Puppies!

Today volunteers with Aim Abroad went to the local street children school in Delhi NCR. Here the volunteers were giving first aid to the children at the school. Many of the students had cuts and small wounds that were in need of disinfecting and bandaging, but few of the cases were serious. Most of the problems stem from hygiene issues, but the volunteers were teaching the children ways to maintain hygiene and health to prevent the cases in the future. Besides for first aid, the volunteers also went around giving medicine to the children with colds and with stomach pains, which surprisingly many of the children came to school even when they were sick. The volunteers describe that the children in the school are very much unlike children going to school in their home countries in the west. These particular children have a safe place where they are with their loving friends and teachers, and even new friends who are volunteers, while they also learn exciting new things about the world and even are given a meal during the day, a meal which may be the only meal they eat in a day. After the volunteers finished giving medicine to the children, they played with the children after school ended. Some puppies were even nearby in the school, and the children were extremely affectionate with the puppies! It was very warm to see the children having such a wonderful time, and you can really tell just how happy and loving these children are in the pictures!

Delhi

This past weekend, two volunteers with Aim Abroad stayed in the main tourist area of Delhi during their free time. They had already visited Delhi twice during their language and culture program with AIm Abroad, but wanted to go back for the weekend for some shopping. In Delhi, they went to Connaught Place, a very nice area for affordable shopping of very high quality items. They came back with several pearl necklaces, several pashminas, and even some marble items for gifts. They spent less than $100 in all of their shopping, but they said that they had bought gifts for around ten different people with all of the great deals they had found in Delhi! They did comment, though, on one funny interaction with a rickshaw driver when they were in Delhi! They describe that, from the hotel, they had searched for several rickshaws with affordable prices, but most of them were grossly overcharging them (a ride for $0.50 was appropriate, but they were charging a minimum of $1.50). When they finally found a rickshaw for the right price, they knew they had to specify one more thing: They explained that they didn't want to go and stop somewhere else along the way. Many times rickshaw drivers in tourist cities will bring passengers to other stores along the way to make a commission from store owners if the passengers buy anything. Well, the rickshaw driver responded: "You can't possibly go without stopping at one of the shops!" The volunteers laughed, and were walking away, and the rickshaw driver said, "Well, you don't have to buy anything but you must stop at these shops!" When the volunteers continued walking away, the rickshaw driver realized that they were serious, and so finally he decided to take them for the correct price without stopping at the shops! Many times just being brave and standing up to the rickshaw drivers will avoid unwanted situations, and they really do respond to people with strong wills!  I attached a photo they took while they went to see Qutab Minar a second time while they were in Delhi.

Hospital Visits

Our medical volunteers participating with Aim Abroad went to two different hospitals today, the pediatric hospital and the maternity hospital. At the pediatric hospital, the volunteers helped the hospital staff by helping feed the babies in the nursery, taking the children's temperatures, taking the children's blood pressures, measuring the children's height and weight, and listening with a stethoscope to the children's breathing patterns and heartbeats. The volunteers were also able to take blood samples and give injections, but they were not trained to do so, and were not comfortable with learning the practice; however, they did mention that the hospital staff is happy to train the volunteers to become proficient in those skills. The volunteers at the maternity hospital said that they spent a lot of time with the head surgeon of the hospital discussing different cases. Although they did not encounter any interesting cases, the maternity hospital had a different ultrasound machine, compared to the ultrasound machine at the clinic where most volunteers learn about the practice. The volunteers learned how to read the ultrasound output from a very different type of machine and did observe a few patients with the machine. They were able to tell that the patients were doing well, with their newfound knowledge of the practice of reading the ultrasound machine. All in all, the volunteers described they learned a lot today, and look forward to more volunteering at these local hospitals in India while they are with Aim Abroad.

Ice Cream!

Two volunteers staying at a local orphanage with Aim Abroad went out and brought some ice cream for the children at the orphanage! They have been with the program for a few weeks now, and they have grown really fond of the children at the orphanage. Staying at the orphanage, the volunteers help teach the children, play with the children, and help with the maintenance of the orphanage as well. Most importantly, these children had been very deprived of love and attention before arriving at the orphanage, so the volunteers always feel that spending time with the orphans is the best way to volunteer. Bringing the ice cream for the children was a great way to interact with them, as they were all smiling, laughing, and sharing a wonderful moment together. The children also had never had ice cream before! So this was a really special treat for them, especially sharing the moment amongst each other!

Ultrasound Volunteers

A few medical volunteers who are with Aim Abroad went to the ultrasound clinic again today for gaining medical experience. As they had volunteered at the clinic before, they observed many of the routine cases for that clinic, but were now able to differentiate many of the different diagnoses. When the doctor uses the machine, she will examine a point in particular, and ask the volunteers questions, such as "What organ are we observing in the patient? Is there anything noticeable when contrasted to a healthy patient?" With the knowledge they have gained from working at the clinic in the past, the volunteers were able to detect different kidney stones and approximated the sizes. The doctor would also ask the volunteers about the appropriate treatments for each diagnosis, if they are familiar with such cases. When there are fewer patients, the doctor sometimes orders some chai for all of them, and they discuss different cases together. One interesting case for today though, was a patient who had come in for her first ultrasound checkup of her unborn child. The doctor confirmed that after six weeks the baby was healthy and on target for growth. The patient was so happy and left the clinic; afterwards, the doctor revealed to the volunteers that that particular patient had been having fertility problems and was unable to conceive. For the past few months the doctor had been treating the patient, and she finally had success with conception. The volunteers were really intrigued, and really felt that spending a few days at the clinic has already taught them so much regarding medicine and interacting with patients, and they feel very lucky to come and have this opportunity for volunteering with Aim Abroad!

Street Children School

Several volunteers with us went to the street children school to provide first aid for the children! When the volunteers arrived, the children were going through their morning routine exercises, which help teach discipline and stimulate them. Then, they all sang the Indian national anthem with such pride and joy! After they finished the anthem, they all separated into their respective classes and groups. The volunteers went to each class, one by one, and gave medicines to the children who were sick, such as cough medicine and stomach medicine. Additionally, they were treating skin conditions, which were very prevalent in many of the children as their living arrangements are far from hygienic. Some volunteers donated some toothbrushes and toothpaste to children who were having especially bad tooth conditions too. Then, once all of the medicine was distributed on the campus, one volunteer went to clip the nails of the children and to teach the importance of practicing hygiene as often as possible. Other volunteers played with the children or taught other classes at the school. One little girl was speaking to a volunteer for quite some time, as she explained that her favorite subject was English and she wanted to practice as much as possible!

Updates

During the past few days we have been fairly busy at Aim Abroad! We have been teaching our language and culture program to a few volunteers, and have been taking the volunteers to the local temples and teaching about the local traditions that we practice in India. Alongside Indian cooking classes, where we taught the volunteers how to make pakoras, samosas, rotis, puris, upma, and kichree, the volunteers also practiced speaking some of their newly learned Hindi from the language instructor with me and my family. Fluent in English and Hindi, my eight-year old daughter particularly enjoyed helping the volunteers with their Hindi and English, which all of the volunteers thought was adorable! Besides for the language and culture program, we have been working with a local orphanage as well. I have posted two photos of the orphans and some helpers and volunteers with the orphans at the orphanage! The children there are very sweet, and the volunteers have been giving very good feedback about the orphanage and the stay they have had at this orphanage in particular!