Just over one week ago I (Aaron) had the opportunity to accompany approximately 30 veterinarians and assistants to a local village for a one day clinic sponsored by Help In Suffering. The village clinics are held approximately every three months and are usually held in one of the areas where the HIS employees are from; this makes coordination and setup much easier and aids in a good understanding of the village and its needs.
The village was about one and a half hours from our home and involved some very rough single lane roads. The site of the clinic was at the base of a fort which was several hundred years old. The surrounding area where we set up was a battlefield which saw violent fighting for three days in May 1787 between the Kachhawaha Rajputs and the Marathas
This was a wonderful opportunity for me to practice my language with the workers and the villagers. It was also a good opportunity for me to observe the lives of the local villagers. It was particularly interesting to watch the goat herders and see how simple sounds that they made with their mouth could change the direction of the entire flock, make them stop or go and even change their speed.
Since we were in a village that was mainly shepherds there were not many camels (there were only about 12 in the entire village). Most of the animals were cows, Indian buffalo and oxen; there were a few camels, horses and dogs.
The village clinic was an experience that I will never forget; it was exciting to be a part of helping to treat the animals which are the villagers' livelihood. I look forward to helping again in the near future.
Setting up the tables which were piled high with treatments for the villagers' animals. All of the services and medications were provided free of charge by HIS and their sponsors.
Villagers bringing their cows and Indian buffalo can be seen in this picture. In the center of the picture there is a buffalo in a metal enclosure; this is what the buffalo, cows and oxen would be put in for treatment. These animals are very strong and without this enclosure it is difficult and dangerous to treat the animals. There were times when six to eight of us would try to get a buffalo into the enclosure and we could not budge them; they are amazingly strong.
The dogs were treated in front of the tent. The goats were treated to the left of the trees visible in the picture. The camels were treated in this general area although there were none present when this picture was taken.
A camel being treated; it was not eating and was not in very good shape. It took four adults to hold the camel in order to give him the necessary shots.
Here is a shepherd family taking their goats to the clinic in order to be dewormed and receive a checkup. Goats eat almost anything and one of the doctors removed a thorn several inches long from the mouth of one of the goats.
The village was about one and a half hours from our home and involved some very rough single lane roads. The site of the clinic was at the base of a fort which was several hundred years old. The surrounding area where we set up was a battlefield which saw violent fighting for three days in May 1787 between the Kachhawaha Rajputs and the Marathas
This was a wonderful opportunity for me to practice my language with the workers and the villagers. It was also a good opportunity for me to observe the lives of the local villagers. It was particularly interesting to watch the goat herders and see how simple sounds that they made with their mouth could change the direction of the entire flock, make them stop or go and even change their speed.
Since we were in a village that was mainly shepherds there were not many camels (there were only about 12 in the entire village). Most of the animals were cows, Indian buffalo and oxen; there were a few camels, horses and dogs.
The village clinic was an experience that I will never forget; it was exciting to be a part of helping to treat the animals which are the villagers' livelihood. I look forward to helping again in the near future.
Setting up the tables which were piled high with treatments for the villagers' animals. All of the services and medications were provided free of charge by HIS and their sponsors.
Villagers bringing their cows and Indian buffalo can be seen in this picture. In the center of the picture there is a buffalo in a metal enclosure; this is what the buffalo, cows and oxen would be put in for treatment. These animals are very strong and without this enclosure it is difficult and dangerous to treat the animals. There were times when six to eight of us would try to get a buffalo into the enclosure and we could not budge them; they are amazingly strong.
The dogs were treated in front of the tent. The goats were treated to the left of the trees visible in the picture. The camels were treated in this general area although there were none present when this picture was taken.
A camel being treated; it was not eating and was not in very good shape. It took four adults to hold the camel in order to give him the necessary shots.
Here is a shepherd family taking their goats to the clinic in order to be dewormed and receive a checkup. Goats eat almost anything and one of the doctors removed a thorn several inches long from the mouth of one of the goats.
Here some of the staff of HIS gives deworming treatment (oral) to the goats. There were dozens that would come in at once and about fifteen of us would team up into pairs in order to catch and treat the goats. One person would need to hold the animal while the other would squirt the medication into the goats mouth.
