These are some hot Dusshera Dancers. The next video is of traditional Garhwali dancers. The best was when Hanuman went around beating the crowd with his stick!
Sorry I didn't catch the part where the ladies stand on top of the guys as they go around in the circle!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Midnight in Mussoorie
(Written Oct 28)
What an incredible night. The air is so clear here at 2000 meters, and the Harvest Moon so near and so bright, it hurts to look right at it. The lights of Mussoorie follow the mountain ridge as it runs mostly West to East, climbing to the highest point, Lal Tibba, where I stay in a cottage in the Professor's flower garden. His marigolds, cosmos, nasturtium and Mexican sage are all blooming wildly now, and his two dogs, Sita and Rushka protect the garden from the marauding monkeys.
Yup, monkeys.
It's been so nice to finally have access to a kitchen. I've been experimenting some, and it's very gratifying when I create the same smells that come out of the homes that I walk past at mealtimes. I've also had some pretty comic disasters with the pressure cooker. Let's just say, I'm glad I wasn't cooking beets in a newly painted kitchen!
Mussoorie has a long history of foreign missionary presence, especially up here in Landour. I'm the beneficiary of it I guess, as I've been studying Hindi at the Landour Language School, where they've been teaching Hindi as a second language since the 1800's. At Char Dukan, the little square (actually, it's a triangle) down the road from where I live, there are 4 cafes (char = 4, dukan = shops), and a little garden where there's laundry drying, children playing, and usually some foreigners sipping chai and studying their Hindi. It's also where the dudh wallahs (dairy men) stop to water down their milk on their way into town.
The shops make some western-style food, too. Initially I was very excited by the idea of pizza and waffles, but it's worn off, and I'm back to rice and dhal now. And rai when I can get it (another beloved GLV). There's also lots of Tibetan and Chinese food in town. It's interesting to think, I'm closer to those countries than I am to Andhra Pradesh at this point. We went to a Tibetan restaurant the other day and ordered one of practically everything on the menu because the names were so great -- Momos, Thukpa, ThenThuk, Chopsy, ThingThang. We sat there for about a half an hour, until someone came to tell us that there wouldn't be any food available for another 3 hours, when the boy gets back from the market!
The nights are COLD, and I'm sleeping under a blanket that's so thick, I think it might actually be a thin mattress. The best thing about Mussoorie, besides the vistas around every corner (yes, those are the Himalayas behind the monkey silhouette), is the walking I get to do. It's the first Indian town I've been in where I can walk without being harrassed (too much) by men and cars. When I first got here, I got altitude sickness for about 2 days, and walking up the hill to school put me into respiratory distress. Now I'm walking up and down the hills every day, and feeling much stronger. But I'm put to shame by the coolies that make the trip up and down the mountain multiple times every day, carrying loads for people like vegetables, or say, a REFRIDGERATOR on their back. They bear alot of the weight with a rope over the crown of their head, and I hate to think what they're C-spine films look like.
The Hindi language is pretty hard. There are about 38 letters in the alphabet, then a whole other set of combination letters. I wish I had more time to stay here and learn it, but I'm headed to Dharamsala soon. I'll be on a retreat for a couple of weeks and won't be able to blog, but hope to keep in touch as soon as I can.
Hope everyone got visits from the full moon fairy this month!
Navdanya
From Jaipur (in the State of Rajastan), I travelled by train, then bus, then vikram and another local bus, and finally by foot to Vandana Shiva's organic farm, Navdanya (in the far northern State of Uttarkhand). She runs a school there, Bija Vidyapeeth, and I came to take the Food Safety and Food Security Course. Really, it was about Global Nutrition, exploring the questions: What is eaten by people around the world, and why? How healthy and stable are our systems of growing and distributing food for people and the planet?
Lecture titles included: The Politics of Food; Health and Nutrition; Genetically Modified Organisms and Food Security; India's Indigenous Food Heritage; Nutritional and Medicinal Plant Gardens; Navdanya: a Response to Threats to Food Systems from Globalisation. We also went on farm walks, visited the seed bank (what a feeling of reverence!) and a local Tibetan Buddhist Stupa, and had cooking sessions where I learned to use the grinding stone, and continued to roll out very imperfect chapatis.
The farm is such a lovely spot. It draws a wonderful international group of students, including Zenobia, my roommate and guru from Oakland, and the rest of the lovely folks in the foto I'm going to try to put up. A couple have standout blogs: From Karen Rideout, a PhD student in Food Systems
and Nathan Leamy, funny guy and Watson fellow spending the year following bread around the world
Nights there were already cold, so Thank You, lovely and talented Paige, I've been wearing my wrist warmers and I love them! Each night, we'd hear dueling muezzim from 3 different mosques nearby. The calls reached a fever pitch and lasted almost all night as Ramzhan came to a close. In the morning Anna would play her harp as we made our way to the palapa in the middle of the dewy fields to practice yoga. Followed by a fantastic breakfast of puffed amaranth cereal. Yes, the place is a little slice of heaven. And I haven't even mentioned the mango orchard.
Our course was lucky to coincide with a special event: Vasundra. 200 organic farmers came from states North and South to celebrate their cause. It was great to interact with them and hear their stories. I'll try to post a picture or two.
When I was back in Andhra Pradesh, working with BREDS, I saw on the local level, the impact that national policies have in the lives of the villagers. Here at Navdanya, I've been learning a bit more about the other end of the equation: the bigger forces behind the Green Revolution, the companies that exploited these technologies, and the alphabet soup of international organizations that propagate them (WTO, IMF, USAID, etc).
The development of hybrid seeds that promised to end hunger with increased yields coincided with the advent of chemical fertilizers. Lucky thing, because they actually don't have increased yield unless they're getting increased amounts of inputs: water, fertilizer and pesticides. Interestingly, the fertilizers came from arms manufacturers looking for something else to do with their product after WW1. They converted their nitrogen-fixing explosives technology to nitrogen-fixing fertilizers. Bombs can still be made from fertilizer (remember Oklahoma City). These companies were very powerful, and continued to be through these new (forced) markets.
Why do I say forced? Well, the Green Revolution technologies were prostelytized round the world. IMF and World Bank were so impressed, in fact, that they made essential aid contingent on adoption of Green Revolution technologies. And the results have been devastation of perfectly adapted indigenous systems of agriculture that usually involved mixed cropping. And many other effects that I've described in previous posts(the environmental effects, the social devastation epitomized by farmer suicides, increased mechanization with reliance on petroleum products and contributions to global warming, as well as displacement of marginal farmers dependent on seasonal agricultural work, etc, etc, etc).
If we compare yields from farmers that practice traditional mixed cropping with those that have adapted highly mechanized, input intensive hybrid crops, we see that overall, mixed cropping actually gets more out of the land per unit of input. The traditional way is better adapted, sustainable, incredibly efficient and just superior. Frequently folks that advocate for these traditional methods get accused of being "against progress, for poverty", but this ignores the profoundly detrimental effects of "progress" in this instance. Vandan Shiva shows clearly in her books how it's the huge MNCs that are actually benefitting (Cargill, Monsanto, etc), while farmers and consumers suffer decreased quality and security of our food and environment.
So, the bottom line is: eat fresh, locally grown food from farmers that farm in an organic/sustainable way. It's good for you, it's good for the farmer, it's good for the planet.
Next stop, Mussoorie. Hopefully I'll learn chotti Hindi.
Lecture titles included: The Politics of Food; Health and Nutrition; Genetically Modified Organisms and Food Security; India's Indigenous Food Heritage; Nutritional and Medicinal Plant Gardens; Navdanya: a Response to Threats to Food Systems from Globalisation. We also went on farm walks, visited the seed bank (what a feeling of reverence!) and a local Tibetan Buddhist Stupa, and had cooking sessions where I learned to use the grinding stone, and continued to roll out very imperfect chapatis.
The farm is such a lovely spot. It draws a wonderful international group of students, including Zenobia, my roommate and guru from Oakland, and the rest of the lovely folks in the foto I'm going to try to put up. A couple have standout blogs: From Karen Rideout, a PhD student in Food Systems
and Nathan Leamy, funny guy and Watson fellow spending the year following bread around the world
Nights there were already cold, so Thank You, lovely and talented Paige, I've been wearing my wrist warmers and I love them! Each night, we'd hear dueling muezzim from 3 different mosques nearby. The calls reached a fever pitch and lasted almost all night as Ramzhan came to a close. In the morning Anna would play her harp as we made our way to the palapa in the middle of the dewy fields to practice yoga. Followed by a fantastic breakfast of puffed amaranth cereal. Yes, the place is a little slice of heaven. And I haven't even mentioned the mango orchard.
Our course was lucky to coincide with a special event: Vasundra. 200 organic farmers came from states North and South to celebrate their cause. It was great to interact with them and hear their stories. I'll try to post a picture or two.
When I was back in Andhra Pradesh, working with BREDS, I saw on the local level, the impact that national policies have in the lives of the villagers. Here at Navdanya, I've been learning a bit more about the other end of the equation: the bigger forces behind the Green Revolution, the companies that exploited these technologies, and the alphabet soup of international organizations that propagate them (WTO, IMF, USAID, etc).
The development of hybrid seeds that promised to end hunger with increased yields coincided with the advent of chemical fertilizers. Lucky thing, because they actually don't have increased yield unless they're getting increased amounts of inputs: water, fertilizer and pesticides. Interestingly, the fertilizers came from arms manufacturers looking for something else to do with their product after WW1. They converted their nitrogen-fixing explosives technology to nitrogen-fixing fertilizers. Bombs can still be made from fertilizer (remember Oklahoma City). These companies were very powerful, and continued to be through these new (forced) markets.
Why do I say forced? Well, the Green Revolution technologies were prostelytized round the world. IMF and World Bank were so impressed, in fact, that they made essential aid contingent on adoption of Green Revolution technologies. And the results have been devastation of perfectly adapted indigenous systems of agriculture that usually involved mixed cropping. And many other effects that I've described in previous posts(the environmental effects, the social devastation epitomized by farmer suicides, increased mechanization with reliance on petroleum products and contributions to global warming, as well as displacement of marginal farmers dependent on seasonal agricultural work, etc, etc, etc).
