A little bit more about work…

The past couple of weeks have been busy. Last week I headed to Ranchi with some of my colleagues for training on maternal death audits. Not the most cheerful of subjects but very interesting none the less. A maternal death audit is also known as a verbal autopsy where you take someone through death and try and collect information. Obviously there is a great deal of tact needed from the person conducting the interview as it is upsetting for the relative or friend you are interviewing. The point of the autopsy is to review when/why the death occurred and, if required, assist in strengthening the areas that need improvement which in turn will reduce maternal mortality.

Now we did the journey from and to Ranchi in a car, which is very interesting during the day light as you can happily stare out of the window and look and everything that is around you. However during the night without this interest it becomes a hellish, bumpy, painful ordeal! Some of the areas that we passed through were breath taking either in their beauty or in all honesty how horrible they were. We passed through a coal mining town. You could tell you were coming up to it as everything surrounding the area became grey, then darker grey and then black. It was thick with coal dust, so thick in fact you couldn’t see the signs above the shops as they had been blacked out. I feel for the people that live there as it can’t be pleasant. Along the way from the road to/from Ranchi we also passed gentleman with bikes loaded with coal and they were pushing the bikes along the road as it is impossible to ride them. This is the black market coal and bearing in mind we saw some people up to 150km away from the coal mine I can’t even estimate how long it takes to get there and then walk back.

This week I have also been out to the villages – for those people that read Facebook one of my colleagues was asked if I was a man or a women. On hearing this I wasn’t terribly cheerful but polite as they are my colleagues assured me it was because I have short hair and am slightly taller than the average person in the villages. I hope so because otherwise I’m going into a pit of depression which I shall never return from (OK that’s a touch melodramatic)

The point of the visit was to go and see a Village Health and Nutrition Day and review how data is collected (I bet you’re green with envy now aren’t you!?) Again it was very interesting as women with children under 5 are given food to supplement their diets and immunisations are given to children. Being in the villages is an amazing experience which I really enjoy and I am thankful to get the opportunity to go out and meet some of the people who are always welcoming and ready with a smile – I just wish they’d show it in the photos!

All in all it’s been a busy couple of weeks but I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

The mosquito, the mouse and the gecko…

Went into a small flat in Deoghar to live. That’s the end of it, it wasn’t a joke I was just saying!

As the seasons change so do the things that go nibble in the night and as it turns out my flatmate and I have set up an international restaurant in Deoghar,for mosquitos. Sadly they love us both and they have two pretty long buffets to choose from and I am pained to report that they have managed to bite me on my… bottom, which is rather uncomfortable considering I have spent 15 hours in a car this week. We have rather hastily put up our mosquito nets in order to stop the mosquitos getting us during the night but it doesn’t stop them during waking hours and they really are hell bent on eating us.

When I put up my net I tucked it all in like a good girl and lay down and read for a while and was just about to jump out of bed to turn out the light when the gecko that decided he was going to join me in bed got a little spooked. I explained to him that yes I do love geckos just not in that way and he jumped from the bed and ran full pelt into the table, banging his head quite badly. He is now suffering from a broken heart and a rather bad head and hasn’t been seen since which is a shame as the spiders are taking over in a big way.

We also have the lovely Eric (the mouse) – who rather rudely I feel has been jumping on my flatmates bed, when she was in it! We have spent the day scrubbing the kitchen surfaces and floor as this is his favourite domain and it seems he has been using it as a race track, leaving mouse presents wherever he can – how charming! We have a humane trap set up for him, but he’s simply not that stupid enough for that. So holes that look like they can fit a mouse have been filled and all food is stored away and most of it is in the fridge, now I'm pretty sure he can't open that.

We have an anti-vermin force field outside the flat including anti mosquito coils, poison, holes stuffed with stones plastic bags and covered in duct tape. Inside we have plug ins, electric tennis racket things to kill mosquitos, mosquito nets, traps and more poison… has it worked? Not a jot but it made us feel better!

