Back in Delhi

And I thought getting up at 4:15 was bad.  This morning, I caught a train back to Delhi from the hospital in a town called Fatehpur.  The problem was, the train started at 6 AM.  Not so bad in itself, but we had to plan on a 3 hour trip to the train station.  Yep, I woke up before 3 AM :P.  

As terrible as that seems, it really wasn't too bad.  All joking aside, I've really appreciated the plans that have been made to accommodate me here.  All of my trips to/from train stations and airports have been taken care of, and that makes all the difference in the world when traveling so quickly around the country.  

The time at this last hospital was very good.  I was able to go out "into the field" (local villages) where I could see firsthand how the hospital's Community Health project worked.  Basically, the Community Health project workers help village residents make life better for themselves.  The workers call this the empowerment approach, since they teach the villagers how to make their situation better rather than simply fixing problems for the people.  This allows the villagers to continue to improve their situation when the project has run its course and has pulled out (usually after 2-3 years or so).  It kinda reminds me of the story or saying about giving a man a fish vs. teaching him how to fish.  

I'm sitting in on a group of community leaders discussing the community's problems and possible solutions

My job is to document this process at each hospital we visit and record the progress that has been made so far.  I've gotten some pretty cool success stories- like villages getting electricity and clean water for the first time, schools getting staffed/started up, etc.  It feels great to be able to help, rather than simply visit. 

Tomorrow I head out to the area known as the northeast, where there are 3 more hospitals to visit.  Once I get more good pictures I'll put them up!