If we compare yields from farmers that practice traditional mixed cropping with those that have adapted highly mechanized, input intensive hybrid crops, we see that overall, mixed cropping actually gets more out of the land per unit of input. The traditional way is better adapted, sustainable, incredibly efficient and just superior. Frequently folks that advocate for these traditional methods get accused of being "against progress, for poverty", but this ignores the profoundly detrimental effects of "progress" in this instance. Vandan Shiva shows clearly in her books how it's the huge MNCs that are actually benefitting (Cargill, Monsanto, etc), while farmers and consumers suffer decreased quality and security of our food and environment.
So, the bottom line is: eat fresh, locally grown food from farmers that farm in an organic/sustainable way. It's good for you, it's good for the farmer, it's good for the planet.
Next stop, Mussoorie. Hopefully I'll learn chotti Hindi.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
All the Rajputs in Jaipur
Travelling from the South to the North was like going to a totally different country. The language is different (in Andhra Pradesh, the language is Telegu, in Jaipur, it's Hindi). The people look different (in the South, people tend to be darker-skinned and shorter, in the North folks look more Arabic, or Persian). The food is different (still fantastic, and still, lots of rice and dhal). And mostly, the character of the people is different. In Jaipur, there are lots of forts and palaces. I think that's reflected in the personality of the people here -- there's much more 'edge', to put it very lightly. I've never been harassed by men in the South like I have been up here. I've definately been the object of curious, sometimes bewildered stares, but up here it feels predatory. I think Rajastan is especially like this, so I'll wait and see how it is in other Northern states.
I'm here in Jaipur for another Su Jok course. Unfortunately, I got sick again, and haven't been able to attend all of the course. But the lectures I did get to were really interesting. Su Jok starts out pretty straightforward. The course reviewed the body correspondence points on the hands and feet. Then it integrated basic acupuncture theory of the 5 elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). OK so far. Then it added a 6th element to complete the 6 Ki Theory. Okay, I got that and actually found it really helpful.
Then it integrated chakras into the 6 Ki Theory. Groovy! Chakras were described in ancient Ayurvedic texts. I think of chakras in this way: just as the heart is the central pump for the circulatory system, and the lymph nodes are concentrated areas for the network of lymph flowing in the body, the chakras are the spots where nadis converge. Nadis are the pathways that life energy or prana or Chi flows through the body. In the Chinese tradition, they're called meridians. Not only do nadis converge in the Chakras, but the energy is amplified and accelerated there. Chakra is the Sanskrit word for wheel, and you see the symbol on the Indian flag. So, by addressing any issues at the chakra level, you're intervening in a kind of esoteric, but very fundamental and powerful way.
Then the course started getting very metaphysical. We talked about brightness and darkness, and the figures started looking like Kabbalistic drawings of the structure of the universe. At this point, my fever started climbing, and I had to experience my own little period of chiaro-scuro in my bed. There was a TV that sometimes worked, so I got to catch up on the latest Bollywood movie song videos. :]
SRK in Om Shanti Om and Chack De, Saawariya, You are my Soniya!!
I did enjoy my time in Jaipur, though. They have the Anokhi flagship store, I met some very nice folks from all over the world (Nigeria, Israel, Mexico, Italy, England, etc), and we shared many mediocre meals and much Bob Marley (and Enrique Iglesias) at the Chit Chat Shack. The architecture and the place really started to grow on me, but I resolved to learn some Hindi before I spend much more time up here. I need to learn how to say, "Stop staring at me! I'm not a monkey in a zoo!"
Elisa and her crew helped me celebrate a wonderful birthday with a fantastic meal at an incredible heritage rooftop restaurant. Te extrano y espero que regresaste a Monterrey bien de salud y espiritu!
Here's a foto I took at the Amber Fort and another of me and my favorite rickshaw wallah, Ramlal. He's crazy and we got along great. We sang Bollywood songs as he pedalled me through the Jaipur traffic. He assigned me (without knowing anything about my blog) a Hindi name -- Tara.
It works.
And I have to give a shout out to Ashok Kothari Garu, the organizer of the course. He is Yang Ming all the way. He is Hotei, the smiling Buddha with the big belly. He is an incredibly kind and generous person and I thank him for ALL he did!
Hope you finally got some rest, ji!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Last Mega-Modules
We did it! We talked about Humanure composting without getting laughed out of Pathapatnam.
This week Asha and I did another couple of trainings. One on infectious diseases, and the last one was about musculoskeletal conditions. We started by talking about different kinds of germs: viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic. Then we profiled some of the common culprits around here: Malaria, Filaria, Cholera, Typhoid, TB, Dengue and Chikkin-gunniya (the virus with the best name, but not very fun to get). We talked about how they get at us, what they do to us, what we can do to fight back.
But the part that's most compelling to me, is disease prevention. We talked a lot about personal hygiene and community hygiene, especially fecal contamination in the environment. Some have explained to me that Indians are historically used to organic trash, and that's why they don't think twice about tossing foil paan wrappers or ANYTHING in the street. But even organic waste serves as breeding ground for flies. Especially human waste. Driving the road at night is like a scene from a Monty Python movie. Every few minutes, your headlights land on someone's knobby knees as they squat roadside, relieving themselves right there.
There is a very serious lack of infrastructure for handling trash and waste here. Trash is generally burned, which is horrible because burning plastic releases all kinds of carcinogens into the air. The sewers (when they exist) are just open canals in the villages and towns, but these STINK and are very gross. Flies breed there and carry foulness on their feet then they land on food and children, spreading disease. Some villages make efforts to clean them regularly, but they're using bleaches that just filter down into the water table.
But here's the exciting thing: in India, 85% of trash is still organic, which means, it's compostable. So not only can we clean up the environment from ugly, stinky pollution and disease-breeding feces, we can actually use the trash and waste to enrich our primary agricultural resource, the soil. Testing shows that thermophilic composting followed by about a period of ageing (just leaving it be) eliminates all the dangerous germs from the compost. And if there's any concern at all, the compost can be used on horticultural (tree) crops instead of field crops.
Staffers definately were challenged by some of my suggestions about composting and Humanure composting in particular, but they were receptive and curious. The questions were very realistic and showed people were interested. They asked about how we can talk to villagers about this, and specific questions about construction of compost piles. I think in this area, where everyone goes outside, it would be fairly straightforward to construct compost heap cum latrines. We're all hoping the next AJWS volunteers will pursue this further, at least starting with composting of organic trash. If anyone is interested, Joe Jenkin's very funny and informative book The Humanure Handbook is available online at weblife.org.
My proudest accomplishment, is that I learned the names of every attendent at the trainings.
My favorite question, came at the end of the day of course: "Madame, can you please explain what is nanotechnology?"
The last module was about musculoskeletal issues with emphasis on prevention with daily practice of Surya Namaskar. The Surya Namaskar, or Sun Salutation, is a pretty accesible series of yoga postures that stretches all the major muscles, gets the blood and breath flowing, and can be practiced on deeper levels to cultivate inner calm and mindfulness. We also did some pranayama (breathing exercises). The field staffers totally got into it. For some of the women, it was their first time wearing salwar khameez suits since their wedding (usually married women only wear saris, and it's hard to do yoga in a sari). Everyone really appreciated that this incredible Yoga practice is their own native wisdom tradition, their inheritance.
Lastly, Asha taught a short course on Su Jok (more on Su Jok in my next post about Jaipur). The initial levels are very accessible, and a really great modality for people to use for themselves, especially when doctors are rare and expensive. She was her usual dynamic, charismatic self and did a great job.
It was all pretty intense, and I loved it! After it was all over, we had a meeting with all the staffers and they presented me with some gifts and told me how much they appreciated the trainings. I was really holding back the tears. I left very soon after the last training -- I had to get to Jaipur for an advanced Su Jok course and it's 1800 kms away!
Monday, October 29, 2007
And another thing...
Well, a few more things about nutrition, since food IS one of my very favorite subjects.
Can we please cross potatoes off the list of food items that qualify as vegetables? Here, a meal usually consists of rice, dhal, a vegetable side dish, and maybe roti, too. All too often, the vegetable side is potato (or bitter gourd... yuk!) There's never enough GLVs for me (green leafy vegetables).
Also, we have to examine the methods of cooking being used. Often the vegetables here are heavily fried, or cooked so much the vitamins are all gone. On the other hand, there are some traditions that enhance the bioavailability of nutrients, like soaking and sprouting the legumes and grains. Phytic acid in the seed coat can block mineral absorption. Sprouting eliminates phytic acid, and also begins breaking down some of the harder to digest sugars and proteins, so sprouting makes the food more digestible and more nutritious. It also means less fuel will be used because they'll need less cooking time.
Other traditions, like vegetarianism, are a mixed bag. I saw so much anemia in the south, particularly among women. And the average diet was so deficient in protein. Some meat would have been really helpful for many people, but that's not an option for so many because of caste or cost restrictions.
Please bring back the ragi!
One last point about nutrition... It doesn't really matter how much 'nutrition food' you swallow, if you're suffering from chronic diarrhea because your water is contaminated. Nothing will be absorbed. The issue of public hygiene will factor largely in the next module about infectious diseases. The astute reader says "Wait! I thought you said the next module is all about composting?" Aha! Soon you will see how it all ties together...!
SPROUTING AND COOKING DHAL
Here's how I was taught to sprout dhal (for example moong dhal):
Soak them overnight. The next day, place them in a colander with a plate underneath to catch the water. Cover the colander with a damp cloth and wait 8 hours or so for small legumes like moong, maybe 12 hours for black eyed peas, even longer for channa (garbanzo beans) etc.
Once they're sprouted, you can cook them like this:
If you've got a grind stone or molcajete, grind garlic and ginger to a paste (or just mince them) and fry in ghee or other good cooking oil.
Add chopped onion and tomato, and whatever spices you like from your daba -- turmeric (haldi), cumin (jeera), mustard seeds (sarsun), bishop's weed (ajwain), asafoetida (hing), curry leaves, etc. Oh, and of course, chili.
Once that's fried and soft and your kitchen smells fantastic, add the sprouts, and a little stock or just plain water, and some small-chopped, peeled potatoes. In 15 or 20 minutes the beans and potatoes should be cooked all through.
