long but worth it!

The last week has been very exciting, and I have a lot to share, so sorry for the length.

Last Monday at the DIC, one of the clients needed a dressing change done on the back of his left hand. The volunteer coordinator (Shalini ji) asked me to observe how it is done, and offer some advice on how they could do dressing changes better. I went over to where the client was, and the nurse and outreach workers gave me a chair and asked me to do the dressing. The supplies they had were gloves, chlorohexidine, hydrogen peroxide, anti-bacterial ointment, cotton balls, and gauze bandage to wrap around his hand. I was taking all the precautions to keep the gloves and materials sterile and the site clean. However, they had set the cotton balls down directly on the chair beside me, and then passed them to me with their bare hands (which could not have been washed recently as they do not keep soap anywhere in the DIC). I didn’t know what to do as there was no way, especially with the language barrier, to do the dressing change as it needed to be done. Afterwards, I was asked to create a set of instructions (which Annu will translate into Hindi) for the outreach workers to use when they are in the field in case a dressing change needs to be done and the client cannot come to the center to see the nurse. I am going to ask SPYM if there’s any way to get more/different materials to do dressing changes.
After doing the dressing change, we went out with one of the outreach workers and a client who is still on buprenorphine but wants to become an outreach worker. We walked about 20 minutes to Lodi road, where we found four young men smacking (smoking heroine) behind some tall grass that was beside the road. We snuck back and crouched down to also hide. They were really nice, letting me take a few pictures, and even offered us some chai (which I’m not sure how they were going to make). The outreach worker, Sanjay, was telling them about the DIC and its services when two men approached, I guess having seen me (I stand out too much to hide anywhere). They were undercover police officers, and were hoping they had busted a tourist buying drugs. When they found out I was with the outreach workers, they left. Later I learned it is very common for police to simply take money from drug-users when they find them as a bribe not to press charges. I have heard many times that the police system here is very corrupt.
On Wednesday, we learned Vahid would be the third volunteer at our placement instead of Manish, as he worked there before the program began, and they needed him to help them figure out how to prevent people from sneaking off with the buprenorphine and injecting it. We went to McDonalds after (which sells no beef, and has Indian spices in the chicken burgers) so Vahid could get some ice cream. There was a white girl in the line behind me who seemed pretty excited to see me, and asked where I was from etc. She was from Michigan and here for her cousins wedding. She asked Annu and Vahid if they were from New Delhi, and then if they knew her cousins new husband, also from New Delhi. I told her the population of New Delhi is like the population of Canada, and that the chances were next to nothing. Either way, it was fun talking to someone from close to home.
On Thursday morning Annu and I were both coming down with a bit of a cold, so we decided it was better for us to call in sick and take it easy for the day. In the late morning, we walked down the road to a video store to rent a movie. The video store was a small room with four computers (it doubled as an internet café) and about 150 DVD cases on the wall. We asked about VCDs, and the man pulled out a couple shoeboxes full of burned copies of movies. It was 30 rupees (approx 75 cents) to rent one for a day, and the one we got had four different movies on it. I asked Annu if that was legal here and she said no, but no one cares. We walked around a little more to buy popcorn, and passed by a bank with a guard in front. Except the guard was more like a guy in scruffy clothes holding a shotgun.
Friday was a Muslim holiday. Everyone had the day off work/school, so we went to Jaipur for Friday and Saturday. It was about a four hour drive, and we rented a larger car with a driver to take us there. The roads are absolutely insane here. It feels like there’s a near collision every ten seconds, and no one wears seatbelts unless their passing a police officer. People also honk A LOT here and it’s not considered rude at all. In fact, ‘horn please’ is painted on the back of almost every truck so they don’t have to look in their mirrors to know you’re coming.
When we got to Jaipur, we went to visit a couple who owns the apartment next to Annu’s, but lives in Jaipur. They had a large house with all white marble floors (which is much cheaper and more common here), two large balconies, and a terrace. They have a son and a daughter who weren’t home, but she invited all of us (including me!) to her son’s wedding February 1. After having chai and sweets at their house, we went Choki Dhani. It’s set up like a little village, and you pay admission, which includes a buffet dinner and lots of shows (balancing acts, magicians, music and dancing, etc.). They also had camel rides and elephant rides, and I got to ride both. The wait in the camel ride line was taking a long time, and didn’t seem to be moving at all. Then we found out people were bribing the man who was helping everyone on to the camels so they could skip the line. Annu’s dad, along with a few others, stayed at the front of the line and made sure no one bribed the man, and finally the line started moving.
After about four hours of roaming around the village, we left to check into our hotel. Annu’s parents went in, checked the room, paid, and called us in from the car. When they saw me come in, they asked me for my passport. I hadn’t brought it with me (SPYM holds onto them so we don’t lose them while we’re here) but I offered them a photocopy of it. They said that was not good enough and said I could not stay there. So we got the money back and went to find another hotel. Annu found out later that three tourists went missing from a hotel in Agra (where the Taj Mahal is) and the hotel was held responsible, so hotel owners have become very strict on policies for foreigners. We found another hotel that said it was okay for me to stay there, but made it quite clear that they were not responsible if anything happened to me.
On Saturday, we saw so many temples and forts. It became a bit of a joke because my admission was always at least triple and up to five times more than everyone else in Annu’s family. I think having different prices for Indians and tourists makes sense so India can profit from the tourist industry but still allow Indians to see everything, but it was Annu’s family paying for me so I felt bad for costing so much more. The places we saw were the Birla Temple (a temple made completely of white marble), the Hawa Mahal (aka Palace of Winds because it has around 300 windows), Jal Mahal (water palace, which now sits in a man made lake), Jaigahr Fort, and Amer Palace (where the King and Queen once lived, protected by Jaigahr Fort). After our long day of sight-seeing, and before our long drive, we went for some chai and had a few snacks. We also went to use the washroom before the long drive. There was a little hut that had a ‘use and pay’ policy, and Annu’s dad paid for us after she and I had already gone back to the car. When her parents came to the car they were laughing a lot, and I asked what happened. They said it was one rupee each to use the toilets, except for me it was ten!

