Blood Donation!

              Last Sunday one member from a NGO called Think foundation came to our parish to tell us about Thalassemia . Since we decided to organize a blood donation drive the priest in-charge of the youth suggested that we do it for this cause. It was really enlightening to hear this man speak as I didn't know much about the disorder and what the people suffering from it go through.. For those of you who don't know what Thalassemia is here is some info on the topic ..

             Thalassemia  is a genetic blood disease. People born with this disease cannot make normal hemoglobin (anemia) which is needed to produce healthy red blood cells.

             People with a thalassemia mutation only in one gene are carriers or are said to have thalassemia minor. Thalassemia minor results in no anemia or very slight anemia. Carriers do not require blood transfusion or iron therapy, unless proven to be iron deficient.
             Children born with thalassemia major usually develop the symptoms of severe anemia within the first year of life. The lack the ability to produce hemoglobin.Prolonged anemia will cause bone deformities and eventually will lead to death within the first decade of life. The only treatment to combat severe anemia is  regular blood transfusions (often every 2 to 4 weeks). These transfusions helps them maintain normal hemoglobin and red blood cell levels.

            Because the hemoglobin in red blood cells is an iron-rich protein, regular blood transfusions can lead to a buildup of iron in the blood. This condition is called iron overload. It damages the liver, heart, and other parts of the body.

To prevent this damage, iron chelation therapy is needed to remove excess iron from the body. Two medicines are used for iron chelation therapy.

• Deferoxamine is a liquid medicine that's given slowly under the skin, usually with a small portable pump used overnight. This therapy takes time and can be mildly painful. Side effects include problems with vision and hearing.
• Deferasirox is a pill taken once daily. Side effects include headache, nausea (feeling sick to the stomach), vomiting, diarrhea, joint pain, and fatigue (tiredness).(Info edited from this site)

            Undergoing transfusions every two weeks from the time you are kids is no small feat, it is a way of life for these patients, the person from the NGO told us that they even joke about it. Also because of the high number of transfusions they undergo they have a greater risk of contracting various blood-borne diseases such as HIV, AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C. Apart from this they are at a greater risk for heart disease as well as osteoporosis. 

            

            Mr V told us that since every disease has a window period when the virus cannot be detected, sometimes the patients can receive infected blood and not know about it. The best and safest donors are those who donate blood voluntarily and this is one of the reasons that the NGO conducts blood donation drives almost every day, so that blood banks are stocked with enough blood from "safe donors" and there is enough for those suffering from thalassemia or any other disorder.

          

            I have been donating blood once a year from the time I turned 18 and never thought twice about it. I didn't think about where the blood went, who it must go to and about what a difference I would be making by this one act that I did without even thinking too much about. Last Sunday I realized what it can mean, not only for people suffering from thalassemia but from any other disease or disorder, that there is enough of blood stocked in the blood banks. It makes this drive we are conducting even more meaningful and has filled me with the enthusiasm to see a lot of people coming to donate blood on 25th March!

           

            I am keeping my fingers crossed and telling everyone I know about the drive. Whether it is to donate blood, spread the word, or simply come to support the people donating blood, everyone can help. 

Please do pray that we have a successful drive!

Woman's Day and changing Cognitions.

