Clinic Blog: 2011 India Clinic Blog

March 10, 2011

Third day. 1508!

By jjones

Wow! What a day we had here in Rajasthan near the beautful mountainside. We helped over 1500 people receieve the gift of sight!

We are all so tired tonight so this blog is very short and sweet. Tomorrow we will wake up and do it again, but cut our day half short so we can again pack up the entire clinic site and get ready for the next OneSight mission in India which begins at the end of March. We want to wish that crew the best of luck as well and extend our encouragement to them. India has a very high rate of need in the eye care category. We have changed thousands of lives this week and last, including our own!

Here are some fun pictures we wanted to share. Until tomorrow, we're off to catch some ZzZz's...

pictures -->   http://onesight2011india1.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/third-day-1508/

March 10, 2011

Day two. 1033!

By jjones

On Wednesday morning we headed back to our new clinic site and got right to it! It was a long hot day but we were in our flow at the new site and we helped over 1000 people today.

Later tonight we were invited to dinner at the nearby Fort where we were previously slated to stay this week (hotel). We had great entertainment and great food and were back on the bus at 8pm to make the 2 hour journey back to the Water Habitat Retreat.

See our picture slideshow here... http://onesight2011india1.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/day-two-1033/

March 10, 2011

Back to Work! 790

By jjones

Clinic Day 5- 790!!

Today was the first day at our new clinic site near the mountain range. We woke up early this morning to hop on the bus and be at the new village and set up the entire clinic and help give the gift of sight.

We had much to do this morning before we helped our first patient. We had to move boxes, setup the machines, make lanes out of yellow caution tape, organize the inventory, setup the chabella room, hook up the IMS computers, and make the electricity work!
The electricity was our main problem today and we had to work around the issue until the electrician could fix it. Once we got started though we worked hard and helped 790 people!

see our slideshow here... http://onesight2011india1.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/back-to-work-790/

 Below is from Andrea...

Kedves Blog Olvaso,

Szeretettel koszontelek! Ket nap bazaar utan az otodik naprol tartunk hazafele, meg ket ora busz ut var rank.

Reggel az uj klinikat nitottuk meg, Jodhpurt-tol km 160 km-re delre. Ez a videk meg mindig szegeny;  volt, aki Jodhpur-bol erkezett. Errefele sokkal tobb eso eshet, zold a taj, fak is nonek.

Ugyancsak egy korhaz lat bennunket vendegul,es  van fertotlenito szag is! Tobb, mint 790 emberen segitettunk, rengeteg karoncsungo kicsi gyerek varakozott rank. Az indiaiak nagyon praktikus emberek: ha kicsit tobbet kell varakozniuk, egyszeruen leguggolnak, ha kell, ilyen testhelyzetben tovabb is vonulnak  – egy kis osztoke utan. Erdekes, egymassal nem annyira beszelgetnek, pedig idejuk itt aztan van boven .  A nok trukkosebbek, ok hangosan velemenyt  is mondanak  es veszettul turelmetlenek. Egyutt vonulnak, nehezen ertik meg, hogy neha ferfi moge kell allniuk.  Szegyenlosen eltakarjak az arcukat. Meg a mult heten tortent, hogy az egyik nagyon idos asszony ugy hagyta el a vizsgalati szobat, hogy nem huzta vissza vissza a kendot az arcaba es meglatta a ferje! Volt is nagy pironkodas, meg pajkos vigyorgas – hat nem gondoltam volna J

Bucsuzom, kedves Blog Olvaso, rovidesen ujra jelentkezem!

Andrea

 Below is from Claire...

Day 4- Samedi 5 mars:

Toujours aussi passionnant et enrichissant de cotoyer differentes cultures.

Nous avons soignés aujourd'hui 1093 personnes. Beaucoup d'enfants et de femmes, beaucoup de monde, je suis un

peu fatiguée ce soir...

Les femmes sont marrantes. J'étais en train de contrôler le trafic pour que les personnes restent bien en

ligne en attendant de passer devant le docteur. Et des femmes ont commencé à me parler, biensur et Hindi, biensur

je ne comprenais rien à ce qu'elles disaient, mais je les faisais rire car je n'avais aucun bijoux sur moi, alors

qu'elles sont couvertes de beaux bijoux :boucle d'oreille, collier, bracelets, bagues... Puis après, elles voulaient

que je les prennent en photo (les indiens adorent qu'on les photographie) sur toutes les coutures. C'était fun ce moment

partager avec elles.

