Day 33

Jyothi is the housekeeper/school maid who lives behind the school building with her husband and son. I always assumed she was much older than me but she's the exact same age as me. It's crazy thinking about how different our lives our. I am luxuriously deciding what career path I want to follow in life, while her career path was determined by the socioeconomic status she was born into. I can't imagine being married and having a 2 year old child to care for at this age. 

Today all of the staff members participated in a leprosy reaction seminar. Pieter brought in about six leprosy reaction patients for us to examine and learn about the different types of leprosy reaction. This is one of the patients with a leprosy reaction, caused by an overstimulated immune system that doesn't respond to the standard medication. If reactions aren't taken care of and steroids aren't given to reduce inflammation in the joints, patients will suffer sever life long disabilities. 

This is Thathaya's daughter who came to the clinic to take him home. She's the one whose husband left her since her father had leprosy. She was very friendly, and Thathaya was very happy to see her. I told her I would look into organizations that would allow her to pursue another vocation besides tailoring, since tailoring still limits a person's socioeconomic growth. The government provides free tailoring training for women who have completed high school, which is a great system in my opinion. But it's still frustrating that this is her only option. I haven't been able to find any other skill-based vocations for women in India, but I'll keep searching. 

This is Nikita! She's a 23 year old Belgian student who is doing field research at Damien for three months in order to help her with her master's thesis in Anthropology. It's nice to have someone else to talk to, and I'm learning a lot from her. She's also the first white person I've seen in over a month! What a strange notion. 

This is Jyothi's son, Teja. He's quite fond of sweeping the floors. 

When I walk outside the front door and look down the balcony in the evenings, this is what I see. The students' parents force them to stay at the school to study until about 7pm, and they all sit outside quietly doing their homework. It's super hot and they're all restless. They're constantly on the look out for "sir!" (pronounced "SAR"), who will yell at them if they are talking.