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Action Against Hunger Collaborates with RMF on Malnutrition Report

May 27, 2011 in India by Jonathan White | Comments closed

We are posting the Situation Analysis of Acute Malnutrition in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh written by our friends and colleagues at Action Against Hunger (ACF).  While putting together this report their teams visited RMF in the field multiple times and spent time learning about ground realities from RMF CNEs and ground staff.  RMF is always happy to host great organizations like ACF in the field and also learned a lot from their experts who visited.  We’re looking forward to collaborating more with ACF in the future and thank them for this informative report.

RMF’s role in the study is mentioned by ACF here:

“Other than advocacy, under-nutrition is not a high priority activity for most local NGOs nor is there any specific technical expertise on this issue generally available in the local non-governmental sector. Real Medicine Foundation (RMF-India), an international NGO recently active in 500 villages of the Malwa Tribal Belt, runs a nutrition program aiming at improvement of community detection and nutrition education. They identify and facilitate the amelioration of missing linkages between AWC and community health structures, surveying the nutritional situation of the intervention area, collecting and analyzing data from the MUAC screenings.”

PDF link below
A report on Acute Malnutrition Situational Analysis in the States of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh

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A Volunteer’s Perspective by Surya Bajpai

May 24, 2011 in Asia, India by Jonathan White | Comments closed

Below please find the a guest blog entry from Surya Bajpai, a high school student from Bhopal who spent a week during his summer vacation volunteering for Real Medicine Foundation out in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh:

Surya in class with his peers at the Bhil Academy

A volunteer’s perspective

 By Surya Bajpai

It all started when my dad gave me a few options of where I could volunteer.  The Jhabua option was the most intriguing to me.  I wanted to volunteer because my parents told me to, but also because I wanted to get the feel of the real India.  The funny thing about this trip was that I did not know what to expect out of it.  Normally when we go out for school trips they give us the list of things that would happen there and we know what to expect.

I had a great experience in Jhabua.  I volunteered in two areas; 1 was the Bhil Academy and the other was the malnutrition program.

A first for everyone - this is the first time Surya, a student from Bhopal spent time in the villages in MP and the first time students from the Bhil Academy spent time in a city - Indore. Surya and his new friends on the bus on the way to Indore

The Bhil Academy has a group of tribal kids who were great to be with.  They showed so much of interest in what they did.  I played cricket with them and I helped a little in computer classes.  The school provided everything that was necessary, such as a proper cricket kit and uniforms.  The staff of the school was great.

Going for field work in such a hot day was difficult but it was even more difficult to believe what I saw.  I met 3 kids – Aman Singh , Surya , and Rahul – and their stories were shocking.   I was really sad to see this.  This experience had a great impact on me: Now I know what my really country is and now I know what all I can do to improve it. Now I can see what I want my country to be.

All that I would like to say is that everyone who reads this please volunteer in such programs, get to know what India really is and work towards improving it.

Surya Bajpai, Bhopal

For more information about RMF’s Bhil Academy click here and the Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here

To contribute to this initiative or any other,  please visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org/donors.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or become a fundraiser for us at Causes.com

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Meet Dr. Athar Qureshi, of RMF Team India

May 19, 2011 in General, India by Jonathan White | Comments closed

 

Dr. Athar Qureshi is RMF’s Deputy Director Programs for India. He is a Medical Graduate with a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health Administration. He is now pursuing his Masters in Marketing Management from Mumbai University. Athar is from Mumbai and his interest in Social and Preventive Medicine made him choose his career in the development sector. 

His first published work, “Health Services in Mumbai” was published as a booklet by Bombay Community Public Trust (BCPT) with support from FORD Foundation. He has worked in the development sector for the last eight years addressing Public Health issues, Reproductive & Sexual Health and Preventive Health. He designed and operationalized an Adolescent Reproductive Health Program for Niramaya Health Foundation and was instrumental in developing IEC booklets (“Aai Mala Saang”) for the program.  

