Today was a GREAT day! I ended up going in the Jeep again to visit the villages to do some sickle cell testing instead of the mobile van. I can go on that Monday if I want. But we left in the dreaded Jeep again this morning with Pradeepa (the lab technician), three health animators for the area and Isabel. We made a stop at the Sri Madurai area center which serves the villages that we were visiting to pick up some supplies before going to the villages. The villages we were visiting were inside the national forest so one of the health animators had to take a signed letter stating that we were there to dispense medicine and perform the blood tests.
The journey through the forest was really cool. I felt very adventurous because we were driving through the forest and there was no one but us and the all the trees. The tiger reserve is also part of this forest so there were fences throughout the path we were driving on to keep all the animals away. The first village we went to was called Puliyalam. It was pretty deep in the forest so it's important that the health animators visit the families because it is a very long journey and hard for them to get anywhere close to a bus station let alone the area center. Today's trip centered around replenishing medicine and testing those individuals that hadn't been thus far for sickle cell.
As soon as we got there all the kids started jumping up and down, coming close and running away and then coming back. They were especially fascinated with Isabel and it was really funny to see how apprehensive they were about approaching her but as soon as she would smile or wave they would get smile and run away. This kept repeating throughout our entire time at the village. We started out by weighing the babies so that we could update their growth charts to make sure they were on track for their age. Then one of the health animators gathered all of the school aged children to get them a lesson on personal hygiene. She stressed the importance of brushing your teeth, bathing everyday, keeping your hair clean (to prevent lice), cutting your fingernails so dirt doesn't build up, and to wash hands and feet after using the "bathroom."
Other health animator talking about personal hygiene Sickle Cell Blood Collection
Collecting everyone's blood Some of the kids in Puliyalam
They wanted to get a picture with us. I think more so Isabel but they were
happy with me too :-)
I have a ton of pictures from this village that will probably go up on facebook later.
The health animators that I met on this trip were fantastic. They were great at explaining things and great with all the families. The health animators themselves are part of the Adivasi population but have taken the initiative to become trained nurses. They have completed all the testing and are certified nurses. One of the health animators has been working with the hospital since it started over 20 years ago. Each of the villages also has a health volunteer. This is a person of the village that kind of keeps track of what is going on in the village health-wise. They then let the health animators know if there is anything that needs to be done in the village in between the monthly visits.
The second half of the visit at Puliyalam was making sure that the people missing a sickle cell test had their blood taken. This wasn't the easiest of tasks since most of the individuals missing the tests were children. They started crying as soon as Pradeepa would take out the needle to do the prick but other than that they were fine. All of the kids were pretty distracted by our cameras. They loved when Isabel and I would take pictures and then show them what we took.
We did have sort of an odd stand-off halfway through our visit. Apparently once a year, an animal census is done in the forest to see how many animals (elephants, tigers...) are actually in the reserve Well these brilliant census workers decided to come into the village. While it's one thing to come with good intentions to just talk to the people and go about on your business these guys decided they wanted to take pictures of everyone and with everyone. They kept wanting to take pictures with Isabel and it got so bad that they were disrupting the work that we were all doing. These guys had the "better than you" attitude that made me want to smack them. They were being very ignorant and rude and acted like they were so much better than everyone else. One of the guys started arguing with one of the health animators about whether or not she had the right to be there since it was a national forest. She explained to him that these monthly visits were approved and have been happening for the past twenty odd years but he wanted to know who she got approval from, what the person's number wouldn't accept the fact that she was allowed to be there. Technically speaking, the health animator herself is an Adivasi and has more of a right to be there than he does. It was very irritating and annoying. Apparently, our driver told them off when they left the village to wander around. The guys tried to say something to the driver who wasn't having any of it. The driver apparently knows pretty much everyone associated with the forest and told them that he would be happy to call any of them if they didn't just leave. That was pretty much the only "hiccup" of the trip. Everything else went smoothly afterwards. Once we finished up at Puliyalam we said bye to everyone and the kids all followed us until we got into the Jeep. We could hear them shouting bye to us as we drove out of sight.
Before we made the next visit we stopped off in a field somewhere in the woods to eat our lunch. It was great to be in the forest because the wind was strong and we barely felt the sun. It was very nice and refreshing. After lunch we headed to the village of Mandankarai where again we weighed the babies and younger children and collected blood from some of the villagers. The community here was not as easy to work with as Puliyalam. It took some coaxing and prodding to get the kids and the moms to come close enough to ask questions and at times it was like pulling teeth to get the right child to collect blood. A few of the kids ran away as fast as they could when they saw the needle and didn't come back until everything had been packed up and we were leaving. But regardless, everywhere we went the kids were excited and fun to be around.
