Wounded Soldier

Yesterday I woke up feeling nauseous and less than motivated to travel to placement.  I contemplated staying in the warmth of my bed but painfully pulled myself out anyways. I choked down some oatmeal only causing minimal irritation to the not  1, not 2, but 3 sores in my mouth. I’m not sure where these came from, but I can only assume it is from eating spicy food all of the time.  For the past week and a half eating has been a struggle & brushing my teeth has been just about traumatizing.  Anyways, Edward & I arrived at the station a bit early so we decided to sit for a bit and drink some coffee.  Afterwards, we headed up the stairs to get on the other side of the platform. As we are walking up, Edward trips and I grab on to him in an attempt to save him. Before I know it, I am loosing balance and start falling forward. My shoe slips off and my foot catches on to the step and gets slashed by something sharp. At first I’m laughing at how goofy we must look and then I realize that my foot hurts a little bit. I look down and blood is literally flowing from my foot. There is a pool of blood in my Birkenstock and a trail of blood leading to the top of the stairs. In typical Indian fashion a small crowd starts to form around us yelling out directions in Tamil of what to do next. Edwards is dragging me across the flat and I am doing my best to hop along.  Obviously, my biggest concern was saving my Birks, I love those babies more than anything! We fixed a bandage out of his handkerchief and cleaned it once we got to WIN. However, we needed to be in Pudupakkam an hour ago so we had to walk 2 km as quickly as possible. I felt like a wounded solider as I dragged myself along the cracked earth in the blazing afternoon heat.  The whole time I was fantasying about how my day would have gone if I just stayed in my bed. Although my mobility is a bit limited currently, the sheer ridiculousness of it all makes me giggle. Edward was the biggest trooper of all dealing with my foot issues and not to mention that the sole of his shoe got ripped off as well! 

I write all this as I am about to leave for 5 days on a trip to Hyderbad. There will be lots of walking and lots of spicy foods. Hopefully I will be alive by the end of it! 

xoxo,

Becca

A Small Glimpse Into Village Life

Every time I go to placement I feel like its Christmas or my birthday or something. The night before I can never sleep because I am too excited to go and see what the day will hold. I guess this is what loving your job feels like, I hope when I join "the working world" that this feeling will remain.

Devi & I (Edward in the Background)

I have been spending a lot of time within the village of Pudupakkam. Hanging out with Devi and Namada are always a must of Tuesdays and Thursday. Each time I see them I am bent over in a side-stitch pain type of laughter. On Thursday, the village was gearing up for a wedding that was to take place in the evening. There were two GIGANTIC speakers outside of the grooms house blasting Tamil & Hindi love songs. I swear you could hear that music for miles. Anyways, I received my first wedding invite that I very regretfully had to decline. Hindu weddings can go on for days, this one was starting at 5 pm and lasting into the wee hours of the next morning. Unfortunately for me, I had a big test the next day and was heart broken to say no to the offer.

While in the village I interviewed a woman named Ravati who has three girls and is seven months pregnant. Mad respect to this woman who spends almost the entire day working in the fields and will continue to do so up until the day she delivers. I don't understand how this can be healthy but I have been assured that this is "what works" for these woman and that it ensures that there are not many complications during delivery.

The cooks, Sheela & Amsa

 I also interviewed two woman who work as cooks for the school. They work long hours and feed around 150 children per day. However, the highest paying wage $1.50 per day. The woman are payed by the state government and do not receive any pension. The woman do not know who to contact for a raise and even if they did their request could take years to be even looked out. I'm learning fast that people in the village have no idea what goes on in their government.

Walking to WIN

Also, now we have decided that instead of taking an auto to Pudupakkam we are going to walk (to save money or enjoy the scenery? who knows). Let me tell you, a 2 km walk in the middle of the afternoon with no shade in INDIA is taxing. My god, it is so hot. But it does provide for some amazing views and a glimpse of rural living which you will not see in Chennai.

Case & Point:

The Woman of Pudupakkam

After multiple requests for a post (mostly from my mom) I figured it would be best to give an update.

What can I say? I have definitely been in the swing of things. Crowds, blaring music, cow dung, saris, sewage, samosas, the scent of jasmine: none of it phases me anymore. All of these things, once foreign, are a part of my environment. This environment has ceased to be overwhelming and started to feel like home. I have found that there is almost peace in the chaos and comfort in knowing that I am just one of eight million in this city. Yes, 8 million people live in Chennai. Sometimes I forget where I am and have an epiphany moment that snaps me right back. It is like, whoa... so this is India.