Ca y est Estelle, la lunette de la commerciale de Ciblex a été donné à un jeune garçon!!! J'ai la photo!!!

Et la premiere monture costumisee celle en pain faite par Justine est partie pour 15$.

Dimanche et Lundi, c’etait jour de repos, nous avons, nous avons visite le Fort qui surplombe la ville de Jodhpur. C etait magnifique, l’architecture est tres jolie. Et nous avions une tres belle vue de la ville bleue comme on l’appelle. Puis nous nous sommes promenes et faire un peu de shopping dans ville qui grouille de monde. Ca circule dans tous les sens ; les voitures, scooters qui klaxonnent pour forcer le passage, les scooters ou les indiens montent a 3 voir 4 sans casque biensur, les vaches et les chameaux qui se balladent tranquillement dans la rue. Et pour finir, nous avons pris le fa;eux touc-touc pour rentrer a l hotel. C’etait vraiment tres Funny…

Day 5 – Mardi 8 mars :

Alors nous avons change de Lieux concernant la Clinique, mais pas d’hotel. Nous sommes donc a 2heures en bus de cette Clinique.

La matinee nous l’avons passé a installer la nouvelle Clinique. C’est aussi un hospital qui sert de maternite. Mais celui la est moins bien agence, et il fait tres chaud…

Nous avons soigné 790 personnes… Des personnes toujours aussi souriantes surtout les femmes et des enfants tellement mignon, ils me font craquer. Aujourd’hui j’ai vu enormement de cataracte et de glaucome surtout chez les personnes agees.

 Claire

Don't forget to comment below! We miss everyone at home. Thanks for all your comments so far, we are reading them and enjoying all the encouragement!

March 10, 2011

still on the loose

By jjones

On Monday which was our second day off, the team not only got to sleep in, but were able to travel in small groups to specific markets. One group drove to the Palace and was able to see that up close, then got a camel ride. Another team went to the Bazaar again, then got Henna art on their arms. Another group started at the Bazaar then went to a jewelry store nearby that carried various loose stones and all things gold and silver.

Again, only pictures can show the fun everyone had on their second day off.

Siamo ormai al giro di boa. Dopo due giorni di “riposo” domani si ricomincia con la seconda clinica. In questi due giorni abbiamo sperimentato il caos del mercato di Jodhpur e l’ebrezza del giro in tuc tuc. Vi domanderete di cosa stiamo parlando…I tuc tuc sono delle “ape car” adattate al trasporto passeggeri. Sembra di essere sulle autoscontro….e’ tutto un rincorrersi e schivare mucche, cani, motorini, passanti e pullman. E’ come essere in un videogioco!!! Essere sopravvissuti questi due giorni e’ stato un miracolo!

Dopo aver visitato il forte di Jodhpur, tanto per dare un tocco educativo alla nostra permanenza, e’ da ieri pomeriggio che non si fa altro che fare acquisti (come Carlo ben sa dagli innumerevoli messaggi di prelievo ricevuti sul cellulare….Carlo erano rupie…non Euro!!! J)! Siamo carichi di pashmine, spezie, te’ di tutti i gusti, incensi, sandali, turbanti e abiti indiani….regali a go go per tutti….ormai siamo esperti di contrattazione all’ultima rupia!

Ieri sera prima esperienza di ristorante esterno…non un gran successo! Pollo come sempre a volonta’ e grande confusione tra piccante e non piccante…insomma tante bocche asciutte!!! Meno male che c’e’ il naam (piadina calda al burro locale…buona e facilmente commestibile…e naturalmente non piccante!!).

Domani sveglia alle 6 (Paola alle 5…).

Domani sera saremo di nuovo alla frutta…ma proviamo comunque ad aggiornarvi sulla nuova postazione della clinica!

Notte

March 10, 2011

Sunday-set loose in India

By jjones

Sunday and Monday were our OFF days! We got to experience the whole India experience.

On Sunday, we were able to visit the Mehrangarh Fort which sits above Jodhpur with breath taking views of the “blue city”.

