Unite for Sight in Chennai!

So! Besides traveling around Delhi and visiting Pongol celebrations, I bet you are all wondering if I have actually done any volunteering...

In point of fact, I have :)

A typical day here in Chennai consists of waking up at about 7:30 am, getting ready for the day and then heading to Hande Hospital to observe cataract surgeries. The amazing thing about the surgeries is that the head doctor, Dr. Varman, makes it look easy. After a while you start to think it is all the same. In fact, he is the fastest cataract surgeon in the hospital, able to finish a surgery in 7 minutes. We usually see about 4 in half and hour.

After surgery we head to camp, and that's where most of the fun and the best pictures come from.

Here you see our volunteer opthomolgist resident (far right) next to an Indian residency student. I'm the nearly bald guy next to the Indian opthomologist and the fellow in the yellow shirt is another volunteer. The third volunteer and I are handing out glasses and recording who got glasses.

The kids LOVE seeing foreigners come through.

The weirdest thing is that we keep getting congratulated. In this picture I'm getting thanked by a church with a towel. This picture was before I got a haircut and a shave.

Also at the church. We pay 200 rupees for every camp we go to (the volunteers) which pays for the gas for the van and for our lunch which we always end up eating with our hands. There is a trick to it actually: you pick up the food with your fingers as a spoon and push it into your mouth with your thumb...I am not demonstrating that in this picture.

A happy customer.Volunteers looking cool in the free shades we brought. The guy in the middle is our driver, Mr. Mutu. He is the resident badass.

After camp we sometimes go to the clinic to watch the doctors work. I'm not a medical student so I usually leave that time to the other volunteers. We don't help around the clinic as much as we do at the camp and they are generally really busy.

However, we did get a chance to do some surgery on a goat's eye!

Of course, as impressive as this may look, I am not destined to be an opthomologist. It was a good thing the goat was dead, because I ended up stabing the eye through the iris. Oddly enough, that didn't prevent me from finishing the surgery, as the lens is under the iris. But it would have screwed the goat for life.

The place where we did the goat's eye surgery was in a great location. They do not use pig eye, though.

Of course, being me, going to camps, watching surgeries and harming innocent goat's eyes is not enough. I also took it upon myself to clean up the office where the eye clinic stored all the free glasses everyone donates.

BEFORE:

AFTER:


Of course, one of the issues we have had to deal with is a disporportionate amount of glasses donated.

The picture above is of the +1.00 and +1.25 power reading glasses we have for passing out. When the optomotrists hand out glasses, the age of the patient is a huge determining factor, and many people we see fall into the +1.00 and +1.25 range. Unfortunately, we don't get as many of these glasses donated as we need.

We DO however get just about everything else! The box on the far left is +1.75 (btw, this picture is taken AFTER Thanraj, the volunteer coordinator, and I cleaned up and reorganized). The next box is +2.00. The box on the ground below it is also full of +2.00. After that is an empty box of +2.25, then another double set of +2.5, empty +2.75 and then two full boxes of +3.00 and +3.25 which are off the right side of the picture.

Now, when giving out reading glasses it is acceptable to go up or down +0.25 on a prescription, so not having +2.25 and +2.75 is really not that big a deal. According to the opthomologists, there isn't even that big a difference between +1.00 and +1.50.

But empty boxes bother me so I emailed the head of Unite for Sight and now the website has a note for all future :

Eyeglass Note: Uma Eye Clinic has an abundance of eyeglasses with a
prescription of +2.00. Please do not bring +2.00 glasses. Instead, the clinic
needs +1.00, +1.25, +2.25, and +2.75. Additionally, Uma Eye Clinic needs
negative power glasses, but remember not to bring any glasses with a cylinder
prescription (See Instructions For Collecting Eyeglasses for details)

Sweet :)

My final project was to try and get a survey done of the patients who got cataract surgery done so UFS would have some more statistics on their overall impact. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish but there is a chance that my fellow volunteers can carryt he tourch :) Good luck guys!

