Out in the field....at last
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2007
1
17
23
Trip End
Jul 30, 2008
Kushinagar,
India
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. Of course, Sangeeta would be doing all the talking and I would be mostly observing (and taking pictures, of course).Our journey began at around 10:30pm on Monday night when I met Sangeeta at the train station for our overnight train to Gorakhpur, another district of UP that's about an hour away from Kushinagar. Apparently there are no trains that run to Kushinagar, so we would have to take a train to Gorakhpur and then a bus or car the rest of the way. Sangeeta told me that Gorakhpur wasn't the train's final stop, so we wouldn't be able to sleep too soundly because we didn't want to miss our exit.
One thing I've gotten really good at here in India is being able to sleep on trains! I usually go to bed almost immediately after I get settled and can sleep at least 4 or 5 hours without waking up. This train ride was no different. A few minutes after I made my bed and laid down I was out cold...only to be woken up at around 4:30am by Sangeeta who herself had just gotten up and realized that the train had stopped. She asked another passenger where we were and it must have been our lucky day because he said "Gorakhpur." The train had arrived early, which is usually unheard of in the "often-running-late" Indian railway system. Not wanting the train to pull away from the station with us still on it, we quickly shuffled on our shoes, grabbed our bags and dashed out the door and onto the platform
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
.Sangeeta led the way down to the station entrance where we had to get a cycle or auto rickshaw to our partner organization's Gorakhpur office. Surprisingly, there were several cycle rickshaw walas (drivers) standing around outside the station, so we hailed one and smooshed in (luggage and all) for the long ride to the partner org.'s office. The roads, of course, were pretty empty at 5:00am, but luckily we were able to flag down a man out for a morning walk to ask directions. We reached the partner org. around 5:15am. The gate was latched shut, so Sangeeta and I attempted to undo the latch. We made so much noise in the process of attempting to open the gate that the gatekeeper woke up and came out of his little house to meet us. After we explained what we were doing there at 5:15 in the morning, the gatekeeper opened the gate and led us into the organization's "compound." Compound is really the only way to describe the partner organization's offices. Although it was dark when we entered, I could see that the grounds were well-groomed, with tons of potted plants and trees. The organization's offices and training rooms were housed in several large, yellow, concrete buildings. Sangeeta had told me that this partner organization was a Christian group that led trainings for villagers in the area. The big cross and Jesus pictures on the walls of the buildings made that clear, but I couldn't help but feel that these Christian symbols were somewhat out of place here in India
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. I know that there is a growing Christian population here, but so far I hadn't run into any Christians here in Lucknow, and I wondered if Christian Indians incorporate any Hindu beliefs or rituals into their practice of Christianity, kind of like I've seen among Indigenous groups practicing Catholicism in Latin America.Anyway, the gatekeeper went to check on something and then led us up to one of the guest rooms (usually for people attending trainings at the organization) where we both went to sleep for another couple of hours.
We woke up around 8am and went downstairs to the "Mess" to have breakfast and meet the Father who directed the organization. It just so happened that the Father, who spoke perfect English, had just gotten back from a sightseeing trip to NYC, so we spent a while talking about New York and the tall buildings and the snow. The Father then arranged for one of the organization's vehicles to take us to the organization's field office in Kushinagar so we could make it in time for our 10:30am meeting that Sangeeta had told me about. As we were heading towards the car, we crossed paths with a group of about 10 village women wearing their beautiful sarees and with their "signature" large gold nose ring in their left nostril. They all, almost in unison, touched their hands together to greet me with "Namaste." Then they erupted into lots of questions for me, few of which I understood
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. I smiled, said Namaste back to them several, and tried to speak a bit of Hindi to tell them that I was visiting from my NGO in Lucknow. Then we said goodbye and made our ways towards the car. The one word I'd use to describe our 1.5 hour ride to Kushinagar is bUmPy! The road was definitely in bad shape and we bounced and bumped over god knows how many potholes for almost the whole way. I'm glad we were in a big car, though, since braving that road in a cycle or auto rickshaw would have been even more "jostling" of an experience.
When we arrived at the Kushinagar field office (also like a compound), we were greeted by two very sweet, young nuns (both spoke some English) who ushered us into their office for tea with the Father who directed the site. The father was very nice and asked us about our visit and our plans. After tea, a few other people showed up and we had a "planning meeting" (as far as I could tell that's what it was, but it was all in Hindi, so I'm not 100% sure). After the meeting Sangeeta explained to me that soon women leaders from each of the local villages would arrive for a leaders meeting. While we were waiting for the women to arrive, the Father showed me around the enormous school that the organization runs at their Kushinagar site. The school has 1,700 students from grade 1 to grade 10, and serves mainly Hindu families, since most people living in that area are Hindu, not Christian. As we walked through the school grounds, the kids were at recess, and it seemed that they couldn't help but stare at this strange white person walking through their play yard...Luckily by now I'm used to all the stares!
