It's been a while, here is a waffle!

Alas It's been a while since I have completed a blog and soooo much has happened.  

I have been in India for nearly 7 weeks and have been pushed to my limits but have also had truly amazing experiences.

I have started writing this in the main hospital in Mysore. I have just come back from a four day rural village tour. 

 I am here with an Indian volunteer who has obviously dislocated her finger, if such an injury had occurred in my beloved Homerton she would have had an X-ray and I would have plopped it back in place with analgesia, re X-ray, neighbour strap and home.  As an exposition medic I don't have the luxury of an X-ray machine in my kit and so I have had to bring her to the main private hospital of Mysore. 

I'm tired from the four day trip and actually could have done without this drama but where there are people there is injury and so here I am.

I am currently reeling from an experience of super patriarchy in the form of an Indian doctor,maybe in his thirties, who decided to stop taking to me after I told him I was a doctor and gave by a precise and concise recall of my volunteers mechanism of injury, my findings on exam and my reason for bringing her to the hospital. 

He didn't listen and spoke to my volunteer for the whole duration of the consultation in Kannada (the local language) and didn't consult me once. 

This i didn't really mind as i realise now after many similar consultations with other Indian male doctors that egos need to be massaged and the threat of feminine intelligence can sometimes be too much and cause the opposite sex to regress into a " me man" type of figure.  What made me super cross was his attempt to reduce my patients finger without analgesia.  I was livid soooo livid, but remained calm, I simply asked him to do a digital block otherwise I will take her back to field base and do it myself. He eventually reduced her finger (after 3 goes), re xrayed her and discharged her. 

The ronke from the near recent past would have gone nuts, in an uncontrolled manner, with no positive outcome.  The new dr Ronx is a big fan of passive aggression.  I refuse to rise to the super patriarchy and overt unprofessional rudeness that I encounter 70% of the time here from male doctors.  I really enjoy an intellectual stand off.  I have to mentally take my body out of the situation and look down on myself to  

work out how to get the best outcome for my volunteer which isn't related to my ego also.  Difficult.

So my game plan is to kill people with kindness and politeness. This is I did yesterday. (I am now continuing this prose in the same hospital but it is the following morning). Yesterday, I was uber polite.  I simply allowed him to finish the procedure and informed him that whilst he continue to converse with the volunteer in regards to the home management of her injury, I would be giving the hospital duty manager feedback in regards to his lack of professionalism and patient empathy.  He gave me the dirtiest look, I smiled hard put my hand out for him to shake it (he did limply) and I left the room. ( confident that he couldn't possibly get neighbour strapping wrong).

The manager was a female doctor. I had met her before.  I had hummed and arrrred in regards to if I wanted to pursue feedback.  Many people throughout my life have told me to "pick my battles".  This tiny battle I thought was appropriate.  The rudeness, and total refusal to acknowledge my existence - I now understand as cultural and not personal.  To get the best care for my volunteers I have to ignore it, but trying to pull a bone back into place without pain relief in the " best "private hospital in Mysore? Thats a no.  So the discussion I had with the manager was simply in regards to that fact.  We had a chat and she spoke separately to the volunteer who also asked why the doctor was asking her medical questions when she had a doctor (me) with her.  

The manager was taken aback.  Again doctors are god like here so complaints are rare.  

I love the NHS.  I love the fact that doctors are made responsible for their actions.  I grateful for  independent governing bodies, clinical governance, royal colleges and auditors.  I appreciate that nurses will not follow a doctors orders blindly for the fear of reprimand if they show any original thought or opinion.  Only when you have to navigate through a service that is top down lead in an autocratic fashion that you learn the value of customer service and complaints procedures.  From the anecdotes that I have heard from my Indian friends, the general consensus is not to go to hospital unless they are pretty much at deaths door.  I have been told stories of inappropriate advice, drugs prescribed as though they are sweets, no follow up, no exam and controversial billing. 

I have to emphasis that not every doctor is like the one I have described above and for the sake of balance, I met an amazing orthopod who treated me like a human being and an equal professional. 

Another fact that kills me is that in a lot of cases women feed the patriarchy here. I realise that the psychology and deeply entrenched cultural norms mean that such behaviour is common place here.  So the next question is how does one support such women and how do I sanely work in such a system.  All my dreams have come true. So a job with MSF is in view (gotta learn a language) but otherwise working in poor areas around the world is possible reality and alongside that the reality of working in a male dominated profession.  Is it really like that Ronx. I hear you say, well I believe so.  I am not bound by any social norms.  I have no real desire to get married before my career is at it's peak, I want to be a mother and would happily adopt or foster but again I am not in a rush, mortgage - nope.  Family ties - nope. Car - nope. Relationship - nope Female medics I have spoken to in the past, have often commented on thier desire to expedition medicine, work abroad etc and then often follow the sentence with, "however I have a young family". 

