City life

Today was spent in and around the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapurum – or Trivandrum if you prefer. Less contact with needy people, but catching up with some important business.

First visit was to Shanti Bhavan, a home for destitute peole. They currently look after 30 such people – 2 women and 28 men. Most of the day-to-day running is done by Omar Kuttan, whom I first met in the Medical College Hospital, when I was able to save him from a life of disability by buying a set of implants for his broken leg. He is now fully recovered, active and agile, and very grateful for the help that he received all those years ago. As I sometimes say, the best GBP50 that I ever spent. It was good to see the residents helping around the premises, and getting a good breakfast of cous-cous and curry. They had got behind with the rent, so it was good to be able to give them a month’s rent so as to keep them in good favour with the landlord. They have a plot of land nearby, and they hope to put up a suitable building in due course as their present landlord wants the present building back.

Then we met up with Shibu, our permanent bystander in the hospital. He gave me the details of his present six patients, who have all met with various accidents, and would not get the treatment that they so desperately need without his presence. Shibu was thriving on it. We pay his expenses, but do not give him a salary, so there are sometimes things that he wants: this time it was a chance to buy him a new smart-phone – something that is useful for him to keep in contact and to send us photos.

One of the residents at Shanti Bhavan.  He has a deformed right hand and right foot.

Shibu

Whilst we could not go inside the hospital due to Covid, we did meet up with a desperate father whose son was inside. His son Suruja has leukaemia, for which he had completed a course of chemotherapy, and was about to start a second one – each eight doses of chemotherapy at about GBP80-90 a dose, a huge amount for an Indian who might earn GBP a day if he is lucky. I was happy to provide half the cost of the next dose, for which he was very grateful.

After which it was some very mundane things. A visit to the tax accountant to check up on the progress of an appeal against an unjust tax demand, chairs for Happy Valley, nappies for some of the children who need them, and a tarpaulin to cover a leaky roof and a kilo of rope to tie it down. I mean – who measures rope in kilos? Only in India!

We’re off to Asha Kiran tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to report back, so things may go quiet for a couple of days. But I’ll be back!