It's delicious and nutritious!
;]
Can we please cross potatoes off the list of food items that qualify as vegetables? Here, a meal usually consists of rice, dhal, a vegetable side dish, and maybe roti, too. All too often, the vegetable side is potato (or bitter gourd... yuk!) There's never enough GLVs for me (green leafy vegetables).
Also, we have to examine the methods of cooking being used. Often the vegetables here are heavily fried, or cooked so much the vitamins are all gone. On the other hand, there are some traditions that enhance the bioavailability of nutrients, like soaking and sprouting the legumes and grains. Phytic acid in the seed coat can block mineral absorption. Sprouting eliminates phytic acid, and also begins breaking down some of the harder to digest sugars and proteins, so sprouting makes the food more digestible and more nutritious. It also means less fuel will be used because they'll need less cooking time.
Other traditions, like vegetarianism, are a mixed bag. I saw so much anemia in the south, particularly among women. And the average diet was so deficient in protein. Some meat would have been really helpful for many people, but that's not an option for so many because of caste or cost restrictions.
Please bring back the ragi!
One last point about nutrition... It doesn't really matter how much 'nutrition food' you swallow, if you're suffering from chronic diarrhea because your water is contaminated. Nothing will be absorbed. The issue of public hygiene will factor largely in the next module about infectious diseases. The astute reader says "Wait! I thought you said the next module is all about composting?" Aha! Soon you will see how it all ties together...!
SPROUTING AND COOKING DHAL
Here's how I was taught to sprout dhal (for example moong dhal):
Soak them overnight. The next day, place them in a colander with a plate underneath to catch the water. Cover the colander with a damp cloth and wait 8 hours or so for small legumes like moong, maybe 12 hours for black eyed peas, even longer for channa (garbanzo beans) etc.
Once they're sprouted, you can cook them like this:
If you've got a grind stone or molcajete, grind garlic and ginger to a paste (or just mince them) and fry in ghee or other good cooking oil.
Add chopped onion and tomato, and whatever spices you like from your daba -- turmeric (haldi), cumin (jeera), mustard seeds (sarsun), bishop's weed (ajwain), asafoetida (hing), curry leaves, etc. Oh, and of course, chili.
Once that's fried and soft and your kitchen smells fantastic, add the sprouts, and a little stock or just plain water, and some small-chopped, peeled potatoes. In 15 or 20 minutes the beans and potatoes should be cooked all through.
It's delicious and nutritious!
;]
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The First Mega-Modules
Where do you begin, when your goal is to teach about "Infectious Diseases", or "Women's Issues", "Nutrition", or "Musculoskeletal Issues"?
That's why I called them "MEGA-modules"!
Ladies first. We got about 30 female staffers together and reviewed anatomy, the menstrual cycle. We discussed some of the common conditions that village women have to deal with, and also about family planning. Magically, my whiteboard drawings turned out really well. The field staffers asked questions that led to great discussion about things like Kegel's excercises (moola banda!) and we of course laughed a LOT. It was really fun. I think the whole trip to India was validated when someone said, "Madame, I've had 3 babies, and never knew what was happening in my body until you just explained it."
The nutrition module was also great. The posters I found in Hyderabad were really useful, as was information I got from the Weston A. Price Foundation website http://westonaprice.org (sorry I tried doing links for all the sites in this post but none of them worked!). We started off talking about macronutrients and micronutrients. What they are, what they're good for, and what the good sources of them are. I really emphasized food sources over supplements, which inevitably leads to political issues. Especially issues of food safety and food security, which happens to be the name of the class I'll be taking in October at Navdanya. More blogging about that in the future, I'm sure, but for now, I'll give the example of vitamin A.
Here in India, Vitamin A deficiency has been a huge problem in certain regions, and it's notorious for causing vision problems, even permanent blindness from scarring of the cornea. This is almost incomprehensible given that India is the land of the mango, and there's tons of papayas, too. Some of the most vitamin A rich foods around! Interventions have consistently been to give vitamin A supplements, but this can backfire, as it did with the UNICEF campaign in the state of Assam in 2001. Dozens of children actually died, probably because of accidental overdose.
Vitamin A toxicity is nearly impossible to reach if you're getting it from FOOD sources (unless you're really overdoing it on the polar bear pate). So, it seems to me, if international and governmental organizations really wanted to do the right thing, they'd make sure everybody has access to mangoes or papayas or eggs... basically, the variety of foods that people need to stay healthy.
Instead, they seem to be doing just the opposite. The diet in India, and elsewhere in the world, is becoming increasingly impoverished, with people abandoning traditional foods that are highly adapted to growth conditions in this area. In India there are dozens of varieties of millets and sorghums like ragi, jowar, bajra. These traditional foods almost invariably are SO much higher in nutritional content (protein, iron, calcium, etc). They're also delicious, but they don't play so well in the international market.
It's hard to find these grains in India now, because farmers face all kinds of pressures (mostly from the government responding to international trade bodies) to grow "Green Revolution" cash crops of... white rice and wheat. ONLY, white rice and wheat. Now that's where people here get most of their calories, but those foods don't supply nearly enough protein, healthy fats, or micronutrients!
For folks who get really excited learning about this stuff like I do... I found some provocative articles about this in the Hunger issue of The Little Magazine http://www.littlemag.com/hunger/index.htmland at the India Together website http://www.indiatogether.org/. Also, the Nutrition Foundation of India http://nutritionfoundationofindia.res.in/nutrition.asp
has listings of nutritional content of the common foods in India, as well as some other interesting publications.
These "Green Revolution" crops are also wreaking havoc with the indigenous social systems and the indigenous ecology. Every week there's another article in the newspaper about a farmer suicide. There have been thousands of farmer suicides across India in the past few years, but especially in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. Pointedly, the most common method is by drinking the pesticides that the "Green Revolution" crops are so dependent on. The price of the hybrid seeds, the pesticides and the fertilizers is what has put these farmers into hopeless debt in the first place. Vandana Shiva writes passionately about this at http://navdanya.org/news/04july15.htm.
Getting back to health issues, the use of synthetic fertilizers and heavy irrigation on these crops also messes with the mineral content of the soil, so in some areas in India the soil is deficient in necessary minerals, and in other areas, toxic levels of accumulate. The petrochemical fertilizers add only NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium), but organic fertilizers and COMPOST replete the whole spectrum of necessary micronutrients, along with providing lots of other benefits to the soil. Organic fertilizers have been used on these fields for THOUSANDS of years, keeping the soils rich and productive, and keeping the foods grown on them full of the nutrients necessary for humans. It's the industrial chemical fertilizers along with the Green Revolution crops that have recently come in and messed with the minerals. I'm going on about all this COMPOST stuff because it plays a big role in the next module... (and cause I love compost!)
BREDS has been involved in some projects promoting kitchen gardens (or nutrition gardens, as I like to call them) with some successes and some challenges. We explored this idea again, in the context of nutrition, and Gandhian ideals of garam swaraj and swadeshi (self sufficiency and sovereignty). The field staffers were energized to do more work in this area in the future, and I hope the next AJWS volunteers are also interested in pursuing it.
Staffers also brought up a lot of questions that the villagers commonly ask them. There are lots of misconceptions about what foods are healthy for pregnant and nursing women, or for babies when they reach 6 months and are ready to add solid foods to their breastmilk diet. There are lots of beliefs about how food variety needs to be restricted for these groups. It was great to build their confidence in answering these questions with common sense responses. Some of the ideas passed down from Grandma are really wise, but some are like the pot roast story.... we can use our own judgement to decide what's best for our families.
So this leads to what was probably the most important point of the nutrition module. Repeatedly studies show that the most consistent correlation with good family nutrition is NOT (as you would think)
* How much food is produced in a country. Nor is it
* How rich the country is (REALLY, this does not correlate as consistently as...)
The best way to ensure that families are well fed, is to make sure Mom is well educated. There are lots of reasons for this, and the field staffers had lots of insights. Basically, an educated, empowered woman has the tools to feed her family better. It was a really lively discussion among all the staffers, male and female.
Well, that was a long entry, and I've got two more modules to go. Now I get a weekend off to rest my voice. The newspaper had an article about 4 village women getting beheaded -- a young boy got sick and died and his father decided these ladies are witches, and caused the death of his son, so he got together a group of men and cut their heads off. Another article about Naxalites setting off bombs on the road outside of Vizag. I feel so mournful for those people, and so grateful for the peace in my life.
That's why I called them "MEGA-modules"!
Ladies first. We got about 30 female staffers together and reviewed anatomy, the menstrual cycle. We discussed some of the common conditions that village women have to deal with, and also about family planning. Magically, my whiteboard drawings turned out really well. The field staffers asked questions that led to great discussion about things like Kegel's excercises (moola banda!) and we of course laughed a LOT. It was really fun. I think the whole trip to India was validated when someone said, "Madame, I've had 3 babies, and never knew what was happening in my body until you just explained it."
The nutrition module was also great. The posters I found in Hyderabad were really useful, as was information I got from the Weston A. Price Foundation website http://westonaprice.org (sorry I tried doing links for all the sites in this post but none of them worked!). We started off talking about macronutrients and micronutrients. What they are, what they're good for, and what the good sources of them are. I really emphasized food sources over supplements, which inevitably leads to political issues. Especially issues of food safety and food security, which happens to be the name of the class I'll be taking in October at Navdanya. More blogging about that in the future, I'm sure, but for now, I'll give the example of vitamin A.
Here in India, Vitamin A deficiency has been a huge problem in certain regions, and it's notorious for causing vision problems, even permanent blindness from scarring of the cornea. This is almost incomprehensible given that India is the land of the mango, and there's tons of papayas, too. Some of the most vitamin A rich foods around! Interventions have consistently been to give vitamin A supplements, but this can backfire, as it did with the UNICEF campaign in the state of Assam in 2001. Dozens of children actually died, probably because of accidental overdose.
Vitamin A toxicity is nearly impossible to reach if you're getting it from FOOD sources (unless you're really overdoing it on the polar bear pate). So, it seems to me, if international and governmental organizations really wanted to do the right thing, they'd make sure everybody has access to mangoes or papayas or eggs... basically, the variety of foods that people need to stay healthy.
