Cobra on the Loose

Medical team yesterday!! Construction today!! Woo hoo!! I love working in the colonies!

I did blood pressures and blood sugars with Ally and Steven!

One of the ladies didn't like the feeling of the blood pressure cuff blowing up and squeezing her arm. She started to panic, and I couldn't communicate with her or say anything to her to calm her down (it's not like I speak tamil here people!) but I reached out and held her hand during it and she seemed to be fine after that!


I met a cute family in the colony who invited me into their house and showed me around! The older women took me to her room and showed me a picture of what I think was her son (again, I don't speak tamil so we struggled with the whole communication thing) but then she pointed to heaven and began to cry. I realized that, whoever the man in the picture may be, he was definitely one of her close family members who had passed away, and she missed him and loved him very much! We just stood their in the doorway of her room, hugging each other as she weeped. It was a very touching experience for me...


After we visited the colony and provided some medical assistance, Dr. Susan was given a tip off about another leprosy colony nearby that was in need of help. Once she heard that, there was no turning back! She was determined to find it! The two RSO 12-passenger vans began their off-roading adventure to find the lost lepers! About an hour and a car sick stomach later, we stumbled upon a very small colony! Everyone came out of their houses as the colony's leader and Dr. Susan were talking. Apparently they want us to come back when we have more supplies and help them out...there's some more politics to it, but that was the jist of the conversation! It was a very happy time for everyone!

Today after we finished our work at construction, we were invited to come see an snake charmer milk a cobra!! OH MY GOSH!!! Scariest thing of my life!! I had never been that close to a poisonous snake before. I posted some videos below so you can see what happened! But what I missed on video was the fact that after all was said and done, the snake charmer put the cobra back in the bag and it escaped! All of the women freaked out! I made a run for it! When the natives start screaming, that's when you should be worried!




All and all, it was a very fun and exciting past two days! Oh one more thing: I tried dying a streak in my hair with henna...don't recommend it! It didn't turn out as expected...just made my hair super red-orange! But it was fun!