What ails you?

Staying here at the Baptist Mission Hotel has been a God send…truly an oasis from the realities outside the gate. Many of the guest are volunteers as well and as we spend 3 meals a day today in the mess hall and work side by side all day at the Mother houses we have been come quiet close friends very quickly.

Now India is hard living…it is down right filthy, even the water is completely contaminated, so imagine getting a blister on your heel that just won’t heal, keeping it moist for days with sweat and dirty water and watching as it quickly evolves into a throbbing, seeping infected wound that just wont heal. Welcome to our lives in India! Everything is elevated, every little blister, pain, illness or scrape becomes a mortal threat and we need to share our misery.

The number one conversation starter is our digestive tract. Our diet consists of poor nutritional staples heavy in carbohydrates that either block all process or escalate it. It has become our favorite subject of conversation around the mission.

“Good morning Katie, are you feeling better, have you been able to get that blockage taken care of”? “Oh, thanks be the lord for asking me Jill, no I haven’t, in fact I just spent the last hour in the bathroom trying to work it out, me hemorrhoids are so bad now I don’t know what to do”. Well, Katie good luck with that”.

We have gotten our own little series of sign language for this now too.  Look up wave, put up two fingers, thumbs up or down, half a movement is a wavey flat hand and if you give the fist… not good!

It has also become a bit of a competition too… “Well, I haven’t had a BM in three days”. “Ha, I have you beat, I haven’t gone in 4 days”. “Arg, you win this time”.  “I hear they are selling enemas at the Rx down the street and I am so desperate I will try anything”. “Oh, Good luck with that”.

 Kayla says “I got 10 mosquito bites last night”. I say “ wow, I got 12”.  Winner?

“Hi Jill, Guess what? I have gone to the bathroom 17 times today”. “Jeez, good luck with that”.

“Hi Mary, how is that seeping, ulcerating sore on your toe doing”? “Well, it is spreading to my other toe and its turning green”. Wow, that sounds horrible, good luck with that”. 

 I have found the perfect solution to avoid all issues. I have simply chosen no to eat, any water I drink is triple treated, I never lay my head down on my pillow at night, I don’t leave the house after sunset and when I do I travel around in a human size hermetically sealed hamster ball. “Good luck with that”!