Instead, they seem to be doing just the opposite. The diet in India, and elsewhere in the world, is becoming increasingly impoverished, with people abandoning traditional foods that are highly adapted to growth conditions in this area. In India there are dozens of varieties of millets and sorghums like ragi, jowar, bajra. These traditional foods almost invariably are SO much higher in nutritional content (protein, iron, calcium, etc). They're also delicious, but they don't play so well in the international market.
It's hard to find these grains in India now, because farmers face all kinds of pressures (mostly from the government responding to international trade bodies) to grow "Green Revolution" cash crops of... white rice and wheat. ONLY, white rice and wheat. Now that's where people here get most of their calories, but those foods don't supply nearly enough protein, healthy fats, or micronutrients!
For folks who get really excited learning about this stuff like I do... I found some provocative articles about this in the Hunger issue of The Little Magazine http://www.littlemag.com/hunger/index.htmland at the India Together website http://www.indiatogether.org/. Also, the Nutrition Foundation of India http://nutritionfoundationofindia.res.in/nutrition.asp
has listings of nutritional content of the common foods in India, as well as some other interesting publications.
These "Green Revolution" crops are also wreaking havoc with the indigenous social systems and the indigenous ecology. Every week there's another article in the newspaper about a farmer suicide. There have been thousands of farmer suicides across India in the past few years, but especially in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. Pointedly, the most common method is by drinking the pesticides that the "Green Revolution" crops are so dependent on. The price of the hybrid seeds, the pesticides and the fertilizers is what has put these farmers into hopeless debt in the first place. Vandana Shiva writes passionately about this at http://navdanya.org/news/04july15.htm.
Getting back to health issues, the use of synthetic fertilizers and heavy irrigation on these crops also messes with the mineral content of the soil, so in some areas in India the soil is deficient in necessary minerals, and in other areas, toxic levels of accumulate. The petrochemical fertilizers add only NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium), but organic fertilizers and COMPOST replete the whole spectrum of necessary micronutrients, along with providing lots of other benefits to the soil. Organic fertilizers have been used on these fields for THOUSANDS of years, keeping the soils rich and productive, and keeping the foods grown on them full of the nutrients necessary for humans. It's the industrial chemical fertilizers along with the Green Revolution crops that have recently come in and messed with the minerals. I'm going on about all this COMPOST stuff because it plays a big role in the next module... (and cause I love compost!)
BREDS has been involved in some projects promoting kitchen gardens (or nutrition gardens, as I like to call them) with some successes and some challenges. We explored this idea again, in the context of nutrition, and Gandhian ideals of garam swaraj and swadeshi (self sufficiency and sovereignty). The field staffers were energized to do more work in this area in the future, and I hope the next AJWS volunteers are also interested in pursuing it.
Staffers also brought up a lot of questions that the villagers commonly ask them. There are lots of misconceptions about what foods are healthy for pregnant and nursing women, or for babies when they reach 6 months and are ready to add solid foods to their breastmilk diet. There are lots of beliefs about how food variety needs to be restricted for these groups. It was great to build their confidence in answering these questions with common sense responses. Some of the ideas passed down from Grandma are really wise, but some are like the pot roast story.... we can use our own judgement to decide what's best for our families.
So this leads to what was probably the most important point of the nutrition module. Repeatedly studies show that the most consistent correlation with good family nutrition is NOT (as you would think)
* How much food is produced in a country. Nor is it
* How rich the country is (REALLY, this does not correlate as consistently as...)
The best way to ensure that families are well fed, is to make sure Mom is well educated. There are lots of reasons for this, and the field staffers had lots of insights. Basically, an educated, empowered woman has the tools to feed her family better. It was a really lively discussion among all the staffers, male and female.
Well, that was a long entry, and I've got two more modules to go. Now I get a weekend off to rest my voice. The newspaper had an article about 4 village women getting beheaded -- a young boy got sick and died and his father decided these ladies are witches, and caused the death of his son, so he got together a group of men and cut their heads off. Another article about Naxalites setting off bombs on the road outside of Vizag. I feel so mournful for those people, and so grateful for the peace in my life.
Where is your chunni?
Usually women wear a sari with a petticoat (plain cotton skirt down to the ankles) underneath. There is also a blouse (tightly tailored short cotton top). But many of the tribal ladies in this area wear no petticoat and no blouse, wrapping their saris simply, sometimes hiked up to the knees so that they can work in the fields. There can be quite a bit of skin showing!
That's why I was surprised the other day, while walking down the road in a long skirt and a modest top, a woman asked me where is my chunni? The chunni, or dupatta, is the scarf that Indian women wear backwards across their chest with the two ends flowing down the back. Indian women are masters of the draped fabrics -- it all looks so beautiful, but it's quite restrictive to movement. I guess it doesn't matter whether the chunni really covers anything, it's more the idea of it -- that you're trying to cover yourself. Of course the pallu on the sari leaves a whole lot of midriff exposed, but that's OK. It's a real challenge, trying not to offend any cultural sensibilities, when the rules are so different from home! And this applies to lots of other things too. So many things that are requisite good manners in the States, are foolish here. And many things that Indians take as normal, would be considered extremely rude in the states. Overall, I would have to agree that Indians express gratitude and consideration more with actions and sincerity than with just words or polite phrases.
I was walking down the road to the turnoff about 1 km from the BREDS office. There's a Durga temple there. I watch the people going by, and almost every single man, woman and child does the kiss your finger touch your forehead thing, even if they're navigating a motorbike around potholes and chickens darting into the road. People offer prayers all the time. I saw one guy smearing his car tires with turmeric paste to bless his journey!
I think Indians are very wise in the way they pace themselves at work. As I give these trainings, we frequently pause for a break. There's tea midmorning, and then again midafternoon. RamaKrishna comes with his beautiful smile, carrying a tray of tiny cups of milk tea, heavily spiced and sugared. When people start getting sleepy in the heat (the overhead fans cut off every time the power fails, which is frequent), the staffers ask me to stop and lead them in some yoga stretches or some improvisational movement games. The men always participate vigorously, and the women fuss with their saris and dresses (salwar khameez) alot.
Sometimes we sing songs. Yesterday, Bhanu sang a beautiful song she learned from the tribal ladies. It's all about their culture and describes how they live and celebrate, dress and cook, etc. Everyone joins in at the chorus. I loved it. Today, they requested a song from me, and they all survived my Gillian Welch rendition.
When the modules are done, I'll leave Andhra and head north. My time here has certainly had its ups and downs, but I will definately be leaving on a high note. These trainings are so much fun. I am trying to teach Asha bai how to email, but I don't think there's enough time. How can I possibly leave her and her family with no plan to see them again?
Sorry, I still haven't figured out the photos, but I'll add them as soon as I do. Happy Rosh Hashana!
That's why I was surprised the other day, while walking down the road in a long skirt and a modest top, a woman asked me where is my chunni? The chunni, or dupatta, is the scarf that Indian women wear backwards across their chest with the two ends flowing down the back. Indian women are masters of the draped fabrics -- it all looks so beautiful, but it's quite restrictive to movement. I guess it doesn't matter whether the chunni really covers anything, it's more the idea of it -- that you're trying to cover yourself. Of course the pallu on the sari leaves a whole lot of midriff exposed, but that's OK. It's a real challenge, trying not to offend any cultural sensibilities, when the rules are so different from home! And this applies to lots of other things too. So many things that are requisite good manners in the States, are foolish here. And many things that Indians take as normal, would be considered extremely rude in the states. Overall, I would have to agree that Indians express gratitude and consideration more with actions and sincerity than with just words or polite phrases.
I was walking down the road to the turnoff about 1 km from the BREDS office. There's a Durga temple there. I watch the people going by, and almost every single man, woman and child does the kiss your finger touch your forehead thing, even if they're navigating a motorbike around potholes and chickens darting into the road. People offer prayers all the time. I saw one guy smearing his car tires with turmeric paste to bless his journey!
I think Indians are very wise in the way they pace themselves at work. As I give these trainings, we frequently pause for a break. There's tea midmorning, and then again midafternoon. RamaKrishna comes with his beautiful smile, carrying a tray of tiny cups of milk tea, heavily spiced and sugared. When people start getting sleepy in the heat (the overhead fans cut off every time the power fails, which is frequent), the staffers ask me to stop and lead them in some yoga stretches or some improvisational movement games. The men always participate vigorously, and the women fuss with their saris and dresses (salwar khameez) alot.
Sometimes we sing songs. Yesterday, Bhanu sang a beautiful song she learned from the tribal ladies. It's all about their culture and describes how they live and celebrate, dress and cook, etc. Everyone joins in at the chorus. I loved it. Today, they requested a song from me, and they all survived my Gillian Welch rendition.
When the modules are done, I'll leave Andhra and head north. My time here has certainly had its ups and downs, but I will definately be leaving on a high note. These trainings are so much fun. I am trying to teach Asha bai how to email, but I don't think there's enough time. How can I possibly leave her and her family with no plan to see them again?
Sorry, I still haven't figured out the photos, but I'll add them as soon as I do. Happy Rosh Hashana!
Commuting to Work
Paddy was planted about 1 month ago, as soon as the seed plots were mature enough and the soil was moist enough from the rains to pull the seed plants out easily. Those sprouts are absolutely florescent green and sometimes the farmers will leave a little bundle of them in the middle of the road, encouraging passersby to give them a rupee or two to ensure a successful harvest.
Lots of things are reversed like that here -- if you have a joy, you're obliged to share the good fortune. The head of the NGO got a new car, then had to drive it 3 hours to the nearest city to purchase sweets because all of his students demanded "You can bring one chocolate, sir"!
Now that I'm starting to give the presentations to the BREDS staff, I have to travel from the college in Orissa across the stateline to the BREDS office in Andhra Pradesh. The commute is one of the loveliest ever. The rice is growing in, much like the scalp of a recent hair transplant patient, and the color is SO green. In the soft light at the beginning or end of the workday, the horizon fades into foggy blue hills, and the farmers make their way to or from their fields. I love seeing their huge, hand hewn farm implements -- wood ploughs that they shoulder to the field, for the oxen to till the soil.