Inside the fort we took an audio guided tour in small groups. Some of us even had our palms read by the Palmist in the “Woman’s Courtyard” that Leona said was “spot on” last time she visited him. Most everyone who visited the palmist was in agreement with Leona and the palmist’s accuracy.

Later after our tour through the Mehrangarh Fort, we had a splendid lunch at the café in the Fort. It was a nice change from the usual meals we have everyday.

The bus departed the Fort at 2:30pm and then it was on to the Clock Tower Bazaar. To give you a taste of the bazaar, imagine this…

Cows, People, Rickshaws, Compact Cars, Street Vendors, and Narrow Streets all packed in to one tiny little place. You’ve never experienced anything like this until you’ve been to the Clock Tower bazaar. Only pictures can capture the chaos…

Many of us did our souvenir shopping at the Clock Tower Bazaar and were able to get great Pashmina’s, Bangles, Jewelry, Spices, Shoes and many other things. One street vendor even said to a group when they asked for a Pepsi, “Everything is possible in India.” He was very right.

Later that night many smaller groups went different ways, whether it was back to Water Habitat Retreat, shopped more or dined at a local restaurants. We had a great night in Jodhpur and were very worn out by bed time.

March 5, 2011

Clinic Day 4. 1093 helped!

By jjones

Another busy day at clinic in Rajasthan! We gave the gift of sight to 1093 people!

Today was an exceptionally long day at clinic for all of us. We not only helped over a thousand people in the hot India sun, but we had to pack up each and every single box inside this clinic site. We had evry single team member helping load boxes of glasses and sunglasses on to the truck one at a time! You should have seen the efficiency that our team works in! We did great and we made it back to WHR in time for dinner.

Andrea from Hungary wrote this...

Kedves Blog Olvaso,

 Mar a negyedik napon vagyunk tul, tegnap is, ma is tobb mint ezer emberen segitettunk! (Igen, szombaton is dolgoztunk!)

Hatalmas a tomeg,  legtobb csapattarsam “Trafi controller” egesz nap, nehezen lehet az indiaival szot erteni, hatmeg arrebb tuszkolni… A legtobb kisiskolas ma erkezett; vigyorogva, szunni nem akaro erdeklodessel, kuncogva turelmetlenul alltak sorba, de  jo volt latni, hogy a papirjukra csak “SUN” kerult: jo a latasuk, nem kell szemuveg nekik!

Reggel 9 korul kezdunk kipakolni , este csak az utolso beteg utan zarjuk be a klinikat. Ma este kulonleges napunk volt, mert ossze kellett cuccolnunk a teljes felszerelest,  kedden egy masik klinikat nyitunk Jodhpur-tol delre, ket oranyi buszutra a hoteltol.

Tehat vasarnap es hetfon pihenes var rank! 

Remelem, Te is jol vagy, kedves Blog Olvaso, hamarosan talalkozunk!

The Italians had this to write...

Ciao a tutti siamo tornati!

Ieri non vi abbiamo aggiornato sulle nostre avventure perche’ distrutti da una giornata lunghissima con circa 1200 pazienti, la stanchezza ha quindi avuto il sopravvento! Paola ha trascorso la giornata facendo “Chabella”! Vi chiederete di cosa stiamo parlando? Niente paura…neanche noi ne avevamo idea fino a due giorni fa….naturalmente non parliamo di ciambelle indiane…ma di occhiali!  Dei fantastici occhialetti in metallo tondi (come moda vuole!) adattabili a varie prescrizioni in tempi molto brevi…Paola ha superato la sua barriera alla scarsa manualita’!  J Orietta, Massimo e Cleopatra si sono dilettati al dispensing parlando agli indiani il dialetto bellunese e ricevendo in cambio risate e benedizioni! Chiara al quick pick invece ha ricevuto piu’ lamentele per gli orrendi readers ed occhiali da sole che benedizioni….in compenso la conoscenza dell’Indi sta migliorando drammaticamente! Nicola e Maria Teresa si sono fatti valere come traffic control….Nicola ha avuto conferma di uno dei suoi mantra di vita: “e’ sempre colpa delle donne!!” anche in India la solfa non cambia….

Oggi , sabato, abbiamo concluso la prima settimana di clinica a Mandale nell’area di Jodhpur. In totale abbiamo assistito circa 4000 pazienti di tutte le eta’ in 4 giorni. Da martedi’ nuova clinica e quindi stasera abbiamo dovuto impacchettare tutto. Grande efficienza del team italiano che si e’ contraddistinto nella fase di caricamento del camion con Orietta e Nicola grandi protagonisti (vedere foto per credere)!

