One Month in....

Welcome Back!

I’ve officially completed my fourth week here in Anadur, India.  And to tell you the truth, I’m loving it.  Now, I can’t say that I don’t miss the conveniences that city life brings – especially one in the US.  But it has been fantastic to get away and become more in tune to life without things I often take for granted: TV, air conditioning, forks...  You know.

I’ve finally gotten settled, got together a bit of a routine, and have started to make this little campus my home.

I'll start you off with a beautiful picture taken from
 the balcony at work.  This looks onto the front "lawn" of my NGO.

My Daily Schedule

-- 6:30am: The natural alarm clock of 3 barking dogs RIGHT outside my window begin.  If only other things in my life could be so constant.  I attempt to fall back asleep.

-- 7:30am: My electronic alarm clock goes off. 

-- 7:45am: I finish hitting the snooze button. 

-- 7:45 – 9:00am: Wake up, throw on some clothes, and run to the hot water tap with my two buckets: one for shower and one for laundry.  Cross my fingers that we have hot water today.

-- 9:00am SHARP: Whether I want to or not, I will get a fierce knocking on my door forcing me to breakfast.  It doesn’t matter that I’m in the middle of a Skype conversation, or need another five minutes to finish my shower, breakfast is currently being served and I need to be there.

Breakfast!  This dish is sushila, a puffed rice dish cooked 
with onions, chilis, peanuts, and turmeric.  Some lime on the side.  

-- 9:30am-ish – 1:00pm: Work.  I say 9:30 ish only because…by the time I get downstairs to the office and people actually start to show up.  What’s the difference, 9:30/10:00.  The Indian working environment is DEFINITELY different from the high-pressure, high-stress American one.  I have never felt so relaxed and at ease (the most stressed I’ve been is when I accidently misplaced my phone).  Some days are more productive than others.  Other days you might find me catching a few ZZZs in a corner chair.

The office!  As you can see, it's crowded at 10:00am.

-- 1:00pm: LUNCH…which I’m usually starving for.  And I have recently discovered probably the most ingenious thing: the afternoon nap.  By 1:30, I am sprawled on my bed, fast asleep for a nice 30 minute snooze.

-- 2:00 – 5:30pm: Let’s finish up this day!  Chit chat with the colleagues, get some work done. All in a day’s work.

-- 5:30pm: TEA TIME. A great afternoon break. 

-- 6:00 – 8:00pm: Relax from the day.  Usually I’ll hang around the campus, go for a walk, grab some personal internet time, or relax with my new friends on the campus.

-- 8:00pm: Dinner.  Same rules for breakfast apply here.  If I’m not at the mess by 8:00pm, someone’s coming for me.

-- 9:00pm: Back to my room, unwind, and get ready for bed.  Many of you have utilized this time to pester me with your Skype calls (actually, keep at it.  It might be the only thing keeping me sane).  I’ll grab a book, get some reading in, and just relax from the day.

-- 11:00 – 12:00am: Put up the mosquito net.  Turn on the electronic mosquito repellant coils.  Take my malaria pills. (Do I sound paranoid yet).  And sleep.

And it all starts over again.  Monday through Saturday, you’ll find me with the above routine.

My work

So I’m sure you are all very interested in learning what I’m actually doing here in India.  Well, I’ve just recently figured that one out myself (whew…) and I’m really looking forward to it.  My task (at least right now): to create a data management system so that my NGO can accurately/reliably track one of its programs.  In layman’s terms: create a monster excel spreadsheet that can store a lot of info.  In professional jargon, create a Management Information System (MIS).  The program I’m currently working on is a health/microfinance program, called “Women’s Empowerment”.  The idea is that women’s microfinance groups within villages can help empower women to better take charge of their health, local governance, domestic violence, etc. 

So, in order to learn more about current MIS systems in place, I traveled to Solapur (the closest city – 40 km away) to shadow coworkers in a project that works in the city’s slums.  The project encourages women’s microfinance groups within the slum to “adopt” pregnant women and ensure that they get proper prenatal and postnatal care.  I have to say, this has been one of the most sobering and fascinating experiences in my life.  Every person I met was happy to see/meet me and proud to show me the work that they had been doing.  Aside from the conditions of their homes or the depth of their bank accounts (which wasn't much), I felt a genuine sense of warmth from the community.  

