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

List of reasons how locals know I'm not from India

1- I use a spoon at all meals not my hands
2- I don't enjoy spicy food (horrible GERD/reflux)
3- I say Thank You way too much
4- My ears perk up when I hear the word alcohol (Gujarat is a dry state)
5- I don't speak Hindi only understand very little
6- I drink bottled water
7- I don't argue about the price of items however, I've started
8- I stand in line and don't push my way forward
9- I don't eat 5 rotis per meal and take naps after lunch
10 - I cant sit Indian style, palati, criss cross apple sauce whatever you want to call it.

Continuation of Girl Power

Yesterday after dinner I met up with the girls from the blind camp. We sat around in a circle and just talked about girl stuff. They asked me several questions about America. They were so curious to hear about what I ate, what kind of music I listened to. One girl asked if we listen to English music during Navrathri (which is a religious holiday). I told her "No, we listen to the same music you do". She was shocked to hear this. They talked about what Bollywood actors they liked and what they liked to shop for. It's was so amazing to listen to these girls who have never seen anything yet had such vivid thoughts. Tonight they have a music recital which I'm going to go to.

No weekend for me.. people work on Saturday too. I'm headed to a village in a bit with a social worker.

Very psyched about Obama's win. So are the people of India

ps I miss cheese!

- Margee

Girl Power

The last two days have been busy and filled with new and exciting programs. Yesterday I was out in the field. We took a mobile hospital out to a village. Village is an understatement. I can't imagine how these people live. We saw several patients including pregnant woman. I went into one woman's house (which was made of cow dung and mud). She was into her last month of pregnancy. I asked her a couple of questions and she would laugh but no answer. I asked her why she kept laughing, she answered, "I've never had anyone from the United States in my house". Her and her family were very sweet, they offered for me to stay for dinner. I mean this is a family that lives in very minimum wages that offered me dinner. I was very humbled. We diagnosed many patients with possible TB or malaria without taking any cultures or blood samples.

Today I was mostly with this women empowerment group. They invited several blind girls from for 4 days. They learned several things such as self defense, women's anatomy, and hygiene. I even taught a self defense portion in Gujarati which was challenging. I think I got my point across. Many of these girls have never left their parents so being alone was a big deal. They were a very enthusiastic group. Overall, the people who've I met have been so humble and welcoming.

Day 1...

Wow... what a day. I don't even know where to begin. I had orientation pretty much all day. I meet several physicians, nurses, trustees and staff. The campus is amazing. My apartment is across the hospital. I sat in with a physician for 30min and saw two people with TB, one malaria patient and a child who I think was autistic. It's so interesting to see the population that comes to the hospital. I mean these are tribal village people with no means of transport, probably walked here since most of them are barefoot. I also sat in with the Ob/gyn as well. He saw like 15 women in 30 min... amazing. Later in the evening we went to town to see a guest lecture from Dr. Kapadia. He discussed yoga and meditation post MI (heart attack). His views were very interesting. Basically east meets west philosophy. I got back around 9pm and ate at the cafeteria. I might soon be getting sick of Gujarati food.

The prayers from the my neighbors (the mosque) today were at 5pm instead of 4:30pm. I'm sure Allah heard it.. but so did Vishnu, Ganesh, Jesus Christ, Buddha and several others.

Today I will be out in the field (villages) with the director of the Community Health Project. Basically following soon to be mothers, babies that were just born. Should be very interesting.

All is well.... Trying to keep up with the elections looks like Obama has the lead.

Margee

SEWA RURAL

Made it! After a 3 hr train ride and two mango juice boxes AND with a kid loaded up on THUMBS up kicking me..I made it to Bharuch. There was transport ready for me to Jhagadia which is about 20 min. It's a pretty rural area. The campus is nice and I will see more today. My living quarters is more than I can ask for. Most of the staff greeted me last night. I have orientation today. Last night was interesting since I could sleep much. My apartment overlooks a mosque. So at 4:30am I could hear "Alllllahhhhhhhhhh Akhhhhbar". Soothing alarm clock huh? With all due respect to Islam and it's follwers, I think 4:30am is a bit early to pray. But that's just me.

Lots to do today..

More to come. VOTE!!!!!

ps absentee ballot has been sent.

xoxox Margee

Summer Vacation

Remember those long summer days where you didn't have a care in the world? The only thing you thought about was sleeping, eating and hanging out with friends. I felt like I just had my summer vacation. For the last two weeks I was pampered by my family. I ate the best home cooked Gujarati food, shopped, celebrated Diwali with my family, sat with my grandfather, went to bed late and got up every morning at 10am. Now a days it's hard to have a two week break from life. Tomorrow, I head down to Bharuch, Gujarat via train. The train ride is about 4 hrs (south). I'm pretty excited to meet Dr. Pankaj Shah and rest of the SEWA rural team. I plan to stay there for the next 5 weeks with maybe a weekend trip back up to Ahmedabad.

I hope everyone had a safe Halloween.


~ Margee

That's my cousins, Rakhee and I with our fireworks on Diwali.