Mind, body and soul: Adjusting to the frenetic frenzy of Mumbai’s rhythm
Erin, Sakina, and Adam in Behram. Photo by Anu.
During the past two weeks–where everyday has seemed like a Monday–the Mumbai team has been working diligently to meet our initial goals, not to mention making the necessary adjustments to life in Mumbai.
A PLACE TO WORK:
First of all, we have found a (really nice!) flat in Behrampada to host the community hyealth education center. It is on the edge of the community by the big road on the south side, in one of the government housing projects. The owner’s terms are that we rent for 11 months,and I would like to do this with the team’s blessing. It will serve as the education and Haat MeN Sehat (our water treatment system) distribution center while we are here and away, it provides a place for women in the children–Mahila Mandal or not–to join together and hold activities, health clinics, and small workshops, all
of our resources and supplies can be stored there, we will be in the community and interacting on a daily basis, and lastly we will not have to search for a place to use in the winter! It is not available until the 1st of July.
We are living across the street from the Tata Institute
of Social Sciences–a TISS student has been working closely with Anu
on the education program, and they are doing great!
SURPRISE GUESTS:
In preparation for our first workshop, Thursday evening we spent four
hours at one of the women’s houses making posters together to
advertise for the workshop. Not before 20 minutes had passed since our arrival, when from dark hallway little saalwar kameez and kurta-clad guests started arriving, all between the ages of three
and twelve. Apparently our host had arranged for the wee crew, and it wasn’t long before we all were making posters together. A bright young lady penned Urdu script announcing the date and time, and some boys traced their little hands and drew halo’s of soap suds onto the pages. Hands down, this was the zenith of my community experience–best time I’ve had there yet. We’ve been there almost every day, and I can’t imagine that things could be going better. This is going to be a great summer.
Kya Aap Angresi bol sukteN haiN? (Do you speak English?):
I took Adam and Arvind to meet our filter cartridge supplier, MMP Filtration, and they are all off to a great start. Adam is in the process of calling every plastics and filter fabric supplier and manufacturer in the Mumbai Yellow Pages in his attempt to simplify the design of the Haat MeN Sehat water treatment system and to bring the cost down. Adam’s Hindi phone skills have multiplied exponentially in the past 48 hours (notice the heading of this section…).
FORMING PARTNERSHIPS:
On Thursday I went with Arvind to Somaiya and had a wonderful meeting with
the director of the institute and the advisor for the SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) projects. We dreamed big, and they are ready to make a huge commitment to our
project. They sincerely see a gap in both their curriculum and field
work opportunities that our project will fill.
We hope to arrange similar meetings with faculty from TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences). This Institute requires its students to work in the field with community health volunteers from various projects. With a formal relationship with TISS, students could work year-round in the health center in Behram teaching health workshops and developing outreach campaigns.