Athar’s career spans working as a full timer and consultant with organizations like Centre for Health Promotion, NFI (DFID Challenge Fund), Avert Society (USAID), APAC (USAID), HLFPPT (USAID) and Family Planning Association of India. At RMF, he is looking after capacity building and training of the team, developing and strengthening MIS & reporting, program monitoring and day to day management of the programs along with his duties as Deputy Director of Programs. He enjoys cooking, reading and travelling to historical sites in India. He loves watching Hollywood movies and has a passion for the parallel cinema in India.

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India Malnutrition Program: Community Mapping Pilot

May 9, 2011 in Caitlin McQuilling, General, India, Providing Medical Support, Rebuilding Communities, Voices from the Field by Jonathan White | Comments closed

by Caitlin McQuilling

Community Mapping

The month of April was RMF’s Community Mapping Month in Barwani district as part of our Community Mobilization Pilot with the Department of Women and Child Development.  The team started this community mobilization activity by having a two day training on the method for Community Nutrition Educators (CNEs).  This was to ensure that all CNEs used similar, participatory methods in doing the mappings.

 The first day was at the office in conjunction with the weekly team meeting where mapping techniques, use of symbols, and methods to involve community stakeholders were discussed.  The second day of training, Anjana split the CNEs into two groups and took them out to a village near Barwani to do a practical mapping exercise as a group.  This hands-on mapping training turned out to be the most effective, with the feedback from many CNEs saying that this gave them the most clarity and confidence.

CNEs started the mapping exercise by meeting with the village Patwari wherever possible to discuss the village layout, ensure his/her participation in the mapping exercise and to obtain a village map.  They made an appointment with key community stakeholders, including anganwadis, Sarpanches, patwaris, and active mothers, to do the community mapping exercise on their next visit.

In each village, we ask the community to lead this exercise, with the CNEs prompting the community members to dive deeper and deeper into the mapping exercise.  CNEs were instructed to ask community members to map out both the things there were proud of in their communities and the things they thought were bad for health.  Good things included schools, new latrines, and village meeting places.  Bad places included liquor shops and open defecation sites.  In each instance, CNEs were instructed not to pass any judgment or not to make any suggestions, but to let communities do this analysis on their own.

Community mapping covers:

-          Households in the community (some villages got down to the level of detail of the names of the family members in each house, other just mapped out the homes)

-          Location of SAM kids

-          Water sources, streams, rivers, damns, ponds

-          Hand-pumps

-          Public buildings: AWCs, schools, panchayats, PDS shops, AWW homes, temples

-          Shops (general stores, PDS shops, liquor stores)

-          Local doctors, health centers, medicine men

One of the best examples of this method leading to community realization and behavior change was in Badgaon with CNE Saroj.  At the beginning of her mapping session, a handful of women sat around the poster paper, with their heads and faces covered and didn’t say much.  As the anganwadi and ASHA led the mapping and did most of the work the women started to contribute more and more, peeking out from behind their veils and laughing and arguing as they discussed various aspects of the community.  In the beginning, a few men stood around the outside of the circle, attempting to look as disinterested as possible.  As the mapping progressed, they too couldn’t help themselves with participating more and more.

During her mapping exercise she asked community members to map out the positive and negative things in their village.  The women listed newly constructed latrines (under TSC) as positive things in their village.  Then Saroj asked them if they were being used.  The community members laughed nervously and admitted that no one used these newly constructed latrines and still continued to defecate out in the open.  Saroj asked where the open defecation sites were.  The anganwadi worker plotted these right next to a stream.  Without passing any judgment Saroj asked the community what they used the water for.  They all said bathing.  Then as Saroj remained silent, women in the group all started to giggle at the same time.  They were making the connection between the open defecation and the proximity to the stream they used as a water source.  And in this moment, this simple mapping activity may have had the largest Behavior Change result of any of the activities RMF has undertaken in this village thus far.  Community members started to chatter amongst themselves and comment that they should start using the new latrines right away and started speculating that this contaminated water may be why children are getting sick.  It’s too early to see if this has made a true change in the community, but this kind of self-realization is bound to be much stronger than any lecture or training session.

