Posted on February 9, 2017 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

 

“Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

Water.

Is it possible to transform the lives of an entire community?

In a word, yes.

For most people, water is an afterthought. We turn on the tap and out comes clean water, hot and cold and plentiful. We use it for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing, for toilets and doing our laundry. About the only time we really notice it is when our towns or cities are fixing a problematic water line or flushing the lines. We are mildly inconvenienced for a few hours while the necessary repairs/maintenance are carried out. We hear the comforting swoosh as the water is turned back on and after a few minutes of discoloration, we’re back in business.

There are many places in the world where getting water is a major undertaking every day of the year. In some cases, people have to travel significant distances from home to get water and then have to lug it back.

 The leprosy community is next door to the Daughters of Mary. The Sisters support these people who were afflicted by this terrible disease years ago. The good news is that the community has an abundant supply of clean drinking water. It comes from storage tanks on site and is transported to ten outdoor taps scattered throughout the village. The problem is that these 10 taps serve 60 families. There are no indoor water taps. That means that most people have to leave their homes and travel a distance to fill their jugs. The distance, albeit short, wouldn’t be a big deal for most individuals.

Amputations amongst people with leprosy, is common and very often it is the hands and feet that are the areas of the body most affected. Poor eyesight is another symptom of the disease.  Going to get water is much more complicated for these people. Having a water tap outside every home would make this aspect of daily life so much easier and would be one very small step on the way to independent and dignified living.

Fifty taps. $100 per tap. $5,000 in total. A drop in the bucket.

I am asking you to consider a contribution to make this a reality. You can buy one or more taps yourself  or perhaps partner with friends in your book club , alumni organization, coffee clutch or professional association. If you have a big extended family, maybe they could pool their resources and take this on as a project. I can’t think of anything that is more basic or more necessary in this circumstance.

It’s time “to turn on the taps.”

Next Thursday, my Faces in the Crowd story will be about John Ponnya, one of the residents in the leprosy community. I sat with John the other evening to hear his story and to try and understand what goes on inside the head of someone who has been discarded, cast out of his own home when diagnosed, marginalized and reduced to begging. This story is not about pity. It is about understanding. For someone who has had a life unimaginable to us, he still has a glimmer in his eyes and he has a good sense of humour. We shared some laughter through an interpreter.

Count your blessings and have a great week.

P.S. A few of you have been having problems with e-transfers. When you go into your on line banking and click on “interac e – transfers” ( or something similar ), would you please add the “ Daughters of Mary” as “ new recipient” and double check the e-mail address. A few folks have mistakenly used the incorrect e-mail address. The correct address is : investmentindia2017@gmail.com. There is no “in” between the words investment and india. I am still receiving transfers daily so I know the system is working. If you retry and are unsuccessful, could you please send me the name of your financial institution… just the name? I want to see if there might be one particular bank with whom we are having the issue and then we can try and resolve this. Really appreciative of your support… and patience.

Posted on February 6, 2017 under Monday Morning Musings with 2 comments

Silk shawls for the dignitaries

Our fundraising campaign for the Daughters of Mary in Southern India has reached the 25 % mark. Thanks very much for your generosity. There is still lots of time to give, now or in the future. It’s easy. Just follow this link to my webpage.  http://www.week45.com/supporting-the-daughters-of-mary-in-india/

I was having dinner the other evening with a group of strangers. I was the only non-Indian person at the table. They were surprised when I refused to take the knife and fork offered to me. I am so used to eating with my right hand that it will take some getting used to when I get back to Canada. When I announced that I was from Canada, one of my hosts coined a new term. He called me a Canindian!

Speaking of Indians, I never tire of seeing sarees ( saris ). It seems that everyone of them is different. When I go to mass with the Sisters at a local church in the morning, I find myself distracted looking at the dazzling array of colors. I must say that one of the things I miss most from home is singing in the choir at St. Ninian’s Cathedral. Those of us fortunate to spend time in “the loft” recognize and appreciate the genius of James MacPherson. None of the choirs here sing in harmony. It is all congregational singing. Nothing wrong with that but when you are accustomed to harmony, it’s not quite the same thing.

And speaking of matters religious, I was told by a local priest that the heads of all of the religions in Kanyakumari met recently to discuss noise pollution as religious groups are amongst the worst offenders. Things get started very early in the morning here, usually around 5:00 a.m. There are an incredible number of temples, mosques and churches in such a small area and most, if not all, feel the need to blast their ceremonies through speakers at the highest possible decibel level. I suppose you get used to it eventually but I must say that it is one thing that I find grates on the nerves.

After three months in India, I am pleased to say that I have found a secure and reliable supply of fresh coffee. One of the guests at our B@B told me about this shop in a small town near Chennai ( several hundred kilometers from here ) that has wonderful coffee which they ship all over the world through an online store. I thought I’d give it a try. They replied very promptly to my request and two days later I received my shipment by courier. The coffee , like so many other things, is much cheaper than home. And the shipping charges? Ninety-four ( 94 rs. ) rupees or approximately $1.88. The coffee is awesome. I will definitely survive my last three months in India!

I was one of the guest speakers at a gathering of the “Lovers of English Society,” a group of retired and active university professors ( including a president or two ) and other professionals in the neighboring town of Nagercoil. They gather once a month to speak English and pick a different topic, along with a guest speaker. The topic this particular evening was demonetization. Anyone following my travels in India are well aware of the chaos caused when the Indian government, removed 85% of the currency from circulation overnight back on November 8^th. The group was interested in getting a perspective from a foreign visitor. The other speaker was a retired U.N. Ambassador who happens to be an economist.

