AID INDIA

Feeling particiulary decadant about traveling these 5 months, Ian and I decided before we left that we wanted to volunteer for a week of our travels. Through four degrees of seperation, we were put in touch with Dr. Banaji Sampath from AID INDIA in Chennai through Amisha's mother, Chandan Sharma.

Staffed by dedicated men and women, AID INDIA is a NGO based in Channai whose main activitis are designing, implementing, and testing educational materials to improve the math and English education of students all over Tamil Nadu. They develop these materials then lobby the powers that be to implement these changes. It's a win-win situration for the children and the politicans. In addition, they are involved in rural health activities and education.

We both had interesting projects that we completed in a week. Ian built a PHP program to keep track of the organizations' scholarship awardees. He was literally in a sweat-shop working from 10 - 7 for 6 days in front of a computer in a stifiling hot office. He was able to create a very useful tool for the organization.

Their rural health education focudsed on women's health issues. In my discussions with Prabha, the health program coordinator, it became evident that they could benefint from both staff and village health-worker education in cancers affecting women. The most common cancer plaguing women in India is cervical at 30% and then breast at 19%. To put this in prespective, cervical cancer in the US plummeted after the advent of the PAP smear in the 1960s. Now, cervical cancer lies in the upper teens of most common cancers in the US. It seems fairly unknown here (as with some women in the US), that HPV, an STD, if the causative agent of cervical cancer. In common with many diseases targeting the poor around the world, it is a travisty that anyone dies of cervical cancer since there are such effective secondary preventative treatments. A recent NEJM cost-effectivness study of cerivcal cancer screening determined that if India screened women with one PAP smear, the lifetime risk of cancer by approximately 25 to 36%, and cost less than $500 per year of life saved (Goldie 2005). The Indian government has decided that the screening would be prohibitivaly expensive. Poverty, disenfransiment, female sex - a terrible mileu for womens' health.

Here was a great oppturnity for education. I developed educational pamphlets on breast and cevical cancer that will be illustrated and translated into Tamil. I also researched and prepared a lectures on cervical and breast cancers for the staff of AID INDIA - everything from pathophysiology of cancer, to prevention and treatment. Some of the 20 attendees were completely proficient in English, though most needed near simultaneous translation into Tamil by Prabha. I was pleased and supriesed that after hearing me lecture about cervical cancer for 90 minutes on a Saturday morning in a 90 degree room, they wanted to hear more about breast cancer. The two-and-a-half hour lecture was punctuated by lively discussion and question and answer periods. Unlike med school classes, not a single person fell asleep!

We both gained great gratification from the services we provided and met many great people. Hopefully our efforts were recieved in the like.

~Nisha

Back to Work

If you have been wondering why the blog output is a little off lately, except for catching up on things that happened a week ago, it is just because we have not been doing much except for sampling the Indian working stiff life in Chennai. Basically we have just been getting up in the morning, at which point I usually go for a run by the big downtown beach. Then we get to the office at 10AM (normal start time here), have lunch at the amazing Indian restaurant down the street and then leave at around 6:30 - 7:30. Then a trip for dinner (Chinese, Mexican and Pizza Hut the last 3 nights) and back to the hotel.

For the first time on this trip you are probably not jealous of what we are up to, besides maybe the leaches. Basically I am doing the same thing you probably are, except the office is non-AC, in Chennai mind you, and my office chair is a plastic patio chair, no Aerons here.

We are doing some good work however and that is really the point anyway.

First Impressions of Chennai

A few things on the city that will be our home for the next week:

- Chennai is not the most inspiring Indian city. It is fairly sprawling and spread out, and I do not think the sites here really stack up against the other big Indian cities. I can see why from a pure tourist standpoint is it written up in the Book as more of just a place to arrive or depart from. It is not well set up like Mumbai either, just the basic Indian chaos.

- That being said, the modern stuff here seems better then anyplace else. Near the AID INDIA office are 3 nice modern grocery stores. The only other one I have ever seen was in Kolkata, and that was just one. We went to a massive mall here tonight that was like a real mall. We ate Chinese at a great restaurant court that also had Pizza Hut (more high end in India then in US) and South Indian. I know this may not seem like a big deal for those at home, and against the idea of being in India, but after so long away from these things you start to appreciate them more.

- The only things that separate Chennai autorickshaw men from pirates is that they don't have a parrot on their shoulder and they don't say "Arrrrrr". They all don't use the meter and no matter how much haggling you do and you end up paying 2 to 3 times the km cost of anywhere else in India. This includes Mumbai where you at least get to ride in a real car. I would have a much easier time forking over 80 rupees to go 3 km if at least I had a parrot to talk to.

- We are staying in a pretty nice place called the Hotel Himalaya. Room is 1100 rupees and we have a new AC unit and a fridge in our big clean room. Also 24 hour Internet cafe. The only drawback is that the neighborhood is the least appealing I have seen in Chennai, it is a real dump out there. We will also be lulled to sleep by the symphony of 1000 car horns. I kind of wish the AC unit was old and rattled more.

- The work at AID INDIA seems pretty good so far. Nisha is working on some materials for health education and I am working on computerizing their files of students they sponsor. The people are nice and the office is in a nice pleasant area of town.

- South Indian food rocks. The little fast food places usually have very nice dosas (thin lentil pancake) and other great light snacks. They have great fruit juice as well.

- We took our longest (15 hours) and last ride on the Indian rails last night. Great sleep as always, 2AC class rocks, especially when you get the big 4 berth area to yourself. Also Nisha and I are big into Backgammon and Rummy 500 these days, really helps pass the time, thanks Ern.