And so with many women not fulfilling that dream it makes sense that the speciality will be  predominately male - and so I would really appreciate how to get the best out of a situation that renders me often exhausted (but not defeated) with being the type of person who is always almost fighting for equality.  

Having to take a deep breath and think about how you may be perceived is a bloody bore sometimes.  When I held the well beings workshop with the volunteers, I emphasised the importance of self awareness, in terms of realising that we are in a privileged position and that every thing we say or do is amplified in the villages in which we work. So being aware of western privilege (a term I coined to include people of non white heritage) and white privilege is so important.  Many of British volunteers would say things like "oh my god Indian people are so nice and helpful and they love me" = white privilege (although Indians are generally very nice, smiley - I wanna help you in any way possible type of people). Then I would hear some of the volunteers say, "the Indian shopkeepers see a white person coming and over charge".  

Interesting how the  reference to being white was only used when the experience described was negative. 

So I guess I do experience an element of privilege (although it often feels that I don't) but I am aware that being a doctor here means that I am treated with an element of respect from my work colleagues (especially Indian ones) that has a benevolent undertone but makes me undeserving. 

My boss said to me that here in India   Everybody has a job and sticks to it. He said that being a doctor means that is all I would be expected to do. Apparently by doing jobs that are seen as being below you, you are perceived badly.  So when he said that by cleaning field base etc I would be perceived by Indian staff as not a real doctor, I was taken a back.  Luckily field base is a safe zone so traditional Indian rules don't entirely apply here - that is not to say I don't respect trad Indian rules, it's more that some are a bit hard for me to abide by. There is however cultural respect and the doctors -don't  -clean -rule dosnt apply here (alas).

So I've gone on a massive tangent which started as me wondering how I could combat patriarchy without being seen as an angry feminist (which I am) so there again I am confused.

I'm finding it a bit exhausting being me here.  As the medic people trust you to give the best care.  The English volunteers expect and know how to access healthcare the Indian volunteer usually haven't seen a dr ever and so expect magic from you, regardless of the reason for presentation all volunteers exhibit a type of vulnerability in your presence, the type that knows without doubt that you will provide or make sure that they get the best treatment.  Sometimes giving the best treatment is advice.  People I have noticed want something concrete, advice just ain't enough.  And I give good advice, it's evidenced and in laymans terms.  Drink more water is a lot of the advice I give and the most frequent diagnosis I give is - you have heatstroke.  Usually to the same person over and over again.  The stressful part of being here is having to fight for good health care for the volunteers.  My Indian patients have high regard for doctors. And so getting the balance between ensuring that they get the best treatment and making sure that I don't destroy the respect that they have for their care givers is difficult, but not impossible.  It kinda means that I have to swallow my pride and accept being treated like shit.  I then think to myself at what point should I be sacrificing my self worth to ensure that my patient gets the best care? I just feel that if I was a white person that I would be treated so much more differently.  I look around me and see how people fall about for the attention of a white face and almost dismiss me. I feel slightly resentful about this.  Example being when I was in Bangalore a few times back with a really seriously Ill volunteer the consultant despite being asked to consult with me and discuss the patients treatment with me as I was her advocate, and although still quite junior, I really have been swotting up and actually I am alright ya know. Anyway he spoke to my boss. My boss has absolutely ZERO medical

Knowledge and clearly stated that the purpose of him accompanying me was purely to organise logistics. My boss is a handsome white man with long hair and is actually very calm and polite. Despite him asking the consultant to address me, the consultant still spoke about the intricacies of internal medicine with him. Imagine that. Blatant disregard. Pff. When I say I am resentful I want to make it clear that it is the situation I resent,

Despite all this time to think, and get cross and then rethink. I love it here.

The weather is amazing, the people are fab, the food is seriously delicious, the children are next level

Cute and I love my job.  

Although I don't feel any different and possibly haven't had the epiphany that people say occurs in India but I would like to something is happening. I've also started walking tall and confidently, articulating my words better and taking more care in everything i do - I think the fear of approaching thirty and looking like and acting like a child scares me.

So other stuff.  Life in the four villages I visited was tough.  Kinda reminded me of my time in Kenya.  Falling in long drops and pissing on my legs, pooing standing up (pure dissatisfaction by the way), yucky insects, little water and sleeping on the hard floor.

The good bits were GOOOOD though, cultural sharing and integration in the village was done so well by so many of the groups.  The children (many don't go to school) were so keen to learn. One boy came up to me and pointed to me glasses. He said "English?" I said glasses. He then said "Kannada (local lang)" and then the word in the local language. Imagine that?! A five year old boy starting conversation with me, someone he met a day earlier and wanting to learn words. 

