As the students who were posted to Community Health our first 2 weeks in Bangalore majorly wrote about the same clinic days we had this week, I will keep that portion of this blog post short. For the rest I will try to describe some of the strange and interesting aspects of South Indian life we probably haven’t posted about yet. I will also sum up my experience in India as I leave in less than 2 days. My fellow MN elective students leave just a few hours after me as well so all of our last posts are on their way.
Two of the days on Community Health this week were spent in activities I do not think KJ, Sasha, or Jill were able to undergo. These were the Autism village survey and a Cancer Health Information meeting. Libby and I spent Monday with a Psychology trainee who is conducting a survey of village children to identify the presence of mental health problems or learning disabilities in children. Specifically, she is collecting data to identify the percentage of children who may have Autism using the CHAT and M-CHAT questionnaire (for those of you who are wondering). Therefore, she has been visiting parents in their homes only in the villages around Mugalur to collect a small sample of the population as a representation of all villages around Bangalore. It was fun and informative to spend time with her visiting homes. All of the families were very welcoming of us into their homes. The older children liked to ask Libby and I our names and even our Mothers’ names which was surprising.
Wednesday we were able to accompany 2 physicians and a few health workers to a village near Mugalur to conduct a Cancer Health Information meeting for the village women. It was held in a school, as a lot of village clinics and meetings seem to be, and there were likely 15-20 women in attendance. The discussion was held in Kannada but we were given a short summation of what was covered afterwards. All of the discussion was actually centered around tobacco as a cause of cancer and there was no mention of breast cancer, cervical cancer, or ovarian cancer. I overheard the presenting physician explain that it is not effective to discuss these topics in a village setting as the women would not retain it well. He explained, for some reason, in his experience information on these more sensitive topics are more effectively received in a clinic setting or one-on-one. It is also not very socially and culturally acceptable to discuss topics like sexual health in public, which you must explain if you are going to discuss cervical cancer. During the talk an older adult woman came forward to show she had had a cancerous mass caused by chewing tobacco removed from her left maxillary (cheek) area. The physicians used her experience as an example to the women of how tobacco affects your health. The women did seem to receive the information well and were interactive with the physicians but, as women tend to do, there was quite a bit of chit chatting ;).
Interesting observations about India before I sum up my experience:
Granite and marble must be super inexpensive because we saw multiple homes with floors and walls covered with the material. My Mother is very jealous.
This may have been talked about, but almost all of the rickshaw drivers have their identifying information and blood types on the back of their seat in case they are in a collision. I’ve never been to New York or in a cab in Chicago but maybe this is also present there??
Multiple times but not every time we have seen families at restaurants the man is given the menu and orders for the whole family it seems without consultation on who wants what.
It has been strange to see how starkly different the villagers appear from people in the city. In the city, many young people wear jeans, T-shirts, leggings, and few jewelry items. While, in the village there is still a strong presence of traditional clothing including saris with short-sleeve shirts cut at the midriff called a choli or ravika. There is also a lot of jewelry worn including brightly-colored bracelets on both arms of women, silver ankle bracelets with charms on women, little girls, and little boys, gold earrings with small jewels in them, and sometimes large gold nose rings.
In the third-most populous city in India, I didn’t think it would be so interesting for Indians to see Caucasion people. I was surprised but understanding at the stares we receive while outside the medical college complex. We’ve all been saying how disappointed we will be when we return to the U.S. and we’re no longer the object of fascination or photographs.
Again, in the third-most populous city in India, I was surprised to see so many cows roaming the major streets. They’re even in the center of the city!! Goats, pigs, and chickens too!! You don’t need to road-trip outside the city to see wildlife in India like you do in the U.S.
So, to sum it up this has been a fantastic adventure!! My goal to see and learn about international/tropical medicine was met perfectly. I saw and gained knowledge of medical conditions I may have only read about otherwise and may never see again which is, truly, priceless. I experienced more areas of India than I had originally planned including New Delhi, Goa, and Hampi which was more than ideal. But, mostly, I saw India. The good and the bad, and that is what it really means to travel!!
