This morning we headed out once again to one of the Leprosy Colonies. Although this one is not that far away they took us on kind of a round about route so we could see some of the countryside. We thought that we were in just about the most rural and poor place in India, but once again we were wrong.
The Trip
We went by several small mountains and lots of farming communities. It is not uncommon to see people still plowing their fields with water buffalo. In fact the farm just down the road from us does this. Far and away the majority of wagons that we see on the roads are being pulled by cows. The cattle they have here look like the Brahma bulls that we have back in the U.S. I guess this makes sense as Brahma is one of the Hindu gods, and the American Brahma were bred from the cows in India. Anyway, along the way we stopped by a Hindu temple as some of the others with us had never seen one. Bala, the Indian director who was with us showed us around, and gave us a good background. Inside the temple two men started playing their drum and some kind of wind instrument. It produced a fantastic amount of sound! They were playing for our benefit and expected a small donation (50 rupees, or about $1). One of Cindy's favorite sites was seeing several motorcycles just piled high with fabric, the equivalent of a traveling fabric store!
Walajabad
Once we arrived it was easy to tell just how poor the community was, all of the homes had thatched roofs, and many of these were patched with plastic bags to keep the rain out. We met the patients in a small Church/community center they had, probably 25X40 feet in size and the largest building in the town. Although we saw most of the people in the town who needed treatment, there was only about 15 people who came through. Not everyone in the town actually accepts treatment, and some of them do not have any wounds or sores that need treatment. After we finished I was chatting with a man who came out of his home to just say hi. He was missing most of his fingers, but he walked just fine and his feet looked to be in good condition. We also saw our first younger patients today. Two different ladies in their 20's or young 30's came through to be treated. Everyone else that we have seen has been older than 50. A sad story: many of the children in the school come from this small poor village. One of the girls who was in the school for several years dropped out of school and now has a 1 year old baby, and she is only 15. Arranged marriages with very young girls is still very prevalent in India. Can't really see much of a future for someone in those conditions. As much as we do here, it is impossible to just change peoples culture and way of life, some times you just do the best that you can.
Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary
On the way back from Walajabad we stopped at the Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary. Really was not expecting much, but was favorably impressed. The first thing that we noticed when we walked in the gate was the monkeys! Oh how my kids love the monkeys! They were quite friendly and we probably got too close to them, especially the babies. Makenzie was getting her face about 12 inches away from theirs, despite the warnings from the locals that they were dangerous. Fortunately they behaved themselves. The birds were really amazing. This is a swampy area with lots of trees, and the trees were just filled with birds. At first we did not notice how many there were as they would blend into the background. But, we had some binoculars and were able to spend some time seeing them up close. Stopped 2 guys on a bike selling cotton candy on the way home, 20 cents for a bag of it!
This morning we headed out once again to one of the Leprosy Colonies. Although this one is not that far away they took us on kind of a round about route so we could see some of the countryside. We thought that we were in just about the most rural and poor place in India, but once again we were wrong. 
We went by several small mountains and lots of farming communities. It is not uncommon to see people still plowing their fields with water buffalo. In fact the farm just down the road from us does this. Far and away the majority of wagons that we see on the roads are being pulled by cows. The cattle they have here look like the Brahma bulls that we have back in the U.S. I guess this makes sense as Brahma is one of the Hindu gods, and the American Brahma were bred from the cows in India. Anyway, along the way we stopped by a Hindu temple as some of the others with us had never seen one. Bala, the Indian director who was with us showed us around, and gave us a good background. Inside the temple two men started playing their drum and some kind of wind instrument. It produced a fantastic amount of sound! They were playing for our benefit and expected a small donation (50 rupees, or about $1). One of Cindy's favorite sites was seeing several motorcycles just piled high with fabric, the equivalent of a traveling fabric store!
On the way back from Walajabad we stopped at the Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary. Really was not expecting much, but was favorably impressed. The first thing that we noticed when we walked in the gate was the monkeys! Oh how my kids love the monkeys! They were quite friendly and we probably got too close to them, especially the babies. Makenzie was getting her face about 12 inches away from theirs, despite the warnings from the locals that they were dangerous. Fortunately they behaved themselves. The birds were really amazing. This is a swampy area with lots of trees, and the trees were just filled with birds. At first we did not notice how many there were as they would blend into the background. But, we had some binoculars and were able to spend some time seeing them up close. Stopped 2 guys on a bike selling cotton candy on the way home, 20 cents for a bag of it!
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