Usually I can catch an autorickshaw, a 3 wheeler that comfortably fits 2 passengers in back and a driver up front. I squeeze in with the other 9 adults, some children, sacks of rice, and live chickens as we bounce along the road. The other day the training went late, and Sharifji explained to me that he would have to take me home on his motorcycle. I could not take a rickshaw home because "this is the hour when the drivers are all in a drinking position. They may use any kind of language". I assured him that it was alright, since I don't understand Telegu after all, I could not be offended! But he insisted, so I got on sidesaddle, as they do here.
Safety issues aside, it was pure joy to glide through the warm air, drinking in the views of the landscape and of village life -- children being washed by their mothers at the water pump, brown skin all shiny, men chatting and chewing their paan, women rolling out chapatis for dinner, then cooking them over an open flame.
I'll try to attach some photos later, I can't figure it out right now. I'll also try to catch up on the backlog of posts, so check for a few new ones this week!
Lots of things are reversed like that here -- if you have a joy, you're obliged to share the good fortune. The head of the NGO got a new car, then had to drive it 3 hours to the nearest city to purchase sweets because all of his students demanded "You can bring one chocolate, sir"!
Now that I'm starting to give the presentations to the BREDS staff, I have to travel from the college in Orissa across the stateline to the BREDS office in Andhra Pradesh. The commute is one of the loveliest ever. The rice is growing in, much like the scalp of a recent hair transplant patient, and the color is SO green. In the soft light at the beginning or end of the workday, the horizon fades into foggy blue hills, and the farmers make their way to or from their fields. I love seeing their huge, hand hewn farm implements -- wood ploughs that they shoulder to the field, for the oxen to till the soil.
Usually I can catch an autorickshaw, a 3 wheeler that comfortably fits 2 passengers in back and a driver up front. I squeeze in with the other 9 adults, some children, sacks of rice, and live chickens as we bounce along the road. The other day the training went late, and Sharifji explained to me that he would have to take me home on his motorcycle. I could not take a rickshaw home because "this is the hour when the drivers are all in a drinking position. They may use any kind of language". I assured him that it was alright, since I don't understand Telegu after all, I could not be offended! But he insisted, so I got on sidesaddle, as they do here.
Safety issues aside, it was pure joy to glide through the warm air, drinking in the views of the landscape and of village life -- children being washed by their mothers at the water pump, brown skin all shiny, men chatting and chewing their paan, women rolling out chapatis for dinner, then cooking them over an open flame.
I'll try to attach some photos later, I can't figure it out right now. I'll also try to catch up on the backlog of posts, so check for a few new ones this week!
Friday, September 14, 2007
Hyderabadi Biryani
My next trip was to Hyderabad. It’s a really interesting city, a Muslim capital for a predominantly Hindu state (Andhra Pradesh). It was ruled by a series of Nizams (the local equivalent of a Raj) who had great wealth and culture. With Indian independence in 1947, all these smaller kings (around 400 of them) agreed to give up their rule and join the country. All except for Mir Osman Ali. This last Nizam refused! He was a little crazy. Anyway, he did not succeed in his bid to keep Hyderabad independent (in fact, it was something of a massacre).
The architecture of the city reflects its Moghul past. There are some lovely old buildings around the city and a huge lake that was dug over 400 years ago. Now, Hyderabad is one of India’s high-tech capitals, so when you call for outsourced technical support, you can ask Vijay about the biryani (everyone can know Hyderabadi biryani is very best!)
My visit there was a mixed bag. Here’s the negative:
• I got sick and spent 2 days alone in a flat, too weak to go get food for myself.
• 2 bombs went off and killed 41 people.
• Some other AJWS volunteers were supposed to come and I was SO looking forward to spending time with them, but because of the blasts, they decided to stay up north.
• The initial reason for the trip was to attend a wedding (a family member of an L.A. friend) but for a bunch of reasons, I didn’t get to go. Anitha garu, I hope your granny’s OK and you didn’t lose your job!
OK, now the good things about Hyderabad:
• I read some good novels -- Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry (he’s a master craftsman), Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (kept my interest up through all 900 pages), and a trashy Shoba De novel (the Jackie Collins of Bollywood).
• I bought 2 cute tops from Anokhi, my favorite shop in India.
• I met this great guy at the CD store who helped me buy all kinds of music, from Classical Indian to Asian Underground.
• I found this publishing house, Booksline, that puts out educational materials (in Telegu!) that were totally on target to help with my presentations. I bought the entire set of posters. VERY exciting for me!
• Last, and the opposite of least, I met the Dangoria family.
A neighbor of mine back in LA spent a semester with Devyani Dangoria about 30 years ago. She recommended that I contact her, and I am SO glad that I did. I called Devyani Auntie and told her I am lonely. She immediately sent her nephew Nitin to come fetch me from the other side of the city. Being lonely is just one of the worst possible things in India!
Devyani garu is 74 years old and an obstetrician still working full time. She opened an OB hospital in front of her house and she runs a prenatal clinic there. They do about 150 deliveries a month. But that’s not enough. She also built an OB hospital in Narsapur, a small tribal village about 3 hours from Hyderabad. There’s a nursing home and a nutrition center there, too. They're developing food processing projects that can turn bumper crops into chutneys and sauces for sale.
Naniba’s family story is straight out of a novel. Her father was the chief engineer/architect for the last Nizam! They used to own a very large property on the outskirts of the city. Monkeys would roam around the garden, but now most of the property was sold off and apartment blocks were built. There is a cinema across the street and the city has just engulfed their neighborhood. I guess someday even Narsapur will just be a suburb.
The family was incredibly welcoming and taught me so much about Indian traditions and values. Spending time with the Dangorias redeemed the whole Hyderabad trip for me.
Some other impressions of Hyderabad:
• Trying to explore the city on foot (my favorite way to get to know a city is to wander around, get lost, buy some street food, find myself on the map then get lost again). Walking the city streets in India is incredibly unpleasant. There are no actual sidewalks to speak of, and where one does exist, it’s occupied by vendors, beggars, dogs... The roadsides are full of monsoon rain and mud and cow dung and trash. And the streets are full of scooters, motorcycles, autorickshaws, cars, trucks and buses, all spewing varying shades of exhaust, threading the needle and swerving randomly to avoid potholes and cows.
If you’re stubborn like me, and insist on ‘strolling’, trying to convince yourself that it’s so picturesque, and you’re really enjoying yourself, there will be an endless stream of yellow rickshaws that pull right up to you, honking invitingly. Those are the lazy ones. The ones that really want to be helpful, go ahead and pull right in front of you.
I was ‘enjoying’ walking along the footpath around Hussein Sagar, the man-made lake in the middle of Hyderabad, savoring the smells of rotting trash in water and human excrement, when I read one of the signs posted there. It warned against remaining lakeside for too long, as it can be injurious to your health. Underneath the text, was a picture of a digital clock showing 18 minutes. What can I possibly say about that?
• The sounds of the street floating up through the window – the muezzin call to prayer, and my favorite pushcart vendor calling in a honey-sweet voice “sa-MOOOOO-sa! sa-MOOOOO-sa!”
• A bicycle with a HUGE load of balls captured under a net, brightest rainbow colors, riding down one of the busiest streets in town.
• A sadhu with a long white beard, wearing a bright orange cloth, carrying a beautiful wooden stick, riding pillion on a Vespa.
• The gypsy camps on the outskirts of town. They have camels!
• The ladies wearing 'ninja' burkas, and the blingy outfits you can just glimpse underneath.
Hope you like the pictures. There's Bhavna and Sangita with chocolate chip cookies (is this family a fantasy or what?), Devyani Garu at work in the OR, a Lambada tribal woman, a very 'low birth weight' baby, and Murthy with his processed foods.
This week’s soundtrack is Bally Sagoo, Talvin Singh, and Pandit Ravi Shankar.
Cheeky Possum, Cheeky Monkey
I’ve done a bit of traveling recently, so the next two posts may sound a little "what I did on my summer vacation".
The first trip was with Asha Begum, her 10 year old daughter Yasmin (cheeky possum of the title), and Angela, an Australian social worker who came to volunteer with BREDS. Angela really took a beating, as I did when I first arrived. India tests the coping skills of even the most experienced travelers.
We decided to head for the hills, starting out of Vizag very early in the morning. After about 2 hours in traffic, the congestion and shops of the city faded into cane and paddy fields. Soon the road started rising through many curves, to where the air was clean and cool. There were green slopes around, and a drizzle in the air. The ladies walking along the road here wrap their sarees a little differently. We saw two boys carrying a big bag of custard apples. We bought them for Ramarao’s wife for 10 rupees (25 cents).
We were among the first to arrive at the Bora caves. It was overwhelming to think that they found human remains here dating back 50,000 years. The caves were very dark, the air heavy, the ground wet and slippy from dripping water. The lighting was minimal to begin with, and when the current cut out, it was totally dark. Thank goodness for my little LED. There was a small stone lingam at the top of a rickety staircase and I climbed up to offer a prayer for a friend.
As we left the cave, Asha started snacking on some chips. She should have known better -- there was a sign that said “No eatables”. All of a sudden a monkey shot out of nowhere, landed on her saree skirt, grabbed her bag of chips and scampered up a nearby tree. Here’s a photo of her munching Asha’s chips. The speed of the monkey was incredible, but even moreso because she was carrying a baby on her belly the whole time!
When we got back to the parking lot, there was a big traffic jam. Some folks were warding off the chill with nips of whiskey (10am), and the monkey troops were out in full force. We bought some souvenirs – wild honey collected by the Adivasi folks, some shade-grown, organic coffee, and a bamboo hand-fan to use in the heat back in Patapatnum. We visited the tribal museum (see the killer rat trap foto), a large waterfall (more like a rapid than an actual fall), and the gate of the botanical garden (we were too cold and tired to go in, but that gate was really great!) The best part was that we got to visit Asha’s sister, Shahera, who’s been living up in Araku for the past 3 years.
Next, Hyderabad...
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Let's cure malaria using Integrated Pest Management!!
Once upon a time there was a pretty green frog named Swati. Swati liked to eat so many things in her pond, but her favorite snack was mosquito larvae. Then one day, old farmer Chatterjee decided to use pesticides in his rice paddy. When Swati’s babies were born, the tadpoles each had 2 heads and died. Swati was so sad. Then she got a headache and died too.
