PASSAGEWAY TO INDIA

THE map on my seat back screen showed that we were approaching Bombay by way of Afghanistan while beginning our descent of Karachi. I had been invited to speak at a conference on EMS in this country that is essentially without ambulances. With over a billion people, India seems to be constantly suffering from disaster of one type or another. Just prior to my arrival over 1200 people drowned due to storms and flooding in Biha Pradesh (state); the day I left Ahmadabad there was a terrorist bomb detonation with 2 deaths; the day I left India, there were over 2600 people crammed into a Hindu Temple on their Holy day when someone yelled "Bomb"--another 180 people were trampled to death.

But it's always about the children. Their faces express despair, courage, fear and hope...often in sequence. The children shown above were living on the street with their mother. A few minutes later I joined some other children who were playing cricket in a small enclosed area...anxious to see the American take a swing with the bat. I probably displayed the grace of Shrek but the children laughed and so it was worth the brief moment of American humility.

Bombay is conflicted with its new growth. The Hyatt was one of the nicest hotels in which I have stayed...and yet the streets were of dirt, cattle, camels and chaos. What I would call a Brahman type cow is ubiquitous throughout...and very sacred. To strike a cow with your motorized tuk-tuk or auto is to risk the wrath of being stoned by witnesses to the accident. Camels routinely pull cart loads of goods down the street and an occasional elephant will be called into service for the heavier loads. Traffic accepts these age old forms of transportation just as the buggies are tolerated in Pennsylvania.

While networking with the locals, I generally abandon protocol and will ask about their religion. The response almost always creates an opportunity to compare similarities with that of my faith. I met Mr. Basu on the 1st evening of the conference and our conversation led to temples. The more we discussed, the more intrigued he became. We conversed a number of times over the next few days and he was kind enough to bring his wife to the closing reception so that I could meet her. He asked for more information and I will be sending him the Proclamation On The Family along with a book I picked up at Deseret Book today titled: "Mormons and Masons." The dialogue led to my gaining a greater appreciation for some of the tenets of the Hindu beliefs. A few days later Brody Hatch informed me that his friend has just been called to the Bangalore Mission. Yesterday, it was announced that a temple will be built in Rome...how many years until we hear an announcement of a temple in Agra?

I was able to visit Ashram--a shrine that was once home to Mohandas Gandhi. Becoming just a little more familiar with his life's work led to a strengthening of my testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Gandhi was truly a saint...he lived a life of sacrifice coupled with an amazing capacity to forgive. He, more than others brought liberty and dignity to his fellow countrymen without taking up the sword. Even with so many God-like traits, he often found himself in conflict with his beliefs. He never came to know God and so proclaimed that all "Gods" are acceptable. The man from Bethlehem never lost His focus nor doubted that He was the Son of God manifest as perfection. Gandhi, with all of his goodness, still could not attain the perfected life of Jesus to which we all aspire...but oh, how he tried.

The conference was very informative. I had been assigned to speak on how we finance ambulance service in this country (not very well) along with a session on creating teamwork among all of the various stakeholders in the EMS arena. We actually do pretty well with that in this country. In fact, today one of my colleagues announced that we were stepping down from the FEMA deployment for hurricane Ike and Gustav. Between the two storms, we deployed over 1,100 ambulance into the gulf coast region to move nursing home and hospital patients from and back to their respective facilities while responding to the sick and injured from the storms.
The conference was specific to highway accidents where thousands are killed each year in India. Only 2% of persons seriously injured in highway accidents are fortunate enough to have an ambulance show up with a 1st aid trained person on board. In the U.S., 98% of accident victims are transported by ambulance which in urban areas arrive within 8 minutes on 90% of all calls. Fire, police and ambulance personnel all perform highly scripted roles as anywhere from 2 to 4 highly trained paramedics are caring for the patient while enroute to a fully equipped hospital with ER teams standing by. The privileges of living in this country never end...nor to the opportunities to help others.