Anyway, I'm typing this as I'm about to go to the airport and head to Mumbai! NO time for editing!

The Arrival...and a quick trip to Delhi

The story that follows is the story of my quick trip to Delhi on Jan 7th, 2009. As many of you know, I came to India with the intention of volunteering for Unite For Sight in Chennai, starting on January 10th. After that I planned to fly to Zambia to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity on February 2nd.

The problem with this plan was that, according to HFH, I needed a visa to get into Zambia. I checked various Zambian government websites and even spoke with the Zambian High Commissioner's office in Singapore, where I spent Christmas, and they all confirmed this story.

So, naturally, I assumed I needed a visa. Unfortunately the Zambians in Singapore were unable to provide such a visa. The only Zambian embassy capable of such a feat in the nearby area was in Delhi, India...

Lucky for me I was going to India, then, I thought. I re-arranged all my flights so that I arrived in India on Jan 6th. My plan was to then fly from Chennai, where I was volunteering with Unite for Sight, to Delhi on Jan 7 and figure out my visa thing for the next 3 days.

The first part went according to plan. I arrived in Chennai on Jan 6th.



I was greeted by this lovely neon sign above the airport in Chennai. For the uninitiated, the ISO is the International Organization for Standardization (I have NO IDEA why they don't just call themselves the International Standards Organization...).

Normally this sign would have just been viewed as slightly odd, but some friends of mine in Iraq were quite obsessed with getting the Iraqis "ISO certified", so when I arrived in India I was actually aware of the organization's existence.

The fascinating thing about the ISO is that it appears to be quite popular in India. Besides the fact that Chennai's Airport advertised their certification in Neon, many other stores on the streets of Chennai and Delhi also advertised their ISO certification. I don't know to what degree US companies abide by this thing (I assume they all just do it), but it is apparently a HUGE deal everywhere else. Given that many developing countries lack robust regulatory regimes and legal systems, I imagine the ISO enables good companies in developing nations to gain an amount of legitimacy not possible with a simple certification from their home countries.

This makes perfect sense to me, but it actually speaks to something greater, although perhaps not obvious at first glance. I have long held the position that the United States ignores international bodies at its peril. That is because the rest of the world respects them SO much. This neon sign is yet another good example (Singaporeans praying for the UN Security Council to find wisdom on Christmas would be another).

I don't recommend just subjecting ourselves to the whims of China and Russia, but the Iraq war did a lot of damage to the relationship between the UN and the US. I supported the war regardless of the UN's approval, but it's endorsement goes a long way to supporting any intervention's legitimacy, which is very helpful when fighting things like insurgencies (although not fundamental. We are still winning despite the bad start to the Iraq war. Victory creates its own sense of legitimacy).

What I would recommend, though, is to totally dominate the UN. President Obama has made the Ambassador to the UN a cabinet position. That's a good thing in my book only if he uses the UN as it was intended when we created: as a cudgel of righteousness with which to pummel dictators and mass murderers. So far the US has totally lost control of the UN, allowing greats like Cuba, Russia, China and Saudi Arabia to get onto the brand new Human Rights Council (the last one was dissolved because it had been dominated by pretty much the same group of human rights abusers, plus Libya). And the US is not actually on the Council. Although we did get Canada, Japan, Germany and Switzerland on there...they all have great records these days.

The point is, since I see international development and nation building expanding, not retracting, in the future, we had better start taking back control of the international system we created so that we can be more effective with our diplomacy and give our military the legitimacy cover they need if we need to take out another dictator. I think the total death toll from the cholera outbreak alone in Zimbabwae is 2,700 now http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/default.stm.
That doesn't include the number of people Mugabe and his thugs have simply murdered in order to stay in power.

BUT, that's just what I thought about after looking at this neon sign in Chennai.