This was the most dramatic example of the effects of community mapping observed so far by RMF Managers (Caitlin was present during this session), but the community mapping seems to be a very effective and well-received activity.  It’s a chance for local communities to show off their knowledge for a change and makes them feel proud of their knowledge.  RMF CNEs have reported enthusiastic participation of community members in each session.  Anganwadi workers have told us that this is “a very simple activity” and fun. 

The key to making these mapping exercises work is to make sure the CNE understands that this is not just about drawing a map, but that it’s a community mobilization activity.  CNEs can facilitate the map making process, being the illustrator or scribe, but the actual process must be conducted by community members. 

We found that the mapping exercise is better with a small group of 5-10 individuals, otherwise it gets too crowded and confusing and leads to less participation.  To be able to include more individuals in the process, CNEs did the mapping in 2-4 sections per village, depending on the village size and number of anganwadis.  One map was made for each village, but the CNE drew the map in various stages depending on how many anganwadi centers there were in the village, so that each section of the community could participate meaningfully.  The final complete village map was then copied and given to each anganwadi center to hang on the wall so that each anganwadi center has a full map.  Another important pointer the CNEs found was to begin the mapping process by drawing the village boundaries instead of just diving into mapping locations.  This was scale could be developed.

To date mapping has been completed in 114 villages in Barwani district.  Given the success of this activity it will be scaled up to all RMF villages in the 4 other districts this quarter.

For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here

We can use any financial help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach and help towards our goal of Malnutrition Eradication in this region of India.

To contribute to this initiative, please click Donate button or visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.

Voices from the field: We shall name her Anandini, Anandini is Joy!

April 20, 2011 in Helping Children, India, Naiara Tejados, Providing Medical Support, Rebuilding Communities, Voices from the Field by Jonathan White | Comments closed

Naiara with Anandini

By Naira Tejados

I still rememer vividly those days, long ago in terms of time, but mentally like it was yesterday.

After two days in shock, unable to sleep or eat after finding Gila (5 year old girl with tuberculosis meningitis and hydrocephalus) in her home on January 27th, I recieved a call from Caitlin informing me that the poor little girl had died despite all the efforts of the doctors in Ahmedabad.  Honestly I must admit that I felt a slight relief, as I believe if she had survived her quality of life would not have been what a little girl who had gone through so many traumas so young deserved.  The events around Gila’s death were reported in this blog by Caitlin McQuilling here.

Anandini's grandfather

It was obvious that someone in the family must have transmitted the deadly tuberculosis bacterium to Gila. So, after questioning and observing, it wasn’t difficult to identify the most critical patient in the family: the grandfather, the patriarch of the home, who had spent a long period bedridden, the last few days with fever and bleeding when spitting. My biggest fear was of the possible transmission of bacteria to the other 5 children in the home.

After two days immersed in the hospital we came to know that, while the grandfather clearly was suffering from tuberculosis, nearly all family members were anemic. With the help of our star native worker, Sumitra, I asked what their diet consisted of. It took me a few words to know that the conditions in which the family lived were deplorable: they had some land with dhal, a very typical lentil in India, had a few crops with peas and corn from which they made flour to cook roti, cakes of bread. They had nothing else. It was a great pleasure to provide the family food and other everyday items that they could not acquire. It was obvious that the family had spent all their savings in the treatment of Gila and was now ruined…

The second day, two hours after we dropped the family off at home, already very late at night, I got a call from Sumitra saying that Gila’s mother, who was in its final stages of pregnancy, had begun to feel the pains of childbirth. A new life was on the way! The next morning, impatient, I went to the hospital to see the new baby, when to my surprise, I learned that Dhana had not yet given birth. A nurse warned us that Dhana was very anemia Dhana and her life was in danger. I could not believe it! I thought again and again how unfair life was being with this family. Of course this hospital had no blood bank. Suddenly, a lot of ideas my mind was: what was the blood group of Dhana? Could I donate my blood? I begged the staff to analyze my blood type and they told me that it was not possible at the hospital. We had no choice but to go for help to a private hospital run by Catholics located in the same town, the same hospital that just 2 weeks before had stolen Gila’s life by not providing her the necessary drugs because of the family’s inability to pay. Maybe we could beg this hospital in this case to save the life of her mother and her brother/sister. We asked the midwife permission to take her to the other hospital, where we thought everything would be better under their supervision, but the midwife and the nurses told us that the baby would be born in the vehicle if we did. There was no time for anything, only wait.

