Archive for June 30th, 2009|Daily archive page
Leave a CommentDay 3 – 6.13.09
By mistake, I deleted our Day 3 Vlog, but here is what happened:
Rohit, an NSS employee who is very enthusiastic about our project, took us to see villages today.
We first went to a village called Iswal–it was within the 108 ablulance service (like 911 in the US). The 108 service only has a 20km radius around Udaipur, so many villages (and the ones that we will be targeting) are outside.
At Iswal we interviewed a villager who owned a Chai shop and he told us that the village has about 1,000 residents and 50-60% are literate in Hindi.
We then interviewed a Compounder (nursing staff) at a government health care center. At the center, they treat infants with diarrhea and other stomach illnesses. They also do bandaging, stitching, and give elementary medicines. The hours were 8am-12pm and 5pm-7pm every day.
After leaving Iswal, we stopped at Losing. There we found an ambulance, and were curious to what it was doing since Lowsing is outside the 108 service. It turned out to be a private ambulance. When we interviewed the driver, he told us that the villagers pay 3.5 Rs/- per km to the hospital and back. These private ambulances can pick up anyone from anywhere in the state of Rajasthan–expensive!
From Lowsing, we went to Katar–an area of 7 villages that is run by 1 set of panchayat (village heads).
At Katar, Rohit identified one educated villager who he knew. During the interview, Rohit told him about our project and he seemed to really like the idea. He also agreed to be the VC (Village Correspondent–the villager with the cell phone)!
We then interviewed one on Katar’s panchayat — he thought our project could really save lives (see below). He also told us that it would be easy to spread the knowlege to all of Katar’s 5,000 residents because every month they have a meeting with village representatives and all information is passed along through that.
Our last interview of the day was with the village ANM (midwife). She tols us that in case of an accident, she can give basic first aid but the only way to get to the hospital is through a private ambulance which is too expensive for most.
All of the villages we visted have Airtel cell phone network, which is great. We should try and test out with Vodaphone since their company supports such projects around the world.
-MH-
First couple days in India – 6.11.09 to 6.12.09
We have finally gotten our vlogs uploaded!
Here is what happened our first 2 days:
This was our first attempt at vblogging, and because of the lengh, here is what happened in text:
Day 1 (6.11.09)
We met with the Narayan Sewa Sansthan (NSS) hospital, the hospital we have been in contact with. The head person at the NSS gave us demoralizing feedback saying that our project was “just not possible.”
We then had a meeting with NSS people who make documentaries in the villages and after they understood that we aren’t here to give them money, they started seeing how our project could make a difference.
Looking to get some patient feedback, we drove to the government general hospital in Udaipur and talked to some patients from the villages. They had the consensus that a medical advice line could be very beneficial to them.
We learned that if the patient is Below the Poverty Line (BPL), then they get all their medical services free from the government.
Day 2 (6.12.09)
We met with the Seva Mandir, an NGO that works with over 600 villages around Udaipur to implement education programs.
They took us to 2 villages and we saw a preschool (spoke with the teacher and even heard some of the kids sing a nursery rhyme!). We then saw other education facilities that they have established like a Non-Formal Education (NFE) facility where students can go to catch up on their education after their normal governmental school hours.
Lastly, we spoke with a midwife who essentially transports a pregnant woman about to give birth to a care center and takes care of her after. She receives 300 Rs/- for the ride and the mother receives 1400 Rs/- for giving birth in a government care center.
Unfortunately, the midwives are illiterate, otherwise they would have been great to handle our cell phones since they are already recognized in the community.
But luckily, the Seva Mandir staff that accompanied us said that we should be able to find a literate person and was positive about the potential of our project!
-MH-