Women's night was a major success. I looked extremely silly in a sari. I shouldn't wear saris. Having 5 Indian villagers fuss over me, re tying and undoing the sari was sweet, but boy did I feel uncomfortable. I had to draw the line at the potential

Attachment of a fake ponytail to my hair. No. Eventually we all were dressed and sat around in a big circle. The men brought us tea and snacks. And the villages told us about the strength of their mothers and vice versa. It was all interpreted and was so nice to watch. I watched the volunteers show the village we how to sew and make bracelets. And that particular volunteer group are going to arrange a women's night every Saturday during the 7 or so more weeks we have left here.

What else, ah I got to see my public health, health promotion workshops bloom some fruit. A bunch of volunteers had gone to a school and taught hand washing - all 7 steps. These steps were taught using a song in Kannada, and was performed to me by some of the local Children and a group of volunteers (see Facebook) sooooo cute and I was so proud.  I was so pleased and chuffed to hear the ideas that the volunteers had for well being celebration days.  They were all so excited to tell me about the teaching that they had done in schools about, tooth brushing, hand washing, nutrition, etc. yaaaay. And my message about keeping things simple and using non verbal communication and pictures has been listened to :)

So I've waffled on and am bloody tired.

Night 

Too cute!

DThe first group of volunteers are here and have been for three days. They are an amazing bunch of young people.  Initially tired from the trip but all have blossomed even over the last few days.  Just being around them made me realise that I was no longer really a young person I'm an adult!! It was beautiful talking to them and    expeiencing all thier different personalities!!! I saw myself in quite a few of them, a couple are really confident and outgoing and I thought good for you! And some others were quite reserved and shy and on the peripheries.  As a youngster I would have wanted to hang out with the loud lot but I found myself drawn to the quiet guys, it is envietable that they will come out of thier shells at the end of 10 weeks and become amazingly life experienced human beings but until then they do need support and I can't wait too see the quiet ones start leading!!!

The are all like sponges from a million different backgrounds. I really enjoyed getting to know them during the one on one medical interviews. It was pleasing to see that many of them had completed degrees and wanted life experience and some of the others had just finished sixth form and were on gap years. Seriously I can't emphasis how soul cleansing it is too be around young people who want to better themselves by joking raliegh. They all had to raise £2000 each to be here and organise thier kits, jabs and get here. It is impressive that an 18 year old would have the foresight to organise all of that.  It is also nice to stick two fingers up at the red top with thier "feckless youth" titles. Don't get me wrong some people in the group are well off and organising the money may not have involved raising money and daddy may have contributed but a lot of the young people come from ordinary backgrounds and did a fund raising activities over the last year. 

I have a presentation yesterday on health and hygiene.  I bloody really love being a doctor.  I love give presentations and thoroughly enjoy teaching. I think the group were captivated?? I bribed them with Oreo busicuits when they answered questions right. I got to talk about the tropical diseases I had I the last and show lots of gross pictures.  

During the evening I was really pleased that some of the group came up to me and were like they had been using the hand washing technique I had taught them as they were afraid of getting the "Shites" as I emphasized would happen if they were not fastidious about thier hand hygiene.

That night as one of the group - a sweet black girl called Simone braided my hair (bloody hurt and I took it out this morning) but I found myself surrounded by at least 15 girls and we went round and discussed our fears and what we were excited about. Some fears where not making friends, some were about cultural differences and one one was about not knowing how to use a long drop lol. Girls are soconsciencious the hour we spent together was lovely. I hope that I have a positive influence on some of the girls. 

Speaking of girls my tent mate is support and admin for raliegh. She is a fierce strong Indian girl. She get things done and is a no funny business girl. Last night we were disscussing the difficulties that can occur because of our no nonsense personalities. She has definitely had more drama to contend with than me.  Being a female in an Indian culture surrounded by men had made her very strong and she is utterly determined. Fortunately our INDIAN CEO (born in India, studied in the uk, married a white women and now they both live in India) is very pro women, he really wants to recruit as many women as he can, my tent mate is responsible for recruitment also and really try to get women to become volunteers.  It is difficult because she comes from a liberal background and has a boyfriend - her parents seem very forward thinking.  However many young girls who join raliegh need permission from thier parents especially thier father which can be difficult. Also young Asian girls aren't as confident as young British girls so there is slot of apprehension in regards to leaving their family and coming to Mysore.  However, those that so come blossom into amazingness after 10 weeks.  I can't wait to see how the Indian girls here evolve.

