Update from Lucknow

It has been a busy time here in Lucknow, and in the surrounding villages.  I have been working very hard on the tools for our endline evaluation next September.  Yesterday I went to two of the villages in our pilot district to do some pre-testing of the survey for the women.  In it we are gathering information about their knowledge and behaviors around key maternal and child health topics such as breastfeeding, birth preparedness and cord care.  With the help of our local partner organization I was able to visit 6 women who had given birth within the last couple months and pre-test the survey with them to see if the questions are easily understood, if the flow and order is right and to get feedback from the women, the organization staff and the ASHAs.  I’ve never worked much in the rural areas of India, most of my time spent here has been in the urban slums so it has been a very interesting experience for me to be able to attend mothers group meetings and visit women in their homes in very rural areas of Uttar Pradesh and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.  We got caught in a downpour of the last of the monsoon and I was up to my ankles in mud!

The staff at the guesthouse have taken a liking to me I think and are taking very good care of me despite the obvious language barrier.  If I’m not home by 6:30 to place my dinner order they worry about me and call our project manager to ask if I am alright.  They’ve started bringing me the dinner that I ordered along with a few bowls of other random dishes they’ve prepared saying, ‘you taste madam, taste!’ and of course I am more than happy to oblige.

It is extremely hot, muggy and humid.  I am always feeling sticky outside but the office and the guesthouse both have AC and then I feel spoiled.  I have been enjoying pomegranates and other fruits that are in season and much better than anything you get back at home as well as eating paneer every day, sometimes for lunch and dinner!  My other supervisor from Seattle arrived yesterday so it has been great to have support throughout my time here in Lucknow and to be able to check-in with questions and get feedback on the projects I am working on.  Everyone keeps telling me Lucknow is famous for lamb kabobs but everyone I know here is veg and won’t take me to try them!  Naveed is probably not impressed and would have had a kabob within 20 minutes of arriving in Lucknow if he had been here! 

I have been told not to buy any new Indian clothes during this trip but of course that didn’t last long.  My excuse is that most of my clothes are more than 5 years old from my first trip to India and they are now very out of fashion…I need to keep my Indian wardrobe up to date right?!

Here’s a few pictures from days spent in the field:

Mothers' group meeting

Another mothers' group meeting

Interviewing some women

Back in India!

I am lucky enough to be back in India after too long! As part of my MPH degree I am required to complete a practicum with an organization and was fortunate enough to get an internship with PATH (www.path.org).  I have been working in their headquarters office in Seattle since June on a health education project based around Lucknow, India and got the chance to come to Lucknow to see the project, meet the team and continue my work from here for about a month.  The project is a community-led health education project using videos on key maternal and child health issues and is currently being scaled up for an evaluation next year.  I am here with one of my supervisors from Seattle, and we have been working on various tools for the monitoring and evaluation of the project, meeting with partners, and attending the “video disseminations” to ensure quality of the data collection and just to make sure things are running smoothly.  One the weekends there is a little time for shopping and exploring of Lucknow which has some beautiful architecture.  I haven’t taken many pictures but here’s a few!  I miss my Wandering Two companion!

Visit to the House of Worship in Delhi

First meal of paneer! YUM!

Visiting Ambedkar Memorial in Lucknow

Huge park with lots of statues

There were 62 elephant statues in this row!

All of the elephants, this park just kept going and going with marble columns and statues etc...

I’m going to Bad Lippspringe --- HA! Good luck!

Hi folks,

It’s been a while since The Wandering Two went wandering thus the blog became boring.  Now one of us is wandering again so I will start posting on the blog again, even though my dad is probably the only one who will read it!   First, a quick post on my short trip to Germany last month for my dear, dear friend Farid’s wedding to beautiful Hannah:

Upon arrival in Frankfurt airport, as I was going through immigration the officer asked where I was going.  I said Bad Lippspringe (thanks to Sonja’s mom for helping with my pronounciation!).  He laughed and said, ‘say it again!’.  “Bad Lippspringe”.  “Not bad…so is your friend picking you up or how are you getting there?”  I said, “I’m taking the train!”  Officer: “HA! Good luck” passport stamped, sent me on my way.  For the record, I managed to find my way to Bad Lippspringe just fine!  Spent the week visiting with old friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in 7 years! And celebrating the marriage of Farid and Hannah, as well as visiting the Baha’I House of Worship in Frankfurt. 

With dear old friends from around the world! Sena, William and Niyaz

Old friends from the BWC (and spouses)

William, Sena and I with Farid and Hannah after their civil ceremony

All of the janis!

Hooray!

So happy to have seen my dear friend Asiyih :)

The ladies

With Negar and the happy couple!

Excursion out of Bad Lippspringe to Paderborn cathedral

Had to try the spaghetti eis!

At the Paderborn fair

So happy to have seen these guys!

With Nahal joon at the House of Worship