Ambalapattu

I definitely was suffering from a case of the Mondays this morning, most likely due to post-vacation apathy!  Luckily, we had a fantastic guest lecturer, Sangeetha, who not only happens to be a member of ICTPH but also is the team leader of our GI team.  Sangeetha provided us with a great introduction to ICTPH's process of selecting and training community members to serve as community health workers/Sugha Vazhvu Guides (SVGs). (Side note: Sugha Vazhvu, a partner of ICTPH, is an organization that has established micro health centers in rural communities in southern India, in an effort to address health concerns of these underserved areas.)

I should probably warn you that this post will probably end up being ramblings about public health and therefore a bit dull.  I would add more pictures to balance out the dullness, but I didn't get a chance to take many today...  Maybe I'll throw in some more from Pondicherry! :)  Anyway, read at your own risk!

After lunch, we headed out on our third field visit, to a city called Karambayam, which is about a 45-minute drive away from Thanjavur.  Here, we got to chat with the community's local SVGs about their health concerns for the area and witness their incredible enthusiasm about their roles in the community.  I couldn't help but smile when these women eagerly expressed their desire for more advanced training!

We then split up into our teams and explored the neighborhoods.  My GI team went to the nearby village of Ambalapattu with Sangeetha and two SVGs.  (Before I forget, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to these 3 wonderful women for helping us navigate our visits today!  I really appreciated it!)  Our first visit was to the home of the Panchayat (aka, the community's "President"), where we learned about the community's infrastructure for water distribution.  We also were told how parents (especially those of upper classes) tend to take their children to expensive private physicians instead of the easily accessible (and cheaper) clinics.  Interestingly, although a cheap, effective treatment exists for diarrheal diseases (i.e., oral rehydration solution [ORS]), this method is rarely used, as parents prefer to receive treatments that supposedly provide "instant" relief, e.g., vaccinations or antibiotics.  When the Panchayat was explaining this to me, I couldn't help but think of the parallels to perceptions in the US, where American parents often demand antibiotics for treatment of their child's ailment, whether or not this treatment would even be effective.  Sorry - off of my soapbox!

We also were informed that school-based education campaigns about health might be the most effective way to spread health messages.  The Panchayat's young daughter provided us with proof of this successful message campaign by shyly reciting some of the health messages she had learned from school:  brush your teeth twice a day, wash your hands after you use the toilet, and eat fruits and veggies (this may not be exactly what she recited, but I was too distracted by her adorableness to fully pay attention!).

Our next stop was at a house just down the road, where I was immediately fascinated by the mango tree in their yard and the hundreds of coconuts lying out in the driveway, soaking up the intense Indian sun.  The couple that lives in the house soon explained that they were in the process of making coconut oil, which they joked would most likely end up being sent to the US!

At this house, my heart yet again melted at the level of hospitality we've received here in India.  As the older couple scrounged up some chairs for us to sit on their porch, they told us "when you're in our home, you're family."  We had a long discussion about the family's health and soon learned that this couple was raising their 4-year-old grandson.  We further discussed the effects of clean water on health, how corruption seems to be infiltrating all aspects of Indian life, and comparisons between the US and India.  I was a bit surprised that the family and even the SVGs were asking us American students about the best ways to stay healthy and how water fits into a healthy lifestyle. Clearly, this community is eager to learn! 

Apparently our GI team was a bit too engrossed in our conversations with community members, as we ended up making the rest of our class wait almost 1.5 hours to leave Karambayam!  Again, sorry friends, but we were just having too much fun in Ambalapattu!  Anyway, this delay ultimately resulted in our car being stuck behind a celebratory parade for a temple festival, during which our car full of American students somehow became part of the spectacle!  We also saw some men walking an elephant down the rural highway, offering blessings to community members!

caught in a temple festival parade!

Elephant butt! :) 

All in all, a good day!  Gotta hit the hay so I can stay up late tomorrow to celebrate another classmate's birthday (Dessa)!