Erm what else...oh yeah we also discussed how amazing (my tent mate and I) that two of the country leaders here are female and are amazing.  They have got utter control of the organisation here and command control.  They don't take non sense from the Indian men and shite gets done.  This is a brilliant picture for the Indian people to experience as they can see that women can have roles if authority and can do it well.  My tent mate said she looked up too the two English country leaders, I think she will be going far if I'm honest.  She is being taken to Thailand by the Indian CEO to consider setting up a raliegh in Thailand!!

(I AM SO GONNA BE THE MEDIC THERE)

Tomo I go to Bangalore with four others to meet the second batch of English volunteers who are landing on Saturday. 

Yay, can't wait too see thier lovely faces. 

It's around 36 degrees here now.  Lovely and hot in the direct sun. So glad I packed sun block otherwise I'd be a wrinkly rasin.

Oh I forgot to add that I'm in charge of the tuck shop. Bloody love it. We sell cigarettes though and it has been decided that I won't sell them and someone else will have too as it's not really ethical. anyhow loving shop duty.

Roll up!!

Great fun

Today was great fun and finally my work begins!

The first group of volunteers are here, the English ones fresh from England and the Indian ones from all over India. These volunteers age from 18-25 and have raised £2000 each to be here. They are to be divided into groups of 12 and lead by a pair of team leaders. One team leader is English and the other is Indian.  The team leaders have been here for three weeks recieving training on thier roles. They have learnt soft skills and practical skills, visited the villages in which they will live for 10 weeks, completing sustainable development projects and promoting healthy living, culture exchange etc. it is all highly planned. Myself and brigit are responsible for the whole workforce and will be responsible for Golding well being days in the villages where we promote good health ranging from subject like anemia tooth brush club, kitchen gardens, hand washing, food prep etc etc. 

Today we had to take medical histories and emphasise our presence on a one on one basis to each of the volunteers.  Kinda like a Gp consultation. We checked thier personal first aid kits and went through the purpose of the medics.

I really enjoyed this part of the day.  Meeting young people, having chats, reassuring them and relieving apprehension and deleting any previous negative experiences that they have had accessing health care. Bridge is very mumsy and so is definitely a good balance to myself.  I'm more matter of fact and together the team works. 

I must have taken 40 or so histories over 2 and and bit hours. I know a lot about the volunteers and with Bridget this helps us to be as effective as possible if the volunteer needed medical assistance from ourselves or in country services.

My look etc defo works well with this cohort of people who was quite amused that I was thier doctor and most definitely put a lot of the volunteers at ease - which is what we want.  It is a fact that may of the volunteers won't disclose some things, last year the groups had a lot of eating disorders pop up. Some were known about some were.  My role is to be supportive but safe. I am not really trained to deal with such issues and raliegh actually recommend that we are supportive but donot give definitive care. A lot if the time the eating issues are to do with adaptation to the Indian diet relates to d&v or maybe present and undeclared. Myself and briget are bound by confidentially in the western world but in India out contract allows us to discuss any behaviour that puts the volunteer or volunteers team at risk to be discussed with the seniors and head office. The volunteers know this but also know that we want to try and support them through anything and not send them home so we ask for complete honesty to ensure that everybody is supported.  I know that some volunteers may not gave disclosed things but I hope that seeing how non judgemental and willing to listen bridge and I are that they will come to us if need be - only time will tell.

Speaking of advice, bless him an Indian came to me yesterday asking how he could stop his legs from being dry and cracked and his to make them soft like mine.  I don't think he had ever exfoliated or moisturised his legs in his life. I tried to explain the process with no success and so whislt out in an errand trip yesterday I bought him a sponge and baby oil. Literally cost nothing! The sponge 50p Johnson's baby oil 85p nothing, showed on how to use it ( you need to be very explicit and demonstrative because the Indian way is to say that you do understand even when you do not). This morning he came runnnnnning up to me "dr ronke dr ronke look look smooth"

Lads legs were SHINNNNNY! He was made up. 

And that's kinda the other end of spectrum of my purpose here. A lot of my advice has been hygiene and health advice. From flossing, to brushing ones tongue to foot care. The very basics. Bit this I enjoy actually. Health promotion is my fave.

Speaking of health promotion one of my toes is a gammy mess. I managed to get a bluster which isn't infected but dorsnt look pretty!!! Is it sad that I am excited about its evolution?

Tomo I get to give a talk on health and hygiene / expedition basics. 

As I can talk I've been given an HOUR wooooooop!! 

I'm busy and busy is good.  I look forward to meeting the next batch of volunteers, myself and a team of three will be collecting them from Bangalore on Friday!! I haven't seen Bangalore in the day! - exciting.