Nicola, vinta ogni barriera linguistica, e’ diventato un grande intrattenitore (non chiedeteci in che lingua esattamente!)….stasera a cena grandi risate con i nostri colleghi indiani che vogliono assumerlo a New Dehli….considerando che uno dei due e’ direttore del personale ci sono buone probabilita’ (tranquilla Michela te lo riportiamo!!!). Parlando di cena, vale la pena soffermarsi sul cibo…al nostro ritorno per piacere non parlateci di pollo, riso, curry e spezie varie…perche’ qui ogni sera…la stessa minestra!! Tanto per non farci mancare il cibo italiano ci preparano anche la “pasta”…stasera condita al rosmarino…tutta da provare!!!!

Domani finalmente si dorme (Paola forse no!)!!! ….giornata libera con partenza alle 10 per andare a visitare il forte di Jodhpur e giro turistico della citta’. Restate sintonizzati per saperne di piu’!

Buonanotte….

***For those following along, we have a little competition here in India going on.***

Italy thinks that they will post the most comments on this blog, even more than the Americans.

So which team are you on? Team Netherlands, Team Germany, Team Hungary, Team UK, Team USA or Team Italy?

Show your support in the comments each and every day! We love a competition, especially when the Italians start it.

Ready?

GO!!!!

*put your team at the bottom of your comment so we know who will win bragging rights until the next India clinic!

March 5, 2011

Clinic Day 3. 1169!!

By jjones

WHOA!!! What a splendid day today was at clinic! We were able to give the gift of sight to 1169 people!

Lots of fun times, lots of people helped and a lot of pictures!

This story is from Jessica who works at Sunglass Hut in Virginia, USA.

Today I was in the "traffic cop" department, which basically meant I was a mover of people in the direction they were supposed to be going. I was also a mover of people who got our of line and started to make a bottleneck in the hallway. Now, the two prior days, I was in Auto Refraction on day one which is where people have their eyes looking into a machine while I would move the machine around the get a picture of their eye. The second day I was a "runner" which meant I ran from one side of the building to the other to grab a pair of glasses for the patients and then would run back again and hand them off to a volunteer. Neither of the jobs I had the first two days allowed me to make much direct eye contact with the people of India.

Being a "traffic cop" today however, allowed me time to stand around inside the IMS room and move people around using much eye contact. So the funny thing I noticed today was all the people just staring at me straight in the eye. Then later in the day one of the treenage volunteers took a picture of me with his camera...

It took me asking Nikki why this was happening for me to realize that the people of India had probably never seen anyone with blue eyes. Hence, the constant eye contact and staring throughout my day. When I think about this it made me realize all the things I take for granted at home in the USA and these people have never experienced the things I have. Most of these people haven't even been able to see their family and surroundings because of their poor eyesight, much less a western girl with fair skin and blue eyes.

The people of India are very inspriring and happy for us to be here. We have all learned something from each of them. I'm really thankful OneSight has allowed me this opportunity. I recommend everyone donate your used eyewear today or help with a monetary donation. People around the world could benefit from the things we take for granted (and the glasses we have stored away in drawers) We even have our donation page setup on the left hand side of our main page. See everyone very soon! Leave us some comments!

Jessica

Thanks for reading friends. Please comment below. We miss everyone at home!

-Team India 1

March 5, 2011

Day Two Continued…

By jjones

More from Clinic Day 2...

Hallo allemaal, nu wat nieuws  uit india in het nederlands.

Gisteren  was ere en man die +15.00 nodig had wat we niet  in huis hadden.

Zijn huide bril kwam het meest in de buurt,maar deze was kapot aan de linkerkant ,hij had dat opgelost

Met  een touwtje,wij kwamen op het idée om de glazen over te zetten,dus op zoek naar een montuur.

Na een tijdje zoeken vond ik er een ,maar zonder fohn was dat niet makkelijk ,met een haardroger lukte

Het Leona  de linker er in te zetten , de rechter echter was te groot en slecht geslepen.

