Jabs
by Gary Rose
My journey to India began at the Interhealth clinic in London. Strangely, travelling to such places as India and Nepal require certain inoculations. Now thankfully, in terms of jabs, I'd already had a lot of what is required and so for me it was a case of a couple of 'top ups'. Hepatitis A and typhoid jabs were the ones in question and I have to say the nurse was spectacularly gentle!
Nurse Jill had spent many years living in Nepal and was emotionally affected by the recent devastation. She was sympathetic with The Salvation Army's mission there and we had a really good chat about the work we do, our response in Nepal and what we'll be doing in India. To be honest, the chat was so good that I hardly felt the needle pierce my skin.
Anyway, after further discussions about how to conduct myself with regards to eating and drinking, I was on my way, full of new protective drugs and with a strange sense of relief that I wasn't going to fall foul to any nasty diseases that one might encounter whilst traveling on such a journey.
This trip for me might be a once in a lifetime experience and I'm looking forward to it immensely, despite knowing that I'll miss my family greatly and also miss my son's birthday!