India Thurs Oct 18th

Sandra, like me, packs her days full. So today we had a crash course in Ghasi culture and beliefs. We started off spending an hour wandering through a sacred forest. This is an area kept untouched by the tribes and has trees, medicinal plants and pure water there. We wandered in and along a narrow path, orchids bloomed, birds were flitting around. The sunshine filtered through the trees on to the stream. A fine quiet place. We then headed back to shilling, pausing for tea and rice cakes with green paste in a tiny tea shop where the woman had the brightest shining pans. In Shillong we stopped to look at the Martin Luther University, where Sandra’s husband Glen’s is vice chancellor. He has had the drab conctere exterior decorated by local artists.We then headed to Sandra’s office. She has reclaimed a tiny space in the dept of health. The adjacent rooms were packed from floor to ceiling with boxes of malaria tabs, Falciparum malaria is a big problem here. She and the central planners in Delhi have big plans to create  a Shillong Indian Insitute of Public health. A site has been identified on the edge of town and 21 acres fenced off. Right now it has pine trees and birds were flitting around. I wonder what building will come up here.  In the evening Omer and i walked down to the bazaar for supper. People were out buying presents for the upcoming Durga Puuja and Omer said it reminded him of sudan just before thier Eid celebration