'Namaste!' Or 'hello' in Hindi. Recently, I spent four and a half weeks at Duncan Hospital, Raxaul, India. Raxaul is situated in a very isolated area of Bihar, a state with few resources. Nepal is about 30 minutes away by rickshaw.
I have always wanted to experience dentistry in a mission environment so when the opportunity came to do my elective in India, I knew this was the start of something unforgettable.
Raxaul
Every time this place was mentioned, eyebrows would rise. People could not understand why a young, single female student would want to spend time in Raxaul. I was certainly not surprised to see why. I arrived after a 28-hour train journey from New Delhi, tired and desperate for a shower! It was pitch-dark at the train station as the electricity was down (something that happens very frequently, as I would later find out). Colin, a dentist from Ireland greeted me. It was good to meet someone who spoke English at last!
Raxaul is swarmed with trucks that belch out hordes of fumes, masses of people, cycle-rickshaws and cows. The cows are free to roam wherever they liked and it is a common sight to see them tucking into a 'good meal' at a pile of rubbish at the side of a road.
The Duncan Hospital Duncan Hospital is part of the Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) and is one of the largest mission hospitals in North India. It shines as a little lamppost for God's glory in North Bihar. It was established by Dr H. Cecil Duncan in 1930 and since then has been a well-known hospital in the region, serving the people of India and Nepal.
The Dental Unit
The dental clinic sees about 50 to 60 patients per day. Many patients will come with toothache. It is rare to see a patient just needing a routine check-up. Most teeth will be beyond repair and extraction is the only option. Oral health is a low priority here. There are more important issues to worry about, such as how to provide the next meal for your family.
Language was one of the major obstacles I faced. Working with a minimal grasp of Hindi, I had some difficulty communicating with patients and needed a constant translator. However, at the end of my time there, I mastered a few Hindi words such as 'open your mouth' and 'where is your pain?' - both essential for my work!
The dental clinic was better equipped than I imagined. Most essential instruments and dental materials were available. However, I did find it frustrating at times. The suction would not work, the chair would not recline as far back as I would have liked, the electricity would go off almost every hour, etc. How I have taken what I had in dental school for granted! I learnt to make use of what was available and did my best. I made a few mistakes here and there. My hosts, Dr Mathew, Dr Latha, Challang and Chandini were very forgiving and were patient teachers.
Health Talks
As part of my elective project, I gave health talks to children in three schools. Two were situated in nearby villages, while the third was Duncan Academy, an English medium school located within the hospital campus.
Each village has about 5000 villagers, most of whom live in mud huts with minimal furniture. A typical house would have a single room which contains a dining table that is converted into the bed at night, a separate section for cooking and a bathroom (which is basically has a bucket of water for bathing and a hole in the floor!).
Giving an oral health talk was great fun and a new experience for me. The children were very inquisitive and curious. I would talk a little in English with Chandini and Dr Latha as my translators. None of the children have ever visited a proper dentist before. We talked on good and bad oral habits through two posters that we had made. We bought actual sweets, tobacco and cigarettes from the shops (which caused quite a stir!) and pasted them onto the 'bad habits' poster. After each talk, we did a survey among the children by checking their teeth. Despite their lack of knowledge and interest in preserving their teeth, the oral health of the children is relatively good. This could be due to the lack of consumption of sweets due to poverty. The staple diet for these children would be rice or chapatti, dahl and sabzi (vegetables).
Spiritual input
Every morning, the whole hospital gathers at the chapel for morning devotion before starting work. The chapel is located near the main hospital compound and patients will often stand outside the doors to listen to the message. Families of the in-patients of the hospital usually sleep on the floors of the hospital compound as many of them travel from afar. Early in the morning, the hospital is full of activity.
There are bible studies on Mondays and Fridays. Church services are in Hindi on Sunday mornings and English in the evening. The elective students are encouraged to attend all the activities, whether we understand Hindi or not! We are also encouraged to contribute to the English sections.
One Monday night, I joined a couple of doctors on the medical wards. We sang a few praise songs and someone shared the gospel with the patients. For most of the patients it was the only time to hear the gospel. There is a great spiritual need among the people.
A week in New Delhi
I spent a week in New Delhi with a team from Canada. We visited two slums in which EHA has a project called Sahyog (Working Together) that runs both a TB and a child health clinic. When we arrived, the clinic had just started for the day and already multitudes of people were trying to get through the doors of the small clinic. Around us, there were flies and rubbish everywhere. The roaming cows add to the stench of the place. I wonder how people could live under such conditions. As I looked around, most people especially the women had a look of emptiness in their eyes. Young children in the slum, however, were smiling. The children reminded me of what Jesus said: 'I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' (Mark 10:15).
We also visited a leprosy centre. People with leprosy are considered unclean in India and members of the public shun them. They end up as beggars in the streets. Through the Sahyog Project, children of people with leprosy are attending literacy classes, girls are learning how to sew and volunteers from the colony are trained to care for the ill.
Sugandh (Fragrance) is another place we visited. This charitable society aims to provide education and develop creativity through artwork and craft among poor children of Delhi. These children would normally end up working as labourers and scavengers in the streets due to extreme poverty.
Conclusion
Throughout my time in India, God has taught me so much. I went to India expecting to learn about dentistry and to contribute, but instead I was taught much more than that and the people gave me more than I gave them. I am truly humbled and inspired by the many doctors at Duncan Hospital who chose to move from their homes in other states of India to work in Bihar. Their love for the Lord is truly evident in the way they treat the patients. I know that God is all-powerful and through the ministries that I had a chance to see and the friends that I have met in India, God is moving and working.