So everyone else is greeting post here, feeling a bit left out. If anyone fancies giving me a England up date that would be grand!!!!

anyway thanks for reading 

Dry skin

Lost a whole blog :(

I had such a long but lovely day yesterday and wrote a really long blog about it which I bloody deleted :(

Right now I am chilling on the porch, it's warm but dark. Dinner is ready at 8 but I am full up from lunch which was rice, roti, chick pea curry and a separate lentil curry. I had both and seconds! Unfortunately my stomach can't handle spice and so it's a bit of a toilet affair these days! 

Eat.... Drink.... Stomach twinge... The shites.  I think this is how it may be for the next few months!! But I really don't mind as it means I can eat what I want yaaaahoo.

Today was a chilled one. I again was sorting medical equitement.  Didn't take long.  Then I sunbathed. Then had a walk to the nearby village which is about 1k away. I went alone for some me time and to get some sweety treats for the team leaders who had been in soft skill training all day. So walking to a remote Indian village alone in the sun along a busy crazy Indian road need a film crew. Every mode of transport honked at me, my presence nearly caused an RTC, I do not think these people have ever seen a black person before. It was slightly unnerving and with the recent spate of rapes in India I was a little concerned but again my androgyny saves the day. It is automatically assumed that I am a boy.

At one of the smal shag shops a couple of lads asked if I were Turkish? Then kept repeating Nelson Mandela. All one can do is smile. Smile and shake hands and smile and avoid the cows. The cows are literally out to get me, the chickens and the cows have conspired to kill me.

Anyhow I've burst that cherry and feel confident to walk to town again. I gues my only issue which is really more of a self esteem thing as oppose to anything else is my feeling of gender limbo. 

I feel kinda rejected by Indian women as I don't fit the Indian female beauty mould and I don't feel totally accepted buy Indian men. The Indian team leaders who I work with definitely have warmed to me, thanks to the bonding session we had yesterday in the car to the most remote village ever. We also had dinner together - a group of boys and myself. Was nice and I definitely feel accepted by them now. Ultimately they respect me cos I'm a doctor but on a personal friend level there is some work to be done but I'm sure after a few weeks itl be less awkward. Although it isn't that awkward but I feel that I am definetly held at an arms length.

So yesterday, I fell in love. I fell in love with the Indian countryside.  The CEO wanted to be sure that one of the nun hospitals was suitable as an intermidate transfer hospital if a volunteer was to become well.  So I was taken at the crack of dawn to a really remote village out of Mysore in a place called Coorg (I think) this is one of the villages where a group of volunteers are going to be placed and to complete a sustainable development project. The pictures - my latest ones with the children is the village. 

It took almost two hours drive to get there and the seanery the wildlife noises were divine.  The air was just so clean. These people love in absolute poverty thou. They are farmers with one crops. When the crop is harvested they travel to another farm and work there. These people live very very basic lives. This particular village had no running water and no electricity, no showers (these are some of the projects the teams will be working on).

The closest hospital is about 12k away.

I was driven to the hospital and met by a very don't-mess-with-me nun.  Who again was very dismissive of me, and talked to the CEO and NGO representative rather than me despite the fact that I was asking the questions.dont get me wrong I get that essentially people are suspicious of strangers, and I know that my ethnicity, and outward appearance is challenging and I find this challenging but I have insight and I am determined to reset a lot of peoples thinking and challenge societies norms. It is easy to have the attitude that "this is me so accept it" and easy for others to associate such musings as having a self esteem problem but really it's about using what you have to make the world a better place (cheesy). So I'm not cross with the nun at all but I think we should have discussings about social interactions.

The hospital was very very clean. The garden outside was very well kept. The wards were clean. Fortunately for me I have seen rural hospitals in Kenya and so was not surprised re the simplicity and old school equitement. I mean it all worked. I checked the oxygen, ECG machine, pulse ox, they had a chest drain kit, sutures and kits. Beds were clean. Sterile water. Fully stocked pharmacy. X-ray machine. Ultrasound machine. Fully operating theatre. 24/7 electricity. Two on call doctors. I had a list of things that I had to check as per raliegh standards. And this hospital ticked most. So we decided amongst ourselves that this hospital would serve as a interim transfer hospital if need be.

We spent the rest of the day visiting another village and checking out the casualty evacuation route, one village is in the middle of an elephant camp. The villagers have a system for notifying the village if an elephant Is approaching they shout to each other but one of the projects is to have a alarm system put in place. 

I'm a bit gutted that yesterday's blog deleted as it was comprehensive and I'm hate that I have to write it again, so I'm not gonna.  Sorry .

So next week is busy week!! The volunteers (young people) come. Shizzle my work will be cut out for me!!