           
   Today is Holi the Indian festival of colors, the celebration brotherhood, and harvest and of the triumph of good over Evil! To read more about the festival go here.
               Today is also Women's day ......sigh....... I would be pleased if Men's day was celebrated with equal enthusiasm here. All this while I thought that Men didn't have a day dedicated to them, that was just my ignorance, it turns out they do! 19th November is celebrated as International Men's day. The history of Women's day is pretty cool, however if we talk about inequality I don't know how much having an International day for women helps, maybe it is just ignorance talking, Google can tell me only as much as I am willing to read :)
                It’s great to have an international Women's day and a Men's day........ However it would be even better if we had an International Gender Equality day! A day not just for men or women but for both, where we promote respect for oneself and the opposite gender as well as understand the needs and problems and inequalities that both the genders face. I am uncomfortable to be put on a pedestal and have stereotypical attributes assigned to me just because I am a Woman. I really don't know how it is around the world, but around where I live, there is no equality between genders and all of us are somehow expected to fit in roles assigned by the society and sometimes instead of gender equality we see the empowerment of just the women folk. Men are victims of gender inequality too; they are also playing by the rules of society. While this may be fine for some people, there are people who may feel pressured by society expecting them to behave in a certain way. I am a conformist to a certain extent and I am greatly influenced by society's expectations of me, I fear rejection, this attitude keeps me from really expressing who I am and sometimes even I can be in the dark about that.
            I don't know if I am ready to say that I am going to take a stand about it, but after this post is published I can’t go around with a blank look on my face and deny that I ever wrote such a thing, it will become my responsibility to mind my thoughts, actions and words so at-least form my side there isn't any cognitive dissonance ;)
            Sophia’s ( my college) has made me less prejudiced about women but more prejudiced about men, so now it’s up to me to delete those thoughts and adopt a more balanced outlook. This is going to mean not smirking when I see one of my guy friends check himself out in the nearest reflecting surface, or when one tells me that he is applying Livon silky potion to his hair when I complimented him about it, it means that I may not even go "awwwwwww" in my head when I see a guy get emotional or play with a baby or write poetry or be super sensitive, or think something’s wrong if he isn't into something macho, or talks with a mildly flailing hand( U c how influenced I am). It is possible that I may even NOT externally do the above because some of it- specifically the "awww" moments- I am fond of, but I know for sure that there is going to be some difference in my thoughts and actions regarding this issue.
             And if you'll think I am being prejudiced about a particular gender you can remind me of what I have written or forever hold your peace, of course because it is in my nature I will counter you with a quick but witty retort but yes I will remember and will be grateful to you for reminding me :).

On the day I called for help, you answered me.

                Today as I was swabbing the floor I was thinking about the stuff going on in my life and how a lot of things are beyond my control, some people and some events, while this is a plain and simple fact at times it can be annoying that things aren't going your way or comfortably smooth. As thoughts went from one thing to another something struck me, the thought that these happenings color my life. I obviously if left to my own devices would never expose myself to some of the people and some of the situations that I have been exposed to recently, they have been highly confusing some even meaningless and hurtful. But then its experience that I am gaining from them, a new skill, learning a way of dealing with people, so although I wish life to be roses... this is what it actually is and I guess I will benefit form experiencing it completely.
                 There was this line I said to myself at the that time that  'God gives us situations that would prepare us for the point in time where our prayers will be answered' and I believe that to be true, through my personal experience I can say that God answers our prayers and eventually the situations that we face, however overwhelming it  may be at the moment, all seems to make sense. As a Christian also sometimes the challenge is to keep the hope alive, that whatever the situation that I or my family is in I have a loving God who loves us more that we may ever love our selves, our children or whoever we may love most, that God will not let me down.
                The two readings of today also echo this faith that we are called to have. In the first reading we see Queen Esther's faith as she makes an appeal to God to come to her aid in the difficult situation that she is facing. In the Gospel Jesus tells us to trust that God wants what is best for us and answers our prayers, "Ask and you will receive".
It was amazing how my thoughts were echoed in today's readings. The psalms thanked God for being there by us always.

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.

              Yes situations are still not ideal they most probably never will be, however there is the assurance that I am in safe and loving hands and am moving towards something good and yes there is going to be some point in time where I am going to realize that ALL my prayers are answered in the most amazing of ways possible. Till then the challenge is to keep singing to God and to keep the faith.

Thinking

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you won't,
If you like to win, but don't think you can,
Its almost a clinch you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost;
For out in the world you find,
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in a state of mind.

For many a game is lost
Ere even a play is run,
And many a coward falls
Ere even his work begun,

Think Big and your deed will grow,
Think small and you'll fall behind;
Think that you can and you will,
It's all a state if mind.

If you think you are out-classed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise;
You've got to be sure of yourself before,
You can ever win a prize.

Life battles don't always go
To the stronger of faster man,
But sooner of later, the man who wins
is the fellow who thinks he can.

-Walter D. Wintle

I came across this poem when I was going through some of my stuff recently, I like this poem... I like reading inspiring stuff now and then......the poem is called " The man who thinks he can" or "Thinking" and  is written by Walter D. Wintle I haven't found much on him .... Wiki says that there are many versions of this poem and people are unable to figure out which is the original....
This is the version I have hope you liked it!

Addiction....

