The End of Week 1

Hi Again!

Since I last posted on Wednesday, we've done so much I'm not quite sure where to begin. It's been exhausting, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I guess I'll start with Thursday and go from there.

We had another day of classes at SVYM on Thursday. So far, we've learned a lot about the labor and employment situation in India in addition to general information about the social/political/economic situation. I can't believe how much I've learned in just a week, and it's been great to have the opportunity to sit and listen without the pressure of a grade at the end. On Thursday night we watched a dance performance at SVYM, where we got to see performances of traditional dances of both Karnataka and Southern India in general.

On Friday we had the opportunity to see the SVYM field projects, each different but equally interesting and exciting to see. The first we visited was the tribal hospital and school at Saragur. There, we toured the hospital and learned a lot about administration of care and how it relates to the population it serves. I realized I know very little about not only Indian health care but also American....but fortunately we were there with the global health students from Cornell who were more than willing to answer my questions.

Hospital at Saragur

School at Saragur

The next site, the tribal school and teachers training college at Hosahalli, allowed us to learn about the current economic situations of tribal families as we discussed why the children want to receive a quality education. We also got to speak to the girls in the teacher training program, and even planted flowers with them in honor of earth day.
Finally, we visited the tribal hospital at Kenchanahalli, where we learned about ayurvedic, or more traditional, practice of medicine.
So that was a long, but amazing, day.

On Saturday (I'm sorry I promise I'm trying to keep this brief but there's so much to tell!) we had class again. In the afternoon we had a small session with Dr. Balu, the founder of SVYM, and had the chance to ask any questions. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far, as we got to learn more about SVYM as an organization, the population it serves, and its goals for the future.

Today (Sunday) we went to an elephant camp in the morning and then to a coffee plantation to get a more tangible perspective on the labor standards and issues we've been learning about. In addition to the very nice family who opened their incredibly beautiful house to us, we got a chance to tour the plantation and learn about their workers. It was really interesting, and definitely put our previous lectures into context.

Who doesn't love elephants?

Coffee plantation

We ended the day at the Golden Temple, an active Buddhist monastery. We learned that the monks are from tibet, and that in fact there are 3 large groups of monks from Tibet in Karnataka. It was a really cool place to see.

At the monastery

Inside the Golden Temple

This week we'll finish up classes, including more visits to different places that will hopefully allow us to see more of what we're learning in the actual workplace. Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this post!!

Have a good week,
Abigail