Suddenly, from the hubbub of the hospital, we heard the cry of a newborn baby. It couldn’t be anyone else other than Gila’s new sibling. Taking advantage of a nurse on her way out of the delivery room, I rushed over to ask if the one crying was the one we were expecting. She nodded and let us know that everything had gone well, both the mother and daughter were fine, and there was no need for a blood transfusion to the mother. It was a girl! I could not contain my tears of joy. It was inevitable to think about reincarnation, so present in the lives of these people. Is that what you call it?


Anandini

To my surprise and joy, the next day, I learned that the Gila’s parents had asked us, the Real Medicine Foundation staff, to choose a name for the girl. What an honor! Thus, we chose the name Anandini for her, which means “joyful.” Anandini never cries. It was without a doubt, the best gift I received in India.

About a week after the birth, Caitlin, Jaimie and I went to the home for a visit. The family welcomed us with open arms. Concerned about their economic condition and their future, we asked how much their debt from Gila’s treatment totaled. They reported that to treat Gila they had borrowed € 1,000 to be returned with a 25% interest from a local lender, an insignificant amount in Western society, but which converts a family like this into a debtor for many years, perhaps also to the next generation.

I received a lot of money after writing a personal email the night Gila died to all my family and friends: It was an email asking them, each within their desires and possibilities, to donate money to use with the various groups I work with in India. Therefore, I immediately thought that I would love to help this family to get rid of this horrible debt. Thanks to the generosity of Jaimie, who was also present, and because she has raised a lot of money of her own (http://www.realmedicineblog.com/2011/03/18/voices-from-the-field- one-birthday-wish-granting-wishes-for-many-by-Jaimie-shaff) we decided that we would pay equally between the two of us. A few days later we returned to the home with the money, allowing the family to be free of at least of this burden. We did this knowing that this was something outside of our organization, because the organization focuses on providing medical resources but not providing cash. We saw the first smile yet on Dhana’s face. Many thanks to everyone who made this possible!

Anandini's father, Chhatra

We could not resist asking Anandini’s parents what work they would do from now on. Their response was unanimous: when she was a few weeks older the family would migrate along with other farmers having to abandon their homes, greatly increasing risk of several diseases in appalling conditions to which they have to submit, and leaving the older children in the care of grandparents. This response left us all broken hearted. Already familiar with the good work and infinite human quality of this family, Caitlin and Jaimie did not hesitate to offer a job to Anandini’s father, Chhatra, as a Community Nutrition Educator (CNE) with our organization. Chhatra, now works joyfully in his own village and neighboring ones, going from house to house, making sure that other children do not become victims of malnutrition and other medical conditions that are so easily preventable but that steal the lives of many in these villages.

For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here and for more on our HIV/AIDS click here.

We can use any financial help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach and help towards our goal of Malnutrition Eradication in this region of India.

To contribute to this initiative, please click Donate button or visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.


Humility within Compassion: A volunteer’s reflection of life in the field

March 24, 2011 in Asia, General, India by Jonathan White | Comments closed

By Edith Manoj Gonzalez

Madhya Pradesh, India March 19,

In the midst of a Jhabua sunset, Madhya Pradesh has a beauty that is recognized from a distance. Its people smile at foreigners with great curiosity and the children greet with innocence and joy. Almost instantaneously, a person can recognize the beauty of central India and realize that things run a bit differently. Perhaps my jaded New York mindset has gotten the best of me, but despite the binary customs between the East and West it is vital to embrace the multiplicity of Indian perspectives and traditions.