Now, I want you to forget Slumdog Millionaire.  This isn’t Mumbai. The slums that I went to were not as destitute as the ones you are thinking of.  Many of Mumbai slums are illegal communities that spring up around the city.  Solapur's slums are legal (oxymoronic...I know).  And maybe it was because Solapur isn’t as poor (maybe?) or that I wasn’t taken to those slums specifically.  Most homes were concrete, or were mostly concrete with some corrugated metal roof/walls.  Main features were that: people were poor.  And people were lower caste.  I didn’t realize it, but caste is SUCH a major player here in India.  In one slum, the entire slum community was dalit (or community below the entire caste structure).  Interesting tidbit, they were mostly Buddhist.  Why?  My guess is that back in the 1950s, a very famous Dalit leader Dr. Ambedkar (who actually wrote the Indian Constitution) converted to Buddhism.  This prompted a lot of dalit communities to convert as well, hoping to leave the caste system behind.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work, and a lot of dalits still find themselves poor and excluded from most social/public roles.


I went with coworkers, meeting the contact people within the slums, and doing some home visits to pregnant women and recently delivered mothers.

A "candid" photo with members of the Ragwarda slum in Solapur.  
These women are a part of the local women's microfinance group. 

Grabbing some tea at a community volunteer's house in 
the Municipal Corporation slum before heading off to another 
Bachat Gat, or microfinance meeting.

A microfinance meeting at the Municipal Corporation slum. 
 Here, they are showing me how they explain to pregnant mothers
 about the need for good nutrition during pregnancy.  
As you can see, these meetings become a family affair.

Drinking some tea at the home of a recently delivered 
mother who had been "adopted" by the local microfinance 
group.    In this house, about 4 families live together.  
I think this stop was my 7th cup of tea for the afternoon.  
Each house would offer me a glass of water (which I would politely 
refuse - gotta play safe) and then boil me up some tea.  
I had to accept, otherwise it would have been impolite.

At another slum, a majority of the women generate income 
by making biddis, which are homemade cigarettes.  
A woman can make approximately 80 Rupees a day in such activities, 
approximately $1.60 USD.  Definitely not enough to cover the 
expenses of a home and family.  But this is one of the only 
professions limited to members of the community. 

Language

Well, I can carry on a simple conversation: ask about the village, your farm, questions about your marriage and kids.  I would consider this a HUGE success on my part, especially because I’m not receiving any real formal training in the language.  In the official NGO office, no one speaks fluent English.  So I need to learn Marathi out of necessity.  Fortunately, what I’ve found with Marathi (and I think this runs with Hindi too), is that about 5-10% of words are actually English crossovers (i.e. office, tension, project, etc).  So this makes things A LOT simpler. 

Last week, I went to a monthly meeting in Lohara (a neighboring county) with leaders of women’s microfinance groups of about 15 surrounding villages.  I went with the NGO’s accountant, who does speak English.  The meeting was in a city about 40km away.  However, it took over 2 hours to get there – by way of 2 buses and a stop for tea.  We arrived at the meeting site.  I gave my “Namaste”s around the room and sat on the floor.  During the course of the meeting, I mainly sat aside and watched as women discussed (in Marathi) issues in their villages with regards to local governing bodies, a health insurance scheme run by the NGO, microfinance issues, etc.  The accountant occasionally turned to me and translated so I understood the gist of what was going on.  As the meeting wound to a close and financial matters were being taken care of, the accountant looked at me and said “It’s your turn.”  I looked at him, “For what?”   “To speak.”  I think as punishment for being silent during the meeting, I was forced to speak to the group of 20 women before me…in Marathi.  Well, here I go.

The group of women village leaders during the meeting.  

So now, everyone in the Lohara area knows I come from America, am not married (I use my age as an excuse…but that usually doesn’t fly with most people. Marriage is early here), have an older brother who works in IT (sorry, closest I could get to what you actually do) and is also NOT married (a big shocker here), a father in IT, and a teacher mother who is now retired.  Yes, the Adelman life history has spread all across the Anadur/Lohara region.  And this is actually the course of most conversation I have, so I wouldn’t be surprised if all of Maharashtra knows by now.

