Jennifer Hicks’ Blog

June 13

June 13, 2007
Hello again!  The trials continue..today was an emotionally exhausting
day.  The kids here are often literally at death’s door before they’re
brought in.  And so much effort goes into reviving babies that are
practically dead, that well babies don’t get the attention they need
and crash too.  Please pray for 10 year old Ajay Kumar.  He was
brought here and abandoned.  I met him two days ago wondering around
the children’s ward with tennis balls in his pockets, a very sweet and
innocent boy.  Today he is in ICU.  It’s shocking to see how quickly
kids go here.  I think I’ve fallen in love with this one.  I wish I
could adopt him.  He’s so innocent and so alone, the story of a lot of
kids here, neglected until they’re practically dead.

The woman that I mentioned that was poisoned is still in the ICU.
Today when I went in to check on Ajay, she was having a psychotic
episode due to the drugs she was given (I’m told that this was
actually a good thing, a sign that the drugs are working), anyway, she
latched on to me and wouldn’t let go, screaming Didi Didi! (Sister,
Sister!) and a bunch of other things I didn’t understand.  I tried to
find out what she was saying, but was only told that she had gone mad.
She seemed terrified.  I felt as if she was begging for someone to
save her.  I asked Dr. Baby last night what will happen to her.  She
said that in these cases, they are stabilized and they go away
smilingly back to the families that poisoned them.  There’s not much
else to do since there aren’t really any enforcements for women’s
protection.  It’s very sad and scary for these women.  There are two
Indian doctors here I’ve made good friends with, Sofia (dentist) and
Rimi (paediatrition).  They say that things are better in the other
areas of India, especially the south and the east; they say that this
place is the worst.  Dr. Baby was telling me that Bihar has the
highest of everything except for AIDS, highest illiteracy, highest
mortality, etc.

On a less depressing note, I ventured out yesterday with Sofia for an
adventure outside the compound.  We walked over to a lepor colony
about 15 minutes from here.  I have to give them credit. They’re doing
well for themselves there.  They’ve created their own little society.
They raise chickens and cows, weave their own fabric, and sell it all.
They’ve created their own local economy.  Each family has a house
with two rooms and a kitchen.  It’s actually very impressive, the
cleanest most civilized corner I’ve seen in Raxaul so far, by far.
It’s run by catholics and funded completely by a source in Canada.
The kids were fun too.  They all wanted their ’snaps’ (pictures)
taken.  I felt like a celebrity.  They all ran up to me ’sister
sister!’ and posed and had a good time.  It was a good relief from
life inside these walls, knowing that life goes on outside of the
hospital.  On Saturday I leave for a week with the community health
projects.  Until then, I’ll be in the ICU, so I’m sure I’ll be ready
to get out of here.  Just walking through the ICU is intense.  So many
people gasping for breath..or clinging to you in a psychotic
episode..usually they’re tied down to their beds b/c they writhe so
much.  Today I saw a young boy with a head injury, his head swelling
intensely before our eyes.  He needs a hole drilled in his head, but
we have to wait for the family to deliberate about it and by then it’s
probably too late.  I didn’t see the outcome, but I’m sure I’ll hear
about it tomorrow.  If I never see another case of tetanus, I’ll
consider myself blessed.

Sorry!  I somehow got back on a depressing note..um..there really are
good things going on.  It’s just hard to focus on the happy cases when
there are cases like Ajay’s.  He was begging an old woman the other
day, calling her grandmother, to stay with him.  I’ll have some more
happy stories for you next week, I promise!  In the meantime, please
keep these kids in your thoughts and prayers.  There’s a baby in the
nursery whose mother died during delivery; we don’t know if the family
will take him or not.  He’s such a sweet baby, number two on my ‘want
to adopt’ list.