6.27 – Gifts of Love

*Chennai India: Gremaltes hospital
I was with the medical staff for today. We drove to the Gremaltes hospital in Chennai that was founded by another charity foundation in Germany about twenty years ago. Their mission started off with only the care of patients with leprosy, but they have now expanded and treat for tuberculosis, eye care, cataract surgeries, physiotherapy, dermatology, and just general medicine as well. This hospital was supposedly one of the nicest in India…it was still far from what we have in America though.
I had an experience that I will never forget while working in the hospital today. We had been going around to each of the different patients…mostly talking to them and trying to make them laugh. They have a very adequate staff on hand, so our main job was to comfort and entertain. I was a little bummed at first because it was such a neat experience to help bandage the feet of the patients the last time that I did medical, but it ended up being a huge blessing.
We sat and talked with a lot of the outpatients that just come in from the streets for their free medical care. We then all went upstairs to visit some of the inpatient units. Because of the treatment for leprosy, it has stopped progressing (especially as an awareness of the the disease and testing at a very young age- leprosy prevention is vital). Even though it has stopped progressing though, there are many that, due to inadequate care for their ulcers, form on the extremities, and have to seek long term medical care.
We went into one of the lady inpatient wards first. They were all sitting on their beds, lined up in a row in front and behind us. We had been instructed to do everything that we could do to get the patients to do move their hands and feet as much as they could to help their circulation (once again, their nerve endings are damaged in their extremities and so they cannot tell when they do not have circulation in their hand or their foot). We sang for about fifteen minutes… you can see the picture below of us singing “I’m a Little Teapot”…they would smile, move their heads back and forth, and try to do the motions with us. Every song, we would just clap to the beat, even if it was “There is Sunshine in My Soul Today” and they would all try to clap along.


After singing for a while, we all sat down with each of the patients to try and talk to them (one of the hardest things while I am here… not being able to speak to them in Tamil). There was a sweet, tiny lady that my friend Courtney and I sat with. We would talk with a lot of hand motions and facial expressions, just trying to ask her name and talk to her about how she was feeling. She pointed to her feet. The left one was all bandaged up to prevent any further damage to the areas with ulcers. She pointed to her right foot and poked and pinched it to show us that there was no feeling in that foot as well. As I was touching her foot, I looked up to see her eyes full of tears. Courtney and I just sat there and cried with her, holding her hands. She would kiss our hands and we would kiss hers. She would wipe away our tears and we would hold her.


This went on for about ten minutes and then she sat up, trying to tell us something. Courtney figured out that she was telling us about her family and that she has two sons and one daughter. There was still something that she was trying to tell us though and we could just not figure it out. Then, one of the doctors came into the room and started translating for us! We asked him to ask her what she had said about her children. As he asked her and her eyes began to fill with tears again as she told him how her sons had rejected or “disowned” her because of her disease and that they did not want to have anything to do with her. She has been at the hospital for a year now (and has had leprosy for over twenty-five years). She is being released from the hospital this week and will be staying with her daughter who is still willing to care for her. As she cried, we just continued to cry with her, literally just hurting inside (with the poor doctor standing next to us probably not knowing what to do). I cannot explain the love that was in the room, not just Courtney and I, but the other patients and volunteers as well. My heart felt like it was full but it was breaking at the same time. The experience was truly a tender mercy- I have never been able to feel so much love for one person and feel so much love from a stranger at one time.
She then just cried to the doctor, asking how someone from so far away come and love her so much. She told him how today had been an especially hard day for her, but it was a “god-send” to have us there. I needed her just as much as she needed us.


There is so much that I cannot express on this page…
Other than my family and some friends, I do not know who has been able to read these stories that I post… I realize that most of them are more like journal entries and might seem personal, but I want to share with everyone the feelings and experiences that I have been able to have while here with these people…
I have gained a greater appreciation for love today that I hope to carry with me forever. There are people around us every second of every day to be loved. Of course here in India in these colonies, but there are people to love and let into our lives everywhere we go. Pain is temporary in this life and, in certain ways, serves as a physical and emotional protector. It builds us. It hurts so much to see others in pain, but this too builds us and helps us to gain more love and compassion. I love these people here in India. Thank you, thank you, thank you for those who have helped me to get here. I couldn’t say that enough.


“Leprosy work is not merely medical relief, it is transforming frustration in life into the joy of dedication, personal ambition into selfless service.” – Mahatma Gandhi