Inspired

Dr. Kumar is great/ amazing/ wonderful/ kind of just adorable. He is the doctor here at Rising Star. He takes care of all the children here, as well as all the leprosy patients. So he has a ridiculous number of patients and visits them twice a month. A while back- I meant to blog about this forever ago. But then life happened. So the day we went to do medical we first went to the Preschool at one of the colonies. The children are so adorable, but were all terrified of Dr. Kumar and all of us. But as soon as they got the children to go to him, he had a way of calming them. Which was very impressive. After the preschool, we went to the colony where he showed us the self-care program he has established. Since leprosy patients have such major wounds that have gone on so long without treatment, they have a lot of work that needs to be done. And so Dr. Kumar taught them all how to treat themselves. The wounds have such big callouses that they have to scrap/ sometimes even cut away the dead part- for the new to heal. Dr. Kumar has so many patients that he keeps them all organized through pictures. And since we were at a small colony on this day, and only had 5 patients he showed us the before of the wounds we were now cleaning. And they were all amazing. after months of self care they were amazingly better. 

One of the Preschoolers. SO adorable.

Today I had the experience of washing the feet of a man who had just helped me get the water to wash his feet. Even when we come to serve them, they end up serving us so much more. As we were behind his house getting water from the pump. He asked me my name and I asked him his. It was an amazing feeling to really try and communicate even though our ability to was so limited. This man's smile was brilliant. I wish I had thought to take a picture. But being caught up in the moments is something I rarely do...so I'm also cherishing the fact that I'm just looking with my own eyes instead of always through my lens.
After we were finished we all got back on the Bus, and started driving home. Dr. Kumar then gave us the privileged of hearing his life story. So I'm hoping it is okay to share here.
Dr. Kumar knew he wanted to be a Doctor from a young age. He was only 10 or 11, when his Grandfather got very sick, Dr. Kumar visited his Grandfather everyday. And one day when he was there visiting his grandfather he had a Heart Attack, and when Dr. Kumar went to go find one of the two doctors they were both busy with more crucial patients. When one was finally able to come see his grandfather it was to late. Dr. Kumar watched his grandfather die. Weeks later Dr. Kumar returned to the hospital to visit the doctor who had come in and tried everything he could. And then asked why his Grandfather had to die. The Doctor explained that there are never enough doctors, so they had to prioritize and since his grandfather was older the children took priority. Dr. Kumar explained that even though his Grandfather was old, he was still a person. That day Dr. Kumar decided he would be a doctor- so he could save real peoples lives and make a difference. Dr. Kumar studied very hard so he could be in the top of the top of his class. Because only the very top were able to get scholarships from the Government. After his many years of schooling, he started working in a Hospital. And as he puts it, he forgot why he wanted to be a Doctor.
During his break from his schooling and his next contract, Padma (the amazing woman I really can't do justice telling you about right now) convinced Dr. Kumar to come help Leprosy patience's only for a month. And once he got here he remembered why he wanted to be a doctor. And he has been "still doing his month- for several years now" as he puts it. Such a funny man. He then told us to figure out what we want to do in this life and do it, and then never forget why you're doing it.
This has kept me thinking all week about this. So this is my goal. I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do, but I need to decide and be ready to fight for it.

xoxo Martha