SUCHI

Dr. Shelia Benjamin of SCINDeA (previous post) wanted us to experience one of the 15 NGOs that comprise the SCINDeA network.  Therefore, we left the wonderful Yelagiri Hills and state of Tami Nadu for a short visit in villages outside of Chittoor in the state of Andhra Pradesh. 

We visited the NGO called SUCHI - Social Unit for Community Health Improvement.  Once again we were visited with a musical welcome pictured below.

After our wonderful welcome, we went inside to learn about the NGO.  SUCHI is a mixed group of women and men (mostly women)  that designs activities to promote quality life in marginalized communities in three areas:  health, education, and socioeconomic needs.  Since we were a group of teachers, SUCHI wanted us to witness their dedication to education by visiting several of their village schools.  We were then divided into three groups and were off to three different villages.  Pictures of my experience are below:

This is the school that my group visited.

We were amazed at the creatively low-cost objects they used for manipulative activities.  Here, students learned hands-on to identify fruit by placing painted bottle caps around a chalk outline until a shape emerged.

Fulbrighter Connie connects with some some of the local students.

It's amazing how one large room can server as a classroom, gym, cafeteria, and napping place.  Here a student climbs a rope hanging from the ceiling for a little kinesthetic activity.

Here, perhaps one of the cutest children ever, naps in a sheet hanging from the ceiling.

SCINDeA Welcome

After leaving Delhi, we flew to the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and immediately took a long bus ride to a small town in the hills called Yelagiri Hills.  You may have read my earlier post on the summer festival I got to attend while in Yelagiri Hills, but I did not post on the purpose of visiting the town.

We went to Yelagiri Hills to visit the headquarters of an organization called SCINDeA.  The true name is:  South Central India Network for Development Alternatives.  In it's own words, SCINDeA is, "a Network of 15 field based NGOs initiated in March 1993 and working among the women, quarry workers, youth, children, tribals, dalits, fisherfolk and slum workers.   Of the 15 partner organisations 5 are headed by women." More information on SCINDeA can be found at http://www.scindea.org.

After receiving yet another garland of beautiful smelling flowers, we were ushered into the main meeting rooms where we were greeted by our hosts Dr.'s Sheila and Bennett Benjamin (heads of SCINDeA). We then spent the day in lectures on various topics. Our first lecture was a beautifully worded and executed lecture by Dr. Bennett on many topics from the history of Yelagiri Hills to nutrition and poverty in India and even a wonderful explanation of the caste system.

After lunch, Dr. Sheila educated us on the work of SCINDeA and it's 15 NGOs. During her lecture, she gave an example of one of the best examples of common rural cultural health misconceptions seen in India. For me it really helped me grasp where some of the poor were coming from. Let me try to capture the gist:

This misconception is about diarrhea. We know you need to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and maintain normal bodily functions. We also know that when a person is experiencing diarrhea, increased fluids is the first step to combat the diarrhea. Culturally, rural Indians do not drink much water. They believe that the more your drink, the more you have going into your body. That equals more going out of the body. Therefore, they believe that if a person drinks water while having diarrhea, it will only get worse. The unfortunate side effect is that much of the infant and child mortality attributed to diarrheal diseases is actually a result of dehydration.

For the majority of the people in India, if a family member comes down with sever enough diarrhea to get treatment, it becomes a big deal. A person must forfeit and entire days wages to get to the nearest town with a doctor and wait in line for treatment. This often means that the person will no longer have the funds needed to provide food, so the person must go to a lender and barrow money. Now he has to pay the principle of the loan as well as the very much inflated interest just for that one doctor's visit. Often times, the only thing the doctor will tell a person is "drink more water" without explaining why. So, now the patient feels that the doctor does not care because in his mind the doctor wants him to have more diarrhea since he has to drink more water. So, he is now frustrated, finds the visit a waste of time, and won't go back for future health problems.

That is where NGOs, and organizations like SCINDeA come in. If only the rural villagers knew that a simple sugar/salt solution and increased fluids could prevent diarrhea, then the whole situation could have been avoided. So, these NGOs will organize educational programs to inform villagers why these fluids are needed, and then they are taught how to make a simple sugar/salt solution (to increase electrolytes).

I find this baffling; it's hard to think that this kind of education becomes the responsibility of the local people who care rather than the government as a whole. However, I also find this fascinating. the people of India are true survivors. They all work together to slowly battle some of India's worst problems.

Butterflies

In Delhi we visited Butterflies, an amazing organization dedicated to working with street children.  A staggering 20% of Delhi's population are child workers, many never get a chance to have an education.  Butterflies is an accredited educational institution that works very hard at meeting each individual child where they are at in order to provide an education. 

To Butterflies, "School" can mean a meeting on a sidewalk where reading and writing can be taught.  It could mean a bus parked nearby the main street selling areas where children are free to get on and learn during their "breaks" from work.  It could also mean providing a night shelter for street kids to live.  These shelters have meals, places to sleep, lockers for students, classrooms, and even computer labs.

This picture was taken at a night shelter.  Behind the boys lockers can be seen.  These lockers can be checked out for safe keeping of belongings.

At the shelter the main form of entertainment is TV

This is the classroom portion of the shelter, and it was also the first time we saw actual desks in an Indian classroom.

Here are two computers in their computer lab.  They took me way back!

Butterflies works with 1500 street children across Delhi, but it doesn't stop there.  There are over 135 branches across Southeast Asia in places such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, and others.  Not only do the students learn state curriculum, but also life skills such as banking.  Each shelter has a Children's Development Khazana (bank) to teach them money managing skills, budgeting, the importance of savings, basic accounting, and even loans.

The Khazana at the street shelter was opened especially for us to see how transactions were conducted...all student led.

The work that Butterflies does is incredibly hard to describe in a short blog.  They provide so many opportunities for the children on the street.  In addition to the education and banking described above, Butterflies also offers employment for some children to work at India's Childline (a helpline for lost and missing children).  The children also receive access to health care and vocational training.    We even learned that they publish their own newspaper called the Delhi Student Times, and they run their own BBC, Butterflies Broadcasting Company, with various media outputs.

This amazing organization is eager to work with American schools on various joint projects.  They would love to contact American students who can act as international reporters and write articles for the Delhi Student Times.  In addition, the Butterflies students could teach American students to set up their own Khazana.

For more information or contact, please visit www.butterflieschildrights.org