Farewell

Today is my last full day here at SEWA Rural. I've had an incredible month here. I've experienced more than I expected (at the same time I came here with no expectations). I don't think of this time here as being over, I'm thinking of this as an opening to new experiences either back in the states or here in India. The friends I've made here will last a lifetime. Tomorrow I head back to Ahmedabad and spend a week there with my family before I head back to the states. I'm sure I'll be seeing most of you when I return and will for sure have a million stories to share.

I'll leave you with some pics from my time here in Jagadhia. (nevermind I can't upload the pics, will try later :-)


Thanks, Margee

Thanks....

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Well I won't be eating tofurkey, green beans, yummy pies and watching the Cowboys loose. But I celebrated Thanksgiving today by handing out candy to the class and explaining the meaning of Thanksgiving ( I don't know how much the understood what I said).

I'm thankful for several things in my life, my family, friends and health. I'd like to thank God (don't I sound like a rapper that just won an award?) I'd also like to give a special shout out to my GI system and immune system for working with me through these challenging times (esp spicy food). I'd like to thank the makers of Kelty and Camelback for making really great durable bags that have been through some ghetto traveling. Also on my list is Air France, Bangkok Airlines, Jet Airways, Thai Airways, Indian Airlines, Indian Railways, all the Tuk-Tuk drivers, the Gujarat bus system and the rickshaw drivers that have "safely" provided me with transport.

I think most of all I'm thankful for actually following through with my dream. For those of you who known me for a while, you know how much I've talked about coming to India and volunteering with a health organization. For a while, it was such a far fetched dream. I talked about it for years and emailed contact for years. I think a part of me was afraid and a part of me thought it was irresponsible. I started this process early this year and said "Margee you're going to India no matter what..even if you have to quit your job". Turns out Kaiser Permanente and my supervisor were very supportive and granted me leave. I've experienced more in 2 months than I've probably experienced in my life (I'm serious). I don't think any paycheck could replace this.

On a side note, the situation in Mumbai is really frightening and very unreal. Rakhee and I ate at the Taj Hotel and walked around that same area.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

Love, Margee

Ms. Krabappel

I think I met the Indian version of Ms. Krabappel (or Edna). For those of you who are not familiar with her, she's a teacher on the Simpsons. Think of a mix of Ms. Krabappel that looks like Manjula (Apu's wife). Basically doesn't do much work, smokes in class, has a fling with the principal. I've been going to the 1-4th grade classes every morning. This am, I sat with the 4th graders and basically attempted to teach them all in Gujarati. I failed. The boys were running around and the girls were sitting in a corner whispering to each other. I tried to tell stories but the kids partially listening. Edna was in another room for a whole hr doing god knows what. The only way I could get the kids attention was to talk to them about America and chocolate. Two things Indian kids love to talk about, oh and cricket. Most of the kids thought I took a bus from America to get here. When I told them I took a plane they all were speechless. I told them you can sleep on a plane, eat, and even watch TV. I asked them if they wanted to come back with me and all of them raised their hands. Edna was no where to be seen. Most of these kids go to a government school after 10am where they learn basic math and writing. I asked Viral a 4th grader to read me what he wrote but he couldn't. Some of these kids make it to the 6th grade and can't even read. I sat down and attempted to tell Viral to try to get his cousin to teach him how to read instead of playing cricket everynight. He said he would. Gotta run, going to a village today and testing out my project. Hope it works. Will tell you all more about it later...

Avjo (goodbye in Gujarati)

Margee

Roughin' it

While traveling it's always exciting to "rough it" a bit. For those who don't know what roughin it, it's basically leaving behind all those luxuries in life and simplifying things (I guess). The older I get the harder it is to rough it. You get so used to living a certain way with certain things (hot water, normal toilets etc). During my stay in India I feel as though I've roughed it here and there. I haven't used toilet paper (sorry to much information?) in over a month. Not to worry they use badays (or jets) here. I haven't used makeup in over a month. And I haven't drank alcohol (until yesterday). I must say I do miss beer. I left Jhagadia yesterday took a 13 rupees intercity bus that looked like it was going to fall apart. Then bought a "open ticket" to Baroda (for 29 rupees) to see my friends parents. What is a open ticket? Basically it's a free for all, if you can get on the train, great. If you have to hang off the side of the train so be it. I stood in the ladies compartment and thought I would be fine. WRONG. I was pushed and shoved, elbowed, screamed at. It was quite an adventure. For 29 rupees though you can't go wrong. My way of roughin it I guess.