Conducting a field-assessment with RMF staff

Needless to say, that during my brief experience in the field with RMF, I have witnessed only some of the challenges that comes with working with a marginalized population (on an international level). During one specific field visit, the team located Vijay, a child with a fragile body and timid face; he had lost his eyesight after having had what the villagers refer to as “badi mata,” a form of measles, a few months ago.

Edith with Suriya

Vijay is approximately four years old and his weak sensory skills conveyed a sign of desperation. Sadly, to be blinded in a village is to also become a burden to the family. According to Jaimie Shaff, the Program Manager for RMF India, this type of situation occurs often due to the lack of medical access in the villages: with a simple vaccination and/or proper treatment, Vijay’s blindness could have been prevented.  His future livelihood could have been restored and his family’s sustainability premeasured.

The underprivileged youth/women/families are often a great reason to question our testimonies of reality.  Meanwhile, the ongoing distinctions with castes, classicism, gender inequality, religion and its people create a conflict towards progress.  Respective histories and stigmas continue to exist. Among the many questions, it is courageous to ask—what is being done?  The RMF team has guided me through the processes of working in the field and visiting families in the most rural and elusive locations. The local Staff, as well as the Community Nutrition Educators, display empathetic stamina as they routinely counsel and provide medical services that attempt to mitigate healthcare injustices that are ever so often ignored.

The final harvest of the channa crop in the fields where RMF works

The overall dedication of the RMF team is wholesome and the smiles after a days work are genuine.  In the United States, I have had an array of past work experiences ranging from social work to healthcare policy to migrant farm work. However, these moments of unity with the people of India will distinctly stay in my memory. In addition, it is most important to humble yourself in order to understand the true depths of compassion.

Edith with the RMF host family

For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click hereand the Bhil Academy click here

To contribute to this initiative visit our website at www.realmedicinefoundation.org

SmileTrain and CHL Apollo-Indore bring new smiles to MP!

March 22, 2011 in General, Helping Children, India, Jaimie Shaff, Voices from the Field by Jonathan White | Comments closed

by Jaimie Shaff

Shakuntala before surgery

We’ve all played the classic game “heads, shoulders, knees, and toes (knees and toes!)” Actually, I’ve been so wrapped up in adulthood, I had forgotten about it. One night when we visited the Bhil Academy, I saw Naiara playing the game with the smallest kids and remembered singing the song with my cousins and preschool students, back in the day. Part of the song goes “eyes and ears and nose and mouth…” and the children point to the respective parts of the face. Two eyes. Two ears. One nose. One mouth. Something so simple, most of us don’t even think about the meaning.

Shakuntala after surgery

For children born with cleft palates, the song is not so simple. The physical deformity is visually shocking, and can cause much stigma against the child throughout life. From what we have seen in rural India, when the child is first born, parents don’t know what to do or how to feed the baby, and some children end up severely malnourished. As the child grows up, he or she is often ostracized from his/her peers, leading to delinquency and absence from school. As an adult, the acceptance into society is reduced, and all social aspects of life are affected. For women in our region, a cleft palate is a serious burden to bear, increasing risks such as domestic violence and job discrimination.

Sharikia before surgery

Fortunately, a solution is simple. A procedure that takes only 30 minutes can change the entire future for a child. Unfortunately, the knowledge of available services and access to such is not widespread in rural areas, and the burden of a curable birth “defect” adds weight to an already difficult life.

20 February 2011, SmileTrain and CHL-Apollo-Indore Hospital held a health screening in Meghnagar for cleft palates, heart conditions, thyroid issues, and other ailments not screened for at rural health centers. Our nutrition team arranged for three children from three districts to be screened for cleft palate operations, and the team at CHL-Apollo offered to operate on any children we brought with us to pre-op.

Sharika after surgery

On Wednesday, Naiara, Edith, Pushpa, Manisha, and myself brought four children from the districts of Jhabua, Khargone, and Barwani to CHL-Apollo for pre-op (three children were sick and had to be postponed).

