Prithivi, Skin, Doctor's Office

Hello Family and Friends,

So I know I always say this, but last night / this morning seriously were really quiet.

Yesterday Prithivi was brought back again. He is Prasad’s older brother. Their parents died a while back, and they were being taken care of by their grandmother and their uncle. I guess it became too much to look after them, because a month before I got here both Prithivi and Prasad were brought here. Prasad has adapted very well and has a lot of friends here; Prithivi, not so much. Prithivi has yet to spend more than two nights in a row here. He constantly runs away to his uncle or his grandmother. Every time it is the same story; they beg Kumari to take him back and promise that they have talked to him and that he understands that he needs to stay, and every time Kumari gives in. Finally, though, she said enough and enrolled another boy because she likes to keep the number at thirty, never even one more or less. When we woke up from our rest, though, there was Prithivi with his grandmother. Kumari is taking him in until we can decide what to do permanently, she refuses to have thirty one children at her current financial state. There is an orphanage in a nearby town that runs its own school. Because everything is all together, he will have less of a chance of running away, so Kumari is going to try and get him a spot there. I never have really interacted with Prithivi, but the thought of him has always made me kind of upset. Every time he runs away he is leaving his younger brother behind. In my mind, he has already lost his parents, why purposely try and loose your brother? Not only that, he takes things from his brother to help pay for his bus rides when he runs away several towns over to his grandmother.

Yesterday for the first time I got to know him. My first impression was that he was a very handsome boy and that he had perfect skin. Many of the children have scars and pimples from the heat, but Prithivi’s skin is flawless, even in comparison to the wealthy children I have seen in passing. He is also very, I don’t know how to put it, upright. He stands in a stretched sort of way, and always has perfect posture. He is very intelligent, and speaks with his eyes. He is twelve years old, but it is intimidating the way he comes off so perfect and almost better than everyone else. He was obviously intrigued by having a westerner here, and he spent a lot of yesterday evening with me. Conversation was difficult; he understands English but can’t speak it. Whenever I say something to one of the kids and they don’t understand, he quickly translates it to Tamil. But he has a hard time speaking to me. I’m trying to make this weekend interesting for him to try and see if by giving him attention he will be less likely to run away. I doubt he will leave this weekend, but come time for school Monday, we shall see.

Speaking of boils and pimples, Santhosh (there are two, both the same age, so all I can say is that he is the one with the skinnier face) came home with a huge swollen eye. He has had large boils on his head, which Kumari says occur when sweat glands get blocked up in the heat and then become infected. It is a vicious cycle, because they get huge, and if one pops, anywhere the fluid ends up another boil while form. He got several near the outside edge of his eye a couple days ago, and now they have gotten so big they have made it impossible for him to open his left eye. It is obviously painful, and a distant relative was going to pick him up to take him to a doctor. This elusive family member never showed up, so we will have to take him on Monday since it is too crowded on the weekend. So many of the kids have little skin problems. Kasthuri has had patches of skin that look like large grit sandpaper ever since she has been here. The doctor said it was from a lack of a certain vitamin, and she has been on supplements for over a year now with no result. I am a natural skin picker, if there is anything on my skin I feel the need to pop it or scratch it or pick at it. I have had to work really hard not to mess with my skin because who knows what I could end up with.

Last night we took Xavier to have his PPD (tuberculosis) test read. The doctor was hoping it would be the final conformation that Xavier did indeed have tuberculosis, but the raised area wasn’t as big as he hoped. He had us wait for a half an hour so he could then read it again, which I didn’t think would make a difference since the test is done over several days in the first place. It didn’t make a difference, but the doctor decided to go ahead with the tuberculosis treatment and have us come back in five days. While waiting for that half an hour, a group of men came in yelling and screaming for a doctor. They put a young man, probably in his mid to late twenties, on the floor. I could tell immediately from his color and by how stiff he was that the man was dead, and it took the doctor only a few seconds to come to the same conclusion. The man had died from an electric shock. Kumari was very upset from seeing him, especially since he was so young. The ride back was quiet.

This morning Kumari left for the market and I stayed home. Once again we are spending our day waiting to see if people will come to help us move. I am getting a little frustrated with the fact that we are wasting so much of our time waiting, but Kumari says that this is how it is here. People say they will do things and never follow through, or follow through much later. Hopefully, though, today will be different.

Have a good weekend,
Peace,
Robby