Tonight marks one week since I arrived in India.

The first week has been full of adventure and adjustment. I was supposed to arrive in India on Wednesday night but due to bad weather in DC, my flight was delayed an entire day. There is only one flight out a day to New Delhi on my airline.

I started my fellowship the day after I arrived in India. The first few days were pretty hazy and I felt very jet lagged. The eleven and a half hour time difference is an adjustment to get used to. Once you’re used to it it is hard not to stay awake at night when your friends in the states are awake too.

My first week at VisionSpring has been about settling in and learning the ropes. I have spent a lot of time getting to know the different departments of the company and am starting to find my place on the team. Our team is spread out over five different states in India.

On Saturday (we work on Saturdays!) I attended a field visit to the state of Haryana. In Haryana VisionSpring has field vision camps, retail stores, and locations in eye hospitals. I got to visit each one of these and was able to better understand their piece of the VisionSpring puzzle.

Below is a photo from one of our vision camps in Haryana:

At these camps our main focus is adult vision screenings. Screenings for children most often happens in schools or at eye hospitals. We have healthy eye programs in schools here in India.

I am excited for this coming week!

Bye for now,

Rae