17 March 2011, all four children received successful operations for their cleft palates.  Thanks to the incredible support and efforts by SmileTrain and the team of CHL-Apollo, the lives of Shakuntala, Sharika, Pepita, and Pipu will be forever changed.

Pepita before surgery

I was absolutely overwhelmed with the quality of care and attention provided by CHL-Apollo, and am so grateful to see the generosity and compassion that exists in the world.  Out of all of the experiences I’ve had working here, this was certainly one of the best.

Pepita after surgery

Three of the children will be receiving a second surgery in June, and three more children are in line for their first.  We can’t wait to see their new smiles!

A special thanks goes to Mr. Rajul Bhargava, Dr. Jaideep Chauhan, the team at CHL-Apollo, and the staff of Hotel Infiniti for all that you did to make this possible.

SmileTrain’s website can be found here: http://www.smiletrain.org and CHL-Apollo-Indore Hospital can be found here: http://www.chlhospitals.com

For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here and the Bhil Academy click here

To contribute to this initiative, click on the Donate button below or visit our website atwww.realmedicinefoundation.org

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Voices from the field: “One Birthday Wish granting wishes” for many by Jaimie Shaff

March 18, 2011 in Helping Children, India, Jaimie Shaff, Voices from the Field by Jonathan White | 1 comment

by Jaimie Shaff

For the friends and family who know me best, it goes without saying that my date of birth is a sore spot for me. Last year, I actually skipped town and went on an AcroYoga retreat out of state!

This year, I’m unbelievably grateful to report I had the best birthday ever, and it’s all because of you (and Causes, of course). I began with a goal of raising $1,000 for some of the sweetest kids, and ended up with an astonishing $7,025. The money raised gave us the opportunity to follow up with kids from my “love” list, and saved three lives in the first two weeks. Just like that.

Here’s a little update of what we’ve done so far:

-Gave toys and coloring materials to kids to promote their psychosocial development (and to let them be kids!) on Chinese New Year.

Pankaj and toys

-Found Suriya and Amansingh close to death, and gave them a fighting chance to live. We’ve since uncovered a larger issue, in that the family is using these poor little children to exploit the system, but that’s for another blog.

Amansingh after 2 weeks at the Nutritional Rehab Center

-Provided emergency transportation and support to Rahul, a 2 year old with Tubercular Meningitis, to a prestigious public hospital in Ahmadabad, where he received a life saving shunt to drain fluid from his brain. He’s just returning from his first follow up appointment, and things are looking good, but his condition is far from stable. However, it does look like his sight might be coming back!

-Provided Basanti an operation for her clubfoot through the organization A Leg to Stand On (http://www.altso.org), at Civil Hospital. She’s recovering beautifully from her first operation, with a second operation scheduled for June.

Jaimie and Naiara signing Basanti's cast

-Transported Ayush (the happiest little guy in the world!) to Ahmadabad to follow up on his brain-shunt and evaluate his physical disabilities.

Naiara and Ayush

-Paid off the loan shark used to pay for Gila’s (rest in peace, little one) expensive private medical procedures, allowing the family to be free from debt in order to raise their new daughter, Anandani, to be healthy and safe. This story deserves justice, a blog to come.

Anandani

-Hired Anandani’s father as our first male CNE to help him avoid migrating for work and leaving his family struggling to survive.

Anandani's father

-Brought 4 children from the fields to Indore for cleft-palate operations at CHL Apollo through the organization Smile Train. (http://www.smiletrain.org).

Shakuntala before her cleft-palate operation

See Jaimie’s Birthday Wish Causes page here: http://wishes.causes.com/wishes/203560

Special thanks to “A Leg to Stand on” and “Smile Train” for helping make the operations possible.

Thank you everyone for allowing us to do this. The lives of these children will be forever changed thanks to your kindness, compassion, and support. You should just see the smiles.