Eating lunch in one of the fields Gathering around to see how the weight is taken
Children in the village of Mandankarai
The last village we stopped at was Nagampali which literally was IN the forest. The other villages were in areas surrounded by fields so it didn't feel as closed off but this village was in the woods. There weren't as many individuals here and since it was so late in the day we just checked on the babies and recorded down their weights. One of the girls though had been married off when she was 15ish and now has a 4 month old baby that looks like she has a very bad case of scabies. The doctors and health animators have tried to get her to come to the hospital but the mother hasn't been listening. The baby had scabs all over her body and scalp and her hair was clumping together in knots. The mother also seems to have a case of post postpartum depression. She hasn't been taking care of the baby that well and has no breast milk to feed the baby. Not completely sure but the health animator said that she was almost positive that all of the kids had some degree of scabies. The health animators gave out the needed medicine for the scabies but unless the kids take ALL of the medicine and clean everything it will just keep coming back. It was very hard to see the 4 month old baby with so many scabs. But the visit in Nagampali only took about 30 minutes since there weren't a lot of people there.
By the time we started to head back to the hospital it was already 5. I was so exhausted from the entire day. Pretty much every village we went to involved a significant trek from where the Jeep was parked. But in the end it was well worth it. It was an amazing experience and I enjoyed it a lot. The driver decided to take a different route back through the forest to show us the elephants that were in a "camp" area. We also got to see quite a lot of monkeys on our way back. While exiting the forest the ranger at the check post came out to say that we weren't allowed to take a "foreigner" into the forest. Apparently it's a law that foreigners aren't allowed inside the tiger reserve area. How did they know Isabel was with us? The stupid census people had come back and blabbed. What the ranger didn't know was that the census people had been a nuisance with the pictures and their attitude. It's also illegal to take pictures in the forest which they conveniently didn't say they had been doing. I mean we took pictures too but we had permission from the individuals and our intention was not to make fun of the community's situation which was what those guys were doing. But the driver and health animators talked to the ranger and settled things and we headed back to the hospital.
Once we got back we had about an hour to chill and relax before leaving for dinner. Dr. Menon had invited everyone over for dinner at his house. He lives on the same road as Durga whose house we had gone to on Monday and his house was even more magnificent. I think it's three of four stories tall and he had a ton of family staying with him. We got to meet his wife's sister and sister-in-law both of whom were very interesting to talk to. His wife's sister used to work in London with a company that served as a health advocate. She worked in Rwanda to help evaluate their programs post-conflict to see how on track they were with their improvements and to see if anything more could be done. His wife's sister-in-law, Mona, grew up in the States and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with her nursing degree and then later her MPH. Her family recently moved back to Bangalore and she told us a little about what she does as a cardiac nurse. The best part of the dinner party was getting to play with the two golden retrievers. Dr. Menon and Mona each have a retriever and they were more than willing to be petted by all of us all night long. We headed back to the hostel around 10 and now it is 11pm and time for sleep. :-)
Sri Madurai Area Center
The journey through the forest was really cool. I felt very adventurous because we were driving through the forest and there was no one but us and the all the trees. The tiger reserve is also part of this forest so there were fences throughout the path we were driving on to keep all the animals away. The first village we went to was called Puliyalam. It was pretty deep in the forest so it's important that the health animators visit the families because it is a very long journey and hard for them to get anywhere close to a bus station let alone the area center. Today's trip centered around replenishing medicine and testing those individuals that hadn't been thus far for sickle cell.
We were just surrounded by trees. It was beautiful
Getting all the medicine from the jeep
Puliyalam: The First Village
As soon as we got there all the kids started jumping up and down, coming close and running away and then coming back. They were especially fascinated with Isabel and it was really funny to see how apprehensive they were about approaching her but as soon as she would smile or wave they would get smile and run away. This kept repeating throughout our entire time at the village. We started out by weighing the babies so that we could update their growth charts to make sure they were on track for their age. Then one of the health animators gathered all of the school aged children to get them a lesson on personal hygiene. She stressed the importance of brushing your teeth, bathing everyday, keeping your hair clean (to prevent lice), cutting your fingernails so dirt doesn't build up, and to wash hands and feet after using the "bathroom."
The kids in the village when we arrived Health animator filling in the baby's weight
happy with me too :-)
I have a ton of pictures from this village that will probably go up on facebook later.
The health animators that I met on this trip were fantastic. They were great at explaining things and great with all the families. The health animators themselves are part of the Adivasi population but have taken the initiative to become trained nurses. They have completed all the testing and are certified nurses. One of the health animators has been working with the hospital since it started over 20 years ago. Each of the villages also has a health volunteer. This is a person of the village that kind of keeps track of what is going on in the village health-wise. They then let the health animators know if there is anything that needs to be done in the village in between the monthly visits.
The second half of the visit at Puliyalam was making sure that the people missing a sickle cell test had their blood taken. This wasn't the easiest of tasks since most of the individuals missing the tests were children. They started crying as soon as Pradeepa would take out the needle to do the prick but other than that they were fine. All of the kids were pretty distracted by our cameras. They loved when Isabel and I would take pictures and then show them what we took.
