different things!

This morning we had a walk up to the top of the town and found a nice park and some great views into the valley. It is stunning here. Sikkim is actually geared up for tourists and even has an information centre. We got hold of a map of the city amd decided to head down to a set of falls which seemed pretty close.  After walking for 20minutes we figured that we must be going in the wrong direction so asked for help. Apparently the map we had was not at all to scale and we needed transport to get there. We got a taxi down a very bad road, each minute neil and I agreeing that we definitely could not have walked. The falls were spectacular and a tourist centre had been built around then. There were beautiful bridges and pagodas. There were even some children's play equipment including a hamster wheel. This was great fun.

We met some Scandinavian medical students today (if we see other tourists we feel compelled to talk to them). They were working for the same organisation as the students we met in kolkatta. They also had had travel plans to darjeeling ruined so it was nice to talk about where to go in gangtok.

The weather has turned though so were are hoping for it to improve before we visit the temples and monasteries near by. They have nice view points but the valley is just pure fog at the moment. Our general feeling is that sikkim is a great destination.

Where on earth is Gangtok?

So the first rule of travel in india is to be flexible! The last 2 days have been crazy but we are now sitting in a bar in gangtok  while neil and some men sing karaoke. Completely surreal!

We left Sarenga at 6 on Sunday morning and drove for an hour and a half to the station. We were driven by Surijit who has the only car in Bankura district with seatbelts. We waited in this rural station getting strange looks and getting even more hot. When the train came it was incredible to walk into an air conditioned carriage. In indian trains different men come round and sell everything that you could possibly need. Neil and I bought some books for our journey and our long awaited jhall mori (it was well worth the hype). Once in Howrah station we were met with a wall of heat. We walked to the launch and got the boat across the river. While we waited the boys playing in the river chatted to us and asked for "one photo please" (this reminded me of the children in Likhubula). Once over we headed to the beautiful victoria memorial park. This is a green haven in the middle of Kolkatta. Modern thinking young people come here on dates. That is right: unmarried men and women can actually hand hold or if particularly keen hide behind a bush or umbrella and kiss! This was a shock for us as men and women barely talk in the villages. Also inthe park we met some austrian and german medical students and an adorable family who lived in Howrah invited us for dinner. We had our photo taken with so many people, it was like we are celebrities!

We walked to a nice part of the city to get something to eat. Pretty early in our search we found a pizza hut and the need to not have rice overcame us and we succumbed. No regrets! We had a good meal in a place with ac and a working toilet. After that we got a taxi to Sealdah station. Neil describes this as "hell on earth" and "reminiscent of a refugee camp". While waiting for our train we sat on newspapers and became friends with Sardeep Hussain who was coming on our train too. He is a lawyer we was overjoyed to meet some foreigners. The train to NJP station was lovely but we spent the whole time asleep. When  we arrived, our friend Sardeep helped us to a taxi to the place buses go from. We were all set to go to Darjeeling when our taxi driver said that we would be able to get there but the hotels and shops would be closed and we should go to Gangtok instead. He convinced us and we got on a jeep going to Gangtok. This jeep did not till it was full. Full meant 11 people including the driver? To give you the picture, this was the size of jeep which in Britain would take 2 children to school.

Sitting in the back, we befriended the 2 men with us. One was Samik, the Che Guevara of the hills. He is an artist in Goa but is from Kalimpong. He is setting up an animal sanctuary in goa and is involved saving street children in the towns and taking them to Darjeeling. He was such an interesti8ng man who was very politically minded. Apparently "india is a paradox". Our other back seat friend (who I can't remember the name of but he bore an uncanny resemblance to Richard Hammond; if Richard hammond was indian!) was an engineer from Bihar. I spent some time talking with him about his relationship woes. "Women here are only interested in you for your money!"

The drive was rickety and very hot. We climbed further and further up into the mountains, it getting cooler with the altitude. When we reached the border to Sikkim, as state to the north of west bengal,  we had to deal with Indian bureaucracy. We needed a permit to enter the state. This required a passport photo, which of course we did not have. We had to pay the man half the cost of our jeep travel to photocopy our pictures, all the while holding up our fellow travelers.