Toen vroeg ze aan mij voor een oplossing, ik heb dat glas kleiner geslepen  buiten op een steen met spuug en na een tijdje lukte het me om het te monteren.waarna ik natuurlijk de held van de dag was.

Nu moeten jullie begrijpen dat er heel hard gewerkt word door iedereen het is al een hecht team aan het worden .vandaag was het erg warm en ik heb veel buiten gewerk met afleveren,erg veel blije mensen.Totaal  al  2600 mensen geholpen in 3 dagen,het is geweldig.

Wel tot het volgende nieuws ,ieder in zijn eigen taal zodat het thuisfront het goed kan volgen.

Anton.

Above is written by Anton from the Netherlands. This is loosely translated below to English…

We had an ederly gentleman who had a -15.00 prescription, which we did not have available in inventory in the clinic here in India.( For people not in the optical field, this prescription is very very high, meaning this man can not see far away at all without his glasses on. He is so near sighted that he can only see things that are about 3-4 inches from his face.)
The elderly man had a pair of glasses already that were close to his prescription but his frames were held together with a piece of string. (see picture) Leona stepped in when she saw this man and promised that we would help him. Leona recruited Anton to help her find a similar shape frame that this man’s lenses would fit in. Anton luckily found a very close frame that was similar in shape to the man’s broken glasses.
Leona was able to fit the left lens into the pair of frames that Anton had found in inventory, but the right lens was very difficult since it was not “edged” (cut) correctly. Anton then used a rock outside and proceeded to grind away at the man’s lens so that it would fit in the new frames we found. After many trail and errors they were able to fit inside the new frames and the man received his new glasses from Anton and Leona. 

Below is Andrea from Hungary 's post...

Kedves Blog Olvaso,

Szeretettel koszontelek az India I OneSight mission blog olvasasa alkalmabol Jodhpur-bol!

A OneSight misszo mostani celja, hogy India eme szegenyek lakta teruleten az arra raszorulok egy szemvizsgalat utan megkapjak a leginkabb nekik valo dioptrias szemuveget es napszemuveget. Terveink szerint a ket hetes misszio alatt 10.000 ember latasat ellenorizzuk. A csapat sok nemzetu: amerikai, olasz, francia, holland, nemet, indiai es magyar tagja is van.

Ide, Jodhpurba kedden erkeztunk es szerda reggel mar elfoglaltuk a klinikanak helyet ado, a puszta kozepen allo helyi korhazat. Kivancsi tekintetek fogadtak bennunket, az ittenieknek igazi esemeny vagyunk! Kb. 50km-es korzetbol erkeznek a raszorulok – ki buszon, ki gyalog.

Kigyozo sorok, turelmes varakozok, boldog szemuveg tulajdonosok! Mindenki halas a kapott darabert, a napszemuveguket rogton buszken fe is avatjak!

Ma a Klinika harmadik napjanak reggele van, izgatottan varjuk a betegeket!

Rovidesen tovabbi reszletekkel jelentkezem, addig is bucsuzok Toled, kedves Olvaso!

Andrea

Below is a story from Kara M.

Before I left, I had a customer come in who wanted to have is prescription put into his grandpa’s glasses. We looked at the glasses and determined that the frames were too weak and would most likely break during manufacturing. The patient informed me that the frames held sentimental value and they would like us to try even though they might break. He and his mom had decided that they would pick out another frame in the event that the glasses did break. While they were looking around they had decided they would just get a new frame and maybe donate the glasses. I could tell the mom was hesitant and I explained to her how the process with donating worked. I had decided I wanted to make a personal connection with her and the donation process and told her I would be traveling to India and would like to bring his glasses with me and personally donate them to someone who would benefit from them. She was so happy to hear that and told me yes with tears in her eyes. Here is the lucky man who will be benefiting from the gift of sight that Patricia gave.

March 4, 2011

Clinic Day Two 890 helped!

By jjones

Wow!! What a day we had here in Jodhpur India! (Thurssday 3/3/11)

There were many moving stories today, and many memorable patients that we helped!