We did have sort of an odd stand-off halfway through our visit. Apparently once a year, an animal census is done in the forest to see how many animals (elephants, tigers...) are actually in the reserve Well these brilliant census workers decided to come into the village. While it's one thing to come with good intentions to just talk to the people and go about on your business these guys decided they wanted to take pictures of everyone and with everyone. They kept wanting to take pictures with Isabel and it got so bad that they were disrupting the work that we were all doing. These guys had the "better than you" attitude that made me want to smack them. They were being very ignorant and rude and acted like they were so much better than everyone else. One of the guys started arguing with one of the health animators about whether or not she had the right to be there since it was a national forest. She explained to him that these monthly visits were approved and have been happening for the past twenty odd years but he wanted to know who she got approval from, what the person's number wouldn't accept the fact that she was allowed to be there. Technically speaking, the health animator herself is an Adivasi and has more of a right to be there than he does. It was very irritating and annoying. Apparently, our driver told them off when they left the village to wander around. The guys tried to say something to the driver who wasn't having any of it. The driver apparently knows pretty much everyone associated with the forest and told them that he would be happy to call any of them if they didn't just leave. That was pretty much the only "hiccup" of the trip. Everything else went smoothly afterwards. Once we finished up at Puliyalam we said bye to everyone and the kids all followed us until we got into the Jeep. We could hear them shouting bye to us as we drove out of sight.
Before we made the next visit we stopped off in a field somewhere in the woods to eat our lunch. It was great to be in the forest because the wind was strong and we barely felt the sun. It was very nice and refreshing. After lunch we headed to the village of Mandankarai where again we weighed the babies and younger children and collected blood from some of the villagers. The community here was not as easy to work with as Puliyalam. It took some coaxing and prodding to get the kids and the moms to come close enough to ask questions and at times it was like pulling teeth to get the right child to collect blood. A few of the kids ran away as fast as they could when they saw the needle and didn't come back until everything had been packed up and we were leaving. But regardless, everywhere we went the kids were excited and fun to be around.
The last village we stopped at was Nagampali which literally was IN the forest. The other villages were in areas surrounded by fields so it didn't feel as closed off but this village was in the woods. There weren't as many individuals here and since it was so late in the day we just checked on the babies and recorded down their weights. One of the girls though had been married off when she was 15ish and now has a 4 month old baby that looks like she has a very bad case of scabies. The doctors and health animators have tried to get her to come to the hospital but the mother hasn't been listening. The baby had scabs all over her body and scalp and her hair was clumping together in knots. The mother also seems to have a case of post postpartum depression. She hasn't been taking care of the baby that well and has no breast milk to feed the baby. Not completely sure but the health animator said that she was almost positive that all of the kids had some degree of scabies. The health animators gave out the needed medicine for the scabies but unless the kids take ALL of the medicine and clean everything it will just keep coming back. It was very hard to see the 4 month old baby with so many scabs. But the visit in Nagampali only took about 30 minutes since there weren't a lot of people there.
Had somewhat of a trek to make it to Nagampali.
The kids in Nagampali
ELEPHANTS!!! So Cool!
Once we got back we had about an hour to chill and relax before leaving for dinner. Dr. Menon had invited everyone over for dinner at his house. He lives on the same road as Durga whose house we had gone to on Monday and his house was even more magnificent. I think it's three of four stories tall and he had a ton of family staying with him. We got to meet his wife's sister and sister-in-law both of whom were very interesting to talk to. His wife's sister used to work in London with a company that served as a health advocate. She worked in Rwanda to help evaluate their programs post-conflict to see how on track they were with their improvements and to see if anything more could be done. His wife's sister-in-law, Mona, grew up in the States and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with her nursing degree and then later her MPH. Her family recently moved back to Bangalore and she told us a little about what she does as a cardiac nurse. The best part of the dinner party was getting to play with the two golden retrievers. Dr. Menon and Mona each have a retriever and they were more than willing to be petted by all of us all night long. We headed back to the hostel around 10 and now it is 11pm and time for sleep. :-)
did you go to Mudumalai forest., So cool.
ReplyDeleteNice pictures! I took a J-term class on Alan Rabinowitz's book "Life in the Valley of Death," where he talks about establishing nature (and particularly tiger) preserves, and it was an interesting book but it did sort of mow over a lot of other issues relating to the people living in these communities. You get the sense that it's so incredibly hard to get governments to put aside land for nature preserves that the people fighting for this are constantly, constantly on edge and suspicious of anything that might mess with their nature preserves, which might explain why they get so pissy about people they don't know coming in, even if they have permission.
ReplyDeleteThe tiger census people aren't even from the area. They are from other part of Tamil Nadu. Everyone I was with was from the surrounding area. They are from some place else and their suspiciousness wasn't about us being there. we had more or a right to be there then they did. They weren't supposed to be wandering into the villages and causing trouble. They were only supposed to be keeping track of the animals.
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