Day 5 Tribal India

We had a fantastic day. I went with Paige, Pushba the health educator, Kashil, the physical therapist, and Vishali, one of the nurses to two tribal villages. I didn't realize there were indigenous people in India. I guess they don't look like your typical Indians. Apparently, they're people that managed to keep their cultural identity separate from the various invading groups that have historically come through. They're caste less and very poor. In the first village they made bricks to support themselves. Here are some of the kids. As always, the camera was a big hit.

Here I am posing with some of the kids. They wasn't sure what I was doing at first.
A close up. Aren't they gorgeous? Some of the kids had big bellies, signs of malnourishment. Paige said there's a lot of TB in the villages to.

In the center of both villages is a neem tree.

Pushba gave a lecture on sanitation. No one got any medical treatment and the only medicine Kashil passed out was cough syrup. They think it cures everything.
What the heck is this? It's an ice cream man! He biked all the way from Gwalior to sell ice cream to the villagers. He was nice enough to pose for a picture.
One of the homes.

Waving goodbye.

The village visits were definitely a highlight. I don't think we did a whole lot to actually help them. How much is that sanitation stuff going to work? How can they wash after using the bathroom when there's only one water source in the whole village? But I had fun. I wish I'd thought to bring bananas and oranges or something healthy for the kids to eat.

When we got back to Snehalaya, Paige and I caught a ride into town. It was time for ice cream and another stop at the internet cafe. We rode an auto rickshaw back after dark and watched the lightening flashing in the clouds.