After dropping off the two suitcases full of glasses I had brought for Unite For Sight, I slept for about 4 hours and then headed right back to the airport to catch a flight to Delhi.


At the airport I picked up a free copy of the Times of India. This picture is a little hard to read, but the main article is clear enough. If you look at that map they have of Pakistan and Afghanistan you will notice a patch of green inbetween. That is what the Times of India has named Talibanistan...

If I had to use one word to describe the state of India's news industry it would be "young." This newspaper was free, so that might be indicative of its quality, but when a major national newspaper succumbs to this kind of sensationalism, in alarms me a little bit. And this is not the only example.

I haven't done an exhaustive analysis of every newspaper in India, but my initial glance at the ones available at the airports have left me with a distinct impression of youth. Most of the articles have the tone of US high school or college level newspapers. I never really realized it because I was comparing British and American news, but news in the US is pretty good. Even FOX, the channel liberals love to hate, actually has some good content, John Stewart's sound bites aside (the Terrorist Fist Jab incident would be one example. The Left went on a crusade after that, forcing the anchor to apologize, but if you actually watched the segment the guest she has one explains the situation perfectly fine and one comes away with an image of Obama as someone who is young and is trying to appeal to a young crowd...which was true and worked).

But so far a lot of Indian newspapers have had this slightly radical tone to them, as if the writers wrote up the articles while having an argument with their friends in a bar. In my next post I'll explain these pictures in more detail, but essentially this paper got in the middle of a labor dispute between the government and gas workers who were striking. That's normal, but the paper has an obvious pro-government bias, to the point of posting advertisements from the government, arguing its case.

It's all democracy in action, I suppose, and it's ok when the stakes are low. But the Pakistani newspapers have the same kind of problem. From what I hear, Pakistani papers have been practically daring India to attack them. It's a miracle the two of them haven't gone to war over Mumbai.


Actually, the Indian press has called for more pressure on Pakistan from the US instead of war, so that is good. But I also found a magazine that had declared its own War on Terror and listed 12 ways the Indian government should combat terrorism (many gleaned from the US's 9-11 report).


This is slightly different in tone, but it is still interesting that the Indian newspapers are reporting on the difficulties of a Non-Resident Indian (people of Indian decent, no matter where they are) working for the US IRS...that was front page news...

ANYWAY, most of this actually happened before I even arrived in Delhi.

Delhi was cool though. I arranged a car and hotel at the airport (ripoff, don't ever do that). When I got to the hotel I immediately used their phone to call the Zambian embassy. I had prepared for this day by printing out everything I would need and emailing the embassy copies of it all in advance. I was ready to go.

The conversation went something like this:

"Hi, I am volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Zambia in February and I wanted to apply for a visa."

"Please hold."

"OK."

....."Sir?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"You don't need to apply for a visa here. You can get it at the airport in Lusaka."

....."what?"

"You can get it in Lusaka?"

"But they said I had to do all this stuff and it would take weeks."

"Well, it would if you applied through us...but if you just go to Lusaka, you can buy it at the airport."

"Oh. Well, how long can I get a visa for at the airport?"

"Well, many Americans do business in Zambia so you can get a visa for 3 years."

"3 YEARS?? So I don't need to apply at all?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Are you REALLY sure because EVERYONE said I did and I don't want to show up and not get in."

"People call us for this all the time, sir. You can get it at the airport."

"Oh...ok...Well then...I guess I'll just enjoy my next 3 days in Delhi...Maybe I'll go see the Taj Mahal."

"Ok sir. Thank you."

"You're SURE about this right?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright...thanks."

Now, this has happened to me before, notably in Bahrain where I bought a $100 visa before going only to find I could have gotten it for $15 at the airport, so I should have known better. But when the Zambian consulate in Singapore told me I needed it I figured they could be trusted. Obviously I should have trusted the default position which is that the Blue Passport can get you in just about anywhere...except India oddly enough...I had to apply for that one from Singapore...Did I mention that when I did that there were hundreds of Indians in that consulate? There are so many Indias on Earth that they are tons of them EVERYWHERE I go."

