Living India - My travels so farDear all, It has been a long time since I last wrote. A lot has transpired. I have now left Udaipur (see "Leaving Udaipur" for this significant transition) and have been travelling around India to various medical and public health NGOs and more traditional travel destinations for the past month. I have been plotting to send an email update ever since I left Udaipur on April 4, but it seems whenever I try to write I am on the move, too tired, or just taking in the experience. I have created outlines of my experiences along the way which I plan to elaborate on during a more extensive and detailed reflection. But in this email, I have made some very brief synopses and one elaboration in a Word document. I should also say my travels during my time in Udaipur and afterwards have raised significant questions and yet provided some insights for me in terms of life in general, the human condition, and my vocational calling; I'm still processing all these specifics and therefore have not articulated them yet. As I write these words now, I am overlooking a white sand beach, green palm trees, and blue-green ocean at a beach in south Goa = quite a contrast from dusty and dry Rajasthan (and now as I am rereading, rewording, and finally sending this email I am sipping tea while overlooking the town of Darjeeling in the foothills of the Himalayas). I have several goals in travelling to NGOs (nongovernmental organizations). One, it allows me to see a unique side of India that many people never see - like rural areas, where 70% of Indians live, most still in poverty. Two, I hope visiting these NGOs, most of which are quite reputable, will foster additional vocational insights to the ones I gained in Udaipur. So far, this has happened. Three, it is quite wonderful to have someone expecting you and give a warm, personal welcome to their work, community, and home when travelling alone. So far, this has exceeded my expectations. I have included my travel itinerary below, much of which I have already done. Since I have adjusted to India, I can navigate rickshaws, trains, taxis, and planes quite easily. I actually enjoy the stress of travel - it is like a good workout. I must endure cramped buses, heat, a lack of sleep, long periods of sitting, incessant panhandlers, and also look up bus/train/plane travel schedules, wait in long queues for tickets, find the right station/train/railcar/berth, search for hotels, find good food, coordinate with hosts at NGOs when I am coming, and budget my money. India has trained me to be patient and a sense of humor goes a long way in the wake of what can only be described as insanity or chaos. So far, I feel I have been very blessed as I left Udaipur and as I have travelled. It is as if God has been with me all the way. I believe the brief synopses following the itinerary will make this clearer. April:
May:
Leaving Udaipur- Many things happened in the past months, including the death of my grandfather and a medical school interview which prompted me to return to the US for a week; my visitation to another NGO's project villages; a maternal and child health conference; the Hindu festival of Holi; Easter Sunday; and the completion of my contribution to a grant proposal and my host organization. But this reflection is about the roots I now have in Udaipur. People really care about me there, and the relationships I made, in itself, has made it all worth it. (See attached document) The Jamkhed Comprehensive Rural Health Project- This NGO was started 40 years ago by doctors who decided to practice in the village areas of Jamkhed, about 6 hours east of Mumbai and 4.5 hours east of Pune. In addition to the seeing the interrelation between medicine and public health in the project model, I witnessed what I call personal and communal transformation of people. Due to the amazing dedication of the Jamkhed project workers, community ownership of initiatives and empowerment of the villagers themselves occurred. I was dumbfounded to hear village elders tell me the caste system no longer exists in the project area. I again was shocked to hear and see a husband assist his wife with an unremarkable household chore. And again I was struck by how women, greeted me with direct contact and even hugs. Speaking with empowered village health workers, who are now seen as integral community assets, a woman said, "If women have the power to carry the prime minister of India in their wombs, on what basis should men dominate their lives?" All these things would be unthinkable in my experience of Rajasthani villages. This was not due to cultural differences; villages in the vicinity of Jamkhed but outside the project area resemble village life in Rajasthan and other parts of India. But people's lives have truly been transformed at Jamkhed and the health and quality of life has drastically improved. Miraj- Through connections with the Presbyterian Church USA, I stayed in Miraj, Maharasthra and visited Wanless Hospital, started by a Canadian missionary over 110 years ago, a leprosy hospital, and an NGO that works in the red light districts and works with sex workers and their children, many of whom suffer from HIV/AIDS. The church community's welcome and the depth of their mission made this a special visit. I was graciously accommodated by the health professionals throughout the mission hospital. I saw the care, support, inspiration, and ministry a Christian pastor fostered with sex workers and their children in the red light areas and even visited a church which had recently been built in place of a brothel. I was asked and gave the Sunday sermon at Miraj Christian Church on "The Power of Transformation," inspired by my experience at Jamkhed. I also visited a rural church and realized when I arrived that I was expected to preach again, so I gave an abridged version of the morning sermon through Marathi translation of my host. Please see the attached MP3 audio recording of the morning sermon. Goa- I swore never to go to Goa due to its hippie-Westernized image. But the first line of my travel book said people swear never to go to Goa for the same reason and yet there is plenty to do to avoid that scene. I'm glad I went. I was rewarded with a palm-tree lined beach, white sand, and blue-green ocean. I loved eating good food, swimming, jogging on the beach, and doing absolutely nothing. BR Hills/Karuna Trust- From Goa I travelled to Mangalore for a day to visit my host brother from Udaipur who goes to school there. I experienced modern India in a new mall, like the ones popping up all over India, and ate Pizza Hut pizza for lunch (quite a luxury for a traveler). From there I took a 6 hr bus to Mysore, Karnataka and then made my way to BR Hills, a wildlife sanctuary home to tribal peoples and an NGO called Karuna Trust which works with the tribals on health, education and livelihood development. Although less structured than my previous NGO visits, I again saw the consequences one person's vision and dedication can have for an entire community. While there, a tribal festival also drew thousands to this usually serene jungle forest. And again, I made friends with people my age (I think young people are more likely to have jobs in these remote, dedicated projects rather than established professionals with families). Kolkata/Sonagachi Project- When I visited Kolkata four years ago, I classified it as the craziest place on earth. It still maintains that title in my book. More than most Indian cities, Kolkata encompasses a broad mix of modernity, squalor, culture, colonial heritage, and religious significance. I stayed with a friend and colleague from ARTH in Udaipur who moved back to his hometown of Kolkata for a new job. Again, it is wonderful to have a friend and local who is concerned about your well-being and provides food, accommodation, and travel guidance. Although enroute to my desire to reach Darjeeling in the foothills of the Himalayas, one of my reasons for visiting Kolkata was to learn more about the Sonagachi Project in the red-light district of Kolkata. The world-renowned Sonagachi Project was the first and most prominent health program to specifically address HIV/STI issues of sex workers; it now has evolved into a more comprehensive support, empowerment, and advocacy group for sex workers in West Bengal. I toured the various HIV/STI clinics, economic cooperatives, and other sites in the red light area and had extended conversations and even lunch with sex workers themselves. The visit highlighted a growing interest of mine: how to balance quality, evidence-based public health and development with a sound mission, cogent ethical framework, and wholistic ministry (plan to elaborate on this later). Darjeeling- Tucked away in the foothills of the Himalayas of West Bengal lies Darjeeling. Although famous for its tea and mountain views, it was quite misty and foggy during my visit. Nevertheless I visited a Tibetan refugee self-help center, the Himalayan Mountain Institute formerly headed by Tenzing Norgay (topped Mt. Everest with Edmund Hillary for the first time), drank lots of tea, and hiked 15 miles through misty, green forest with some villages along the way. Again, I plan to elaborate on all these experiences in deeper reflection, especially on my viewing and understanding of public health and development through these various NGOs I have visited. Shanti (Peace), Will |