Clinic by the Temple

Today we hosted a clinic for many of the sick patients and villagers of the town around Balaji Temple.  The town was built around a Hindu temple dedicated to Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god.  We are staying at the temple square in a dormitory used mostly for Hindus on pilgrimage.  The rooms are large, long halls with several smaller rooms connecting.  The architecture is similar to our stay in Osiyan.  The first thing one sees when entering the gates of the dormitory is a large open courtyard.  The rooms surround the quadrangle and outside of them is a long square balcony looking down upon the open the courtyard.  The floor of the sleeping halls are sandy and the walls are dirty.  We have seen worse accommodations on this trip, so we were not surprised.  We sleep on two blankets on the hard stone floor.  This is not the most comfortable bed, but I still slept well enough. 

Our clinic today was hosted just out side the temple dormitory.  The busiest time for the clinic was before lunch while I was completing my math for the day.  I had to finish the lesson I did in the car yesterday and complete my current lesson.  My record is two lessons per day so I could handle one and a half! 

I finished my work just in time for lunch. One of the Indian support staff, Ranjid, cooked a delicious lunch of rice and a potato curry.  I finished lunch and decided to help out my dad our Kate in the clinic.  I started by sitting next to Dad, while he told me why the current patient was coming to the clinic and what the patient’s symptoms were.  He explained to me what he was doing.  I was interested in seeing the patients and learning about their illnesses, but it seemed too much like a lesson of math.  Patient after patient after patient or problem after problem; I am much more interested in photography!  After working with Dad, I also helped out Kate in the pharmacy.  This is where the patients get any medicine prescribed by the doctor.  I helped Kate gather the appropriate medicine and tell the patient how many times a day to take it.  We were giving medicines for malaria, asthma, colds, and many other sicknesses.  

Moms physical Therapy Work 

After the closing time of the clinic, I explored the Hindu temple with my family.  We noticed that the temple was less into beauty and more into efficiency.  On some of the windows there were bars to prevent theft.  In front of the statue of a god, there were long metal bars forming a waiting place for people waiting for their turn to pray.  On the ceiling were fans and the floor was dirty.  This surprised me as other religious sights I have visited are much more opulent and clean. 

As I write my blog load noises and fireworks explode in the night.  Later my parents will head out into town and attend the wedding that is making all of the noise.  I will stay behind at the clinic to have some time to chill. 

Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic!