So when that girl asked me if I could introduce her to Amitabh Bachchan, she was on to something! Apparently he's coming to the Gandhi Ashram to shoot some movie at the end of this month! Dad, you better hurry up and come to India ;)
Today I started working on the first round of public health education presentations I'm going to be giving. I decided to try making just powerpoints of pictures and then just talking through things. Barotbhai said that you can get ready made posters that have to do with various topics, so I was thinking of then putting those up in the classrooms after we present. Right now I'm doing 3 different presentations - hand washing, water, and hygiene. Hand washing is pretty straight forward - I found a video to show and then various pictures. We thought about also bringing some soap and water and making the kids practice, which I think will be lots of fun! The big take home messages there will be - use soap, and it's very important to wash before you eat and after you use the bathroom. The water based presentation is fairly basic, but important in the rainy season. Since lots of kids get sick during the rain, we're going to do a really basic talk on - playing in the rain (ill effects), leaking houses, and mosquitoes. The hygiene one will be more in depth and interesting. It's going to cover everything from cutting your nails, washing your hair, showering, brushing your teeth etc. I'm going to find some pictures of do's and don'ts to present. The pictures are more to keep their attention. If anyone has any ideas on topics or messages to pass on, please let me know! Things like it's important to tell kids to use a nail cutter and not a razor blade to cut their nails (apparently a common issue) is all things that I would never think of having to teach about! This is already a great learning experience for me, and I'm sure there is more to be learned! I'm hoping to talk to the women in the sewing classes and stuff too and not only work with the kids.
Today was the first day of Shravan Mahino. It's a Hindu festival where people fast for an entire month. Most eat one meal and then only fruits and farari (approved) items such as things made of vegetables (potato chips), tea, and lots of various fried dishes, that are made out of non-flour based things. I decided to try to fast the entire month. Let's see if I can do it! Working with these people and kids reminds me that there are people in this world who may never experience what it's like to feel full or to never want to see food again (I know we've all felt that way before). If anything this will be a glimpse into that world - just some small insight into what their lives are like everyday.
In the evening we went to the seva cafe to celebrate the birthday of one of the staff members, Anjali. She's originally from Texas, came to work for awhile, and has ended up staying back ever since - and that was 7 years ago! The Seva Cafe to connected to Manav Sadhna and Gramashree (the sister organization especially for women). It runs on a gift economy. So basically you come, eat dinner (it's a really nice restaurant) and then you pay whatever you can afford and feel is appropriate. Then that money is used to make dinner for the following night. So your meal is paid for by last night's guests and you pay for tomorrow's guests. There are seva cafe's in the US and UK too - I believe there is one in Chicago. Anyways, they closed it down yesterday so Manav Sadhna could do the birthday party there. There is a stage, and a store next door where the sell goods that the kids and women have made - lots of decorate stuff and clothes - it's all really tempting to buy! We had music and singing - they even made me get up on stage and sing (and as most of you know me singing is highly not recommended). But it was fun - everyone else was being shy and they insisted :) No one covered their ears, so it must have been acceptable! Then we did the happy birthday thing, watched some videos that had been put together, and then ate. The food was really really good. The music continued, and people started doing garba - I was helping out in the kitchen dry dishes, so I didn't go in. But it was lots of fun and the atmosphere felt like family. I hear it feels like that every time, even on regular nights when strangers come to eat. The place just has that sort of feel to it.
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