Training the Trainers

Everything is still very much on schedule as we get down to our final days with New Concept/Jaishankar Memorial Centre! We have finished our clinic surveys, meeting our goal for the summer. We are currently collecting the GPS coordinates of all Anganwadi centres in Jasola, Shaheen Bagh, and Abul Fazal. In doing so, we've met the Anganwadi teachers and have been learning more about the services available at these centres. We are also working on creating maps of the area that will ideally incorporate all of the data points we've collected.

I must also personally add that I have been incredibly proud of the lovely women who have been studying very hard to become trainers of community health volunteers. We are covering a lot of material (the human body, changes during adolescence, pregnancy, labour and delivery, infant care, nutrition, and government schemes) very quickly, and the students are always so excited and engaged. We could not have asked for a better group of trainers. They very clearly care about the communities they serve and take a special interest in the material as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and friends. The group of five has been performing very well in class sessions; they ask wonderful questions, take thorough notes, and performed very well on the last exam. So far, two of the five students have given presentations as practice for when they begin teaching. I was worried that some of the material we had been teaching would be lost in translation, but their presentations proved otherwise! We could not have been happier to have shown that language has not been an insurmountable barrier to knowledge.

These five women, along with the other staff members of New Concept, the JMC, and the GRC have been critical to the success of our time here in Delhi. While we still have over a week left, it is so important that we say thank you to everyone who has been so helpful in our work. It is incredibly motivating and fulfilling to be surrounded by so many people who care about the same things as you.

Nicole Wong

Full Speed Ahead

We have reached the end of another week, and our project continues to forge ahead full speed. This week has been exciting with lots going on. Surveying of clinics is nearing the end, with only a few more to go before reaching our goal. We also visited another GRC, which was incredibly interesting. Mamta GRC, which we visited, as been in place for significantly longer than the GRC we are working with in Jasola Vihar, so it was great to get a grasp on their programs which are similar to what we are working on. A community meeting in Shaheen Bagh was also held this week, which illuminated another 4 volunteers for Community Health Volunteers.

We are very excited to see outside support and participation! We are also continued to “train the trainers” of the Community Health Volunteers. It has been a challenge to be both the teachers, and often times the student as we are constantly learning as we go. Language and cultural barriers continue to present themselves, but the interest and engagement from the women has been rewarding. We look forward to continuing our many tasks in the next two weeks. We are also excited to be going to Amritsar this weekend to see the Golden Temple. It will be our first trip outside of Delhi for the four of us together, so it is sure to be an adventure.

Britt Reiersgord, Intern (Denver University, U.S.A)

Good Science

As of Today, July 19th, our project is progressing quite nicely. We are close to meeting our goal of surveying all targeted facilities, and the information gathered thus far has been enlightening. There have been a few bumps along the way; certain questions have proven to yield ambiguous answers, certain choices in terminology have embarrassingly revealed our layperson status on medical issues, and we have identified pertinent information that was left out of the survey. In the name of "good science" and consistency, we have fought the urge to alter the survey mid-collection. In spite of the minor shortcomings, the final data promises to be extremely useful for the Gender Resource Center and Community Health Volunteers.

For the upcoming week, we are all excited to partake in a community outreach meeting, which will be instrumental in identifying potential health volunteer candidates (it will also be our first attempt at the Appreciative Inquiry method of data collection). Additionally, we will be venturing to another Gender Resource Center in the area to see which programs they have instituted and hopefully learn a thing or two...or twenty.

Blaire Davis, Intern (Denver University, U.S.A)

Hello

We at Jai Shankar Memorial have started a blog where interns, volunteers, staff and others working (or those who have worked) with us pen down their thoughts, experiences and ideas. We hope you enjoy, and learn more about us.

You can also visit us at www.jmcindia.org

Contributors to the blog
Blaire Davis - Studies in the Denver University (DU) Global Finance, Trade, and Economic Integration program, and has a strong background in program evaluation and economics (BA). Blaire has worked in Thailand and traveled quite a bit in India.

Sarah Miller - Studies in the DU International Development program and has a strong human rights background. She has worked on short projects in India and in Africa.

Britt Reiersgord - Student in the DU International Administration program, Britt is the unofficial GIS point person, and also a whiz at database management. She has spent a fair amount of time in Cameroon.

Nicole Wong - is completing the DU- MA in International Studies and plans to apply to medical school as soon as she finishes. not traveled much for work, Nicole did her BA thesis on plague and influenza outbreaks in colonial India has been focusing on sex workers in India. As an undergrad at DU she did a major in history with a triple minor in bio, chemistry, physics (pre-med).