INDIA. Those who have been there understand – they know the arduous task of conveying the tangible experiences of India. The overwhelming number of people, the colours, the sounds (the constant car horn honking, animal noises and religious services broadcast on loud-speakers in the larger cities), the smells, and especially the warmth of the people, stretched my senses to places non-existent in North America.
I travelled this year to the Bhil Mission Field, in the state of Madhya Pradesh for a nursing internship. The Presbyterian Church has been involved in mission in the area since 1898. When I read Jungle Tales by the first PCC missionary in the area, Dr. Buchanan, I was surprised to be experiencing some of the phenomena he wrote about in the early 1900s. The Bhil Field is an area traditionally occupied by aboriginals. I was living with retired missionary Pauline Brown in Jobat. Fifty-seven years earlier, Pauline told me, she was a young nurse setting off for India. The WMS eagerly selected her to begin a much needed community health network in one of the least developed states in India. Pauline's determination and hard work has won her many awards including the Order of Canada. Just imagine being in my position: on the crest of embarking on my professional life and being so heartily welcomed into such a role model's home for seven weeks. Praise the Lord for his plan, because I certainly had nothing to do with this.
I began nursing in the operating theatre in the Jobat Christian Hospital. Learning to prepare surgical sets and autoclaving instruments is a skill I did not learn at home, nor was making cotton balls. (I felt extreme guilt when I thought of my experiences in the operating rooms in Victoria: the waste created from all the disposable items, not to mention the one-time-use-only equipment.) I likely saw more births in a week in Jobat than I would see in Victoria in a month. (Maternity nursing skills are hard to perfect in a city with a reputation for being a retirement destination.) Attitudes on this ward (childbirth as a natural experience) were refreshing compared to the "clinicalization" of childbirth at home.
I had the opportunity to learn about the structure of nursing in India though participation with the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife Students in Jobat and the Post-Basic BSc Nursing Students from Indore. Nurses working in mission hospital are paid up to 35 times less than those in private hospitals – yet they do it. I have great respect for all the families that sacrifice so much to do God's work.
Community health nursing proved to be very rewarding for me. With support from PWS&D the Vindhya-Satpura community health programs offer 100 villages, maternal and child health programs, school health programs, minimal curative measures, encourage creation of village health committees, educate and organize Community Health Volunteers, run women empowerment projects, self help groups, income generating projects, agricultural improvement programs and many more. I participated in village visits to construction projects with migrant labourers to conduct HIV and AIDS screening, education and a general clinic.
I want to encourage other youth and young adult to get involved in Youth in Mission and other opportunities within the church. Where have you ever considered going? I encourage congregations to invite youth and young adults to participate because often an invitation speeds the discernment process.