Now who was there to eat the mosquito larvae?
Was it the mud fish?
Well, the mud fish would be happy to eat the mosquito larvae, but he’s not feeling very well. The pesticides make him sick too!
No one was left to eat the larvae and the mosquitoes increased too much.
Then old farmer Chatterjee’s granddaughter got a fever with great body pains. Suddenly she had a seizure was brought to hospital in Srikakulam. The doctors say she has cerebral malaria! This is too, too bad.
Oh the tangled web we weave. So, the frogs and this certain mudfish used to keep the malaria mosquitoes under control by eating the mosquito larvae. But then agricultural pesticides came into use, and destroyed many of these larvivorous species. Without these natural control mechanisms, malaria became rampant. So the government mounted a DDT spray campaign, which worked well… for a while. But what we see often in this situation is a rebound mosquito population even bigger than the original. We also see that mosquitoes develop resistance to the effects of DDT.
And DDT has effects on creatures besides mosquitoes. Birds and fish, for instance. It tends to kill them. Rachel Carson wrote about all this back in 1962, in her landmark book Silent Spring. Since then, evidence is accumulating that DDT has serious effects in humans, as well. DDT is one of the POP's (persistent organic pesticide) we hear about in the news. It is a fat-soluble organochlorine insecticide and it accumulates in fat tissue, such as the breast, and becomes concentrated in mother’s milk. It can have neurotoxic effects in children, and increases risk of breast cancer 5 fold, according to some studies.
Worldwide, malaria kills about 3 million people every year. The statistics alone are impressive, but there’s so much that they just don’t convey. A pretty common scenario is for somebody in a family to get sick with fever at least every couple of months. The fever may be malaria or not, but usually the doctor treats any fever lasting more than a few days because the odds are so high. The fever is incredibly painful to experience, and scary to witness. You feel so helpless. Children miss school, adults miss work. The financial burden of missed work and medical expenses is really significant. This is the kind of ongoing drain on the time and health and capacity of people here that’s difficult to quantify.
The proportions of the tragedy definitely warrant some risks, possibly even the use of toxins like DDT, but we get stuck in these arguments without seeing that entirely different approaches are possible. The other major intervention advocated by groups like the World Health Organization is pesticide-impregnated mosquito nets. They sound like a great idea, but here, you just suffocate inside them. It’s impossible to sleep under these nets (and breath at the same time), and so nobody would use them, even if they were supplied free of charge.
So what CAN we do?
Integrated pest management makes sense to me. This is a system based on the understanding that living systems are complicated and the fundamental principle of life is BALANCE. Generally, it doesn’t work to eliminate a species, even if it is a dastardly one like the mosquito. Instead we work with the natural systems that maintain a favorable equilibrium. This way, we’re less likely to mess up big and do something like feed DDT to babies.
There are lots of methods at our disposal -- natural predators and parasites, complementary crops that increase pest-resistance, physical techniques like mulch and compost, cultural practices, etc. All the principles of permaculture are relevant. We can shift our paradigm from the false binary thinking of good/evil, kill/be killed, and instead use our ecological wisdom to increase the strength of the whole system, and reduce or eliminate the use of chemical inputs.
I found an interesting article about a project in Karnataka where they actually eliminated Anopheles mosquitoes from the community within a year of introducing Poecilia reticulata fish into the wells and streams. Of course this needs to be done carefully because these are non-native species. I’ll be talking about these ideas when I give the infectious disease training module. Hopefully it will spark some enthusiasm in the field workers and we can start to develop a project of our own in this area.
Sometimes, the most powerful ways of affecting health don’t have much to do with medicine.
I’m going to Hyderabad soon for a visit, hopefully I’ll have some nice pictures for the next entry.
Now who was there to eat the mosquito larvae?
Was it the mud fish?
Well, the mud fish would be happy to eat the mosquito larvae, but he’s not feeling very well. The pesticides make him sick too!
No one was left to eat the larvae and the mosquitoes increased too much.
Then old farmer Chatterjee’s granddaughter got a fever with great body pains. Suddenly she had a seizure was brought to hospital in Srikakulam. The doctors say she has cerebral malaria! This is too, too bad.
Oh the tangled web we weave. So, the frogs and this certain mudfish used to keep the malaria mosquitoes under control by eating the mosquito larvae. But then agricultural pesticides came into use, and destroyed many of these larvivorous species. Without these natural control mechanisms, malaria became rampant. So the government mounted a DDT spray campaign, which worked well… for a while. But what we see often in this situation is a rebound mosquito population even bigger than the original. We also see that mosquitoes develop resistance to the effects of DDT.
And DDT has effects on creatures besides mosquitoes. Birds and fish, for instance. It tends to kill them. Rachel Carson wrote about all this back in 1962, in her landmark book Silent Spring. Since then, evidence is accumulating that DDT has serious effects in humans, as well. DDT is one of the POP's (persistent organic pesticide) we hear about in the news. It is a fat-soluble organochlorine insecticide and it accumulates in fat tissue, such as the breast, and becomes concentrated in mother’s milk. It can have neurotoxic effects in children, and increases risk of breast cancer 5 fold, according to some studies.
Worldwide, malaria kills about 3 million people every year. The statistics alone are impressive, but there’s so much that they just don’t convey. A pretty common scenario is for somebody in a family to get sick with fever at least every couple of months. The fever may be malaria or not, but usually the doctor treats any fever lasting more than a few days because the odds are so high. The fever is incredibly painful to experience, and scary to witness. You feel so helpless. Children miss school, adults miss work. The financial burden of missed work and medical expenses is really significant. This is the kind of ongoing drain on the time and health and capacity of people here that’s difficult to quantify.
The proportions of the tragedy definitely warrant some risks, possibly even the use of toxins like DDT, but we get stuck in these arguments without seeing that entirely different approaches are possible. The other major intervention advocated by groups like the World Health Organization is pesticide-impregnated mosquito nets. They sound like a great idea, but here, you just suffocate inside them. It’s impossible to sleep under these nets (and breath at the same time), and so nobody would use them, even if they were supplied free of charge.
So what CAN we do?
Integrated pest management makes sense to me. This is a system based on the understanding that living systems are complicated and the fundamental principle of life is BALANCE. Generally, it doesn’t work to eliminate a species, even if it is a dastardly one like the mosquito. Instead we work with the natural systems that maintain a favorable equilibrium. This way, we’re less likely to mess up big and do something like feed DDT to babies.
There are lots of methods at our disposal -- natural predators and parasites, complementary crops that increase pest-resistance, physical techniques like mulch and compost, cultural practices, etc. All the principles of permaculture are relevant. We can shift our paradigm from the false binary thinking of good/evil, kill/be killed, and instead use our ecological wisdom to increase the strength of the whole system, and reduce or eliminate the use of chemical inputs.
I found an interesting article about a project in Karnataka where they actually eliminated Anopheles mosquitoes from the community within a year of introducing Poecilia reticulata fish into the wells and streams. Of course this needs to be done carefully because these are non-native species. I’ll be talking about these ideas when I give the infectious disease training module. Hopefully it will spark some enthusiasm in the field workers and we can start to develop a project of our own in this area.
Sometimes, the most powerful ways of affecting health don’t have much to do with medicine.
I’m going to Hyderabad soon for a visit, hopefully I’ll have some nice pictures for the next entry.
Comfort Foods
I grew up on an interesting mix of comfort foods: rice and beans on the one hand, cholent and chicken soup on the other. The other night I literally dreamt about (California style) Mexican food with heaps of sweet and juicy heirloom tomato cubes and gorgeous green chunks of velvety ripe avocado. Steaming handmade tortillas with frijoles and melted salty cheese ….
Now I’ve discovered a new comfort food: pongal. It’s a breakfast food that’s relatively mild. Usually breakfast food in the South includes pungent chutneys and spicy curries. They’re served with some kind of bread, like idli (steamed cake of fermented rice flour), dosa (crispy over-sized crepe made from gram flour) or puri (flaky chewy fried little round). Lunch and dinner always include rice and dhal, along with some kind of vegetable curry.
So what’s my new favorite food made from? Well, rice and dhal, of course. But in pongal they’re cooked together so it has this texture that’s like… baby food. In fact, it’s just like kichedee, which is the first food that Indian mothers give to their babies. I love it. Madam cooks it with garlic, mustard seed, curry leaves and only a little chili. I like it mixed with curd (but then, what don’t I like topped with yogurt?)
Well, as much as I love pongal, I was getting ready to join a cult after so many days of rice and dhal (with the occasional garnish of banana curry, egg curry, curry curry) when I was unexpectedly served some very interesting food. First, was mutton. That just means meat. No idea what kind, probably goat. Hopefully goat. I was honestly afraid to ask.
Then, madam kept wanting me to try this other dish called junnu. It looked so odd. Spongy and tan. I asked if it was sweet and she said no. But it was, so I saved it for dessert and ended up really liking it. Turns out, it’s colostrum! It comes from a cow in the first 3 days after she’s calved. It’s cooked by steaming so it’s like a flan, and it’s flavored with jaggery (that reduced cane juice). So it’s like a super-food! Packed with nutrition. And it’s tastes really nice.
I’m still preparing the teaching modules which means a lot of time at the computer. I loaded my mac with podcasts before I came, so while I wait for the internet, I listen to Science Friday with Ira Flato, Visionary Activist with Caroline Casey, and KQED’s Forum with the brilliant Michael Krazny. Good thing I loaded up because the internet is too slow to download any new ones.
My room at the girl’s hostel is great, but things get very loud around here at midnight. I’m not sure why, but it happens every night! I think it’s when they put away their books and just relax for a while before bed. The building is all concrete block, open hallways around a central courtyard, so noises resonate and there’s no way to sleep through it, and I hear them shouting to each other, "Puspa!! Aparna!!". Here’s a picture of my stuff in my room at the hostel (Jana, notice your pillow – I use it every night!), and some pictures from a recent excursion into Parlakmendhi, where I bought my train ticket to Hyderabad. There’s a shot of the pan wallah, the juice wallah, and the Gokul ad and the King’s house are especially for D. The king was in town, and I was issued an invitation to visit him the next day, but it rained and I couldn’t make it.