It it isn't Facebook it is my Blog :(

What I did in Haregaon

                       I was in Haregaon for Six days, generally when girls go for a come-and-see it is generally one month, they are given a particular thing to do to pass their time there, it may involve teaching the hostilities or helping out in some way. I was to help sister Marie and Sister Philla in training a group of girls of the ninth standard English class in putting up an extremely simplified version of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice". The lines were simple however it was a mammoth task for the Girls to do it, most of them managed to rote learn the lines. They understood what the lines meant, however when they would get nervous they would make many grammatical mistakes.They practiced a lot when I was there and I am sure that they will do a good Job of it in the coming weeks. Here is a picture of the girls with Sister Philla and Sister Marie...One of the Girls is hiding in the picture as she was really annoyed that I was leaving ....

The Girls and the Sisters..

                  Well the skit was one of the things I was doing, here I used to wake up at 6am and accompany the sisters and the girls to the nearby church for mass... Then around 11 am I accompanied Sister Shubadra my roomie to the Balwadi which is another name for play school. The Kids there were real cute, everyone greets you with a Nameste when you enter and leave.. Its nice to be greeted with a Nameste it is something we don't do often in Mumbai.. They have one amazing teacher in the Balwadi ,her name is Maria, she suffers from a skin disease because of which she cant go out in the sun so there is another helper employed to take the kids out. Maria is amazing! especially when it comes to storytelling. The normally distracted kids pay such rapt attention during story time ....her stories are interspersed with songs pertaining to the stories.. It is great fun watching the kids anticipate the song and happily sing along! Here is a picture of Maria and the kids during story time ! I wish I could have taken a video, but my phone does not have a great camera for videos....:(

Story Time !! The story was on a sparrow "Chiu Taai!"

              Apart from this I also spent my time reading, I read a few interesting articles given to me by Sister Philla. I also read a book on the Society. However most of the time I was with this book ......

           The book simply asks us to adopt an attitude of praising God whatever the circumstances we are in... This is not an easy thing to do, but the book talks about how we can benefit from this attitude. If you believe in God this makes some sense, if we believe our lives our run by God we can also believe that whatever situation that we are in even if it seems to be hopeless... will bring something good. The book is also about accepting blessings in your life and not being afraid to just live and be glad to be alive and enjoy what life gives. I really liked it because it made a lot of sense to me... I also needed to read something like this at the time .....
           Apart from the sisters and the girls in the hostel the convent was home to three dogs that were adopted by the sisters there, the male Prince is a cross between a German Shepherd and a street dog. He has his female pals Sonie and Tipsy. The dogs are kept in their cages during the day, because school which is on the same premises is on during the day and the dogs aren't very nice with men. Prince and Sonie are around 12 or 13 years old.... Lately Prince has been howling in his cage during the day, because of which he is tied out, he has used this opportunity to dig a huge hole in the ground, I guess it is for the harsh summers there! The hole is real deep!

Prince and his hole in the ground!

           Shrirampur is known for its Sugar factories, there are huge sugarcane farms here. The Sugarcane factory in Haregaon had closed down few years ago, leaving a lot of people there jobless. The people have now either started shops, do some odd jobs around the place or have to travel very far for employment. The place also sees 12 Hour power cuts, its from 12pm to 12am for one week and 12am to 12pm in another because of this some of the people have to spend on inverters so that their kids can comfortably study. Its sad that they have to face this when in Mumbai we use and abuse electricity like its nobody's business.
As I was leaving I saw a lady cobbler sitting at the side of the road. Now I have never seen a lady cobbler in my life, I just assumed its something that men do..Since I have seen only male cobblers in Mumbai. The sister with me told me that she was happy that the women here seem to be empowered,sometimes more than men.....Its is a good thing.... but it would be better if the both were empowered equally...
        One thing I learn t in Haregaon is that, to receive you have to give! I gave a little love to the girls that I was dealing with and I received loads in return! Not just here, I have observed this in other areas of my life.. there is great satisfaction in giving more and the more U give the more u seem to get in return!
       All in all it was a good experience I learned a lot about what a vocation is thru chatting with the sisters... They have a nice way of life... I still think I have to process a lot of it ..However, I am glad finally made the decision to go there......

Who knows what the tide could bring ?

          This is a sort of monologue from the movie "Cast Away", it is a good watch. Today, I caught the end but I really liked what Tom Hanks said, so even though it is a long dialogue I think its worth a watch. This is the scene after his farewell to Kelly... I do hope most of you'll have seen the movie, for those of you who haven't here is a link.

"I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring ?" 

:)