Monday evening, 7:00PM. It is probably early AM for you. The first photo is the 'office' in Brane-Nishat where I have a room in a side building that was formerly the 1st wife's quarters. It is common for Muslem men to illegally take a 2nd wife, then have her somewhere nearby. The man and his 2nd wife left for holiday and the 1st wife took over the property and now the pai group rents it. The grounds are well kept by a groundskeeper who gets paid US $2.00/day. He tends the plants and reseeds the flowers which are beautiful! There are many new birds here. The Myna is common, the English Sparrow must be all over the world, there are Kites which are a type of hawk, and vultures that are pretty awesome looking. It is said that if you start a fire anywhere, they will come circling. It is Hindi custom to cremate their dead and the vultures like to be near the funeral pyre (sp?) for clean-up. I am told that you can find body parts laying in your yard at any time! Titus Gall is my host. He is Danish and speaks many languages. The Gujjar language is Urdu, but there are many languages here in Northern India, depending on your tribe. All of the locals, even the indigent, speak at least 3 languages -- and I struggle with English!! Titus has been in country for 15 years, owns an engineering firm that develops earthquake resistant shelters, and feels strongly about God's calling to work with these people. He is driven to seek God's will in his life, and he walks the walk. Europeans and English are automatically given a measure of respect here, and since he is 6'8" tall, he stands out! His wife Kathy is one of the few women who drives a vehicle here, and she generates lots of stares. There is a significant support staff for his work. There is a contact in New Delhi, and an a nurse/book keeper at the office. I am writing from the office when I blog in. We tried to set up the computer so that I could send remote from my room, but there were too many technicalities and firewalls in my laptop, and I wasn't about to disturb any of that (you are welcome Rachael). My international Verizon cell phone has been junk, so the Skype has finally worked well. (thanks Matt) There are volunteers here often, some that come to stay for an extended stay. Titus has been not so subtle in his efforts to recruit me to stay or come back for a MUCH longer stay. I will leave that kind of decision up to God, and currently I haven't received that calling. I do however, feel like my skills have been used effectively, and that the balance of this week will be given over to working with the men, teaching and mentoring. Lee Lee, they have all been to some sort of primary school, several to secondary school, and all can understand English and speak the language, although some of them still struggle. No matter, we can communicate quite well. They are quick to pitch in, and since they are paid, I have no problems with allowing them to carry the gear! The little girl in the next photo was herding the goats. You will notice a patch on her forehead to ward off evil spirits. Well LBS, that is where my foot bandage went! This is a very superstitious group, and in spite of how well you think you are making headway, generations of family teaching don't leave overnight. The background is this; I had treated one of those goats for footrot the previous week (foot rot is an infection between the claws). I had placed a wad of cotton soaked in bleach between the claws and fashioned a bandage out of duct tape that I had brought along. None of the men had ever seen such a thing! I also gave Sulfa drugs orally (thanks for the applicators, Dr. Dan), trimmed to hoof, and left medicine for follow-up treatment. when I came back a week later, the goat was fine, the bandage had disappeared, but my guess is that the rest of that tape is somewhere in camp!! I just HAD to have this photo. Strong JuJu, that duct tape!! Having said that life is tough and superstition is rampant, the men still seem to want to trust. They shake hands with a firm grip and they won't shake with someone they don't trust. I have seen them walk up to someone as if they were going to shake, then drop their hand and spit at their neighbor's feet as an insult. The ultimate insult is to pick a booger and literally flick it at your neighbor, then turn your back on him and walk away. I also noticed the women shaking hands, and male family members often hug. I have seen father's and mother's both hug their children, but I have seen very little affection between men and women.
I was bold enough to ask one of the boy's this question -- since there are often 2-3 generations in camp, often in the same tent, how do young couples find quiet/personal time. At first I didn't think he was going to ask me, and even through his dark skin I could seen him blushing. He simply said "They often take a walk to look at the stars!" The weather has been nice today, and I am over my case of the 'Delhi Belly' -- vomiting & diarrhea from 2 days ago. I must have eaten something rotton, and besides, Titus noted that visitors didn't get the full experience without at least one attack of the 'loose motion'. Well, trust me, I have now had the full experience and I would have been better off throwing the Lomotil over my shoulder during that 24 hr seige.

There will be a class tomorrow for the boys, so I need to spend time on my lesson plan. The nurse/book keeper now has a virus and I visited her today to give advise. They didn't tell me that I would be doing MD work too, Mixon. More tomorrow. BLN