Hallo liebe Leser,

der 2. Klink-Tag geht zu Ende... ein Tag mit wundervollen Erfahrungen. Das deutsche Team (= Svenja) hatte heute seinen erstem Tag im "Dispensing" d.h. in dem Bereich wo die Brillen uebergeben und angepasst werden. Es waren viele glueckliche Gesichter und auch

strahlende Kinderaugen.  Dazu die Erfahrung, dass Inder nicht (!) nicken um "ja" zu sagen, sie kreisen mit dem Kopf und machen kein glueckliches Gesicht dabei, dass erleichterte die ganze Sache nicht wirklich... Die lustigste Geschichte war, dass einem aelteren Mann eine brandneue Ray-Ban zugeteilt wurde. Er war ganz traditionell in weiss gekleidet und trug einen Turban. Er war sehr stolz als ich ihm die Brille gab und ihn fragte ob ich eine Foto machen darf... NEVER HIDE!

Liebe Gruesse aus India,|
Svenja

Eccoci di nuovo alla fine del giorno due! Oggi Paola, Massimo, Cleopatra e Chiara hanno completamento perso la voce per controllare il flusso dei pazienti. E' stata una lotta impari durante la quale ogni arma ed ogni lingua e' stata utilizzata! Siamo partiti con l'inglese (inutile) per poi passare all'italiano (inutile anche questo anche se suscitava grandissima ilarita') per poi finire con dialetti e gerghi vari (il milanese di Paola restera' memorabile).  Nicola, al motto..."aprite quella finestra!", ha continuato il suo fantastico lavoro alla postazione auto-rifraction sempre piu' bisognoso di una maschera d'ossigeno. Maria Teresa promossa leader della postazione "piking" ha continuato a macinare kilometri mentre Orietta ha dispensato occhiali a volonta'. Chiara ha trovato un nuovo nonno da adottare....un simpaticissimo nonnetto con un fantastico occhiale mantenuto con dello spago sul nasello e sulle tempie ! Purtroppo non abbiamo trovato un nuovo occhiale per lui....e quindi e' andato via indossando un bellissimo occhiale da sole!!!...purtroppo solo ora Orietta ci dice che ci sarebbe stata una soluzione...troppo tardi! :-(. Per finire testimoniamo che anche oggi la superiorita' della razza italiana e' emersa con chiarezza!

Bonjour a tous,

un peu de nouvelles ce mercredi 3 mars 2011, je vais vous raconter mon histoire du jour qui m a beaucoup touche et emu. Aujourd hui j ai rencontre une jeune dame avec son bebe de 1 mois environ. Pendant,

qu elle etait sur l autorefracteur, j ai tenu son bebe. Il etait vraiment tout petit et frele, on lui voyait les cotes. Ses jambes etaient tellement fines que l on aurait dit des baguettes. Je ne sais pas si il mange a sa faim.... Il m a fait beaucoup de sourires, c etait trop mignon... Du coup j ai donne a sa maman les petites chaussures de mon fils pour qu elle puisse lui mettre quand il sera plus grand. Je suis frappee par la pauvrete de ce pays et de ces gens... C est vraiment triste...

To translate this story to English from French.
Claire (pictured above) was helping in Auto Refraction room when a mother and child came in to be examined. The Mother was holding her baby in her arms and the baby was so very tiny and malnourished. The woman then asked Claire to hold the child while she used the Auto Refractor. Claire held the baby as pictured above. Claire noticed that the baby’s feet were very tiny and that the baby was actually much older than it appeared.
When Claire came from France to the clinic here in India, she brought her son, Valentin’s (pictured in the “getting ready” blog) baby shoes. Claire gave this woman the shoes, although too big for her child right now. The Indian woman kept trying to give the shoes back to Claire, not understanding that they were a gift. A translator was then able to step in and relay to the Indian woman that Valentin’s baby shoes were a gift to her and her child for when the child got older and could wear them. The Indian woman was overcome with joy and thanked Claire with the traditional Indian “thank you”

March 4, 2011

Day One. 704!!

By jjones

This blog has team members writing in English, Italian and French!

Greetings friends! Today was the first day of clinic with our first patients. We were up and ready to go by 7am. We drove the long journey to the clinic and were greeted with drums and a blessing. The locals were very excited and grateful to see us.

Everyone was assigned a station in the clinic and we were lucky to have many local volunteers to translate to our patients. Once the first group of people arrived the day went by so fast!

In our clinic the first stop for every patient is Registration. Next they are taken to Visual Acuity where they cover the left eye and read the eye chart from 10 ft away then do the same with the other eye.
Up next is the dilation tent where all patients receive drops in their eyes to dilate their pupil.
In the fourth station, patients are directed to the Auto Refractor room where the prescription is read in each eye.

