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.