It's Salmon Day

The other day, a good friend unexpectedly surprised me with a card and a gift. Not knowing what it was, I opened the envelope and read with a mild look of confusion, that apparently, today was "Salmon Day!"

Lost as ever, I continued reading with lines of confusion imprinted on my forehead, and a friend on the side waiting for a reaction.

"Salmon Day, it's the experience of swimming upstream all day just to be caught and eaten at the end."

After a few seconds of processing what I had just read, I laughed- and really hard too. How this card about fish, managed to sum up my life, smack me with the reality of India in 2.5wks, all while making me giggle like a school girl, well, I don't even know. Clearly- clearly, it was a damn good card.

Being a salmon is a choice, and I think it's a choice I like to make everyday. But let me tell you, it's not always the feel good route. Usually, it's isolating, filled with conflict, and emotionally draining. Then what the heck is the point? Well, rather then focusing on all the negatives, I think it's important to keep your eye on the lessons that you couldn't have learned otherwise.

Choosing Himachal as my destination, where it is new, unfamiliar, and without family or friends, (I think I realized after reading the card) is simply an attempt at being a salmon and challenging myself. It will be difficult, there is no doubt about that, but I'd rather look past all of that and focus on the journey that I am about to embark on, and what I'm about to learn.

So just a bit of background if you haven't had any before...

As a part of my Specialization in Global Health at McMaster U, and my contract with Loran, I am required to do a placement abroad (community development related for Loran, and Global Health related for McMaster). This led me to combine the two into a community-development-global-health-related summer. Essentially that brings me to Himachal Pradesh, Northern India, working with a small NGO named JagoriGrameen. The NGO itself works in various areas with marginalized populations in surrounding villages, but what I find most fascinating is the holistic approach that it takes in doing so. By focusing on fundamental areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture, empowerment etc., Jagori understands the multi-faceted idea of quality of life, and how multi-dimensional it is truly is. Anywho, that could get me into a whole other rant...back to Himachal. I will personally be working on a few projects with a healthcare focus, which from my understanding will vary from developing a health monitoring system to helping in the organization of Well Women's Week, a health conference held for women of the local villages. Regardless of the specific work (which I am almost positive is bound to change), I'm excited for a healthcare experience with a cultural lens attached.

So! So, I say, everyday is Salmon Day. But May 4th is particularly important- that's the day I start one of my longer journey's up stream, and something tells me that it isn't going to end on August 21st when I return to Canada.

Himachal and the Himalayas, here I come- once of course I get Anatomy, Stats, and Cell Bio out of the way...

Sheiry D.