Hi Everyone,

Sorry it’s been a few days since I have written. I’ve been quite ill and incapable of doing much but have recovered in the past two days and am now fully back on deck.

I have a lot to say and I want to start with Mumbai and Delhi - two of India’s major cities. They are extremely polluted - one can’t see the horizon for the smog. I’m quite convinced that the populations in both of these cities which number around 20 million people each is largely composed of slum dwellers. I’ve spent some time walking through the slums (which has consequently made me realise how very fortunate I am to be Australian) and the conditions there by western standards are appalling. The streets stink – though fortunately not of sewage. I don’t know how they dispose of this but a river I passed by suggested that this might be where it winds up. Men seem to urinate indiscriminantly in any corner. With 20 million people crammed into the humid environment of Mumbai you can imagine the result. Cattle and dogs wander aimlessly through the incredibly chaotic and dense traffic. A family of say 5 or 6 people would live in a space the size of an Australian bathroom. No one seems to have what we would call a bed in Australia. they all sleep on the floor and even on the street as some people are even without a shanty house. It’s a common sight to see a family with their children sleeping on the sidewalk with many cars whizzing past their faces every minute. Shops are minute (usually much smaller than an Australian single garage) messy and dark. Shop owners often live with their extended families in the rubble at the back of the shop.

As for the daily routines of the people. As far as I can tell, wealthier families send their children to school but I think the majority are on the street and earn money by any means possible. Its common to see children collecting bottles and miscellaneous items which they no doubt try to sell. There are extremely persistent beggars in the cities who descend on any Westerner. Many of them look really terrible and you feel compelled to give them money. However we found they weren’t too keen to take food when we offered so they couldn’t be too hungry. An Indian we talked to said that most of the beggars were “professional” and could find honest work if they wanted to and we should not give money to anyone. Nonetheless each day we run into people so pitiful we find that we can’t refuse. In India no one ever seems to be doing much. Men seem to squat on the side of the road and talk all day. Men far outnumber women on the streets. I presume the women are at home.

The houses in the slums are very make-shift. Many slums have some sort of brickwork which may be one wall of the house whilst the other walls are non-existent or are composed of cloth, plastic or scrap metal. In some places everyone lives in rag-tag tents. I doubt most slums have running water or electricity however it is a common sight to see people tapping into the mains electricity supply with their own wires. This is very dangerous and extremely frightful to see. At best the cities can be described as utter chaos – hell on earth would not be an exaggeration. I find it appalling that the world can spend 700 times more money on “defense” than it does on world aid when people live in such squalor.

Since we arrived at the clinic I have had the opportunity to visit a few rural villages. The situation for the impoverished majority in the rural areas while dire, is in some ways much better than those in the city slums. The noise and pollution are absent and although many villages have no electricity, there is usually a decent supply of bucketed water to each household from the village wells. We have learned though that the water is often laden with parasites, bacteria and viruses and is a constant source of disease for these people . Most people live in quite nice mud huts albeit they are cramped and gloomy.

Now to the clinic. Dr. Derek Gehrmann heads the clinic. He is a real gentleman who has accommodated our every need – even driving us 20km into the nearest town (Bokaro) to enjoy the pleasures of Pizza once I had regained my appetite!!

Before I describe the clinic let me describe the circumstances in the surrounding areas. The clinic’s surroundings are typical of rural India. There are many neighbouring villages most of which have no electricity or running water. Although there are doctors and a basic hospital in Bokaro the cost is beyond the means of any villager and hence the reason for the clinic which serves the community free of charge and is totally dependent on donations to remain in operation. The surrounding population is largely engaged in subsistence agriculture and there are no surrounding schools which I know of.

The clinic caters to the needs of the local people via the following.

- Free Acupuncture, Homeopathic and conventional (western medical) treatment for locals.
- Education about hygiene and nutritional issues
- Training of village health care workers using the assistance of the WHO
- Free and regular disinfection of village water supplies in an attempt to control the spread of water-borne diseases.

According to Dr Gehrmann, somewhere around 70% of the cases they see are due to severe malnutrition which in this area often starts before birth. This is not malnutrition due to lack of food – no one is hungry. Most locals will eat three good meals of white rice a day. The problem is that this is just about all that they eat. No greens, no fruit, no variety whatever. This leads to severely suppressed immune systems and thus susceptibility to any disease that comes along. Due to the poor hygiene and polluted water supply, serious disease is common. The malnutrition is so severe that it actually affects IQ. Much of the population is badly affected by this. Tuberculosis, polio, malaria, leprosy, gut infections, skin conditions and other serious diseases are regularly seen at the clinic.

The area is swarming with mosquitoes which carry malaria, dengue fever and filiaris (elephantitis). We have been very careful with netting at night and repellant during the day but the villagers don’t have these luxuries.

Yesterday at the clinic we saw two cases of elephantitis which is slowable but not curable and a 10 year old boy with arthritis – caused again by malnutrition. Fortunately he has been diagnosed at an early stage and aside from providing him with pain relief, his parents are being taught about good nutrition and he should make a full recovery. One lady came in doubled over with severe spinal arthritis. All the clinic could do for her was alleviate the pain with acupuncture which is apparently very effective.

The clinics most important role is education. The only way the villager’s health will be improved is if they understand the basics of nutrition and hygiene. This is a long slow process as they are impoverished, set in their long established habits and frankly not very bright – again due to their poor nutritional condition.

In the next few days I will finish installing the solar system, at the moment the clinic still has a very unreliable and intermittent supply of electricity which has large voltage fluctuations. The system will change all that.

Aside from my being unwell, progress has been very slow due to the way the Indians do business. It’s completely hopeless by western standards. We went to a hardware store to buy screws and bolts. You can’t browse the shelves as in Australia. You have to describe what you want. The people behind the counter will discuss it among themselves for a while. One will eventually go off and rumble around in the rubble at the back of the shop and after a long delay return with something completely inappropriate. The procedure is then repeated until you hopefully get what you need. We went to an electrical shop to buy fuses. We had to lend the owner a torch so he could see to rummage around cupboards to locate them. If the shop doesn’t have what you are after, they don’t send you away. They disappear down the street for an hour (probably to another shop) before returning with the wrong item. It’s great fun! You just have to learn not to get stressed about it.

The Indian solar panels came with mounts that were woefully inadequate. We have designed and ordered new ones from a metalworking shop. They were supposed to arrive yesterday but it turned out the shop couldn’t get hold of the materials. We are supposed to get them today. We fully expect that they will be built not as designed and more days will be spent waiting for them to be adjusted. Anyway, once we have these it will only be a matter of a day or so to finish the system (I hope!).

So that’s all for now. Next time I hope to be writing to say that the solar installation is functional and the clinic is no longer dependent on the mains supply for it’s electrical needs

Until next time!

Anton