For more information about RMF’s Programs in India, click here and here

We can use any help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach in the Madhya Pradesh region of India.

To contribute to this initiative, click on the Donate button below or visit our website at www.realmedicinefoundation.org

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Voices from the field: Returning to Khandwa

March 4, 2011 in Caitlin McQuilling, Helping Children, India, Providing Medical Support, Rebuilding Communities, Voices from the Field, Whole Health by Jonathan White | Comments closed

by Caitlin McQuilling

RMF Community Nutrition Educator, Samoti, and a child recovering from SAM. Photo Credit: Ximena Prugue

In March 2009, when I was conducting the initial field visits to develop RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program I visited a village called Shali Dana, in Kalwa block of Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh.  I remember being shocked and overwhelmed by the amount of children with severe acute malnutrition I saw in this village and the complete apathy and absence of government services in this village.  We saw dozens of glassy eyed children with thinning hair, bulging stomachs, and protruding ribs, empty anganwadi centers, and children who had been tortured by traditional healers in the name of recovery because of the absence of government health services.  Seeing this village convinced me that RMF had no choice but to do something drastic about this problem.

Samoti visiting Shali Dana

Fast forward to March 2, 2011.  Today I spent the day with our Community Nutrition Educator Samoti in Shali Dana.  She’s been working in this village for exactly one year and has made over 25 visits to this village, every 2 weeks.  Samoti has spent this last year developing a strong relationship with the community, visiting each house with malnourished kids on a bi-monthly visit, and has supported and encouraged government anganwadi workers.  Also over the last year, our friends at Spandan, a wonderful local NGO, have worked closely with the government anganwadi center to upgrade the center using community resources and have been working with the anganwadi worker to improve the quality of preschool education and other services offered to the community.  They have also done a lot of work to promote education in this village in both Hindi and Korku, the local tribal language which is in danger of dying out.

I almost started crying today as I sat in a beautifully painted anganwadi center listening to excited, energetic kids singing nursery rhymes in their native Korku when I remembered that this was the same village which shocked me so 2 years ago.  While being serenaded by the children Samoti showed me her register and went over the details of all the children with severe acute malnutrition in the village.  When she did her baseline survey in March 2010, this village had 14 children with severe acute malnutrition, roughly 15% of all children under 5 in the village, an alarming rate of SAM.

Photo credit: Ximena Prugue

Now the village has 0 SAM children.  We visited the households of 10 kids today who were formerly SAM.  Some of these kids were positively fat, while others were now moderately malnourished.  Watching Samoti made me proud.  As she walked through the village, she was greeted by each family walking by.  She scooped up children as she walked, joked with elderly women, and walked straight into people’s homes announced to pinch babies on the cheek.  If I didn’t know Samoti to be one of the warmest and most compelling women I’ve met, I would think this was all staged.  But having terrified 100s of kids by measuring their mid-upper arm circumference to assess their level of malnutrition I know that you cannot just come to a village once or twice and have kids walk up to you with their arms out, waiting for their MUAC reading.  And that’s exactly what a few of the toddlers in this village did!

If you’ve read the annual report from the Eradicate Malnutrition Program its easy to be overwhelmed by the numbers:

  • 65 staff across 600 villages
  • 37,141 families and 56,194 children reached during the baseline survey
  • 6,857 village nutritional training sessions conducted, training over 68,410 people
  • Counseled 91,034 individuals on malnutrition prevention and treatment
  • Successfully referred 895 children to NRCs
  • Achieved a 25% reduction in childhood malnutrition across intervention villages, 17,994 children who directly improved because of this intervention

They’re unbelievable numbers when you add them up, even for those of us who saw the progress in the field and did the adding.  I’m one of the members of the RMF team who spent hours and hours analyzing our program data.  Eyes bleary from staring at excel sheets and going absolutely crazy over the errors while cleaning data, we sacrificed our sanity and eyesight to make sure our data is as accurate as possible.  Even though I personally verified forms and conducted spot checks in the field to ensure the accuracy of reporting, I have a hard time believing that we reached over 80,000 children!