A little bit about work

I have learnt a lot from my colleagues about maternal and new born health especially as I am helping with the data collection systems for the new programme. It is indeed a fascinating and sometimes shocking arena to work in. A lot of my colleagues have been going out to the field to collect information on current practices in regards to birthing, pregnancy and child care and come back with stories that make your jaw drop!

There are of course government facilities which are available for women to give birth in; however that depends if you can get there. Some of the roads are impassable and when you’re giving birth time, as they say, is of the essence. Also some people chose not to give birth in the facilities for reasons such as trust in the local healers and family practices which mean women are forced to give birth in their home.

The key is education. Local healers (however crazy we perceive some of their practices) have been working in villages for 100s of years. There is a level of trust which has been maintained and after all they do probably make some people better. No matter how many health facilities are available if the trust and the benefits of using them aren’t understood people simply aren’t going to use them. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

My colleague was telling me a story of an NGO worker who went out to talk about and demonstrate contraceptives to a village. On returning to the village 4 to 5 years later he was approached by a gentleman who said that condoms didn’t work. He asked him if he had been putting them on correctly and he informed him that he had been using them exactly as they had been demonstrated (you can see where this is going) unfortunately said NGO representative had demonstrated how to put condoms on using his… thumb. Now whilst this is an amusing story (apart from the poor gentleman and wife with 3 extra children) it just goes to show that no matter how clearly you think you’ve communicated something the message may not always be understood!

An enjoyable day off

When you have only one day a week off I must admit my instinct is to crawl into bed and stay there until Monday. Luckily my mouth worked before my brain did on Friday and I invited my friends Derek and his new fellow Arko to the flat for a visit to the temple and lunch… which I would cook.

So Sunday rolled around and I woke up late which was not a great start but luckily I had bought all of the vegetables and I started preparing them as soon as I woke up. I shelled ½ kilo of peas (matara), peeled potatoes (aloo) and was just about to start on the cauliflower (ghobi)when I saw something sprint behind the fridge to the battery. I did have to stop myself from leaving the room so I got on with the cauliflower which was horrid. I cut it up and it didn’t look very good to me and picked up the florets to put them in some water and I discover a leech on the chopping board, so I threw it away and the cauliflower too! Now I don’t mind leeches as long as they’re not on me and seeing something move very quickly in the flat when I didn’t know what it was did start my mind off and by the time that Derek and Arko arrived a cockroach the size of a cat was trying to invade the kitchen and 16 leeches were leaping from the cauliflower! Once they had calmed me down we decided to pop out for some refreshments and then go up to the roof terrace.

We spent a very lazy afternoon in the glorious sunshine playing cards, eating my food which actually wasn’t bad apart from the rotis (they were what can only be described as dreadful) and we also had a beer each – gasp! I tried to convince myself and my guests that I had caught the sun just for them to look at me slightly puzzled and half nod in agreement as I looked so pleased with myself!

Derek and Arko



Roof top view of Deoghar



It had been decided that we would go to the temple for evening prayer at around 7 pm so we left the flat and started the walk up to the temple.

The temple is amazing; I can’t even begin to describe it. I think it was the time of day that we went as the atmosphere is intoxicating. The main Shiva temple is located in the centre and next to the entrance is there is a large fire where the ashes are created. Walking around the temple is a precession of people all with incense, it’s not terribly polite as there is a lot of pushing and shoving and elbows but you get carried along until you can find a gap to fall into. Within the main temple there are cameras set up so you can see what’s going on inside – the only think I can liken to what was going on inside is a mosh pit. I must say I didn’t go in because it did look very intense and I didn’t fancy being coated in kerosene oil with lots of open flames about but Derek did and he confirmed it was well, crazy!

All in all it was a very enjoyable day and I am pleased to say that the ‘thing’ wasn’t a cockroach but a mouse. Now all I have to do is figure out how to entice the mouse out of the house!

A reflective thank you

Many people have asked why I was doing this. Is it because I want to work in Development? Maybe. Is it for the experience? Yes. Is it a test? Probably. Is it escapism? Most definitely.

