By Joonho Jo
During the past two weeks, Young Joo and I have been completing a task assigned by Dr. Ambika Rajvanshi. After two weeks of participating in Day Care, we were trusted with writing and designing the concept note and detailed proposals of the three Day Cares — Children's, Teenager, and Adult. These proposals are to be used to demonstrate to companies that CanSupport Day Care is a project definitely worth donating to. And considering the impact on the children I had seen happen in the last two weeks, this was not the hardest task. What was more difficult for me was the style of writing. As someone more used to creative writing, it was challenging and intellectually stimulating for me to translate my language to a business style of writing.
Though we had attended several Day Cares, we still did not know every detail required for the proposal, such as the statistics on attendance, the training sessions for volunteers, or the varying forms of community engagement. To accomplish this, we interviewed the head coordinators of each session, filling in the gaps in our knowledge. Through these conversations, I gained a deeper insight into why Day Care existed. Most of these children, teenagers, and adults were not from Delhi. They had temporarily moved in order to receive cancer treatment at All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) or Safdarjung Hospital. Many of these patients had left behind their home, education or occupation, and family to be alone in an unfamiliar city. Yes, they were receiving treatment, but that was purely physical. There was no method of emotional treatment that they could receive, and day-by-day their mental and emotional health were weakening. Here are some lessons I learned from this project that I would otherwise not have known.
Children's Day Care — Before the project, I spent most of my time in Day Care with the children. After all, they were the ones diagnosed with cancer. But afterwards, I realized that the suffering of the caregivers were as great if not greater. These caregivers had left their communities and accompanied their children, and though they themselves were not visibly sick, they were in poor mental and emotional health. With all their energy spent on the child, they left no time to take care of themselves. This is where Day Care came in. In a community of fellow caregivers, they were offered a safe space to discuss and express themselves. Occasionally, they would ask questions like "why me?" and justifiably so. No mother or father should have to see their infant cry while battling cancer.
Teenager Day Care — I never knew that Teenager Day Care was for both patients and survivors. It is such a testament to the effectiveness of Day Care that survivors would return, even after being fully cured, to help out in activities and food distribution. More importantly, they return to provide the same support for the patients that they once received when they were undergoing their treatments. In one of the interviews, I can remember hearing that the amount of confidence and motivation a patient receives from speaking to a survivor is immeasurable.
Adult Day Care — The South Delhi Day Care center, where Young Joo and I attend, is in a rather affluent neighborhood. The Tuesday East Delhi Day Care at the Outpatient Clinic (OPC) is the opposite. After writing the proposal, I learned about the OPC Day Care, which hosted twice as many patients and caregivers in half the size space. In both facilities but more evidently in East Delhi, the patients have nothing to eat for both themselves and for their family, and CanSupport is their source of nutrition. Every Tuesday and Friday, both patients and caregivers eat a full meal — appetizer, main, dessert — at the Day Care center before leaving. Though it is just one meal a week, it is something they look forward to each week. These days, very few things are guaranteed to them, but CanSupport is one of them.
This project required us to take time away from Home Care and other activities, but I am more than glad that we were given the opportunity to further explore the three Day Care sessions. For me, each interaction, each smile now takes on more weight, and I cannot wait to make the most of the Day Care sessions left in my remaining weeks.