Happylittlegreensquirrel

She sounds an amazing woman , well ahead of her time as well I have nearly drained myself on more than one occasion how did you get on ? I don't there is any doubt in anyone's mind that people living in slums and poverty in India or refugees in Syria are suffering and certainly by UK standards they are "worse off", however, that does not mean that people in the UK are not also suffering , they just suffer in very different ways. The UN call for developed countries to donate at least 0.7 % of gross income and the UK is one of the biggest donors, I read that the UK stopped bilateral aid to India at the end of 2015 because Indias economy is growing so fast. I am very very sorry to read that Suzeanna

I know you said you were unlikely to come back here but its safe to share drinks as locals would never drink direct from a shared bottle , they open their mouths and pour the drink in ! its quite a skill and all my team ( and Mark ) can do it , that's how everyone can drink from one bottle !!! I am rubbish at it and can only do it if some one else holds the bottle and pours it in... Thats in Kashmir close to the Pakistain border I think , I have not been up that far North yet but I do want to visit that area. How long was your mum there for ?

It is very much like that, the first city I worked in was Ranchi in Jharkhand State and it's not a tourist location at all. The city still has a large amount of open defecation, and some of the slums we worked in vaccinating were hell holes and in Monsoon would literally be rivers of shite. How they have a space program is beyond me when children are living like that That by Indian standards was pretty close to Ranchi; I am sure your mother must have thought she had landed on a different planet! I am currently in Goa which is India lite, in the tourist areas it's basically the Costa del Sol! Away from the tourist areas there still some pretty tough sights but compared to Ranchi its an utter paradise We had a suspect Rabid cow to deal with yesterday, never a dull day eh!

Hi all Working India is very very very different to tourist India , very challenging and very confronting and I have seen sights of human and animal suffering that are emotionally draining. Has put my life back into perspective I can tell you Leave here on Friday evening , back to Sri Lanka for one day and then onto the UK for a few weeks , am so looking forward to just spending time with my mum and family and being bloody grateful for my lot in life Sam

The situation with the money is devastating for the locals The withdrawal of the 1000 and 500 notes was a total nightmare for the vast majority of the Indian population who don't have bank cards and would never have even seen a 2000rs note , I am working in Ranchi in nothern india currently and my team and I were eating breakfast for between 300 and 350 rupees a day and that was for 8 people !!!! Goa has infrastructure for tourists where as Ranchi does not , we were here a week or so before we could get cash but the Charity I am working for here is supplying our food and water so it was okay Ranchi is not an OD free city , OD stands for open defecation !!! so closed shoes are a must

OMG how amazing is the new Planet Earth series on BBC https://youtu.be/c8aFcHFu8QM Jayne ,where are you going on the train ?

love that photo you might like this... http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/katie-hopkins-move-us-donald-trump-won-and-everyone-seems-pretty-pleased_uk_5822e935e4b0c2e24ab16cae?0rnf4uu36qxbw3ik9

Jayne , our local news says new notes should ( remember this is Asia ) should be available from tomorrow when ATMs open again

what's scary is how many Hispanics voted for him ( CNN showing the breakdown now ) DID THEY NOT WATCH ANY OF HIS SPEECHES

it really looks like the lesser of two evils......

if anyone wants to add me on WhatsApp my number is +94722598040

Hi Yes back here now, thank you I can't believe its ten years either!

Hello by the way

Are any of you guys using WhatsApp ? A WhatsApp group might be a good non-forum way to check in with each other

A awful lot better thanks , she was discharged last weekend after nearly 5 weeks in the hospital and the staff there were first class. We are very very lucky indeed her surgeon was not only very good at his job but a throughly nice man As she still gets fatigued we have hired a wheelchair so we can get out and about every day Congratulations