We arrived safely in Delhi after a 13 1/2 hour flight, and were tired but happy to be on the ground! We spent two days in Delhi resting, shopping and eating. Delhi is a crowded, bustling city and could be overwhelming at times. Our contact in India through INMED took us around the city and explained a lot of the culture differences. Through her, we also met up with other visiting students from Ireland and Belgium, and she took all of us shopping for traditional Indian clothing that we are all to wear while working at the hospitals.
The clothing is called Salwar Kameez, and it consists of a long tunic-like dress and wide-legged pants with a scarf (called a dupatta) that hangs around our neck. The colors of the clothes are incredibly bright and beautiful, and they are very comfortable to wear! Good to conceal the large meals we are eating 🙂 We also spent time at the oldest outside shopping plaza in Delhi, called Connaught Place. We were approached often by people asking us to shop in their stores, or trying to direct us – we’re sure we stood out in the crowd! There we found a restaurant called Piccadelhi (a play on the shopping center in London called Piccadilly). The food is excellent, but we have been advised never to drink water that is not bottled (with an intact seal) or boiled, so we have been cautious. We also found a movie theatre, and thought we could see an authentic Bolly-wood film, but the only showings that day were “Slumdog Millionaire” – it is getting a LOT of press around Delhi, which is great to see.
After two days in Delhi, we took a 9-hour train ride to Fatehpur, which is where the Broadwell Hospital is located. We are so thrilled to be here, and everyone has been so nice and accommodating. The hospital is situated on a walled-off campus right in the city center of Fatehpur. There is both an outpatient department and inpatient hospital, along with a community development center. All staff (including the doctors) stay on the campus. We are staying on campus as well. The hospital provides our meals, which have been delicious. We eat three meals a day plus chai daily at 5pm. We are also served chai in our room each morning before breakfast. Often we are served food by a staff member and get portions that are much more than we can handle! We’ve eaten dal (lentils), roti (unlevened wheat bread), curry and many other yummy North Indian staples. Much of the food is very spicy, but is served with a lot of white rice, which makes it a little more mild. So far, nothing has been too spicy for our stomachs 🙂
We’ve spent two days in the hospital now and already seen a lot of new things. The hospital is mainly women and children. There are many deliveries taking place, sometimes up to 90 per month! We are getting a lot of newborn and OB/Gyn exposure. Tomorrow the medical director of the hospital will be coming back from a trip to Delhi, so we will meet him for the first time and likely settle into a routine. We will be able to help in deliveries, a variety of surgeries and newborn care. We will also spend sometime working in the Community Development Projects, which the hospital coordinates. These projects reach out to the villages around Fatehpur and provide public health initiatives (vaccines, pregnancy care, education, and financial assistance).