Volunteering

My last week at SEVAI school was great. Just when I thought I was in an isolated little village with no other white people in sight, a team of 18 volunteers from Australian NGO Equal Health came to stay at the school. They were a medical team: doctors, opticians, dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, and a dietician. For about ten days here they set up a health camp where local villagers came to get tested and treated, and given medication and glasses, all free of charge. It was very well organized, and each day about 500 people came, so they were always hard at work. One day they left to a coastal village to set up the same camp, and I tagged along for the overnight stay, helping out giving vision tests to people and managing the crowds, which were crazy and kept pushing forward, trying to be first in line! This was really the poorest of the poor, mostly elderly, with massive eye, back, hearing, difficulties, and other health problems. It was so inspiring to see this team at work, and see some people leave happy and thankful. Here's how it worked:

And here are a few of the people who came to get a checkup:

I also finished teaching last week, here's a picture of some of my students:

And here's a map of my trip up till now: