Doctor on 6th trip: Dr. Santo-da joins us

His full name is Dr. Susanta Bhattacharya. He is universally known as Santo da to people who know him, and he does not mind us calling him by that name at all.

Santo-da joined in as a friend of Debajyoti-da who wished to assist our effort. He took to the trip like the proverbial fish (or duck) did to water. He was kind enough to sit through nearly 4 hours and untiringly check all the patients (more than 100) attending this week's medical camp with various complaints. He also did some sorting work on the stocked medicines. Thanks to Santo da's contribution to the sixth trip, we are now satisfied to a degree that the medicines stocked by us so far at Chargheri during previous visits was properly distributed.

There is further scope of improvement in sorting & supplementing the medical stocks. We will need help from Debajyoti da and Santo da for it.

At a more opportune moment, I would like to put up a post exclusively on Santo da (with inputs from Debajyoti da, as I only know him for a day). Let me tell you that he is a man of many parts.

Informative videos on Chargheri 4th trip

Please find in this post some youtube video links of the 4th Chargheri visit videos uploaded on youtube (chronologically sequenced below - links given in red font).

Many of these videos are 'annotated'. In other words, texts explaining specifics now appear in the video at relevant points, and automatic pauses have been also provided in the videos as suitable so as to let you read the information on offer. The annotation has been done with the aim of explaining the contents of these videos better, as well as to try and take the viewer close to the scene of action.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxiWYa4QAQo

(En route videos showing that high tide water level in Sunderbans area generally exceeds ground level inside the dykes)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8mpRdEENds

(Our boat is poised to enter, through a breached dyke of Chargheri, into an area that used to be agricultural land till 28th May)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiHPq66ieXQ

(Our boat sails through earstwhile Chargheri farmland that is now lost to the river due to dyke breach during Aila)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1esm5GEhTs

(View of Broken dykes)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PCx4KF2pRw

(Another video of land areas lost to the river)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inFZdsLGV6s

(Dewatering pumps on dyke)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTrQ_1L0m4Y

(Location of lowtide access to Chargheri from the river bed - now inundated due to hightide)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYG9IEtMBTM

(New dyke under construction)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2XhDW1PJVY

(Implementation of distribution through cards)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hH7zCNIrXw

(Saptarshi on the job)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws2kYxcGtCI

(Interview with local old woman)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4sSoexsFJs

(Dipankar pushing injection - and apathy of some local people to cleanliness)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwPuiEecni0

(Return to the boat in heavy rain - and a remote view of banks of Chargheri at dusk as we walk deep into river bed in the lowtide to get back to boat)

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These links were already provided in the previous blog posts on 4th visit. However the annotations added to these videos over the past few days will hopefully serve to speak out on the situation at Chargheri as we see it, and on the distribution process that we have implemented. We believe you will find these video more informative after the annotations.

It will be gratifying if supporters of Sunderban cyclone relief activities (of any kind - HSI or otherwise) and other interested netizens can have a look at these videos. Request our friends to forward this post / these links to any other persons / organisations you know who may be interested in supporting cyclone affected people in Sunderbans.

Focus on next week's visit (5th trip, 8th August)

As we have shared earlier, we are intent on saving conveyance costs by cutting down on number of visits. In other words, distributing for two weeks in one visit.

In line with that, last week we had distributed rice to the people of the five villages for two weeks (i.e., 2 x 500 gms = 1 Kg/head for 2 weeks). This gives us a spare weekend, as also a fine scope to plan the details and logistics for our next visit including assessment of our fund situations.

Dipankar is likely to join us in the evening today with an updated list of families. During that meeting we plan to discuss and look into other observations and requirements that we noted down during last visit.

Off week

We are not visiting Chargheri this week as we had distributed stuff for 2 weeks last time. We plan to visit the next weekend to distribute food and medicines for the next fortnight. In the intervening time we will also assess if we can manage to provide a few more of the essential requirements. Polythene sheets were one of these. Some of the Chargheri people requested for these sheets when we enquired about any other essential requirements at the time of last distribution.

We had noticed that some of the common medicines were already in short supply and needed to be replenished. The common ailments of adults and children were also noted down. Stocks need to be maintained of medicines for those ailments. If things go as per plan, we may also have a kind doctor joining us on these Chargheri visits in the coming weeks to run a 'proper' medical camp.

Khelaghar had arranged for useful medicines in the first few weeks. We are happy to learn that we now have commitments of support stocks for medicines as well. We may get some boxes of such medicines from our generous supporters for the next trip.