I find that my life in India consists of 4 parts: placement, fun, school & "American Time" aka getting my USA fix (movies, a call home, etc). Almost all of my thoughts are on my placement and the goals I have set for myself to achieve while there. I have yet to think about the 3 projects that are due on the same day..... BUT, Right now placement is what is bringing me the most joy and fulfillment in my life, so I'm going to say that a week or two of procrastination never killed anyone (famous last words?)

Some of the woman who sat in for the interview

Anyways, I have written a lengthy proposal for the Woman In Need Foundation (WIN) of what I will do during the next three months of my placement. I will try my best not to bore you with the details, so here is the shortest version I can manage. The plan is to interview around 20 woman from a local village within Chengalpattu. The interviews will focus on a typical day of their lives, what they find meaningful, and issues within their communities. The interviews will be done in the woman's home so I am able to observe her in a comfortable and natural environment. After the interview, I will compile an occupational profile on each woman and compare the profiles to come up with an intervention plan. The intervention plan will most likely be a program that is conducted to help woman achieve what they want but who knows? I guess the purpose of these interviews is to sit down with woman face to face and really find out what is going on in their lives. I hear about issues in villages but they are all coming from people who are not apart of that village. I am wondering how much of these problems are projected on to these people and I am curious to see what these woman actually perceive to be problems.

Namada in front of her house

Now that you have the background information, I am proud to say that my proposal was approved and I conducted my first interview today!! Being a well trained OT student, I came with my questions written out and in the interview mind set. Shanta and I took a 10 minute auto share to Pudupakkam, a small village that runs parallel to WIN. We arrived in the village and shuffled into a lime green house with tiled floors. This place was posh compared to some of the village huts I have been in. A woman (still in her nighty) greeted us and we sat down to begin the interview. I got all of her basic information: name, age, caste, marital status, employment, religion, etc. Just as I was about to get to the meat of my interview (the juicy stuff) we got bombarded with about ten other village woman who wanted to join in. Sigh, I guess this wasn't going to be an individual interview after all. But if India has taught me anything at all, it is to just got with it. I knew the interview was going to be a challenge, but I did not realize how frustrating it actually would be. Shanta's English is not the best and it took a good five minutes for her to grasp just one question I wanted to ask. Also, multiple times Shanta would discard my questions and lecture the woman on something completely different. I was in a helpless place where the few Tamil words and phrases I knew were of little use to me.

Despite these annoyances, I still got an amazing insight into the lives of the woman of Pudupakkam.

Namada revealing her thali

 Namada, the main woman I tried to interview (pictured right), is a 28 year old house wife belonging to the lowest caste group. She only completed school up until 9th grade and then had to move to a new village (Pudupakkam) after she got married (it was an arranged marriage). She spends the majority of her day cooking and doing chores around her house. To cook a simple meal, she must walk a couple of kilometers away to fetch water and fire wood. After the food is cooked she must return to get more water to wash the pots. After her chores, she will see if she can find any work for the day within the fields. For now she is out of luck until the monsoon season hits. She is uneducated, has no skills, and no work experience. Namada, along with almost all of the woman, expressed how much she would like to learn a skill (specifically tailoring) so she can make some money for her family.

Then there was Saraswathi, an older woman that expressed that her husband had died just a few months ago. She is unskilled and is struggling to make ends meet because now there is no one providing for her family. If loosing your husband and suffering from poverty are not bad enough, she had to take part in a degrading ceremony where her bangles were smashed, her bindi was wiped away, and her thali is taken away from her.

I could go on and on about the issues within this community and the lives of these woman. Popular topics of the interview were domestic violence, the village lake, lack of skills, and marriage. The woman were also eager to ask their own questions directed at me. I got questions such as: how old are you, are you married, what do you wear to symbolize marriage, when do people get married in the US, is there a dowry, can woman and men live together without being married, etc. Needless to say they were shocked by the majority of my answers.

Devi :)

After the interview I got an elaborate village tour where a small pack of woman paraded behind me while Devi proudly dragged me every which way. Devi (pictured right) was an absolute riot! She was constantly cracking jokes (I could understand most of them!) and insisted that I bring her gifts next time. She was awfully serious about me taking her to the US and did not care that she barely knew a word of English. Even though we could barely speak each other's language, we were in hysterics the entire time. It reminded me how universal things can be and how much communicating can be done without words.