The young ones are coming...

Worked like a mother today.  Currently chilling at the medic desk, everybody has gone out for a night in Mysore. I've decided to stay back as I have to be up and ready by 6-7 for a trip to some of the village hospitals.  It transpires that some of the hospital reports may not be accurate and some may not be safe or accessible enough to be interim evacuation sites for an unwell volunteer.  Myself and the CEO of the company here in Mysore are of to visit the ones we are not sure of and inspect the resources ourselves. (Please note that all services are paid for).

My fellow medic nurse Bridget noted on her hospital visit that  Indian politeness means that rather than say, "no we haven't got that". She noticed that the hospital doctors would say, yes - not in a deceitful way but in a wanting to please way. Unfortunately not having oxygen, but saying that you do, isn't really safe and so with our hospital rec list I will be ticking boxes and ensuring that equipment works. It's gonna be a long day but I'm flattered to have the responsibility and am greatful that I am kinda just following protocol too. So that's where I am at right now. 

Normally at field base we have a cook (the South Indian  famous cook suresh) he cooks us basic curry. When the guys are out on their project sites they cook thier own food (from provided staples as part of the growing up experience) however at field base it is important to make sure that they are fed so they are cooked for here.  Despite the food being the tastiest that I have ever ever had, Indians like to have curry for breakfast. The first two days of this was like Wowza and yum. However my stomach has revolted, it cannot take rice at 8 am and so I bought some cereal from the supermarket which advertised itself as "wheat and strawberries".  I opened it this morning and it is the most sorry, cardboard flavour flaccid cereal that I have ever had and had rasins instead of strawberries!!!!! Yuck 

So right now I am eating a meal of eggs and potatoe.  Our ground mans who doesn't speak a word of English but is smiley and replies in Hindi despite not understanding stood over my shoulder and watched me cook the whole meal.  Bless him, he helped out by stirring the potatoes and we had a full blown conversation and I didn't understand anything he was saying and vice versa.  The only thing we both understand is the Indian head nod.

Proper comedy.

I am eating more carbs than I have eaten in my whole entire live. Rice, roti and curry. Seriously delicious. I'm made up but to compensate for the indulgence I'm running every day. I was craving a bounty bar today and had one, it was delicious but I really am not craving sweet things.  It's nice. And man I love rice, sooooooo all good.

today was a nice, I awoke at 6 for another run despite broken sleep. 

I was chased by the lad that lives next door. The family is so poor, and weirdly the girl looks so healthy and the boy really malnourished but very smiley. They are always glad to see me. A pack of feral dogs were ahead of me at one pint of the run and all I could think off was RABIES, especially after reading up on it yesterday I didn't know that even a lick onto broken skin or the lips can transmit the disease. ERGH.  They seemed not at interested in me so all good.

The chickens however proper squak, I just wanna grab one, break it's neck and have it for me tea. Despite our chicken being moved to another farm, a whole new family from god knows where have taken up resistance at FB and these mothers cock a do dol doo at any god forsaken time in the day and I swear they come right up to my tent, right up to the head bit and squak on purpose. One even came up to me as I was doing sit ups in the sun. Bloody noisy mares.

Last night I heard a rattle outside my tent.  I was utterly convinced that there was a snake trying to get me.  I did try and explain away the rattle but nothing other than a snake could make that sound. I lay awake for ages. Stiff as a board.  One of my colleagues told me that there are snakes that rattle around here but the venom doesn't kill (phew).  I am consumed by snakage. Literally my senses are so heightend at night and it doesn't help that the wildlife is so noisey!!!

So the medical boxes are packed. LONG TING. But done. We still have the cars to do and ensure the drugs cupboard is cool and then make sure that the medic room is ready for when the teams deploy.

Speaking of deployment the young ones touch base next week on the 4th. This means I will have 150 medical interviews to do. My god. 150 report cards to fill. 

It's gonna be like dr Ronxs drop in. I'm excited to meet them.

Today I had a rather interesting conversation with some of the team leader girls.  They have all finished university and are very well read. Some how gender became topic of conversation.  One of the girls did her dissertation on a theory she was exploring in regards to the place of intellectual or professional white women in other cultures. That wasn't the title but it was something like that. I listened to her explaining how she had interviewed some ex pat military women in Afghanistan explored their roles in that society. She described how the women told her that they were seen as not as low as the afghan women but not respected as much as men. They described being listened, and respected for being white and western but never really en par with men.

  The conversation then turned into a talk about feminism and this same girl was explaining to the other girls that even in groups that are "united" (ie feminists) there are divisions. - Same same bit different.

Obviously to myself this isn't new but to be surrounded by girls exploring and discussing such topics was lovely. They were fiercely proud to be women and are strong team leaders, I am really excites to see how they develop over the next 10 weeks.  

