India – Serve to the Best of Your Ability

The Indian people have been taught whether someone is rich or poor, good or bad, if you are going to serve them you serve them to the very best of your ability. I asked today why everyone here takes such good care of us. It’s not just one, but everyone we come in contact with; they are so willing to make sure we have what we need. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner someone is right there to make sure we have enough. No sooner has someone asked for something needed to do their work than it appears. If we have a question about something, they have figured out the solution almost immediately.

Mr. Kanhaiyalal

I would like to introduce you to Mr. Kanhaiyalal. He is at the top of the list as someone who is there for us and he is a volunteer helping out at the hospital. During the first couple of meals at the hospital this polite, always smiling, well dressed, white haired gentleman served our meals. I do mean served them. Dished each item on each person’s plate and during the meal made sure we had enough of everything we wanted. If you came back to the room later he jumps right up to offer you any of many different things. Definitely amazing but there was one other thing that really caught my and most of our volunteers’ attention. He always had a tray of different nuts. Three or four options – always filled perfectly to the top. I really don’t know how he does it.

One thing we found out about Mr. Kanhaiyalal was that he needed surgery. He had been on the table two different times during other medical camps but he didn’t feel like it was the right time and got up and left. But for some reason he felt this medical camp was different. He met Dr. Tammy Neblock-Beirne and some of the other team members and felt this was the time he felt most comfortable to take care of everything. On his way to change for surgery he made one last pass through the Medical Missions volunteers with his cashew bowl. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He wanted to make sure we were taken care of before he went into surgery.

Yes, the surgery went fine. A full recovery is well within sight. But it was this morning during morning rounds that we were shocked at what happened next. He was in bed, handing out bags of nuts. He had prepared a supply so he would have enough to hand out when any of us walked by. It took me a while to process what was going on. Here is a man, just out of surgery, still working to serve. Why? But then it all came to me; this is happening all around me. I was with so many that came to serve those that needed it.

Our medical team started at 7:30 am yesterday and returned to the hotel at midnight last night. As I write this at nearly 10 pm they have not returned to the hotel yet tonight. They have completed 79 surgery cases in just three days. How do they do this every day for several days, still exhausted from the travel, and so far from the comforts of their own homes? Then I remembered, no matter what the situation, good or bad, you serve to the best of your ability. This India Mission team understands that sacrifices have been made to make all if this happen, and without hesitation they take on any challenge to make sure everyone they can help has the chance to receive care. I never hear “no we can’t take this case”, but rather “how can we fit one more on to the schedule?”. Please continue to follow this team; there are a couple of days left and I know this story will get even better. This team is in India to serve to the best of their ability and I can tell you first hand they have an amazing amount of ability.