Devi cooling off

Me, not looking as graceful as Devi

I was sad to go, but I left with my head buzzing chock full of new ideas of the potential of this project I have adopted as my own. No, not adopted, I'm going down the aisle and saying "I do" to this project.

Well, it is time for me to get my OT nerd on as I construct my first occupational profile. Shout out to my amazing OT professors that have given me the skills to do such things!

Devi & I

A picture taken to early, I love this

xoxo,
Becca

A Conference & Cultural Performance

Laura & I with a Filipino professor waiting for the performance

Today I woke up with no plans and no classes. I felt exhausted from a long day at field placement the previous day and was fully intending on having a day to relax. Then I found out that there was a conference going on in the dorm right next door. It is a three day conference entitled "Service Learning: Engagement in Environmental Action". It sounded interesting enough so I decided to see what it was all about... at least just for a little bit. I watched three presentations from faculty from the Philippines and Indonesia. The presentations were titled "Engaging the Community to Environmental Economics Action Program" and "Community Health, Nutrition and Food Preparation: Practical Applications in Response to Challenges in the Environment". The presentations were interesting and got me thinking about how I can implement some environmental initiatives at the WIN foundation. The fact that this conference was going on today was so ironic because just the day before Peter and I talked about running an environmental program at the organization. Yesterday we picked up a bunch of bamboo trees which we will plant tomorrow.

A TRACK = a new place to run :)

After the presentations we took a short break for coffee and tea along with some mouth watering Indian snacks (I must say snack time is turning out to be my favorite). Once we were back in the conference room we were split up into different groups to talk about environmental initiatives and struggles within our home universities. My group had faculty and students from Indonesia, Japan, India, the Philippines, and the US (aka ME!). It was so interesting to hear all the different perspectives and even more intriguing to find out that everyone was fascinated about how the US handles their garbage. Some of the people were so confused by the idea of a garbage truck along with the fact that you can turn in recyclables for money in some states. It was really amusing on my end.

Eight Lanes!

Next we were invited along for a campus walk that led us to a part of campus I have yet to explore. I've seen the athletic fields from a far, but have yet to venture on to their turf (ha, no pun intended). Anyways, I was almost hyperventilating with joy upon the discovery that there is a track on campus. Yeah it is dirt, but there are eight lanes, EIGHT! At that point my day was complete... but of course there were a lot more surprises ahead! :)

Before we know it, we are led to the international guest house where we are told that we will watch a cultural performance. It was my expectation that someone was going to sing a farewell song to conclude the first day of the conference. That is something that typically happens here after a formal meeting. Instead, we got an elaborate dance and song performance by some of the social work students and trained professionals. One man sang us a traditional song of Tamil Nadu that is sung to welcome guests. Then we were shown very ancient and traditional folk dances of this state. The social work department encourages students to learn these dances because they belong to oppressed groups that are viewed to be at the bottom of the caste system. By practicing these dances they are not only showing respect to those people but honoring their culture as well. Also, practicing their art form will hopeful change the way society at large views them.  The dances and songs were beautiful and by the end I was about ready to join in.
Side note: I must learn some moves from the social work girls!

Paul (a student from the department) sang a Tamil song that talked about the way woman are treated within Indian society. He expressed how important these issues are to him and wanted us all to be aware of the injustices. The dances all involved drums and bells worn around the dancers ankles. Most of the dances we saw are traditional done with swords! The dancers opted out of that one (thank god!) and stuck to using small pieces of cloth and colorful sticks.

At the conclusion of the program, we were herded inside to feast upon a variety of Indian foods. We were told to dig in, so I did just that. There was paneer, chicken sticks, fried ladies fingers, potatoes with cilantro, chapati, chicken & paneer masala, some yellow curry looking thing, rice mixed with fresh fruits, and a sweet coconut drink for dessert. I'm learning that India is all about song, dance, and food. There's one thing for sure, it definitely brings people together.

We left around 8:30 pm with our bellies and souls completely full and satisfied. And to think, all of this happened because I decided to take a quick peak at a random conference. I never know what the day will hold, but when I find myself open to all possibilities I have the greatest days and the biggest adventures.


All of my love,
Becca