No dog is neutered and all cows have diarrhea...

....these are just two of the many differences between the U.S. and India I have noticed so far. It is fairly inconvenient when, every place you walk, you have to be on the lookout for piles of fecal matter from dogs, cows, or goats. Kelly, one of my fellow interns, hopped out of our truck the other day and her foot planted right into a glob of the good stuff, which is especially unfortunate because it is mostly runny in nature. Taking a walk to the market to get some bananas just may have a few surprises :]

Anyway, I want to give you an idea of what I am actually doing here, as that was actually pretty unclear even to me before I arrived. I'm not even in the same city as I previously thought...I am in Pen, if you are wondering. The two other interns and myself work for an organization called CFI, or Children's Future India. This multi-faceted NGO has buildings in most of the states in India, with sub-unit office buildings in the different districts of the states. We are in Raigad, Maharashtra. I must say, it has been overwhelming getting to know this organization, as we are constantly working with different people every day. On top of that, each department of CFI has its own project going on, and there is little communication between departments. This works for them, because they know the needs of the community and do not need coordination or approval the other departments. So we are stuck sometimes, being told to work with a specific department and that department not even knowing we are there. Needless to say, we have gotten used to waiting and making small talk in the office with our very poor Marathi.

Sharad, our program supervisor, does direct us where to go for the most part. The first week, he would have us meet a social worker, and we would travel with that social worker to a village, or migrant worker camp and give a seminar on HIV/AIDS. Let me be clear though, we never have any idea of what they are saying or doing...we just follow and they explain later. It has been beneficial when the social workers bring brochures to help explain how to prevent disease and the misconceptions about it; they have pictures, so it gives us some idea of what they are telling the residents. The second week, we worked with a doctor and accompanied her in the mobile health vans (not actually vans but an SUV). This was an interesting. And very exhausting. In this situation, not having very much Marathi or Hindi was extremely challenging. The mobile vans only go to VERY rural villages where the people there speak little to no English. We would basically ride with the doctor and driver to the village on a less than comfortable bumpy road, take pictures of the beautiful scenery, get ogled by the villagers, watch the doctor give out medicine, and go home. The heat and humidity does not help either. While we did indeed feel quite useless, it was a big reminder that we are here to observe, not necessarily to help...but my hands-on nature compels me to learn a few more words in Marathi. I know there is something to be gained from hearing only a few medical words and getting somewhat of an explanation from the doctor about what problems and diseases that these villagers face.

Village pictures:


Well, we have a new week in front of us, and I have no idea of which department we will sample in, but I am ready to rock. All three of us are feeling a little more settled in now, and definitely able to talk about our frustrations together.

A quick word about the food....it's kinda like Mexican food: it makes your nose run and goes right through ya.

let er fly,

Reid