When I arrived at the meeting place ( the living room of a retired university professor ), I was met at the front door by a small handful of participants. There were two other cars parked beside his house. They usually have a few dozen people come for these gatherings. By the time the session began, there were 75 people in the room, including several brilliant university and high school students. Sometimes I feel like an exotic bird when I show up at these things. ( My brother Gerard suggested that “bald eagle” was appropriate! ).

It was a fascinating and stimulating evening. I really enjoyed the question and answer period that followed the formal speeches. There were no easy questions. They were very interested to talk about the “Trump” factor as it relates to the economy of Canada and other countries including India. They fear that any form of protectionism could be problematic for their country. When the evening concluded, I was approached by several people to see if I would come to their institutions to do similar presentations.

Every guest who shows up at the B@B run by the Sisters has a demonetization story. A chap from England was telling me a story last evening about his own travails. He is in the early stages of a two year trip through Asia. He has been in India three months so he has seen the worst of the currency crisis like me. He was in Northern India in a town in which he was staying for three days ( he had pre-booked and paid for his accommodations long before he left home). The restaurants in the area only took cash and , of course, there was none to be had. He found one restaurant that offered him an unique solution. The restaurant owner had a brother who owned a jewelry store that took credit cards. So this English chap took all of his meals at this one establishment for three days and went to the jewelry store the day he was leaving to pay his bill. These kind of stories are legendary. Resourcefulness is a useful skill.

I have two new stories. I took my first bus trip since coming to India and not surprisingly, it wasn’t without incident! The second story is about the challenges that we all have with electricity in this country. Power outages are common place ( daily and sometimes more often than that ) but they rarely last long… mildly inconvenient but not a big deal. My room has 16 different switches ( it’s one of the rooms in the B@B ). I won’t spoil the story but safe to say, that getting everything to work when the power is on is difficult enough but when there’s an outage, the situation can get very complicated.

Have a great week.

P.S. I couldn’t get the Super Bowl in India. I want to give a big shout out to my friend , Rick Johnson, who gave me the blow by blow of the last 5 minutes of the thrilling conclusion by way of Facebook Messenger.

Posted on February 2, 2017 under Faces in the Crowd with one comment

Running. Good for the heart and the soul

“ I am so blessed. I live in a wonderful place. I love what I do. I have a great partner.”

Meet Lena MacDonald

Lena was born in Sydney Forks, Cape Breton. Her father was a school bus driver and her mother worked for the telephone company. In the early years, she and her brother had to be driven everywhere because they lived outside of the city. Freedom showed up for Lena at the age of ten when new sidewalks were installed.

She loved taking part in sports at school. A big thrill in junior high was playing basketball. It was doubly so as she now had a uniform with matching socks!

With grade twelve looming on the horizon, she turned her thoughts to university. She didn’t have a clue what she would take but sciences and math were two subjects that she enjoyed.  Her uncle suggested that with all of the new medical advances, the health care field might be worth pursuing. A visit to her school guidance counsellor sealed the deal, in an odd sort of way. She was told that the nursing program was very difficult…. maybe even too difficult.  Lena decided to prove to the counsellor, and herself, that she had the ability and determination to take up the challenge.

Her four years at St.F.X. were not easy. The work load was very heavy, leaving little or no time for extracurricular activity or even a part time job. And there was added pressure at home as her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Nursing jobs were scarce in Nova Scotia and across the country. She and three classmates ended up in the same hospital in Florida. By the time she left, that number had swelled to ten and the institution was dubbed “ The All Canadian Hospital.” While she enjoyed the work and the company of colleauges, as Lena said, “ It wasn’t Cape Breton.”

During this time, her leadership qualities emerged and she was encouraged to become a charge nurse. She moved to Raleigh/Durham , North Carolina. There was a good deal of pressure associated with the work and after a year and a half, she was ready for a change. She contacted St. Martha’s Hospital in Antigonish and in March of 1998, she started work there, first as a casual and then full time in 1999. She worked both Emergency and I.C.U until 2006. During this time, she completed her Masters of Nursing Degree at Dalhousie University and became a nurse practitioner.

Because of her extensive work in I.C.U., she became very interested in cardiac care. She approached the hospital administration about establishing a Heart Health Clinic. “ St. Martha’s was very forward thinking and progressive and agreed to my proposal.” The Heart Health Clinic is for people who have a high risk of having a heart attack or who have had a heart attack or stroke. “ My job as a nurse practitioner is to manage the process for patients who have suffered a heart attack. I am totally hands on with the patients.”

Lena derives great satisfaction from her work. “ It is a privilege to be able to help people and improve the quality of their lives. I hope to be able to continue this work for the remainder of my career.”

Of course, exercise is an important aspect in everyone’s health and well being and Lena “ practices what she preaches.” Around seven years ago, she took a “ learn to Run 5K “ class as part of the hospital’s Wellness Initiative For Staff. She fell in love with running and has completed 5 half marathons. “ Running clears your head. The fresh air is invigorating and you get to see nature unfold in front of you.”

She and her partner of 19 years are outdoors people and can be found four wheeling or snowmobiling on Brown’s Mountain or Eigg Mountain where they enjoy the solitude of nature.

February is Heart Health month and Lena encourages anyone who may be at risk to come and have a “ heart to heart” conversation with her.