With that cleared up I figured I might as well look around the city. I sent out some emails and chatted with my friend, Jason, online. Jason had been to India before and so he recommended an area of Delhi I could find a cheaper hotel.

This is the area he recommended.



This was one of the beds in one of the cheap hotels...wonder what people do around here....?
And people eat lots of meat in India. Many people are Vegetarians, but Non-Vegs are on the rise. A non-veg is what they call meat eaters around here. Apparently that is still considered abnormal so in needs to be classified.

Anyway, I eventually found a decent hotel for a tenth of the price I was paying and with internet, so I decided I'd head back to my hotel and pack up for my move the next day. But first, since I figured I'd be in Delhi for a while, I thought about getting a Lonely Planet guide. I asked around for a book store and was eventually pointed to Connaught Place.

Connaught place ended up being a massive circle with a park in the middle of it and smart-looking clothing stores ringing around it. It was the total opposite of the old city which was a mere 10 minutes away.




The circle was extremely cool. The shops were nice and cheap so I bought a sweater (it was damn cold). I tried to get into the park in the middle of the circle, but terrorists assholes have forced the Indian government to increase security so bags aren't allowed in the circle. I had a bag with stuff I had bought throughout the day in it. I hate terrorists. More on that latter.

Eventually I walked all the way around. I spotted a McDonalds and a KFC as well. The most interesting thing I saw was what books were on sale.


Steve Jobs is popular.
Hillary makes an appearance, along with Trump.
Friedman, Clinton, Mandela, the World is Flat and the story of Google.
The godfather, Harry Potter, Osama


Eventually I took a break on a curb to consult my Lonely Planet. While sitting there two youtes came up and sat next to me. They turned out to be students who spoke pretty good english. I told them what I was up to and they suggested that I use my time to take a small road trip through the "Golden Triangle." I had never heard of it but it is apparently the area between Delhi, the Taj Mahal and the Pink City, south of Delhi. The Youtes suggested I go to the government tourism center and rent a car. They showed me the way and dropped me off, saying goodbye. They didn't even work for the tourism guys. They were just being nice. I figured that was probably a good sign, so I ended up signing up for the tour. It was a little more expensive than just taking the bus, but it also gave me a guaranteed return time to Delhi, which I needed in order to catch my flight back to Chennai.

SO I packed up quick and left Delhi that night so I could see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. But that is the story for my next posting :)

Happy Pongol!...and the New Year too dammit!

So, while this isn't my first adventure in India, this is my first posting, but this particular cultural experience was worth it.

Here in Tamil Nadu the people are currently celebrating the Harvest Festival of Pongol. This is apparently a big deal because, as the doctors at the Uma Eye Clinic (Unite For Sight's partner down here in Chennai) told me, most of India's people still work in Agriculture or recently came to the cities from the farms. This means they still celebrate the old harvest festivals.

However, for some reason the government of Tamil Nadu, the southern India state of which Chennai is the capital, decided that the Pongol festival should be, as of this year, celebrated as the Tamil New Year as well.

Soooo, what this meant for the Unite For Sight volunteers was that we had nothing to do for the next two days because all the people we'd normally treat would be at home enjoying the festival and not showing up at the eye clinic.

To make sure we didn't waste our experience in India, our UFS administrator hooked us up with a tour agency and that's when the fun started.

First we got on an Auto-Rickshaw, which is a three-wheeled motorcycle with a bench in the back and a cloth cover. It is as terrifying as it sounds and the drivers are absolutely crazy. The only thing I can think to compare them to is Egyptian Cab drivers who are actually crazier, except they're in cars and these guys in India are in cardboard boxes.