Namaste! -Abby
Two of the days on Community Health this week were spent in activities I do not think KJ, Sasha, or Jill were able to undergo. These were the Autism village survey and a Cancer Health Information meeting. Libby and I spent Monday with a Psychology trainee who is conducting a survey of village children to identify the presence of mental health problems or learning disabilities in children. Specifically, she is collecting data to identify the percentage of children who may have Autism using the CHAT and M-CHAT questionnaire (for those of you who are wondering). Therefore, she has been visiting parents in their homes only in the villages around Mugalur to collect a small sample of the population as a representation of all villages around Bangalore. It was fun and informative to spend time with her visiting homes. All of the families were very welcoming of us into their homes. The older children liked to ask Libby and I our names and even our Mothers’ names which was surprising.
Wednesday we were able to accompany 2 physicians and a few health workers to a village near Mugalur to conduct a Cancer Health Information meeting for the village women. It was held in a school, as a lot of village clinics and meetings seem to be, and there were likely 15-20 women in attendance. The discussion was held in Kannada but we were given a short summation of what was covered afterwards. All of the discussion was actually centered around tobacco as a cause of cancer and there was no mention of breast cancer, cervical cancer, or ovarian cancer. I overheard the presenting physician explain that it is not effective to discuss these topics in a village setting as the women would not retain it well. He explained, for some reason, in his experience information on these more sensitive topics are more effectively received in a clinic setting or one-on-one. It is also not very socially and culturally acceptable to discuss topics like sexual health in public, which you must explain if you are going to discuss cervical cancer. During the talk an older adult woman came forward to show she had had a cancerous mass caused by chewing tobacco removed from her left maxillary (cheek) area. The physicians used her experience as an example to the women of how tobacco affects your health. The women did seem to receive the information well and were interactive with the physicians but, as women tend to do, there was quite a bit of chit chatting ;).
Interesting observations about India before I sum up my experience:
Granite and marble must be super inexpensive because we saw multiple homes with floors and walls covered with the material. My Mother is very jealous.
This may have been talked about, but almost all of the rickshaw drivers have their identifying information and blood types on the back of their seat in case they are in a collision. I’ve never been to New York or in a cab in Chicago but maybe this is also present there??
Multiple times but not every time we have seen families at restaurants the man is given the menu and orders for the whole family it seems without consultation on who wants what.
It has been strange to see how starkly different the villagers appear from people in the city. In the city, many young people wear jeans, T-shirts, leggings, and few jewelry items. While, in the village there is still a strong presence of traditional clothing including saris with short-sleeve shirts cut at the midriff called a choli or ravika. There is also a lot of jewelry worn including brightly-colored bracelets on both arms of women, silver ankle bracelets with charms on women, little girls, and little boys, gold earrings with small jewels in them, and sometimes large gold nose rings.
In the third-most populous city in India, I didn’t think it would be so interesting for Indians to see Caucasion people. I was surprised but understanding at the stares we receive while outside the medical college complex. We’ve all been saying how disappointed we will be when we return to the U.S. and we’re no longer the object of fascination or photographs.
Again, in the third-most populous city in India, I was surprised to see so many cows roaming the major streets. They’re even in the center of the city!! Goats, pigs, and chickens too!! You don’t need to road-trip outside the city to see wildlife in India like you do in the U.S.
So, to sum it up this has been a fantastic adventure!! My goal to see and learn about international/tropical medicine was met perfectly. I saw and gained knowledge of medical conditions I may have only read about otherwise and may never see again which is, truly, priceless. I experienced more areas of India than I had originally planned including New Delhi, Goa, and Hampi which was more than ideal. But, mostly, I saw India. The good and the bad, and that is what it really means to travel!!
Namaste! -Abby
This is a village house outside of Bangalore. It is more traditional as it has a tile, peaked roof unlike the more modern, expensive ones with flat roofs that are brightly colored. You can see the wash bins on the left of the picture. When we drive through the villages there are always women washing clothes and dishes using water carried in these buckets from the nearest water faucet.
This was the path through a banana farm field to reach the famous Mango Tree Restaurant. See Katherine's last post for a picture of a meal eaten at Mango Tree. Superb!!
This is the chaotic bus stop in Bangalore. The bathrooms left a lot to be desired. Squatty potties galore.
These are the elephant stables where the government elephants of the Vijayanagar empire which was centered in Hampi in the 14th and 15th centuries. We imagined the Queen being carried in her fabulous cart/wagon (something like that) by the elephants to her royal Queen's Bath structure below.
Apparently the Queen liked to swim a few miles while she was bathing. Largest master bathroom in the world.
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