Next is the doctor’s office to get a better look inside the eye to check the health of the eye.
After the doctor , it’s on to the final doctor station to check for proper prescription.

Then finally the correct glasses are chosen for each person based on their meeting with the doctor, and they head outside and receive the gift of sight in our Dispensing tent.

Mercredi 2 Mars :

Ca y est c'est parti... Nous avons commencé la mission. Nous avons soigné aujourd'hui 704 patients. Tout se passe à merveilles, les membres de l'équipe sont "very Nice". Leona (chef de mission) et Becky (coordinatrice) sont super pour mon intégration. J'apprend beaucoup.

Nous sommes 37 membres : americains, italiens, francais, allemand, hongrois, hollandais et afrique du sud. La mission est très differente de celle que j'avais effectué en 2008. C'est beaucoup mieux organisé, nous favorisons la qualité des soins à la quantité de personnes soignés. L'Inde est un très beau pays, très dépaysant et très très pauvre.

Les gens vivent dans des tentes ou des cabanes sans eau ni électricité. Ils vivent au milieu des vaches à bosse, des chévres, des sangliers, des singes et des paons (il y en a beaucoup) qui se baladent tranquillement dans les rues. Les hommes portent le turban et les femmes les fameux Sari de toutes les couleurs se qui donnent un peu de gaité dans ce paysage si aride.

Mon role est donc de seconder Becky dans le bon déroulement de la mission à savoir qu'il ne manque rien (équipements...)sur chaque station (autorefracteur, IMS, dispensing ect...), organiser le turn over pour les pauses dejeunés et faire les remplacements, organiser les équipes de travailpour le lendemain ect... J'ai la "police" auprès des patients dans les files d'attente pour avoir la prescription des docteurs, cela n'est pas de tout repos car les patients ne restaient pas en place, et ne respectaient pas les lignes de passage, du coup je devais essayer à ce qu'ils restent tranquillement à la queuelele mais je ne parle pas le HINDI... It was very funny!!! mais à la fin on arrive à se comprendre. J'ai été aussi touché par un petit couple qui étaient venu chercher une lunette. Ils étaient vraiment très mignon et plein de tendresse. Et aussi par une femme venue avec sa maman, on n'aurait jamais pu croire que c'etait sa mere tellement aurait dit qu'elles avaient le meme age (on ne peut pas donner d'age au personnes ici, tellementelles font plus vieilles, elles ont la peau toutes ridée et abimée par le soleil).Ce qui me fait le plus de peine, c'est de voir des petits enfants ayant les yeux très abimés (ça me fait penser à mon petit Valentin). C'est triste.

C'est vraiment une très belle experience humaine, culturelle et emotionelle, je suis très heureuse de pouvoir la vivre à fond... De plus, cela me permet aussi de perfectionner mon anglais, c'est un gros challenge pour moi et j'ai deja pu faire beaucoup de progres...

C'est vraiment une très belle experience qui s'offre à nous, je la recommande!!!!
Claire

Ciao a tutti dal team Italiano! Tanto per sottolineare la multiculturalita’ eccoci qui a bloggare in italiano con tutto il  cinismo che ci contraddistingue…non vorremmo cadere nella trappola della melensita’ dei nostril compagni di viaggi…saremo quindi la voce controcorrente!!!

 Oggi abbiamo scoperto che la puntualita’ Indiana lascia un po’ a desiderare…altro che l’Italia!!!! Dopo una sveglia traumaticata alle 6am - Paola sottolinea che la sua sveglia e’ stata alle 5am causa preghiere dell’alba (non sue!), mentre Massimo dice che lui si sveglia gia’ tutte le mattine alle 6am (che vita dura ad Agordo!) - abbiamo atteso ben mezz’ora perche’ il pullman non era ancora arrivato e l’ottimo pranzo non era stato ancora preparato!!! All’arrivo della clinica pero’, abbiamo ricevuto una benedizione propiziatoria ed oggi alla fine della giornata stanchi ma soddisfatti abbiamo contato 704 pazienti visitati.

Orietta al “dispensing” ha ricevuto un’ulteriore benedizione con il bacio dei piedi da parte di una signora Indiana a cui aveva consegnato un paio di occhiali intonati al vestito…sara’ sufficiente per sopravvivere al pollo al curry per le prossime due settimane????

