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