The Wandering Two: 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: