Pamela V. Brown
Write Path, an L.L.C.
The Kauai July-August 2004
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Pamela V. Brown Write Path, an L.L.C. |
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The Kauai July-August 2004 |
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Kauaians' Personal Touches Transform Lives in India
By Pamela V. Brown
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By the time the itinerary was planned, the dozen Kauaian's
participation in India's National Immunization Day (NID) against
polio, seemed almost like an afterthought. It was only one day of
hands-on work, tacked on to the end of a typical two-week tourist
schedule through the exotic country.
But for the Kauai residents who traveled to India earlier this year, it was a clear opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children, ensuring that they would never know first-hand the ravages of the disease that paralyzes and sometimes claims the lives of its young victims. Polio has been eradicated from all but six or seven countries in the world, thanks largely to the efforts during the last 19 years of the worldwide service organization, Rotary International, which promotes worldwide peace and understanding through local and global service projects. All of the Kauaians who traveled to India in February were either Rotarians or spouses of club members. |
Kauai Resident Carole Kahn immunizes an Indian child against polio in a fishing village in Mumbai (fka Bombay) during a Rotary International-sponsored immunization day in February 2004. Photo by Ross Rolirad |
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"The immunization day was life-changing, honestly. It sounds so cliché but it's honestly the truth," said Valerie Parker, immediate past president of the West Kauai Rotary Club. "We could barely communicate with them but you could just see it by the looks on their faces, their excited chatter and their hugging us," that they knew the importance of the two drops of liquid that were placed into their children's mouths.
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West Kauai Rotarian Valerie Parker gives balloons to Indian children in a Mumbai slum after immunizing them against polio. Parker, then president of her Rotary club, said that participating in the immunization day was "truly life-changing." Photo by Pamela V. Brown |
"It's the ripple effect. That's why we're Rotarians," Parker said. "Who knows if one of the kids we gave the drops to will become a teacher to teach simple arithmetic," or will go on to positively affect the world in other ways, she said. "How many times have you talked to someone or read stories that said 'When I was a child someone did this for me. That person changed my life without even knowing it.' " The Kauaians performed their immunization work in the city of Mumbai (fka Bombay). Most of the group worked in a fishing village where fisherman displayed their catches out in the open under the hot sun, cats patrolling the area and flies buzzing around. Parker and a friend worked in a slum area several miles away, and were treated to a guided tour of several immunization sites by a health ministry official who arranged those sites in the hearts of poor neighborhoods. |
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"I was very impressed with the level of care by Upendra (the health ministry official)," Parker said. "He had a grass roots ministry in this particular urban village we were working in. He gets to know the families and teaches them about financial planning, family planning, health planning.
"He took us by the hand and introduced us to people," Parker said. "The people there obviously cared for him and respected him and that's one of the reasons we were so accepted."
Indeed, despite her flaxen blonde hair that set her apart from the residents, Parker said she felt warmly welcomed, something she also chalked up to being open to meeting new people and understanding their country. “No matter where you go in the world, I think people recognize when you’re being genuine.”
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Tent City Donations About 10 days before the polio immunization activities were scheduled, while touring the country, several of the group had a chance to impact people’s lives in a different way. Across the street from the group’s hotel in Jodhpur, a city of 660,000 people situated on the edge of the Thar Desert in northwestern India, a small “tent city” on the most basic scale had sprung up. The tents were not much more than thin pieces of fabric stretched across make-shift poles – certainly nothing most Americans would consider using for camping, much less a full-time home. The contents of the “homes” were less than most people would consider essential: a few articles of clothing, a cooking pot, maybe something on which to sleep. Kapaa resident Carole Kahn – who had been traveling in India for a month before the rest of the group arrived – decided to do something to help the tent city people. Armed with a pile of used clothing that she and Poipu resident Margee Faunce had brought from home specifically to donate, she ventured across the street with Parker and a male escort from the hotel to give away the clothing. The scene they were greeted with was one of sheer desperation and frenzy – people shouting in Hindi at the American women, frantically grabbing at the fabric without regard for what the actual clothing items were, grabbing at the womens’ arms, scratching one of them, trying to get a piece of something – anything – even at the risk of ripping the fabric. |
Indian children hover and giggle in the doorway of a polio immunization site in a Mumbai slum. These four children watched with amusement and fascination for an hour the two American women who assisted at this site, eventually coming inside to play with colored pencils the women had brought for children. Photo by Pamela V. Brown |
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“It was an unbelievable reminder of how the human spirit can be broken and how people will respond when they’re acting out of desperation,” Parker said. “They were saying ‘More, more, more,’ “ said Mahaveer Rathore, the reception desk man from the hotel who accompanied the ladies across the street. “They were asking for money.” Rathore said the property on which the tent city exists has been involved in a land ownership dispute for the last three or four years so it cannot be developed. Once the court case is settled, the squatters will be kicked off the land. “I thought it’s good that you are doing a little help for them,” Rathore said. “In all of the city of Jodhpur, only 1 or 2 percent of the people will come to help them. It’s good to give them clothes they can wear for next winter. If you give them food they can only keep it for one day or two.” Coming away from that experience and seeing many other similarly destitute people throughout the country, left Parker and Kahn with determination to more greatly appreciate the lives they have here and to whatever possible to help others. “Those needs are so basic and so unfilled that I come home and I look at my house and think, ‘Look what I have. Every need is filled,’ “ Kahn said. Parker, a tireless Rotarian, said it’s given her a much greater appreciation for how far her own community has come and the difference she and others are able to make right here at home. “I don’t want to send all my money to India but it does make me say there’s a way I can make a difference here and in India,” Parker said. “It’s inspired me just to continue, because I really believe we can make a difference.”
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Contact Information: Pamela V. Brown (808) 651-3533 cell (808) 821-1027 fax |
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"Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Proverbs in Prose |
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© Copyright 2004 Write Path, an L.L.C. and Pamela V. Brown All material, pictures, concepts, intellectual property and rights reserved. |
© Copyright 2004 Magical Concepts §©ª¨ |
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