Mom's birthday today

Hi again from India. First of all Deane thanks for commenting on my last post, I miss you too and writing on this thing is always emotional for me because I do get homesick when I think of my sweet family (and the hockey I'm missing!). That being said, I'm having just the most incredible adventure and I don't even know where to begin. I'm feeling so much better now thank God, and my days and nights are almost switched around, but I seem to need less sleep here (I wake up about 4:30). The 20 students are just an incredible bunch and they make the three of us oldies feel very included and special. I've spent most clinical days in ommunity health- this country is very hands-on at primary health care, it's something to see. They do outreach health camps, which is really amazing, taking care to people everywhere. We had a presentation about outreach services for kids after cleft palate repair from the speech pathology unit yesterday- their work is groundbreaking and top=notch (in fact this university does very, very complex research on things from stem cell transplants for cardiac patients to phytoresearch in plants that have pharmaceutical properties--they make drugs right here! We had a tour of the 4 acre herb garden today but on of the leading pharmacy researchers, it was something else. The economic disparities continue to be enormous, but anyone taking advantage of the free health care system can have a birth attendant, surgery, TB or leprosy drugs, etc etc. I spent yesterday in the hospital OB/GYN unit with 5 students and we saw not only a birth (WOW!) but lots of breastfeeding moms, teeny tiny sick babies in the NICU, and more. Honestly each day has been about 5 life-altering experiences and it's all kind of hard to process. Well, the realities are also here--this place is not airconditioned and I am HOT so will sign off for now--love to all, Barb