I have been reflecting on the past year and how I have found myself here.  If you have already started eye rolling and groaning it might be a good idea to click the small x in the top right hand corner now, as it’s only going to get worse from here on in…

2010 can be described as the good, the bad and the ugly and not in that order; actually the reverse order is probably truest of all. So 2010 was the ugly, the bad and the good! I’m not going to go into the details on here but what I can say is that I think hurt, or pain can be a motivator or incredibly debilitating. I am pleased to say that I felt motivated and that is all that needs to be known at this point.

The reason I wrote this blog is that through reflecting I have realised just how much of a lucky girl I am and that is thanks to my astonishingly good humoured and supportive family and friends. So I would like to thank you for being there through the tears, the laughs, the rants, the wondering, the waiting and anticipating, the confirming, the dancing, the countless hugs and the love. For being patient, for listening, for your good humour and sarcasm, for your perspective and for giving me strength. Some examples of this have stuck in my head and made me laugh when I’ve thought about them... the Glastonbury rant, Shambala ‘incident’, flaming cats, coffee and cakes, trying very hard not to cry when perhaps I should have and my most favourite of all, laughing until my sides hurt.

All of you have helped me and helped to get to the stage where I could enjoy this adventure. It has been cathartic and rewarding thinking back and although 2010 was a roller coast ride I’m glad I had some of you to enjoy the ride with. So thank you again and a special thanks to my amazing mummy and sister, there is no doubt in my mind that I would not be sat in India writing this blog without you. I love you all very much.  

Getting used to living here

Some of quirks of living here are interesting. I have been taken very good care of at the flat and I have two sources of back up electricity which it a rarity rather than the norm. I would estimate that the actual mains electricity is on for around 5 hours a day. When the electricity does go off so does the water, no electricity = no pump but I do get light and some plugs so I’m not going to complain. As I seem to have around 100 switches in the flat I have just about fathomed which switches and plugs work when the backup is on, mains electricity and generator usually means they all work but tend to dim a little if you plug too many things in! The generator also powers to water pump so it’s not all bad. One thing is for certain, do not plug in irons or dangerous hot water heater thingys when the backup is on, it doesn’t appreciate it and switches everything off which means you’re plunged into darkness and inevitably in the room furthest away to go and reset it. I have learnt two valuable lessons – leave candles with matches next to them in all of the rooms and don’t leave things on the floor, you will eventually break your neck if you do. Unfortunately I still have a bump on my leg from when I walked into my bed. I’m still clumsy at heart and I can usually find the furniture or door frames by walking into them!

I have had to adjust my cooking style as I have a two ring gas hob to cook on that is connected to a gas bottle. For the first two weeks I thought I was going mad as I could hear from neighbouring houses what I thought was spraying. Now I realise they are the joyous cooking devices known as pressure cookers, which I now own. They are spectacular when they ‘go off’. What is meant by ‘go off’ is the steam being released from the top of the pot and length of cooking time is determined by the number of times is does this. As I am a complete wimp I refused to use one until Derek was with me to hold my hand and assure me that it wasn’t going to blow up. I am now a bona fide pressure cooker cook, rice, dal, curries take mere moments – it’s great. Although I still stand as far away from it as possible in the kitchen cringing just in case something does go wrong. There are two flaws to the plan, cringing isn’t going to save me and as far away as possible is a metre. I’m happy however that my neighbours aren’t obsessed with killing insects (because that’s my job) or spraying deodorant!

Washing clothes takes some getting used to as it has to be done by hand and when you first start hand washing clothes it can be a lengthy process. I have also learnt that I am pretty much allergic to most of the washing powders apart from Ariel round here so I am loathed to send them to be washed as the itching/rashes aren’t pleasant! I have managed to stretch pretty much everything that I own. A full length cardigan that I brought out here is now so long that it collects things such as burrs, dust and any unwitting children that are in the way when I walk down the street. It is safe to say that I don’t think many items of clothing with return with me.

All in all though I’m enjoying getting used to living here I realise how lucky I am in the flat as I have it much better than most. I can still say that living here does take some getting used to but at least I’m getting there.