AND…. A big shout out to Clara Dorothy. Well done little girl (Man, that was fast!), and Happy, Happy Birthday! We’re all SO glad you’re here.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Back to School
I’ve been staying at the BREDS office, which has been pretty nice. It’s a simple room with a view of the rice paddies out the window. There’s a TV and an air conditioner. Neither of them work, but they’re big and make for good furniture. A few species of lizards to keep me company and some dogs to steal my chappals (flip flops) every now and then (no shoes indoors). Chinnamuru manages to make the curries spicy even though I say no chili, and I get to practice my Telegu greetings with BREDS staffers daily. I’ve never seen brighter smiles or more graceful greetings than here.
One day, Sir told me I am moving to the girl’s hostel at JITM, a small college across the border in Orissa. (Sir is Ramakrishna Raju, the head of BREDS. Everyone just calls him Sir). And the next day I ‘shifted’. Sir lives on campus at the faculty housing (he lectures at the CSREM college next door) and his wife is in their apartment all day, cooking 3 meals. Both their boys are away at school, so I expect she’s a little bored. She doesn’t speak any English, but somehow we manage to communicate a little, I treat her herniated lumbar disc with Su Jok, and we laugh over the hammy Hindi TV serials (soap operas).
When I first moved in, they were constructing a building behind the hostel, but no road reached there, so they had to carry bricks and plaster and rebar through the girl’s hostel. Most of the workers were females who carried their loads in wide, shallow bowls on their heads. Lines of ladies in sarees, heads loaded high, would wend their way through the ground floor of the building. They seemed very interested in looking at me and despite their loads, would step out of the way to watch me go by. One even managed a head wobble greeting from under a huge sack of cement.
There is internet available more frequently here, so I can use some online resources to research and prepare the trainings, and correspond with some experts who may be able to help future projects. The plan is basically to save the environment, rescue humanity from poverty and disease. I should be done in another few weeks.
Here are pictures of the local laundromat and the ox-wash.
Soundtrack: Khaled and KanYe this week!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Fever dreams and Molish
Hmmmm….. How can I describe the despair of delirium and fever when you are isolated in the middle of rice paddies, no reliable medical services for at least 5 tortuous hours in a jeep, no one who speaks English to understand why you’re sobbing, and of course you’re in the tropics and have a medical education so the differential diagnosis running through your clammy brain is … prodigous?
Finally Asha arrived, and was kind of shocked to find me in this state. I had just been in bed all day, so no one realized! She was fantastic and cared for me, forcing me to eat, drink tea, and doing molish (I guess it means massage, mostly it was just a pressing/rubbing on my sweaty skin) for a couple of days, until she took ill herself. Then her daughter caught it from her. I felt awful to have spread my contagion so far. They both have recovered fully, but Asha took Suni to the doctor. He gave her a couple of shots of who-knows-what and that cost her 100 Rs (about $2.50). It’s a lot for her.
When Asha couldn’t come, Chinnamuru (the cook), and Parathi, (the wife of the handyman) would show up 3 times a day, cluck over me in Telegu, make me eat a few bites, and do some molish on me. I can’t express how even though being touched felt kind of icky, it was mostly just profoundly healing. It was such an incredibly pure expression of concern and desire to do something to help. Thank goodness for the ladies.
People always think it’s ironic when “the doctor” is sick. I think it’s an important reminder for us, and helps renew our compassion. I know I’m feeling very compassionate right about now! It was interesting, in a way, to observe my own symptoms – fever, pain, weakness, anorexia, maybe a touch of delirium. I felt the illness leave my body pretty abruptly. One day I just could walk steady. Two days later I actually had an appetite. The first time I ate a decent meal, Asha glowed with pride (and some relief, I think).
Now that I’m feeling better, I’m ready to start preparing the teaching modules. I don’t think there will be any more field visits. :[ They’ve been really interesting. Sambamurthi asked me, “Madam, how was field today?” I told him “It was fun.” He nodded and said “Fine.” I had to clarify, “No not ‘fine’, it was ‘FUN.’” First he looked confused, then bemused. He's a very serious man, so it was nice to get a smile out of him.
Here are some last pictures from the field, and one of my Molish Team.
Songs for fever (sangitam oka jwaram): a dreamy mix of iron and wine, Dead Can Dance, Mazzy Star, Sufjan Stevens, Joshua Radin, Sia, Nick Drake.
P.S.
I want to send a shout out to everyone at the Petaluma Health Center. I miss you!
And a huge Happy Birthday to Sadie!! 8 pounds 8 ounces and a head full of hair. Jena, you're a star.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Mysteries of India
We had an overnight at the coast. It was a long drive to get there, but Asha insisted we stop at the Akulamma Talli temple. She is Ammavaru -- mother to the whole world. Here is a picture of her feet. Asha is Muslim, but she likes all the female goddesses, especially. Indians seems pretty flexible that way. I see her giving money to beggars all the time, especially if they’re women. She also likes Sai Baba (not the current fuzzy headed one, the old skinny bandana’d one) and does this kiss your finger touch it to your forehead thing whenever she sees a picture of him. He’s really popular and there are pictures of him painted on buildings everywhere!
We stayed in Palassa. It’s a bigger city with a train station, major cashew processing industry and lots and lots of mosquitoes (doma). We visited a few coastal villages: Baruva, Sompeta, Baipali and Kunduvanpeta. One issue that keeps coming up is “over-bleeding” (menorrhagia). (Very) informal survey reveals at least 50% incidence and 30% of all women ultimately getting a hysterectomy.
So it goes like this: you get married in your early 20’s, have your two babies, usually within 5 years, then you get your tubal by the time you are in your 30's. By your 40's, you start “overbleeding”. Menopause is around 45 years here. So the doctor might treat you with hormones for a few months, but then they explain that without a hysterectomy, you will develop cancer. Sometimes an endometrial biopsy is done that confirms this. The women are scared, and get the surgery, which they pay for out of pocket. It costs about 10,000 Rs, which puts these women into debt. After the surgery, many women feel chronic "loss of energy", knee pain and back pain too.
What in the world is going on here?! It has been suggested by some that the surgeons deliberately 'overstate the problem' for personal gain. There seem to be a lot of unethical aspects to medical practice here. For instance, whenever a doctor orders a lab test or an x-ray, he gets a cut of the fee! The prices of course are highly inflated because of this. I can't say how shocked I was to hear of this practice. I think it's 10 kinds of illegal in the states.
More Indian mysteries: Why the 6 year old boy who was cinnamon color 1 year ago is now 6 shades darker? What kind of water contamination is going on to cause all the kidney disease concentrated in these coastal villages? What is it about cashew processing that causes asthma? Is there really a 5% incidence of breast cancer in some of these coastal villages, as I’ve been told?
We passed another herd of goats on the road and they’re such a lovely breed (I *really* like goats). I asked Asha “Do people keep goats just for meat, or also for milk?” She said, “No, no. Men and also children. They get it from the forest.”
I guess some Indian mysteries will never be solved….
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Caste feelings
I went to a huge meeting in Kotturu of all the angan wari teachers in the district. These ladies are incredible. They are on the frontlines, in the most remote villages, giving basic education to kids who would otherwise have no access, giving midday meals where kids would otherwise go hungry, monitoring children for malnutrition, etc. I asked them about some of their accomplishments and they told me about increased school attendance, improved immunization rates, increased prenatal care. I heard a story about a child whose mother died in childbirth. The teacher was so proud that although the baby was a little undernourished, he was actually surviving and developing well.
I asked what one thing they would do if they had a magic wand. They got excited, and mostly said they would build more angan wari centers. I asked if they like what they do, and YES, they started beaming. It was so inspiring! When I asked about some of the challenges, one of the things they mentioned was “caste feelings”. Some of the teachers are lower caste and parents in the community don’t want to send their children because of that. Never mind that the kids can’t get education anywhere else. Never mind that they’re all equally poor! The caste thing….. I don’t even know what to say. The teachers’ union is having a meeting soon, trying to get guaranteed salaries. I told them I hope they get it and everyone cheered.
They had great questions for me, too. They asked why do newborns sometimes turn yellow? Why do they sometimes have trouble breathing? It was fun to give an impromptu talk about neonatal jaundice, and causes of respiratory distress. We finished up with the surya namaskar, and they got totally got into it!
In the next village, I was approached by the panchayat sarpanch (president of the village). “Shoulder pain,” he said. After some questions, I asked him to take his shirt off for an exam, and actually had to insist cause he was acting shy. I didn’t get it – village guys go around mostly naked all the time! In the jeep ride home, in the middle of all the Telegu chatter, everyone started cracking up. Eventually they told me, he didn’t mind having his shirt off, but he was afraid my range of motion testing would make his panchi (man-skirt) fall down, and he wasn’t wearing any underwear!
Here’s a picture of a lady holding a piece of bellam. It’s an iron rich food, good for pregnant ladies. I tasted it – it’s canela! Yummy cane juice before the molasses is extracted and it’s turned into sugar. In Hindi it’s called jaggery.
Friday, August 3, 2007
My Caste
The other day, I wore some silver anklets like all the ladies here do. Today, before we left my room, Asha held them out for me to put on again. "Compulsory".
We visited a really nice angan wari center in the village of Navatala. Kaluamma is the teacher there. My friend Rachael in Petaluma is an Orf-trained music teacher with a special interest in world music and she’s asked me to bring home a children’s song. Kaluamma taught me the yenegu (elephant) song while we waited for community members to arrive.
Yenegu yenegu nallana,
Yenegu kommalu tellana.
Yenegu meeda Ramudu,
Yetto chakkani devudu!
How beautiful is Lord Rama sitting on the elephant’s back!
This day we met with pregnant ladies. It was so sweet! One woman in particular was just beaming and pleased to be in the 8th month of her first pregnancy. You know her labor will be lovely. Another woman with disheveled hair and sari had sallow skin and such an obviously anxious expression on her face. It was heartbreaking. She looked anemic and neglected. We spent time talking about how important nutrition is, for baby’s development, and for her health. She’s at increased risk for infections like malaria and severe complications at delivery. We tried to make a plan, who was going to help her with food, and care for her. I just wanted to be there with each of them at time of delivery.
