Dream House II & III

(The link to Dream House I is here
http://notwant.blogspot.com/2011/01/dream-house-i.html)

Dream House II

It was completely jarring to feel such relief at seeing my kids smiling widely and yet to feel so awkward about them being so close to these kids that I didn’t know. Sure their smiles were endearing but their clothing, their hair, and their faces were less than clean.

My kids couldn’t understand their new friends but they were playing happily together with some kind of wooden puppet. One young man, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old, was obviously a bit of an organiser. He seemed to be gathering a crowd just below the back of our deck.

My wife appeared at the back door – half asleep and half in shock. We met side-by-side as we watched our children, she restrained herself from ordering the kids back inside as she noticed the ease at which they played with the local children.
At the orders of the organiser, a few children – some with long drums, some with puppets, and girls in dress costumes came up to the deck and assembled themselves for an impromptu performance. We were treated to an amazing performance, the children were quite skilled and they were obviously enjoying themselves immensely to have such a stage and a crowd in their own community. The colours weren’t quite the same as a Bollywood movie but the life and the energy were the same.

As the performance finished some of the key performers gave puppets to our own children. My wife and I were quietly shocked at the generosity but didn’t interfere as these experiences washed over us. I was very glad that my kids were so emphatic in their thanks and even tried some makeshift bows to show their gratitude. A spark of an idea in our oldest son quickly became a request whispered into our ears. And we were more than happy to go along with it.

We were so used to our kids’ more unattractive tones complaining about hunger and whinging for snacks, now they were busy gathering lollies and biscuits and all the leftover snacks from Christmas and bringing them out to share with everyone.

Now a middle-aged woman was moving determinedly through the crowd followed closely by the young organiser. I started to wonder about all the possible things she could be angry about.

Dream House III

I was beginning to wonder what this was all about, why this was happening. The woman spoke with the authority that all mothers have. Even without translation I knew I was to follow. I surprised myself by just going along with it as I slipped on some sandals and walked down our back steps.

The young organiser identified himself as Sanjiv. He spoke simple English clearly and confidently. He explained that we were walking to the house of a man who was very sick. Sanjiv apologised that he didn’t know the words to describe the injury beyond, ‘arm’ and ‘bad’.

We walked through alleys about one and a half people wide as we dodged the open drains. Finally we stopped and stepped inside a small concrete room. We went through and into another smaller room at the back. It was almost completely dark. A man lay next to the wall, he was obviously in pain. Another young man stepped into the room carrying a light globe which he deftly attached to the makeshift wiring on the ceiling.

The light revealed a wound that covered most of the man’s right arm. The flesh could be seen, pink and red. The movement on the surface was the tiny worms that were slowly consuming him. It was entirely disgusting. I wanted to vomit. I had never even seen anything like it. I hastily and whole-heartedly started to make it clear that I wasn’t a doctor.

Sanjiv began to translate for the woman. They were very sorry but they were even more desperate. They hoped that I might have some money so that Mukesh could be treated at a hospital. I learned that without having the money up front and purchasing the medicines and bandages yourself, the hospital did not have any means to treat you.

Mukesh’s brother took what I thought was a small amount of money and took him to the closest hospital. I was still dazed. I still felt quite overwhelmed by what I was seeing.

Now the woman had another request but this time I had no idea what it was she was asking. Sanjiv smiled and explained that she would like me to bring my family back to share lunch with her family.

There was no way that I wanted to expose my family to the kind of risks that such a lack of hygiene can bring.