Auto-Rickshaw

But the Indian AR drivers are just as much of a pain in negotiating prices as their Egyptian brethren. Although there is one important difference. Most of the time in Egypt you could name a price and if you walked away the driver would come down to your price. In India, the guys just drive away, even when they know they are still getting a deal. To this day I have not figured that out.

Of course in Egypt we didn't even agree on a price. We just paid whatever was fair at the end of the ride and walked away. So far in India I have had one success with that method but it has not been tested to the fullest, especially since I don't know the price/distance of most places I go.

Anyway, on this particular day the AR situation was pretty straightforward. There was the normal scam but eventually we got to the Tour Agency we were looking for.

When we got there we arranged for a tour around the city for the next day, but to compensate us for the fact that we couldn't go on the tour that day, the tour guys told us they would take us to the Pongol dance festival going on right then, and they'd do it for free!

Now, that was the first indication that something fishy was going on. NO ONE does anything for free in India (except the one dude who took my Monkey picture). But we went along for the ride because we wanted to see the traditional dancing, so we headed off in the car to the Pongol festival.

When we arrived people with walkie-talkies started directing us to go places. Normally I'd object to being hearded around when trying to attend a cultural event. However, for me the hearding was the cultural event. We started to notice that everywhere we went government-types were maneuvering us in front of cameras. Eventually we shuffled onto stange and presented like an exhibition ourselves. The pictures below describe it in less than 1000 words.



This is what my friends looked like on stage. The black girl right in the middle is whose camera I'm using and the blond girl to her right whose face is hidden is another volunteer.

The man in the middle is the government guy who was directing the "foreigners" into the right position for the photo-op.


This is the mass of photographers that we were looking at from the stage.

And here are the security forces.



This is the peacock who was dancing around us.

After the photo-op was taken to prove that the government sponsored cultural event had lots of international attention, a reporter from a Delhi Radio station interviewed my friends and I.


I tried to name drop Unite For Sight so that perhaps they could get some airtime too, but I'm not sure the woman interviewing us (far left) cared. She asked what we thought of the event and we were extremely kind to it, saying it was a great way to learn about the culture. After she stopped recording I tried to ask question in a way to imply that I thought the whole thing was a farcical publicity stunt, but she either already knew that or didn't care. I hope the quotes she edits out are good...apparently they're going to make the news somewhere.

After all that madness we were shuffled around a little more to take pics with peopel cooking traditional food and what not. There were also other exhibits showing how great the Tamil Nadu ruling party was.


This is an advertisement for the Moon Mission undertaken by the Indians last year. It was posted by the Department of Education. The ruling party in Tamil Nadu is the DMK. The opposition is called the Anna DMK or AIADMK and is an off-shoot of DMK. The moon mission was launched from a state near Chennai and the DMK is most likely trying to capitalize on it's success.

A quick wikipedia search puts this all in perspective:

The current DMK-led Government of Tamil Nadu abolished the traditional Tamil calendar in February 2008 citing a so-called but disputed proclamation in 1920s by a group of so-called Atheists under leadership of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy who assembled in Madurai and adopted first day of Thai Month as first day of the Tamil Calendar. The Tamil Nadu Government has ordered the Tiruvalluvar Era as official Tamil Calendar for the state and abolished the Tamil years used for several millennia. The new year has been changed to begin with Pongal day during month of Thai^[1]. This controversial move however has no public support ^[2] and the traditional calendar that begins in April remains very much in use ^[3]. The opposition AIADMK has vowed to restore the traditional Tamil calendar when it assumes power. The present state government's move has also been challenged in court ^[4].

So the answer is, the government types are trying to sell their new calender to the people of Tamil Nadu. They don't really care if tourists learn anything about Tamil culture (some might, but certainly not all). What they want is to show that their new artificial culture has international appeal. So glad I could help.


I got Garland-ed...


But we did at least get to see a nice beach that was nearby. It actually had pretty nice waves and if I'd had a boogie board I might have been able to teach these Indians a thing or two...none of them ventured out past the shorebreak!