Eventually we reached Gangtok, a mountain town in the beautiful, green Sikkim. It is so clean here. There is even a pedestrian precinct in the main shopping street. Our hotel is wonderfully clean and the man at reception is lovely. We are hoping for a pleasant few days in the cool of the Himalayas. We have been overcome by the friendliness of the Bengali people. So far, so good.

J x

The beyond begins

Today has been our last day in sarenga. We cannot quite get our heads around it! We did our last baby checks this morning. It is odd that just 6 weeks ago I had only done a baby check on 2 babies before! 
Much of today has been spent in reflection (as well as packing). In many ways we could not have dreamed of a better elective experience. We have learnt so much about medicine and indian culture, had the opportunity to practice skills, been able to teach, to do clinical audit, to present our findings,  to make friends, to have fellowship and  to experience first hand the lives of modern medical missionaries. We  are both feelig incredibly blessed by the time that we have spent here and are so thankful for shubhro and Elisabeth having us. Reassuringly, they are also happy to have had us.

To mark our leaving, some of the students put on a small programme of things for us. Two of the girls sang, one danced and then we all danced in the local tribal fashion. I was roped in to doing a little bit of solo scottish dancing which was fun considering there was no scottish music! Neil and I are nearly experts in indian dancing now (or just feel like we are!). It was really touching for us that the girls did this for us and as we left we were being told to come back.

Tomorrow morning we rise early and get a train (from the station 2 hours drive away) to kolkatta and in the evening we head up to darjeeling. We will hopefully enjoy some cool weather in the mountains before going to the sunderbans in the south of west bengal. After that we become stereotypical indian tourists and head to the taj mahal and then see delhi. We aren't sure how much internet access will be had in the coming 2 weeks but we shall endeavour to keep this up to date.

For any of you particularly interested in our work here in sarenga, I am sure we will be both more than happy to speak with you when we are back but until then the hospital website can be found at www.ksnhospital.worspress.com

Please continue to pray for us particularly for our safety. Thank you

J x

For you, little child

Thanks to a course of industrial strength antibiotics jenni and I have recovered from our illness and are getting back into work. We managed a full day today which was great as we are not here much longer.

We started as usual with baby checks which was good fun as we took lots of pictures for people back home. Jenni found a baby with an umbilical hernia which is something it will grow out of. My family dog has an umbilical hernia so apparently dogs dont grow out of them. After noting the diferences between baby and dog hernias we climbed the roof of the outpatient department. This is the highest part of the hospital so we got good pictures.

We went in search of food but only found disappointing chop and not the ellusive jhall mouri. The antenatal clinic was busy as ever. It was nice to reflect on how far we had come in terms of examining the patients and coming up with a plan. We found a patient had high blood pressure and swelling so we thought she had pre eclampsia. We wrote up orders for urine protein test, platelets and haemoglobin.  Elizabeth was happy with our plan and she was admitted for induction after she had the tests.

This afternoon we presented our audit on the use of episiotomy (cutting the vagina during childbirth). With 1666 patients its the biggest audit we have ever done. We found that the rates of episiotomy fell by half in the second half of the year. The hospital now has rates comparable with the uk which is very good for developing health. The episiotomies are done by nurses who dont really understand why they do them. It's a complicated decision to make and they dont really know enough. The fall in episiotomy rates is partly due to a midwife called karen who came from the UK for two weeks in february. Since her visit elizabeth has been working with the nurses encouraging them not to cut. Since then the episiotomy rate has halved. This is encouraging as it shows the impact 2 weeks can make if the person is using best practice and can teach well.

We decided to try our luck and go ahead with plans to travel to darjeeling. The civil unrest is easing now and we leave on sunday morning. Mr Baux says "it is a bold decision but I think it will pay off". We hope he is right as we dont want to get stuck without transport.

Unfortunately we have some sad news as well. The baby we mentioned in the last post died today. Though we knew it was unlikely she would live, she showed a lot of strength in her short life. Her tiny hand moved and gripped, her tiny tiny chest strained to inflate immature lungs and she even managed a feeble cry when she wanted fed. She clung to her mother all her days and was totally dependant on her for warmth and food. Though short, her life was immeasurably valuable as she was made in the image of God. When children die here I remember the french blessing we say at church and I am comforted.

"Little child, for you Christ died
For you he endured calvary
For you he rose on the third day
Even though you do not know it
So the scripture is fulfilled
'We love because he first loved us'"

Neil