8:30 am, 9 July 2006

Yesterday we had the morning off (which for me is pretty boring, since I live by myself here). But in the afternoon, we got to go to the inauguration of a new health clinic in the largest slum of Hyderabad. One of the founding physicians was there and spoke which was pretty cool. He spoke in Telugu, an Indian dialect of the area, so I didn't understand a word of his actual speech. (Only one person in our group speaks Telugu, so at least I wasn't alone at sea.) We did get to meet him and speak to him in English to introduce ourselves. It is amazing to think what a huge difference this small, two-room clinic will make in the community. After the speeches, some of the people from the Hyderabad Health and Development Program were handing out little bags of treats. We tried to get the children to form a line, but one of the elderly women from the community told us it would be no use. The children get so little food that will fight for whatever they can get. It is difficult to see their situation and realize how little money it would take to help. $1 = 40 rupees which could feed some of these children for a number of days. However, we obviously can't go around just giving away money. The clinic will improve the health of these people immensely, but there is so much more that could be done if the right channels were set up.