Your Donations, Hard at Work.

As you already know, we have finished at FFC and left Coimbatore, and are currently enjoying our stay here in Cochin. On the recommendation of IHI 2009 we are taking some time in between each NGO placement to recharge and reflect on our experiences at the last placement.

Since we’ve been frequently sharing some of the hands on stuff we did during our stay there, we also wanted to share with you what some of the monies you, our amazing and generous sponsors, donated will be going towards here at FFC.

This is something that we didn’t take lightly at all. We have a large donation of about $2,500 we have for FFC and we wanted to spend it all wisely. Much of our time here was spent getting to know the facility, and asking the staff, the people who know best, where our money would best be spent. We got an amazing response from the staff here of things that they need.

Luckily we were able to purchase a number of things requested right here in Indi and we spent one of our mornings navigating the city, with the help of FFC’s awesome driver, Mani, purchasing these things. We bought rexin and rubber mats for the floors and the cribs, respectively, in the baby rooms, a pressure cooker, and a food processor and blender for preparing baby food. We also had a digital camera donated to us in Canada that we were able to leave with the FFC school.

For the remainder of our donation we split it into a wish-list of sorts, indicating where we would like to see our donation money going. A lot of the money has been designated to basic supplies needed to keep FFC running from day-to-day. These include school and art supplies, diaper materials for the baby rooms and special care sections, cooking supplies, and some new toys for each of the sections.

We mentioned that a lot of our time was spent assisting and observing with physiotherapy rounds here at FFC and we have seen a major need for funding here. Mukil Singh, the head PT here, identified that he could really use a new set of parallel bars and a standing table for the physio department here. He kindly looked into it and got a quote of how much it would be to have these supplies made and decided it would be feasible for us to donate the full amount to get each of these made. We have included this equipment in our wish-list and sent it off to Sandra Simpson, the amazing founder of FFC, who will consider our list and make the final decision on where our donation will be allocated. We are hopeful that these needs we identified with the help of the staff at FFC, will be met using the money we are so fortunate to be able to donate.

We thank you again for your generosity that allowed us to donate such a considerable donation to this amazing place.

Jeremy, Kayla, Marissa and Pranavi

Farewell to FFC.

If you are reading this we are either on the train heading to Cochin, or we have arrived and have started our little four day break before we get started at ASSA.

We really enjoyed our time at FFC and met so many amazing people over the past two and a half weeks. Everyone was so kind and generous, always willing to help us out as we were trying to get settled and find our place her at FFC as well adjusting to a new environment and culture.When we first arrived everyone asked how long we were going to be staying here and they were all so surprised when we responded with two and a half weeks. We later found out that generally volunteers here stay for long time periods, often months and months at a time. We can now see why this is the case. It is as though we are only beginning to get settled here and started on some of the things we wanted to accomplish and now we have to leave.

I think the consensus among the four of us is that we are truly going to miss it here. The whole place is truly amazing. The concepts and philosophies behind it are something that we have never seen before. None of us have ever spent much time in an orphanage before, however we each had a picture in our mind’s eye of what an orphanage would be like and this, FFC, definitely does not fit the image that any of us had created.

It doesn’t feel like we’ve spent the past two weeks in an orphanage – instead it feels as though we have been spending time with a family. It feels as though this family has opened their doors and their home to us and welcomed us in as one of their own. The kids who live and go to school here, the men and women who both live and work here, and the various other people who keep this place running such as the teachers, the kitchen and office staff, are all one big family and now even after two short weeks, we feel as though we are also members of this large family.

That, as we’ve found, is the beauty of this place called Families for Children. We can say with absolute certainty this place lives up to its name 100% and like a family, it will be in our hearts forever.

Jeremy, Kayla, Marissa and Pranavi

Fun Times at FFC

Today marks our last full day at FFC. Our train to Cochin leaves tomorrow at 5:30 am so today we have been saying our goodbyes, packing up our things, handing out photos that we have taken here and generally getting ready to leave tomorrow.

It hasn’t been all work in our two and half week stay here, we have found some time to have fun as well. We thought it would be a good time to reflect on some of the fun times we’ve had during our stay here at FFC.

On campus at FFC we started every day off with the Canteen ladies and their delicious breakfasts (chippathi, dosas and idly). No breakfast was complete without sitting to enjoy a tea afterwards before we got started on our day’s work.

A lot of our time was spent providing extra hands in the special baby room and that often meant we were able to play with these babies, read to them, take them outside to play in the school yard or for a walk in the strollers.We occasionally found ourselves on the playground at recess, playing with the school aged children. Running around with them, pushing them on the swings and relearning what it is like to be a kid. We often found on these little play breaks, that bubbles were a big hit with kids of all ages.