More to come...

xoxo Margee

Health Care in India

Well now that I've been here for a couple of weeks I'm starting to read and understand more about there the health care system (or lack of) in India. Being at an NGO, most of the services are provided at a very nominal fee or for free. However, outside of the NGO world health care is mostly an out of pocket expense. There is no national health care system or goverment programs. If there are private insurance plans they are expensive and hardly ever provided by your employer. We took my grandmother to the cardiologist the other day. For a 15 minute visit it cost 800 rupees, which is about $20. For a elderly person who doesn't have a job or savings that's a lot. That didn't even cover the 1,000 rupees of medications too. For the lower class population health care comes 3rd or 4th on the list behind eating, shelter, clean water. Even for the educated middle class, health care doesn't seem like a priority. If you don't work you don't get paid, simple. There are government services that offer free health care but for millions those services are kilometers away and often times the wait is 1/2 day or more. If you're in a MegaCity like Ahmedabad those services are closer but again long waits and taking time off of work just isn't worth it. I'm reading a book right now on the health care system here and it's crazy to hear about the lack of government involvement in health care. With a population of 1 billion plus and little over a 1/4 of the population living under the poverty line one would think that is where the priority should be. I'm still learning more about the health care stucture (I don't want to mislead anyone) outside of the NGO world. Next Friday I will be traveling to Baroda to visit LOCOST. They manufacter generic medications and also provide health care information to the general public. Should be interesting to see.

- Margee

Back from Ahmedabad

It's been a while since I've blogged. A lot has happened here in Jhagadia. The end of last week was filled with meetings and presentation. I presented on ways to improve patient care here in the villages as well as the hospital. The ideas were well received by the medical staff, and now, I have to just start working on all this and hopefully incorporate it soon. Last Friday I left to go back to Ahmedabad for the weekend. I took a bus and train and my family met me at the station. It was so nice to see them. Before we went home we grabbed pizza. You have no idea how much I missed cheese. I think it's an essential part of my life. My dad is also visiting India, so it was a nice treat to see him and spend some quality time with him. Saturday my cousin, dad and I went shopping. I usually don't like shopping but for Indian clothes I can shop all day. The whole weekened we ate, chatted and shopped. It was also nice to see my grandparents.

I got back to Jhagadia today. It seems a world away from Ahmedabad. There are no stores here, no restaurants. People sell their produce on the streets. There is one cyber cafe (which is super hard to find). There are no postcards from Jhagadia. People usually don't say "Hey guess what I'm going to Jhagadia this weekend". Aside from all that, the work that is done here for the people on a daily basis, 24 hrs a day, 7 days is unlike anything I've seen. I'm pretty beat today, haven't slept. Hope all is well. Folks must be getting ready for Thanksgiving!

By the way, my dad and I listened to the 4th qtr of the Skins/Cowgirls game... no good. I tell you if I was in Denver watching the game, I'm sure they would have won. Skins are 3-0 when I'm in Denver watching the game.

Southern Hospitality

It's been quite an eventful week. I've started a couple of mini projects and have made more field visits (to the villages). On Monday we set up a Kids Camp at one village and showed the kids a video on hygeine. We weighed and took measurements of new born babies. We also followed up on pregnant woman. Today, I went to a village with a case worker to ask questions about a baby that was still born. The mother decided to give birth at home and had some complications however was able to deliver. The mother was fine however the baby was still born. We actually talked to her mother in law. I asked a couple of questions in Gujarati. She provided us with a lot of feedback. After our session, she requested we stay for tea. It's customary to drink tea in the afternoon (or anytime someone asks you). We politely said we had to go. But she was very insistent. We agreed we would stay only for 5 minutes. She ran to her kitchen and started to roast peanuts and still made us tea. This particular villages was filled with what used to be called The Untouchables. This was a caste in which was considered the poorest of the poor. They would have to pray in separate temples, eat from separate dishes. Here we were sitting with her and her family drinking tea from the same cups. She was insisting we sit in chairs while she sat on the floor. I chose to sit right next to her on the floor. I'm not sure how she felt at the time. But we carried on our conversations such as nothing was out of the ordinary. The hospitality of these villagers is something I've never seen before. I guess everyone in Southern Gujarat is like this!

Going to a full moon festival. Not like a rave or anything crazy like that. Just a festival with games and yummy food.

All is well....

With love, Margee