My experience in India was truly enriching and unforgettable. I would like to thank the various organisations and trusts for funding my elective. I would certainly recommend a similar experience to any student planning their elective. . My trip was made even more meaningful knowing that God was in everything that I experienced. Praise Him!
I have always wanted to experience dentistry in a mission environment so when the opportunity came to do my elective in India, I knew this was the start of something unforgettable.
Raxaul
Every time this place was mentioned, eyebrows would rise. People could not understand why a young, single female student would want to spend time in Raxaul. I was certainly not surprised to see why. I arrived after a 28-hour train journey from New Delhi, tired and desperate for a shower! It was pitch-dark at the train station as the electricity was down (something that happens very frequently, as I would later find out). Colin, a dentist from Ireland greeted me. It was good to meet someone who spoke English at last!
Raxaul is swarmed with trucks that belch out hordes of fumes, masses of people, cycle-rickshaws and cows. The cows are free to roam wherever they liked and it is a common sight to see them tucking into a 'good meal' at a pile of rubbish at the side of a road.
The Duncan Hospital Duncan Hospital is part of the Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) and is one of the largest mission hospitals in North India. It shines as a little lamppost for God's glory in North Bihar. It was established by Dr H. Cecil Duncan in 1930 and since then has been a well-known hospital in the region, serving the people of India and Nepal.
The Dental Unit
The dental clinic sees about 50 to 60 patients per day. Many patients will come with toothache. It is rare to see a patient just needing a routine check-up. Most teeth will be beyond repair and extraction is the only option. Oral health is a low priority here. There are more important issues to worry about, such as how to provide the next meal for your family.
Language was one of the major obstacles I faced. Working with a minimal grasp of Hindi, I had some difficulty communicating with patients and needed a constant translator. However, at the end of my time there, I mastered a few Hindi words such as 'open your mouth' and 'where is your pain?' - both essential for my work!
The dental clinic was better equipped than I imagined. Most essential instruments and dental materials were available. However, I did find it frustrating at times. The suction would not work, the chair would not recline as far back as I would have liked, the electricity would go off almost every hour, etc. How I have taken what I had in dental school for granted! I learnt to make use of what was available and did my best. I made a few mistakes here and there. My hosts, Dr Mathew, Dr Latha, Challang and Chandini were very forgiving and were patient teachers.
Health Talks
As part of my elective project, I gave health talks to children in three schools. Two were situated in nearby villages, while the third was Duncan Academy, an English medium school located within the hospital campus.
Each village has about 5000 villagers, most of whom live in mud huts with minimal furniture. A typical house would have a single room which contains a dining table that is converted into the bed at night, a separate section for cooking and a bathroom (which is basically has a bucket of water for bathing and a hole in the floor!).
Giving an oral health talk was great fun and a new experience for me. The children were very inquisitive and curious. I would talk a little in English with Chandini and Dr Latha as my translators. None of the children have ever visited a proper dentist before. We talked on good and bad oral habits through two posters that we had made. We bought actual sweets, tobacco and cigarettes from the shops (which caused quite a stir!) and pasted them onto the 'bad habits' poster. After each talk, we did a survey among the children by checking their teeth. Despite their lack of knowledge and interest in preserving their teeth, the oral health of the children is relatively good. This could be due to the lack of consumption of sweets due to poverty. The staple diet for these children would be rice or chapatti, dahl and sabzi (vegetables).
Spiritual input
Every morning, the whole hospital gathers at the chapel for morning devotion before starting work. The chapel is located near the main hospital compound and patients will often stand outside the doors to listen to the message. Families of the in-patients of the hospital usually sleep on the floors of the hospital compound as many of them travel from afar. Early in the morning, the hospital is full of activity.
There are bible studies on Mondays and Fridays. Church services are in Hindi on Sunday mornings and English in the evening. The elective students are encouraged to attend all the activities, whether we understand Hindi or not! We are also encouraged to contribute to the English sections.
One Monday night, I joined a couple of doctors on the medical wards. We sang a few praise songs and someone shared the gospel with the patients. For most of the patients it was the only time to hear the gospel. There is a great spiritual need among the people.
A week in New Delhi
I spent a week in New Delhi with a team from Canada. We visited two slums in which EHA has a project called Sahyog (Working Together) that runs both a TB and a child health clinic. When we arrived, the clinic had just started for the day and already multitudes of people were trying to get through the doors of the small clinic. Around us, there were flies and rubbish everywhere. The roaming cows add to the stench of the place. I wonder how people could live under such conditions. As I looked around, most people especially the women had a look of emptiness in their eyes. Young children in the slum, however, were smiling. The children reminded me of what Jesus said: 'I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' (Mark 10:15).
We also visited a leprosy centre. People with leprosy are considered unclean in India and members of the public shun them. They end up as beggars in the streets. Through the Sahyog Project, children of people with leprosy are attending literacy classes, girls are learning how to sew and volunteers from the colony are trained to care for the ill.
Sugandh (Fragrance) is another place we visited. This charitable society aims to provide education and develop creativity through artwork and craft among poor children of Delhi. These children would normally end up working as labourers and scavengers in the streets due to extreme poverty.
Conclusion
Throughout my time in India, God has taught me so much. I went to India expecting to learn about dentistry and to contribute, but instead I was taught much more than that and the people gave me more than I gave them. I am truly humbled and inspired by the many doctors at Duncan Hospital who chose to move from their homes in other states of India to work in Bihar. Their love for the Lord is truly evident in the way they treat the patients. I know that God is all-powerful and through the ministries that I had a chance to see and the friends that I have met in India, God is moving and working.
My experience in India was truly enriching and unforgettable. I would like to thank the various organisations and trusts for funding my elective. I would certainly recommend a similar experience to any student planning their elective. . My trip was made even more meaningful knowing that God was in everything that I experienced. Praise Him!