And so the trip back to Anadur, I must share, took approximately 3 hours by way of 3 forms of transportation: shared jeep, shared rickshaw, private rickshaw.  Shared vehicles attempt to pack as many living bodies (notice I say living bodies and not people) into one transportation device as possible.  In the shared jeep we took, which should comfortably fit about 10 people, we had squeezed 19 people (4 of them being children), 5 crates of eggs, and a sack of potatoes.  On other vehicles I had seen goats and chickens as well.  I WISH I had a picture to share with you, put seeing as I had one leg out the back of the car and half a butt-cheek on a seat, I wasn’t able to reach my camera.  But I thought the mental picture might be enough.

Holidays

And just in case you were wondering, we’ve just finished celebrating two holidays here in India: Navratri and Dasserha.  Now, Navratri is actually a really really fun holiday filled with huge dance parties late into the night for 9 days straight.  However, it’s celebrated mainly in Gujarat (the state I had my orientation in) and major cities.  So, I wasn’t celebrated out here in rural Anadur. 

We did celebrate Dasserah, which is the same 9 days of Navratri plus one – 10 days total.  Now, I didn’t understand too much of why it’s celebrated, but most/some women fast for the 10 days.  On the 10^th day, everyone exchanges a certain kind of leaf and exchanges a Hindi greeting “Gold and Silver,” meaning our relationship will be like gold and silver (I think).  And on the 10^th day we ate some sweeter than usual food.  Here's a link to the Wikipedia post for more info if you're interested...

A Dassera Pooja, or place for prayer, in the home of a 
community volunteer at Municipal Corporation slum.

And so I’m sure you’ve read enough by now.  So I’ll cut it here.  But thanks for reading!  Some final pictures to leave you with...

I really do see some gorgeous sunsets here.  On my evening walk.

A picturesque view of the sky and farms.

Andrew

I thought I'd leave you with this happy picture.  
Sons of some of the volunteers of the Ragwarda 
slum. On the left, Abizek aged 8 and on the right 
Saheb aged 6.  It was Saheb's birthday!

Adventures in Anadur

And so I’ve survived my first week here in Anadur.  I don’t think survive is quite the right word… I’ve lived my first week here in Anadur.  It has truly been a fantastic journey for me to acquaint myself to living in rural India.  I tell you, it’s a bit different than living in Los Angeles. 

You have to love an Indian sunset.  Picture taken in Anadur.

So first, my accommodations.  My work is located on a campus about 2km outside of the village of Anadur.  The closest city is Solapur, which is located about 1 hour away by bus.  I’ve visited twice for work and to get myself some personal things (toiletries, sheets, etc.).  It is a pretty standard city, population about 3 million it seems.  I’m planning on “exploring” it at some point in the next few weeks, so I’ll update with some more info then.  The same goes with Anadur, population 10,000.  I haven’t really had the chance to explore the village too well because the only way for me to get there is by own two feet, and I haven’t felt quite so motivated yet.

Part of the vegetable market in Solapur.  
I was able to see it as we were going to fix 
the company car.  
Definitely more to come about Solapur.

The “campus” of the organization that I’m working with consists of 2 buildings located off of a main highway (one of which is a hospital, so I’m safe…..), but is completely surrounded by land and farms.  It’s gorgeous here.  At night I can look up into the sky and see thousands of stars (not something we can really do in LA).  Peacocks, cows, and stray dogs roam the fields.  I’m starting to get in tune with nature.  Although I have to admit that I have a small fear that anything with more than two legs has the ability to completely devour me…insects included (although the mosquitos have already taken advantage of that one).  I know I can get over this fear, but I think it may take me some time…

The campus!  To the left is the hospital.  To the right 
is the office and guest house (where I sleep).  
In front is one of the MANY stray dogs of India.  
Read on for further information about them.

The view from my window.  In the foreground is the 
small garden planted by the organization 
(completely organic).  