By the time I came back from the quick tour of the school, many of the village women had arrived and were getting seated around the edges of a large cloth laid out on the ground in the courtyard
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. Most of the women looked like they were in their 40s or even 50s, though there were a few women who seemed to be in their mid-late 20s and early 30s (Warning: I have no idea if this is an accurate estimation of their age...I could be totally off). Like the woman we had seen that morning at the Gorakhpur office, all of these women wore brightly-colored sarees, had gold nose rings, and used red bindis and a red line of Henna down the part in their hair to signify that they were married. A couple of the women had brought along their kids, including one extremely cute baby wearing black coal (Kajju) around its eyes to "protect it from evil spirits." I took off my shoes and sat down next to Sangeeta, fully aware that the women were staring at me (though, why shouldn't they be....it's not every day that a strange-looking white woman comes to visit). Sangeeta began by giving an introduction (in Hindi, of course) and asking each of the women to introduce herself by saying her name, village and women's group (I learned later that these women were already part of organized women's groups in their villages). When it came to my turn to speak, I said (in as complete Hindi as possible) that my name is Rachel and that I am from America but now living in Lucknow and working with Sangeeta at our NGO. I'm not sure that the women understood me, since my accent's so bad, but I think that they appreciated my attempt to speak in their language.
The rest of the meeting was pretty much unintelligible to me since it was all in Hindi, but I did get some impression about what was going on by picking up a word here or there and observing the women's facial expressions, body language and dynamism as they spoke and listened. I was impressed by the women's eagerness to participate and share about their experiences, and I remember that at several points in the meeting, at least 5 women were talking at the same time and Sangeeta had to remind them the take turns
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. Of course I had to document this experience, both for my NGO and my own selfish reasons, so I had Sangeeta ask the women if I could take some photos of their meeting, to which they agreed.The meeting went on for almost 3 hours, and towards the end, one of the Sisters from our partner organization kept motioning for me to come inside for lunch. After the meeting ended, the Sisters eagerly ushered me and Sangeeta into the dining room where a delicious Indian lunch was awaiting us. We were both hungry, so the home-cooked meal just hit the spot.
After lunch, Sangeeta and I sat down and she gave me a brief recap of what happened during the meeting. Since Sangeeta's English isn't that great (though it's nearly fluent compared to my Hindi), I don't think I got a full picture of what everyone said at the meeting, but I was able to understand the gist of what took place and get some of my questions answered. From what I observed, many of the women had something to say and were eager to participate in the discussion. There seemed to be two or three women, including the young mother of the cute baby, who were more vocal (and more respected by the group) than the others, and Sangeeta told me that she noted down these women's names as potential "leaders" for the group
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. Sangeeta explained that she had asked the women to tell her about their experiences seeking and receiving government entitlements, such as ration cards, job guarantee money (the Indian government passed a law that says people who live below the poverty level are entitled to a certain number of days of work per year, and if they don't have work for that number of days, they are entitled to get money from the government...sort of like "unemployment compensation"), maternal health care, etc. After hearing from the women, Sangeeta informed the women that they had a right to receive these government entitlements which seemed to surprise and excite many of the women. It turns out that many of these women believed that the village headman (Pradhan), who is in charge of distributing and ensuring that the women receive these government entitlements, was giving out the ration cards, job cards, etc. as gifts or charity, and thus they had no idea that they had a legal entitlement to these benefits. I was shocked, but also excited that this first meeting had made such a big impact on the women!On each of the next 2 days we visited 2 villages where we held meetings with groups of between 15 and 35 women (and sometimes children, teenagers and some men too). In each village, a tarp would be set out on the ground and women would come back from their fields, or from working in their homes, to sit with us for an hour or two and talk about their experiences getting (or not getting) their government entitlements to food, work, and maternal health care
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. These meetings proceeded pretty much like the first meeting, with lots of active participation from the women in attendance! Of course, I got a lot of stares, since foreigners don't visit the villages too frequently. But in spite of the staring, I felt so welcomed by the women in the each of the villages. When we arrived in each village, women getting us at our car with smiling faces and warm "Namastes," and when we left, it often seemed like the whole village would come out too see us off, waving to us as we drove away.I won't describe every village visit, but will give a picture of my experience in the first village we visited, since that one was, for me, the most "educational." On the morning of the second day of our visit, Sangeeta, 2 partners from the Kushinagar organization, and I got into the organization's big SUV and headed off for our first village visit. We drove for about 30 minutes before turning off the main road onto a long, dirt path that seemed to lead straight into the sugarcane fields. As we drove through the fields of sugarcane, the dirt road narrowed and I began to question how this big SUV would be able to fit down this ever-more-narrow lane. Once we passed the sugarcane, beautiful mud-brick houses and thatched-roof huts started popping up along the side of the road. The houses became more common as we drove along, and it seemed like we were entering the village
Sangeeta at Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. Somehow the car managed to take us all the way into the village center (after some tight-squeezes along the road with ox-carts, hay bushels, and a few bicycles), and as we stepped out of the car, we were greeted by several of the village women who'd attended our meeting yesterday, as well as many curious children. We had arrived a bit early, so the women invited us on a little "tour" of their village. They led me and Sangeeta down a small path past several houses, a herd of water buffalo, stacks of freshly cut sugarcane and many bushels of hay towards one of the women's houses. When we reached the house, they motioned for us to sit down on a wooden bed/bench and brought us fresh cow's milk to drink. Now, I knew that I would be offered food when going out to the village, since it's the universal sign of hospitality. However, I was also somewhat worried about getting sick, since I know that my stomach isn't that strong and the standards of cleanliness in the village aren't what I'm used to. So, I tried to decline the milk, telling the women I had eaten a very big breakfast, but thanking the women for their generous offer. However, they kept insisting, and Sangeeta told me that it would be insulting if I didn't take it. So, I reluctantly accepted the cup and took a few small sips, hoping that I wouldn't regret this decision tonight!