Anche Paola, al “quick pick” ha ricevuto una “benedizione” (?!) per la consegna  di un paio di orribili occhiali da sole anni 60 che neanche il povero indianino voleva….sara’ stata una vera benedizione?? Stay tuned….continueremo a seguire le sue avventure.

Massimo, Maria Teresa e Chiara al “picking”  hanno macinato kilometri dando numeri tra la folla assiepata in attesa di controllo medico. Chiara ha il naso chiuso da raffreddore e quindi non riesci a valutare bene le fragranze degli astanti…quando si e’ fortunati!

Cleopatra all’IMS lottava tra la scarsa disponibilita’ degli occhiali e l’elettricita’ che spariva di punto in bianco…anche ora il computer si e’ spento per batteria scarica…..

Nicola, il mago dell'autorefractor ha conbattuto con la corrente e gli indimenticabili profumi speziati dei pazienti!

Un ciao a tutti e...alla prossima puntata!

March 4, 2011

We’re here!

By jjones

Greetings friends! Team India has arrived!!!

What a great journey it has been, and a LONG one at that! All teams arrived in Delhi India by late Sunday night here in Delhi time.

 The North American crew left New Jersey at around 9pm on Saturday and flew for 14 hours straight flight to Delhi and arrived at 9pm on Sunday here in Delhi time.

 We arrived in India to the largest single building airport in the world. The sights were plentiful!

The European flights were both in VERY early Monday morning and wrapped up the entire team. On Monday afternoon, we all flew together from Delhi to Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The arrival at Jodhpur was on a much smaller scale than when we arrived in Delhi.

 We then took the bus to the Water Habitat Retreat where we found our rooms and got settled in. Here is a few pictures of the beautiful retreat. (There are monkeys also but no one has been fast enough with the camera to catch them on film. We will do our best the rest of the week to get proof)

Tuesday was our first day in clinic. Today was the day for the team to begin work and setup our India Global clinic. We had a lot of glasses to unpack, a lot of machines to setup and a lot of training to do.

Today although a short day, it was a long day and we were all tired by the time we wrapped up and headed back to Water Habitat Retreat.

Once back we enjoyed the local Indian cuisine in the dining hall and enjoyed each others company before bed.

We want to say thank you for reading our blog and inquiring where we were. Being here in Rajasthan, the internet service is not readily available but we are trying our hardest to share our stories and pictures with you.

Tomorrow, which is Wednesday, is the first day at clinic helping patients. We can’t wait to get started and start sharing some great life changing stories with you. Don’t forget to leave a comment below and wish your loved ones the best! We will check back tomorrow after clinic and look forward to hearing from you all.

March 3, 2011

getting ready

By jjones

We wanted to share with you how we are getting ready and what it looks like when you're travelling to India for 2 weeks to participate in a OneSight clinic!

The final countdown begins!

Leona, Odette, Becky and Mikey are arriving/already in India today and getting ready for the clinic to begin! We can't wait to see you guys there! Saturday is the big day!

Wish us luck! Next blog we will be in India! Until then stop by our fundraising page and support us on our journey!

March 3, 2011

8 days to go

By jjones

Here we are, only a bit over a week before we depart our hometowns for Jodhpur, Rajasthan India!

The closer we get the more internet surfing we are all doing on our destination!
I wanted to share some fun links to our readers so you can all share in our anticipation. Plus, we want you to see where we will be going so you can feel like you're right there with us!

In week 1, we will be staying at Water Habitat Retreat, which is about an hour away from our clinic site. Check it out...
http://www.nivalink.com/waterhabitat/index.html

In week 2 we are staying in the Bhadrajun Fort! Check this place out here...
www.bhadrajunfort.com

I also found another tourist website for the state of Rajasthan that has a lot of info about the area and the attractions. If this website doesn't get you excited then I don't know what will!
http://www.rajasthantour4u.com

I hope you are all as excited as we are. We can't wait to share it all with you right here on this blog!

Please leave us comments below to show us you're reading and following along.
When in India, there will be very little to no communication/phone calls on a regular basis to our homes, so all the comments you leave us here mean everything to us while we are working hard at the OneSight clinic!

The countdown begins! See you all very soon!