So real time it's 19.53 here in Mysore.

I've got to organise myself for tomo. 

This time last week I was en route to getting wasted in London. Now I'm here on India!! 

Beautiful India. 

Public health notice

Soooo I thought that I may have avoided an upset tummy, alas no.  30 mins later with uber painful cramps - I emerged from the sick bay loo. I have been washing my hands religiously - seriously all the time, my hands are dry from the hand wash. I only drink purified water, I brush with purified water, I wash fruit with purified water.  We use a dip system to wash plates, first the plates are washed in water with soap, then diped into a bucket of clean water, then into a bucket of bleachy water then into a bucket of clean water, only then can you either use the plate or store it away. I religiously follow this system.  As I type this it is 21.49 at night and I am in bed holding my cramps stomach. Blooooooooody ouch. And I can't be bothered to move from under the mossie net to get some buscopsn.

I have moved tents and now share with a female Indian administrator, her college has left to see the dermatologist.

This administrator will be moving to a flat in the city when the young volunteers come on the 4th February and I will have a whole tent to myself. I wish that I was allowed to have friends to stay, this experience is so worthwhile, and a very tiny bit if me wishes I was sharing this experience with someone in real time!

So I fell asleep after the writing the above and had a whole night of snake themed nightmares. (I am currently on the loo - yup) Last night you know I said that I was convinced that I heard a snake and felt a thump to the floor, well examining my mossie net for holes I noticed two linear slits on the side facing my head.  I was sleeping in the tent alone before moving and was kinda afraid of all the wildlife noises and missed every bodies snoring so slept with my head torch on. I reckon the snake was attracted to the light. I had a discussion with one of the bosses over coffee and she is not convinced it was a snake but says it could be. I reckon it was attracted to my head lamp, slithered in via some hole and tried to bite my head through the net. Cheeky thing.

Hit the net and thudded to the floor.

There is absolutely nothing that. Oils explain the slits at all. Yikes.

I think snakes are gonna be the theme of my nightmares from hence forth.

We went over snake bite management yesterday over a case vac run through,

Nice to know all snakes in India are poisonous. 

So a case vac is an evacuation of a casualty from a site remote from field base , co ordinated by a team at field base.

I have the field base medic phone and someone else has the emergency phone.

The team leaders at their various locations know who they can call and during their two day trip would have established case vac routes to the nearest hospital. One will always involve the field base bravo (car) but that may not be the quickest. The quickest may be a locals car. The car is checked and field base will pay for any repair, this is if the car would be the quickest form of transport to a hospital.

Anyhow the case vac is a highly structured procedure but had rarely been used, as most called in case vacs usually are down graded to a med rep with is a medical report and the patient can be managed by the team leader at the remote site (ie sprains). Sometimes the patient comes to field base for hydration or a once over by field base medic (me) but there have been pretty much no case vacs, nethertheless the procedure must be practised.

Once the volunteers come on the 4th we will be having 12 practises, I have to get this right!!!! (That's 150 people yikes)

I stopped writing this and picked it up after a day around Mysore!

Myself, one of the admin girls and a field base volunteer had a wonder around town.

Mysore is overwhelmingly bigggggg!

I know that it isn't the biggest town/ city in India but for me it was an adventure.

Indian people are entrepreneurs!!!! Everybody is selling something and takes great pride in it.

You can buy anything in India, from iPhone 5s to medications.  No ID is needed for anything. If you have the cash, you get what you want. 

You aren't allowed to take bags into shopping malls and your recipt is checked when you leave!!

We had an amazing veg curry in down town Mysore. I was the only black person in this very traditional eatery surrounded by eating Indians.  I got stares and smiles and a lot of love.  Indian people do not like to say no or rarely say that they don't understand. So this man came up to our table and said hello to me, he looked very important and held himself well (actually most Indian men do) I said hello. He said hello again. I presumed be was the boss and said, "you are boss? This is delicious thank you". My colleagues were giggling as the man nodded his head and said "yes ma'am yes ma'am, we shook hands and left".

I said to the table that I thought he was nice and they laughed and replied "he is a waiter".  Oops

The food I had in this restaurant was absolutely bloody delicious. My god. And the amount of food, all veg all very tasty.  Off course I ate with my hands, forks are dead to me. And so sooooo cheap.

We visited a bank, traumatic.  Busy, full of people with big wedges of cash all trying to deposit it. Disorderd queuing. Hot.

I waited outside.