I am living in a guest room, pretty standard.  But, exciting news, it comes complete with…a flushing toilet.  Oh yes, no more squatting here.  So only positivity on my end.  The best part is that the organization runs a nursing school to train Auxiliary Nurse-Midwives (ANMs), who work in the villages as a part of government health centers.  So the school consists of 19 village girls ranging from age 18 to 29 (some are married with children back at home).  So they roam the “halls”.  I’m still attempting to learn their names: 8 down, 11 more to go.  The only issue is: none of them really speak English. 

My room!  Nothing to get too excited about though.

Which comes to obstacle number 1: language.  Yes, I am currently one week into learning yet another language: Marathi.  Marathi is the regional language of the state of Maharashtra (which is where I’m located).  Although close to Hindi (which I was learning in Ahmedabad), it is different enough that my 3 weeks of Hindi classes don’t help much.  Well, I’ve started learning this language.  However, I can currently only speak in singular first person present tense, which limits me to sentences like “I want food” and “I dance with my feet”.  Some other basics I’ve learned are: Maza nau Andrew ahe (My name is Andrew), and a good one: Tumza gau kotay ahe? (Where is your village?).  But then again, I’m only one week in.  We’ll see where I stand a few months from now.

The food, as I’m sure you all want to know, is pretty standard fare.  I eat in the mess with all the other students (although they usually eat at different times than me).  Breakfast will usually consist of some sort of grain dish with roasted peanuts and onions and chillis.  Such dishes are called: poha or sushila.  Lunch and dinner are the same: a vegetable (which varies from meal to meal. Examples include: bitter gourd, cabbage, or potato), chapatti (toasted flat bread), rice, and a watery lentil dish (called warad).  So although it seems like I’m carbo-loading, there is no planned marathon in sight.  I can only hope that I’m getting enough protein….

But the people here have been really warm and welcoming.  I’m currently in this position where I’m still very much considered a visitor at some points, where at others I’m just another employee.  The students have taken to calling me “Andrew Sir”, which flies really weird with me.  But then again, it’s not like I can tell them to stop (seeing as I can’t form that kind of sentence yet).  The NGO employees are again very nice and welcoming.  I’m trying to learn everyone’s name, but then again that’s a challenge because it isn’t American names I’m trying to learn, but Indian names that are really unfamiliar to me.  And Obstacle 2: none of the employees really speak too much English.  So…I guess that’ll force me to learn Marathi?  Or have no substantial conversations for the next 10 months.   I think I’m going to go for the former.  Fortunately, the teachers of the Nursing School are three guys aged 24/25 and speak very fluent English.  Hence, 3 new friends!  It’s very exciting.  They’re from Karnataka, a bordering state to Maharashtra, and speak Kannada (no, not Canadian...), with only varying degrees of Marathi. 

The first day I arrived in Anadur was the last day of the holiday of 
Ganpati, which celebrates the god Ganesh.  
It lasts 10 days, and on the last day a statue of Ganesh 
is thrown into a lake.  Here, all the people of the 
organization are preparing to throw the statue 
in the lake.  To the left are the girls of the Nursing School.

The work…oh the work.  I’m still figuring out my place here at work and what exactly I’m to be doing.  I know they want me to be creating information management systems, but I’m trying to figure out exactly what that means.  So for this week, I am merely trying to orient myself into the organization, finding out more about their programs and projects, and mentally coordinating the structure of the organization.  Pretty soon I have to develop a workplan, so hopefully I’ll be better situated to do that. 

And so my week ends.  I try to walk around the campus after dinner each day.  I’ve spent a fair amount of time reading.  And I am woken every morning at about 6:00am by 3 stray dogs barking their guts outside my window…why? I’m not entirely sure.  But I have no desire to get in the middle of it. 

One morning the head of the organization (who also
 lives on the campus) woke me up at 7:00am - yeah, 
that's early - to go to Naldurg, a city about 5km away, 
which has an impressive fort that was built 
in the 1500s.  Here's a view of the fort.

Certain years when there is enough rain, 
the fort forms these waterfalls.   This year, there was 
enough rain (actually a lot in India).  
Here I am sitting in a room underneath one waterfall 
and looking out to another.  
It was gorgeous.  Again, this is about 7:30am.

I’ve heard LA had some scorching temperatures.  But luckily monsoon season is coming to an end here and weather is really evening out.  So I can’t really relate to the heat anymore. 

Stay cool!

Andrew