We also braved the rickshaws, the...exciting...Indian driving experience and the bustle of downtown Coimbatore to have some fun too. We experienced Chennai Silks, the huge clothing store downtown and got ourselves some salwars, tunic tops, and saris. It is a good thing they have amazing staff there to help you out because what a process it is just to buy a few articles of clothing. Upon walking through the facade, it looked like chaos to us. There were people everywhere and it seemed as though there was at least one staff member for every customer, it didn’t take long to realize however that this store was run like a finely oiled machine.

Today we got to get off campus with some of the special care boys in the wheelchairs that last year’s IHI team funded. We took a short walk down the street for some coffee, tea and savoury treats.

Sundays were our days off here at FFC. We took our first Sunday to head up into the mountains to visit the charming little city of Ooty. Our second Sunday was spent in Coimbatore. We treated some of the staff here at FFC to the good seats in the theatre to see a Tamil movie. We saw Raavanan starring Aishwarya Rai and the crowd-pleasers Prabu and Karthik. Later that night, the four of us enjoyed a fancy dinner buffet (including meat we felt comfortable eating) at the Residency Hotel.

One of the most interesting things we were asked to be a part of during our stay here was a wedding reception for a girl who grew up here at FFC. The reception took place right on the main FFC campus and everyone got to participate and they all got dressed up in their best party frocks, salwars, saris and suits. The food was amazing and was probably one of the best meals we enjoyed during our stay here. It was really cool for us because a lot of the older kids came back for the celebration – people who are now away studying at college, working or who have families of their own now. It was amazing for us to see them interact with each other and with the younger kids still living here at FFC.

It was also really cool to see them with all of the staff. We can see how that would be a very rewarding aspect of working here – catching up with these kids that they worked with who are now adults. It would be amazing to see the person that they have grown into and know that you had a hand in helping them get where they are today.

Love Kayla, Jeremy, Marissa, Pranavi

FFC SWAG!

The FFC Women's Co-op employs some very talented seamstresses who create one-of-a-kind hand-made bags, each with a unique Indian flavour! Today, we picked up a few items that we will be selling when we get home to support this wonderful place we've called home for the last two weeks.

We love every single piece! There are small passport bags, messenger bags, awesome yoga kits that include a mat bag and a backpack, and hobo-style purses to choose from. We will post more details on how you can get yours when we return home.

Love,
Pranavi, Marissa, Jeremy, and Kayla

Hospital Visits

To better understand the nature of healthcare provision in India, IHI will try to visit area hospitals at each of our placements. Last week, we visited a new small private hospital called the Rajam Medical Centre in Coimbatore. It is a 40-bed hospital with physicians of virtually every specialty available on call, two operating theatres, and a delivery room. We felt that Rajam’s atmosphere was a warm and inviting one and that the small size of the hospital allowed for the personalized care of the each patient. The staff mentioned that they see several patients in their cardiac care unit that travel from neighbouring countries for that very reason. Though they are a private institution, they do provide some emergency treatment to patients who can’t normally afford their services.

Today, we had the opportunity to tour the government hospital in Coimbatore, which happens to be celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year. It truly is a massive facility and it serves over 4000 outpatients a day! As we walked from building to building we were a bit taken aback by the crowds and the hospital’s size. The government hospital provides free medical care to the population, including medications, and it has every department you can think of on the one campus—dental surgery, physiotherapy, vascular surgery, neonatology, paediatric surgery and medicine, trauma, ENT, psychiatry, cancer treatment, ophthalmology, leprosy treatment, diagnostic imaging including a CT and MRI lab, all of the inpatient wards...everything down to the coroner’s office can be found at this one large medical education and treatment centre. Several children from FFC regularly visit the neurology department for the ongoing treatment of seizure disorders. There is also an STD clinic on site that provides free anti-retroviral treatment for patients with HIV.

We also did some shopping for FFC today. We drove through the busy streets of Coimbatore and picked up some essentials for the baby rooms: waterproof bedding, a pressure cooker and heavy-duty blender for preparing food for the little ones. We ended the afternoon with a snack – plaintain bajii, yum!We only have a few days left here at FFC and they are quite busy. We have a few blog posts that we are planning on sharing with you to keep you all updated about what's going on with us here in Coimbatore. Then we are off to ASSA after a short break in Cochin. We really appreciate all of you who read this blog . It means a lot to us that all of the people who have supported us and supported this initiative are connected to this trip. We want you all to see exactly what your donations are doing in this country. So we thank you!!

Jeremy, Kayla, Marissa and Pranavi