Outside, I noticed that I was in the western district of town. Lots of hippy looking people, with slight pompous. Admittedly I am in proper expedition adventurer clothing. I look like a tourist, I smell like a tourist and my berghaus day sack outs me all the time. So earlier that day I approached this white girl about my age in the supermarket because I wanted  to find some cereal (I cant have curry for breakfast again) and the look she have me after looking me up and down would have curdled milk. Yikes. Then again as I was crossing the road this big old white man (in a lovely linen two piece may I add) just crossed my path bumped into me as if I didn't exist. Meh city.

I've decided that I do not want to visit any western places anymore, I'm gonna keep it Indian and traddional.  We had a look in a yoga cafe, again too western, with people sitting with laptops and not talking to each other and not even a hello despite me smiling. I possibly may be a bit much for some folk so I totally understand the rebuffle lol.

What else, oh yeah I saw I a guy get knocked of his motorbike by a tut tut, he was alright. No helmet. Wasn't indicating. Bike alright thou. I wasn't allowed to leave the car to help him :(

India's road are bloody scary. No one stops for anything. Except cows. Cows get right of way all the time. People swerve to avoid cows but no swerving to avoid people!!! Few traffic lights. Man alive. 

Oh the hospital, it was pretty standard I wasn't that impressed but was happy that any unwell volunteers would be evacuated somewhere self. It did however have a cath lab. (Where people who are having heart attacked caused by fat lumps in the arteries around the heart, have the artery reopened) this was impressive.  There was a CT scanner and a radiologist. Now the ED had just four bed. There was a fully kitted ITU and even Physio. Dya know what I was impressed actually but it is american funded so I guess I kinda wanted to visit some more rural hospitals.

Right now I'm surrounded by team leaders all writing up their reports. 

Il post some pictures of Mysore!

I think that I am gonna use this blog as a daily diary. It may get a bit boring for you despite things being highly exciting for me - I spent last night reading up on tropical diseases and looking at pictures of fulminant disease states, this made me happy.

I can't be specific about the people I see re names and conditions, but il try my best.

It's funny how the sun changes your body cycles.  I'm waking up at sun rise 6.45 and jogging ???? Falling asleep at 10ish. Eating good curry - man the curry is good. I've taken a likening to powdered milk despite liquid milk being available. I feel like I'm cleaning my soul, life is so simple here. Washing with cold water just isn't a bother, not having to wear make up is a relief. I wear the same clothes and it's ok. My hair is wild but seems healthier in the sun. The sun is a medicine man. 

Bit too tired to spell check the above but gonna answer some of ya facet questions in the next post.

The beauty of androgyny

I'm sitting in the "discussion room" at Colombia Asia Hospital. Mysore. 

I am waiting to be shown around by the chief executives assistant. 

The chief exec didn't have much time for me, he was polite and welcoming - he shook my hand after I extended it. Not much eye contact and a fascination with the hair. We exchanged pleasantries, he proudly proclaimed that the hospital is state funded and then excused himself as he had to see patients.

I am pretty much use to being dismissed by people, men in particular - my boyish young frame and cockney twang does not conjure  up much confidence amongst older folk.  I realise that there is a cultural element to his behaviour but I still thought asking me questions about myself and what grade I am etc would have been part of the convo -a basic level of respect is all I ask for.  Anyway he has left the room and I feel like I am in containment, surrounded by glass walls, in an airtight room.  The Indian public can see me and I can see them, we stare at each other, children are confused.

Despite this trip being planned,  I kinda think that it is slightly rude that I am waiting, but this could be my western impatience rearing it's ugly head.

So I wait.

Poor sleep last night. I was alone in the tent and dreamt of snakes (a lovely assistant has just told me "five minutes ma'am". So all good)

Anyway snakes, I swear I heard hissing at around two am, and I am pretty sure that I heard the thud of a snake launching itself at me.  And then during this morning run I was convinced that snakes were gonna throw themselves at me and I would die.  No such thing happened but I am tired.

This morning was a morning of errands. I was assigned a driver who dropped me off at various points in Mysore City to get bits and bobs.

First some laundry. (The bosses get theirs done for them), then off to the printers, now the hospital, then the pharmacy to pick up medications lacking from the medical boxes, then to pick up Paul the big big boss.

I am getting quite good at this traveller malarkey, navigating through Mysore was initially scary but my androgyny serves me well, until people look down and see my painted toes nails.  People speak English and were very good at pointing out places to me, I call every one sir or ma'am and shake everyone's hand.  I do appreciate that I must look effing strange so I do have to make attempts to soften the dr Ronx blow.

It's bloody hot.  Nice . I am tanned and am no longer wearing foundation, so Fridays rush around london was a waste of time!!!

I have taken many pictures of down town Mysore and will post them later.

And il update you on my tour of the american hospital!

I am not allowed to take pictures :(