Young mothers and their children in Shali Dana

But today watching a new mother glow as she was breastfeeding her chubby infant and watching Samoti joke with mothers in the formerly tragic Shali Dana, I saw beyond the numbers and graphs to what RMF’s best at.  Here’s an invitation to every RMF supporter: come out and see for yourself the reality behind our numbers.  There’s nothing like it.

For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here

We can use any help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach and help towards our goal of Malnutrition Eradication in this region of India.

To contribute to this initiative, click on the Donate button below or visit our website at www.realmedicinefoundation.org

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India: Supporting Renewable Energy at our BHIL Academy project

February 17, 2011 in Helping Children, India, Naiara Tejados, Providing Medical Support, Rebuilding Communities, Voices from the Field by Jonathan White | Comments closed

by Naiara Tejados

Jhabua, India, 16th of February 2011

RENEWABLE ENERGY AT BHIL ACADEMY

It has really been a pleasure for me to see how, little by little, renewable green energies have become a part of our lovely school, the Bhil Academy (www.realmedicinefoundation.org/initiative/bhil-academy-jhabua-district-madhya-pradesh-india or search Bhil Kids on Facebook). Because of the hard work and dedication of donors, volunteers, and partners, the Bhil Academy is becoming more and more ¨green¨ every day!

eV Renewables´s staff members working at the Bhil Academy

Solar Electricity from eV Renewables and Loop Solutions

In Jhabua, electricity is scarce and typically only available for a few hours a day. After the sun went down, the children could do little but go to sleep: our children could not study at night or even walk to the toilets because of the darkness.

On 26 January 2011, eV Renewables enterprise from Hyderabad (evrenewables.com/) installed solar panels at the Bhil Academy. Thanks to the generous donations from Mr. Alok Brara and India Infrastructure and the incredible generosity, time, and energy of the team of eV Renewables, our students finally have light at night.

The solar panels are able to provide the entire school with at least 6 hours of steady electricity.  In addition to the solar panels, Loop Solutions (www.loop-india.com/) also supplied the school with portable lanterns. These lanterns not only light up the girls hostel, but also provide essential portable lights for the children to walk between buildings or in case of an emergency.

eV Renewables´s engineer Saaketh Preetham and Fabian Toegel

After a brief introduction of how to maintain the panels by the staff of eV Renewables, the 9th class children have been tasked with the responsibility of maintaining the solar panels and the supply of solar electricity to the school.

The solar panels were inaugurated the 28th of January by the kind honorable Kalavati Bhuria. I loved to see our children welcoming her with traditional Indian dances and songs! Thanks to everybody to make it possible!

More from Project REV

Also in the news of renewable energy, thanks to the work and steady donations from Project REV and our local volunteers, we have finished the construction of a kitchen-garden.  We will soon be able to grow our own crops in the school and provide a valuable learning activity for all of the children! We have now levelled a plot of land and surrounded it with a new fence to keep all animals (mainly cows, goats and dogs) out of the area, bought some nutrient-rich soil for cultivation, supplied the plot with watering-pipes, and purchased some seeds to plant. Our gardener, Mansouk, has purchased seeds for vegetables such as lentils, pumpkins, eggplants, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, cabbages, and lady-fingers, and will plant as the seasons require.

Kitchen-garden after preparing it to start seeding veggies

Also from Project REV, we have our fantastic compost bins!  Every day the school feeds 320 children from Kindergarten to 9th Class, and every day some food is left. In order to help the children learn conservationism and the usefulness of waste, organic waste will be collected in the compost drums and, after decomposing, used to enrich the soil of the garden. What an incredible way to enhance the education of the students of the Bhil Academy!

Decomposing drums to collect compost

Thanks to all donors, partners, and volunteers that have made all this possible! We will keep thinking of more renewable energies that could help in daily life at Bhil Academy, and welcome your suggestions. The next big venture will be the harvesting of rainwater. We already have a big big hole!

Hole to harvest the rainwater

Naiara Tejados

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