Two days to go until I move to the other side of town! Well, today was very productive-busy day- meeting to preparation to squeezing lunch in to a wonderful session with some women to clinic to temple to Bombay sandwich to 2.5 km walk home! I loved every bit of today!
I packed my paperwork and computer. Out the door-hush hush hush- meeting, finalized sessions. printed sessions, arranged with health workers time, place, and agenda. Out the door- rush home for quick lunch in 15 min- pack camera, sessions, stethoscope, BP cuff, water bottle, notebook, and out the door! walked thinking I won't find a rikshaw, but I got lucky and got to the community in 30 Rs-usually, it takes 45! anyway, health workers and I met up, chatted, recruited women, and started session> we had a good turnout. I did not really expect big groups. I wanted a medium group size to facilitate discussion and have the women feel comfortable enough to open up. Everyone can have a chance to talk and give their input that way. The health workers were a great addition, as they have done countless community health sessions on women's health before with similar populations. I learned from them as much as they learned from me. We collaborated to do 1.5 hour session on Breast and Cervical cancer. The women seemed very interested in what we had to share, and they themselves were very open to giving their feedback. It is nice when there is discussion created amongst the women, as it is very important for them to own their health! Self breast exam was a foreign concept, but in a land where many cannot and have not been exposed to mammography, self-breast exam is a simple method to empower women to take health and detection into their own hands. They were very enthusiastic about learning, and the talk on nutrition went very well too. Many women had great knowledge and they seemed happy to talk amongst other women about their lives, health, food, and family! Then we tried to fit in cervical cancer- if we had more time, we could've extended the session for a longer discussion, but we covered the main points. Cervical cancer awareness and detection should be on the forefront in India since it is the number one reason for cancer mortality in women in India, but there is so little attention given to it. I wanted to fit it in somehow, and the women had sat a little longer for us to generate a brief discussion on it, but an informational one at that. Overall, for the time and vicinity, it was a productive session. One of the most important point of the session is for the women the understand themselves what is going on. No information, demonstration, or empowerment is valuable if they cannot understand it, value it, use it, and apply it themselves. We are going to conduct another one tomorrow in a different part of the slum with a new group of women. It is open to all women. Our goal is to spread the word on awareness-a few women will share it with her family and friends and so forth. I am trying to get copies of sessions in Gujarati to leave with the health workers for future reference. It is good that this community has few health workers-one of which I have formed a great relationship with! Along with the clinic, the health workers serve as excellent resources and sources of support for many women. The health worker who I will refer to as behn (meaning sister) accompanies many women for all sorts of health issues or anything pregnancy/delivery related. She is a great inspiration, and I have had the gift of getting to know her in the past several weeks. We had a great photo session today with the health workers. I didn't get a group photo of the women who attended the session though as the session was pretty packed, and the women are very busy. I didn't want to take up more of their time, but tomorrow, I will try to get some photos in with their permission. I still have to take photos of the clinic. I took few snap shots of the children, the neighbors, etc.
Then, the clinic lasted an hour late as patients kept coming. We left at 830 after wrapping up. The dr. let me keep the Swami Vivekanand book as a gift- I was touched! What better present than that- well nothing tops the experience I have gained here! I am truly thankful that such people exist here. Everything is much more meaningful with a spiritual connection. That I formed with the community. Few laughs, many smiles, and plenty of warm of conversations. I enjoyed my time thoroughly here! Today, after the session was over and the women had left, the two health workers and I sat at behn's house where the session was. Behn made tea for us despite me denying it! She insisted, so I tried a little! When someone makes it with love, you don't deny it- rule of India. Then the health workers were anxious to learn how to use the BP cuff and measure BP. They had equipment in the office, but never really got to use it. A fun teaching session followed by a brief final photo session, and I headed to the clinic down the street. So many people with Chikungunya and Malaria- I got two mosquito bites there, and I was praying I don't get Chikungunya! I need non painful functioning joints!! Malaria-I am taking prophylaxis for so I don't worry much about it.
When one after another family member is getting Malaria or Chikungunya in the same house or neighborhood, the precautions need to be amplified even more. If they have mosquito nets at home, encourage them to use it. Some people have mosquito nets, and some don't. Some have it and still don't use it, so I try to understand why they don't use it, and what they think about it, and then explain how important it is to prevent malaria, Chikungunya, Dengue-out of the three, the first two are most common. Apparently the govt. provides mosquito nets for free to the community, but some people still don't have it.. Govt. may provide mosquito nets, but it should also follow up on their usage, damage, or replacement needs. There are many gaps. Govt. has wonderful TB program per WHO guidelines that has great treatment and follow up, but some people refuse to utilize it due to stigma and people thinking if the govt. provides something for free, then it is not good quality or service. Same goes for the Iron/Folic acid that is provided to women. Many people prefer to get it privately. Very interesting. Anyway, so much more to do and promote. Even more to learn and understand. Only then we are able to truly connect effectively with the community and individuals.
After clinic, I went to the temple near where I am staying (about 2.5km) since it was Sharad poonam ( full moon). I made it just in time before temple closed, and then I went to Bombay sandwich lahri (cart) in front of temple! Yumm!! I have Bombay sandwich almost every week here! My cousins were out anyway, so it was just my left for dinner. I decided to eat out on my own too! Got me some lemonade next door, and cadbury dairymilk. I ate half of it while walking home. I decided to burn some calories instead of catching a rikshaw. Afterall, I was consuming so many calories!! I enjoyed my walk home under the full moon. There were some garbas playing nearby as it was Sharad poonam! Sharad poonam ni ratrie, chandini ke neeche bhali baatdi...
I felt like joining them in garba- only if I did not have my two heavy bags with me!
I kept walking home and stopped by a Amul shop and got lassi.
Good day good day- catch some sleep and make tomorrow another productive day!
All in all, today was sweeter than chocolate! even that dairy milk I had!
"Kindness, I've discovered, is everything in life" -Isaac Bashevis Singer
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