A Short Walk

Dateline October 19, 2011
Cheebo
LaKishia D. McCain

One of my favorite scriptures is Jeremiah 22:16.  It simply says this:

“He defended the cause of the poor and needy,  and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD”.  My entire outlook of traveling thousands of miles away from my family, friends and comfort of my own home has always been reassured by this scripture.  The Lord had brought us safely to India, pass the “Customs situation” and now we were finally on our way to our first village, Cheebo.

According to our itinerary, Cheebo was only a three mile drive away from Kalimpong.  Now, for most Americans three miles is a very short trip yet, I found out very quickly that three miles of driving on any road in India is more like taking a “joy ride” on a roller coaster while playing a game of “chicken”.  My Uncle Byron and fellow team member, Andy laughed at my nervous response to the constant swerving, loud horns, sudden stops and spontaneous lane changes.  To be honest, there are no lanes in India. The drivers blow their horns to signal or warn  that they are going to pass the other car and go for it.  The fact that most of the roads are either “washed out” from the previous Monsoon season or what many Americans would classify as a one lane road, has nothing to do with speed.  The vehicles are so close that it is quite possible to touch the passing cars.  After looking out the window and discovering just how high up we really were, I decided to try to force myself to go to sleep.  The view of the long descent down and missing guard rails was more than I could take at the moment.  I closed my eyes and prayed that we would arrive at Cheebo very soon.

We were told that the jeeps would not be able to make it up the hills that led into Cheebo.  This meant that we would have to take a “short walk” into the village.  As   I mentioned before, nothing is what it seems to be in India.  So, I braced myself for the short walk.  For brevity, the “short walk” included walking up and down washed out terrain.  I guess something was really funny because many people were laughing.  Our friend and translator, Anup asked me if he should carry me along with the luggage.  I had to remind myself of the scripture to keep from crying. 

The friendly people of Cheebo, greeted us with hot tea and warm smiles.   There were two Indian doctors who were working with us for the day.  Everyone was eager to set up our “make shift” medical facility.  The villagers had cleaned out a three room building for us.  They covered the outside area so that we could work in  the under the shade. Anu, Pastor Nandu’s wife and I were assigned to Wound Care and quickly began to unpack and set up the area. I was really surprised that there were not a lot of people who needed to have their wounds treated.  In retrospect of our entire time here, I have seen more cases of scabies, possible MRSA, psoriasis, and other types of dermal fungal infections.   
 
Mike and Byron were assigned to Triage.  Andy made sure the children were kept happy by offering them candy and balloons while Sarah and Charles “floated”.  One of the Indian doctors evaluated and the other worked in the Pharmacy.

Half way through our day the villagers offered the doctors and team a hot meal.  As, I said before....nothing is simple in India.  Anu had showed me where and how the meals are prepared.  No electricity was used to cook the meal.  The chicken, rice and potatoes were all cooked by fire.

Despite the rough time that I had walking up to Cheebo, I felt really honored to be able to take part in this mission.  In comparison to other medical teams, we are a very small team of  only six people.  But, somehow the Master Physician has handpicked each one of us and given us orders. Unsure and honestly a bit scared of the walk back, the unsteady roads we had to drive, I was determined to follow His orders. We were able to assess 68 people in Cheebo all in the name of God’s love and grace!   We had three more  villages to go! As we drove back to our home, I closed my eyes and smiled for a few seconds because... “all went well”. 

 

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