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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment