A blessing of Good Health

From India Yankee 1 (written 27th October)

India Yankee 1 in front of their house in Pura

“Is your drainage maintained?” “Why do you go for open defecation?” “What kind of habits and practices do you all have in the family?” “How is your current health?” Are just some of the many questions we have been asking the villagers of Pura over the past few days. After consuming considerable quantities of Chai (tea) and Utha (food) we have patiently worked our way through 170 health surveys. Although tedious this gave us a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the health of the village whilst building a rapport with the villagers. Fortunately the majority of the villages have “Good Health”.

Completing the Venn  Diagram

On Sunday morning, the rain subsided and the sun shone bright which enabled us to complete out Venn Diagram and Village Map. Many villagers came out to participate and contribute their opinions, with the children getting involved with the village map, ending up in a coloured powder fight, similar to the Holi Festival. 

Local children before the paint fight

Sunday night, we visited the Temple to learn more about the history of Pura and when it was originally founded. We met with the village elders who talked us through life in Pura over the last 50 years.  It was fascinating to learn that the village was originally called Shivapura and was founded around 600 years ago. The translation was difficult from Kannada to English and at times was very frustrating (TII - This Is India) but we managed to get a complete timeline, whilst learning a lot about the village we are living in.

During our free time we explored the area around our village. We strolled through the fields and rice paddies and witnessed the locals at work n the fields. We saw some spectacular views of the rolling hills around Pura and we came across a beautiful river which provided some fantastic photo opportunities. We've also participated in a lot of sports including Kabadi, which is the Indian version of British Bulldog, but we couldn't compete with the Indian Boys so we swiftly moved on to Volleyball, creating our kind of Gangnam Style Volleyball.

Games time

Mully and Jamie

The team have been working hard to prepare for our first health camp on the 30^th October and are currently undergoing training at CIDOR on health camp self help groups and sanitation.

This is just a quick update on what IY1 has been up to but we will update everyone on our health camp and our antics on Karnataka day within the next week.

That’s all for now, over and out.

IY1 – Jo, Jade, Daryl, Meera, Jamie, Mully, Gav, Shivu, Jalandra, Nagandra and Balu