Foolywang

I cannot (and will not) come up with any other word besides foolywang to describe the past 3 days. For those of you who do not speak in Ebonics (about 99%), it means 'Someone, something or the act of something utterly whack,foolish or ridiculous' (http://www.urbandictionary.com/). I mean it in the best way possible of course, with an emphasis on the ridiculous.



Wednesday:

It was the festival of Krishna Janmashtmi- the birth of Lord Krishna which is a pretty big deal in these parts. here is the link for the whites :) (http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa082000a.htm).

ANyhoo, one essential part of celebration is 'dahi handi'- which literally means pot of yogurt. Various pots are set up locally in almost every nook and corner of the city, and groups of guys build HUGE human pyramids to try to break the clay pot suspended at a steep height.

That's all fine, but preceding this is material worth a sequel to 'Indians know how to get down' a very popular website visited by most Hopkins people (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7942583370526412&q=resort%20company). I have videos of the thrusts, fist pumps, flailing about and general tomfoolery that took place, but i need to figure out how to upload videos from my phone.

Thursday and Friday: WORK!

The organization i work for- NARI, works with 6 NGO's and sets up meetings in the community with the help of Peer educators- people who live within the said communities and create a general initial awareness of HIV.

**********Background: Pune is a city in Western India with a population of about 4.5M, with an HIV prevalence rate of 1.8%- this is double the national average and 0.8% above epidemic status! (Whose fault is this? The prevalence of HIV may be highly concentrated in the poorer sections of society, but really this figure is just signifying something else…inequality. However as with most problems, it is easy to blame those who cannot fight back).**********

The first meeting i conducted (with another colleague) was with a group of 11 women from a slum called Kesarvadi. These women have little or no education, and speak only in the native language, Marathi (my Marathi is getting better, i have no choice!) Firstly, these slums are pretty much what i expected- cramped, overcrowded, and filthy. People drink the same water they wash their clothes with and then cook with that too (Chelsea is probably having convulsions right about now!) BUT within these homes i found electricity, fans, flat screen televisions. They also keep their living quarters pretty clean (which really surprised me, compared to the stark difference right outside). They are also some of the most genuine people i have ever encountered- warm and hospitable beyond their means, they offer us tea, food etc although they probably can't afford to feed their own families adequately. PS Props also to the the Municipal Corporation for reaching these slums to set up appropriate water facilities (although i have only seen a few of the slums, this might not be a universal phenomenon). Damn this blog is getting long.

I had one of the biggest shocks of my life when we asked these women if they knew what HIV was. One of them even rattled off the 4 ways HIV is spread (blood transfusions, contaminated needles, mother-to-child, and unprotected sex). These were uneducated yet incredibly intelligent, informed women. I guess this is very telling of the untapped potential in these women. If only their parents had the money and resources to send them to school! After giving them a basic spiel, one of my colleagues asked "how many of you think you should get tested (we had given them the basic "huge reason for you to be at risk for the disease could be from sex your husband COULD be having with other women- possibly sex workers"- which is the main route of transmission of the disease in India btw). they all agreed that they are at risk and should all get tested. But upon asking the next question as to who is going to actually show up to the clinic to GET tested- only 3/11 raised their hands. That i see as the biggest problem. Everyone knows the risks associated with AIDS, but there is such a stigma attached to even GETTING tested and TALKING about AIDS, that not enough people are coming forth to ensure their own (and partners' safety).

There is soooooooooooooooooo much more i want to say but I'm afraid of all your incredibly short attention spans. I am in the process of turning all of this into a research paper for those intersted, so i apologize for the hard-to-read format of this blog, its just a collection of my thoughts from the day with no particular order.

I am off to Bombay tomorrow AM (YAY FINALLY) for one of my friends' birfdays(double yay!!) so i get to see all my loves in the city (and hopefully get to visit some of my usual food stops). PS I'm getting fat. OK good.

Talk to you all sooooon!! Besos!