After I had finished about half the milk, it was time for the meeting, so we all walked back to the village center where a blue tarp had been laid on the ground and about 25 women and children had gathered. Sangeeta led the meeting like she did yesterday, first asking everyone to introduce themselves and then asking them to tell her about their experiences with receiving ration cards, job cards and maternal health care
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. During the meeting, Sangeeta had a long conversation with an older woman who seemed very distressed. Sangeeta told me later that this woman's daughter-in-law had died in labor 2 days ago after the ANM (Ancillary Nurse Medic) gave her 13 injections while trying, unsuccessfully, to deliver her baby. It's hard to hear, but this sort of thing happens daily here in India (and in U.P. especially). The ANMS are often untrained, treat the village women poorly, and only want to make a buck. Seeing this woman and hearing about her daughter-in-law's death made me angry, and also made me think that the work I'm doing is valuable, although I am also pulled to do more...the question is, what can I do to help these women in a way that will be create sustainable and lasting improvement in their lives?? I'm working on figuring out an answer to that...but I'm open for suggestions if anyone has a good idea!After about 2 hours, Sangeeta brought the meeting to a close by thanking the women for coming and telling them that she would send them some forms that SAHAYOG created to help women document local cases of denied government entitlements and negative maternal health outcomes. Since I had sat there for 2 hours without saying anything, the women began pointing and motioning at me to speak. In my broken Hindi, I couldn't really express what I wanted to say to them, so I said thank you in Hindi and then asked Sangeeta to tell the women that I really valued the opportunity to attend their meeting, that I was thrilled to see how much everyone participated in the meeting, and that I learned a lot from them
Women Leaders Meeting (12-18-07)
. As we were leaving, the women asked me (though Sangeeta) if I could give them a job, or take them with me to Lucknow (or to the U.S., that wasn't quite clear). Their question made me feel so helpless...what could I do for these women?? They had so many basic needs that were not being met...how could I make a difference, where would I be able to help and where would my help be needed most? I know that I can't solve everyone else's problems, but I do feel compelled to use my privileged position as a "rich-in-their eyes," white, American to do something. Although I was thinking all of these things when they asked me their question, all I could do at the moment was to lamely tell them, through Sangeeta, that of course I would give them a job if I had any jobs to give, but unfortunately I did not even have a paying job myself at the moment. I also added, to try to get their spirits up a bit, that I would use the information they provided to us to try to create policy changes in India , since that's the goal of this maternal health survey I'm working on at SAHAYOG.
The rest of that day, and the next day, was spent visiting a few other villages very similar to the first, coming back to the partner organization's field office for lunch, and spending the rest of the evening reading with a break in the middle for dinner. The Father and Sisters at the Kushinagar field office took very good care of Sangeeta and me throughout our 3-day stay, making sure we had at least 3 hearty meals a day, plus teatime, and arranging all of our transportation to/from the villages, and back to Gorakpur and the train station at the end of our trip. When we left, Sangeeta and I both thanked them so much for being so caring and generous.
In fact, the only unpleasantness during our trip was the 2-hour delay of our train back to Lucknow which left us sitting in the Gorakhpur train station until 12:45am. Sangeeta and I made it back to Lucknow around 9:00am and, because we had to go into work in about an hour, we quickly said goodbye and ran home to shower and change before heading back to the office for a normal, and slightly less exciting, day of work.
Comments
Happy New Year, Rachel
We so look forward to your blogs and pictures! It is indeed difficult, much more perhaps for you than for us casual tourists, to come face to face daily with how so much of the world lives compared to us privileged few. You see what people mean when they say that just being born in the U.S. is like winning the lottery in many parts of the world. While there may be no easy or even good solutions, we are sure you will find a path that feels meaningful and 'right' to you. All the best in 2008!
Love, Steph and Marc
Hey there traveler!
rachel, your blogs are always so inspiring and detailed. I am trying to get to that point and watch out for my nexy blog coming by the end of the week......It has not been a good week- Peace Corps ebb and flows. I will let you know;-)
I am so happy to see all the bright colors and the women's sarees!
xo Lindsey