First Entry in India

I have arrived safely, and spent a week in New Delhi, though it feels like I've been here a lot longer. My volunteer placement is at SPYM's Drop-In Centre for IDUs (IV Drug Users) with Annu and Manish. There are 35 clients there on a daily medication to reduce cravings for opiods. It's has a fairly modern 'harm reduction' approach which is similar to ways of thinking in Canada. Another part of our job is to go around with the outreach workers and look for people injecting so we can offer them safe needles, etc. My first day there (Wednesday) we found three boys (youngest about 11) injecting near some train tracks. We passed by a little village and about twenty kids came out and followed me around for a while. Everyone in the little villages seems to think I'm either there to give them money or take pictures, which is pretty amusing.
As for exploring around Delhi, there are lots of things I have learned.
1) If I want things for good prices (clothes in a market or an auto to take me there) it's better for me to hide and Annu to bargain before they see me.
2) You have to look ahead when you walk so you don't run into a cow, and down so you don't step in their mess.
3) Cars drive on the left side of the road... usually.
4) Seeing one car accident a day isn't too bad.
5) Dogs in India are better at crossing the road than Canadian people in India.
6) You can't be sure whether the milk in your glass came from a cow or a buffalo.
7) A bath is actually a shower where you put all your hot water in a large bucket and then scoop it onto yourself with a smaller bucket.
8) Toilet paper is an unnecessary luxery of the western world.
9) Staple food includes rice bread and potatoes (at every meal)
10) Knowing the name of your food is not critical to enjoying it.
That's all for now. Please email me so I know what you're up to!

leaving today!

I leave Hamilton in about three hours, and am busy finishing up packing, so I can't write much! I will arrive to India super-late on Friday night, and hopefully will have access to a computer to let you know how the first few days went - I'm sure I'll have a lot to say at that point!