East Versus West

The next day, foreigners gathered for a pre-march meeting with two of the French doctors. The doctors are concerned about the lack of treatment for marchers as they fall ill. We were assigned teams to interview, to find out how many people are sick on each team of 1,000, and what kind of illness people are suffering from.

Reports gathered at the end of the day suggest most people are suffering from dehydration, stomach pains, and leg pains. Some cases are more severe. The French doctors want medical intervention. The organizers and Indian doctors are less willing.

One of the preventions prescribed was to have marchers drink a sugar and salt water mixture at the beginning of the day. One of the team leaders pointed out that 23% of Indians over age 40 are diabetic so he was reluctant to give sugar to his team. Jill cautioned that most of the marchers are malnourished and underweight, so whatever medication they are given must be halved in dosage. The other concern is the Indians practise Ayurvedic medicine. Marchers have their own ways of treating illness. It's not like dehydration, diarrhea and leg pains are foreign to them. But treatment takes time.

The Indian doctor revealed that the western medicines that the French doctors are recommending have already been ordered. They are for extreme cases of illness. But they have been delayed for four days because the treasurer's father passed away.

Everyone is in agreement the main problem with the march right now is the cold nights. Despite the heat during the day, it gets near freezing at night. The marchers sleep in the field with thin blankets. A shipment of 8,000 blanket came in a few days ago, but that's barely enough for 25,000 people. They are expecting another shipment soon. If the marchers can keep warm at night, they will not get sick as readily.

All in all, a fairly taxing day for everyone as we learn about different cultural approaches to medicine, and try not to offend anyone.