**But mostly, Jena, I wish I could be with you! Good luck and make sure Denise is your nurse!**
We talked about how you know when labor begins, and what to expect during labor. We also reiterated that babies need colostrum until mother’s milk comes in. There was a common belief that babies should not eat the first 3 days of life. Sometimes they were given water or cow’s milk, but colostrum was devalued. How can such ideas persist when they so clearly compromise survival? Infant and maternal mortality rates have been so high in this area, there is a big push for institutional (hospital) deliveries. Women are even given cash money (1000 Rs!) if they deliver in the hospital. The program has been very successful and the mortality rates have dropped significantly in the past 2 years.
The government had a similar strategy to address family planning. They gave every woman who (voluntarily) underwent tubal ligation a free sari. (I emphasize voluntary because India has a horrible history of enforced sterilization campaigns, fictionalized memorably in Rohinton Mistry's incredible book A Fine Balance.) Now, most women get the tubal after babies, even without the incentive, but it really makes you think what someone’s life is like when a decision like that can be influenced by the price of one sari.
The first picture is me eating nuvulu (sesame seeds) while the telegas grinds them in the press used by his father, grandfather, etc. The telegas have their own caste even! I decided I'm in the 'field worker' caste with people like Asha and Nell. There's also one of me and "Sir", A. Ramakrishna Raju, the head of BREDS.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Please, Madam
We visited Jilledupadu, a tribal village and saw some interesting seeds being dried out. These are called kosam, and they’re gathered from the forest. They grind the seeds for oil because it’s great for an itchy rash that comes in the rainy season. Some of the tribal villagers say that all who knew about the medicinal herbs are dead now, but it seems like there is still a lot of ‘common knowledge’.
The tribal folks are really interesting. Asha likes them a lot. She says they never lie. They have lots of festival days where they honor nature goddesses and gods from the forest (and party pretty hard). One of my favorite things about them is that they generally pay a bride price to the bride’s family, rather than the dowry that everyone else pays.
The dowry phenomenon is mystifying to me, and a huge problem for so many people. Dowry has been outlawed officially, but is still demanded by most families. The women that I see are working all day long to grind food and cook all the meals, haul the water, maintain the home, bear and raise the children. They’re very restricted in what they’re allowed to do outside the home (ie, they’re not allowed to leave it!). In many ways, the wife is essentially a domestic servant for the husband and his family; I can’t imagine why she should pay her husband to take her in! And if she’s educated or has some job of her own, she has to pay an even higher dowry!
Sometimes “dowry harassments” occur. That means, if the whole price isn’t paid to the inlaws, after the wedding they give the bride a hard time, pressuring her and her family. Sometimes this ends in suicide or even murder.
In some of the villages we visited, the rates of consanguinity are as high as 30%. This is because if you marry a cousin, you don’t have to pay a dowry. One woman told me about her 2 grandchildren that had died, and showed me her 3rd grandchild, age 6, developmentally delayed, destined to die within 2 years because of some inherited metabolic disorder.
Families hope for male children because they worry they just won’t be able to pay dowries for their daughters. The practice of abortion because the fetus is female is totally illegal, but it still happens.
Wow, I really wanted this blog entry to be a happy one! Let me end with a nice story: The other day I was attending a meeting – quite boring all in Telegu, so I went for a little walk down the road. Everyone was watching, cause after all, it’s very entertaining watching a foreigner walk down the road! One guy on his motorcycle even slowed down. He had his wife riding sidesaddle like they do, and 2 kids and some packages all packed on there, too. After he passed me, he stopped, I just figured the kids were really getting a kick out of how pale I am. Then he said, “Madam, please...” indicating that I should take a place on the seat, with everyone else! He was so concerned for me! It was so incredibly sweet, and people are doing things like that all the time here.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
My Fantasies
My first week in Srikakulam district, over two dozen people died in monsoon flooding. It serves to remind me how marginal survival is for so many people here. For instance, a huge killer of children is – diarrhea. When you’re starting off malnourished, there’s not a lot of buffer. Luckily, it’s not the case for me. I came with plenty of “buffer”.
The villages have all been really consistent in what they site as main health challenges – febrile and diarrheal illnesses. Usually, these come seasonally. Fevers can be caused by so many things: malaria, typhoid, dengue, chicken gunniya. Yes, chicken gunniya! It sounds funny but it really sucks. It’s an arbovirus like dengue (breakback fever), which means you get it from a mosquito bite (the Aedes mosquito, not the Anopheles that spreads malaria). The fever only lasts about 5 days, but the body aches seem to last up to 6 months! It can be so bad that sometimes it’s treated with steroids.
I’m struck by the sanitation in these villages. There are “canals” that are just open sewers with all kinds of foulness just there, in the middle of where the animals and kids are. And the water that people are drinking – it’s all contaminated. There’s agricultural runoff, sewage leaching, people bath and do their laundry just by the wells. The tribal folks hunt, and know that they get sick when they drink stream water, but people don’t seem concerned about the well water.
They’ve been recommended to drink “hot water” – it doesn’t have to be hot, just previously boiled – but they don’t. I asked and they said “lazy fellows”. I don’t really believe that (Geez these people are hard working). I think they don’t like the taste, and they’re just not used to it. Folks keep their own houses very clean (a huge challenge given the mud and dirt and no screens to keep insects out, etc) but have no consciousness of keeping public spaces litter-free. So rotting food in the road brings more bugs, that of course, bring more illness.
It’s so outside the scope of my training, but I feel that addressing these issues is really the only thing that will make this trip truly worthwhile. I think the top 2 health prioritites have to be removing fecal contamination from the environment, especially protecting the water, and controlling the mosquitoes. I’m reading the Humanure Handbook, and wracking my brain to figure out how that concept can be put into practice here. It feels a little hopeless to think about how big a change in daily behavior this would be, but being here would just be a waste without even trying. I guess the main thing I can do is talk about how important this is, talk about some solutions, and hope that people are convinced enough to try to implement some changes.
Years back, the government tried implementing a scheme to place sanitary latrines in every village. Unfortunately, they were an entirely inappropriate technology (required water, for one thing) and culturally inappropriate, too (the only time the ladies get out of the house to gossip is when they trek into the fields together to go squat!). The project failed miserably and if they’re still standing, the loos are used as storage sheds.
I fantasize about appropriate technologies: compressed earth bricks (so much fuel is consumed firing the crumbly bricks that are used produced currently); humanure compost, solar power… I pray to Shiva and Kali and anyone else out there… let these technologies diversify and propagate like grains of sand on the shore!
Soundtrack today: Jennifer Noxon’s Water and Alison Krauss Down to the River to Pray.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Goatherds on the job
Ok, things are definitely picking up now. I’ve started doing field visits with Asha Begum. We’ll be visiting villages in the 3 different geographic areas served by BREDS: the plains area where lots of paddy (rice) is grown, mostly Dalits and some mixed communities live there; the hills where tribal villages are and they grow pineapple, cashew, turmeric, etc; the coast where they also grow cashew, and they fish. The visits are exhausting, with many hours spent driving the horrible roads, lots of smiling and head wobbling formalities to strangers, but this is how I get my juice! Getting a glimpse of these people’s lives, getting to listen to them and see them interact, and especially, getting to see Asha in action. She teaches with humor and charisma and in the photos you can see, the women are just entranced.
The visit generally starts with a drive out the red dirt roads for anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. There seems to be lots of road construction going on all over, which means piles of dirt, rocks or bricks left on the “roadside”, jutting out into the road, really, for us to swerve around. The road workers are generally toothpick thin men and women that carry piles of bricks or dirt on their head from one spot to another. Ramarao honks, and no matter how huge their load, it seems acknowledged that it’s their job to get out of our way. Same with the herds of cows, oxen, buffalo and goats. Same with the smaller vehicles like bicycles and motorcycles and autorickshaws loaded with many many people, and certainly with less suspension than us. Ramarao drives right into them, honking honking honking, getting so close, to get them to move out of the way. Usually, he’s the sweetest guy and he has this ridiculous high pitched giggle, but he’s a relentless driver.
The scenery is incredible. Green rice paddies and water tanks, hills off in the distance with mostly uncultivated forest and huge stones. Oxcarts with huge wheels, the driver bouncing along, and the oxen with the pompoms between their horns. Fields of saris stretched out to dry. My favorite is the goatherds with their parasols, wearing panchi (man-skirt) and not much else. When we arrive in a village, I’m usually greeted by a couple of representatives who put a small mala of flowers around my neck, a dot of red kumkum between my eyebrows, maybe burn some camphor and throw some turmeric rice to give me a blessing and a welcome.
Then we make our way to a community space – either under a tree, or in an angan wari, and talk. I usually start by asking how many of you are doctors? None. How many of you are mothers? Everyone! Well, every mother takes care of the health of her family. By feeding them, taking care when they’re sick. You’re all doctors, I tell them, and this makes them very happy! Then I tell them I’ve come to help them be better doctors for their families.
We talk about what health care resources they have – either public clinics that are free, private docs that charge money, or public hospitals in case of severe illness or delivery of a baby. We talk about what the common health problems are – mostly fever (which can be malaria, arbovirus, etc) or diarrhea (mostly from contaminated water). Also, gynecological complaints like discharge or heavy bleeding. From village to village, at least 20% of the women are getting a hysterectomy for heavy bleeding that they’re told is precancerous!
The visit usually ends with an “Ask the doctor” session – people showing rashes, lab results, asking why their shoulder has hurt for 20 years or why their neck hurts when they carry 5 gallons of water from the well (in a pitcher on top of their head!).
Lastly, I’ve been showing folks a really simple 8 step surya namaskar (yoga sun salutation). It gets everyone moving and smiling (as they struggle with their saris in a lunge!) and it’s a really great indigenous tradition that mobilizes and stretches pretty much every part of the body. It's a great preventative measure for musculoskeletal complaints, and has lots of other health benefits, besides.
The goal of the visits is for me to get a sense of what the issues are, so that I can develop some training modules for the BREDS staff. This will increase their knowledge, and make them more effective community health workers. I’m already excited about some ideas…
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