Donna tries nursing in India
Peninsula nursing sister Donna Jelley has returned from a Churches of Christ overseas mission at Ashwood Memorial Hospital in West India.
Initially, she was shocked by the prevalent poverty and poor living conditions.
Her own living quarters were very basic with running water for one to two hours a day, a septic system that didnt work and a bucket in which to wash.
The hospital was 100 years old and, although very prestigious when first built, is now in disrepair and badly in need of upgrading.
The hospital had a three-bed labour ward, three outpatients cubicles for doctors and one big ward in which to house the maternity patients and their children.
There were no toilets and people had to relieve themselves in an adjacent field.
With these conditions it is little wonder Sister Jelley witnessed at least one baby die a week and up to 10 stillbirths a day during her six-week stay.
She commented that a "majority of women have at least one deceased child".
Her favourite experience was a visit to a nearby orphanage which housed five to 16-year-old children. They were provided with education, food and board. One dorm slept 50 children on the floor.
Sister Jelley and a female doctor did physicals on all the girls including checking their teeth which were in bad condition from cleaning with coal. The girls were taught how to use toothbrushes and tooth paste.
She said that "the children were timid, needy and small for their age, dispelling the popular belief that poverty is character-building."
The problems are being addressed by politicians wives who are promoting a limit of two children per family and better neonatal health.
"Ive always had a heart for missions," was Sister Jelleys main reason for volunteering her nursing services in poverty-stricken West India.
Karen Booth, June 13