Our trip to Delhi was a whirlwind and seemed over faster than it started. I enjoyed experiencing a new city and immediately noticed many difference from Mumbai. Delhi seemed to have a calmer atmosphere and was laid out quite differently, with smaller buildings and more tree lined streets. Driving from the airport I saw a man walking a small dog on a leash, a sight not very common in Mumbai. We arrived Tuesday afternoon and headed straight to the US Embassy to meet with Nandita Chopra, who is heading up the NIH's portfolio in India. She works with researchers from both the US and India to help them build relationships and work more jointly on projects ranging from cancer, diabetes, HIV and eye care. It was interesting to get her perspective on the health system in India and hear about some of the struggles she faces working with the Indian Government, something we heard as a common theme on our trip.
The next day we met with Operation ASHA, an organization involved with Tuberculosis prevention and medication adherence. Since this was the first TB focused NGO we had met with it was interesting to learn about the impact this disease has in India and the struggles they face including stigma associated with the disease. Many people are scared or ashamed to be diagnosed for fear they will loose their job or get kicked out of their housing since many may see them as a health risk. ASHA trains people in the community to administer medications to TB patients and ensure that they complete their dosage, leading to sucessfull recovery. This is especially important in places like India where incomplete treatment regimes can lead to the rise of deadly multi-drug resistant strains. We went to the slums to visit one of their programs, which was run out of a small general shop. Patients could come where unknowingly and get their medicines in private so no one would suspect they were going for treatment. I thought this was a great model that promoted a bottom up community level approach as opposed to a more top down model.
Our next visit was unplanned but definitely a welcome surprise. We met with Dr. Kiran Bedi, a prominate government activist in India who began her carrer as the first women head of police in Mumbai. She now leads a movement of people in India who are rising up against government corruption and working to activate youth and people living in slum conditions to rise up and advocate for their best interests. She also heads a foundation that is helping to reform female government prisions. Much of our group was shocked to learn how the prison system works here in India. Females who are in jail, bring their children along who then live behind bars with their mothers. Since the system is so slow here many women remain in jail just awaiting trial for nearly 10 years. Dr. Bedi's foundation sets up schools in the prisons to help educate children, provide them with adequate nutrition and counseling to help them grow up in a more healthy environment. It was so insipring to hear to speak so passionately about her work, and despite the controvery and struggles she has faced she is still so positive and hopeful for her country. She was actually on the ground working to help people advocate for and speak out for the many inequities that exist in India such as sanitation, health care, education. Encouraging communities to demand change from leadership and not stopping until this was completed. It was very refreshing to see this, as most of us had been feeling helpless about the many social issues we had been witnessing daily during our time here. I definitely left here feeling insipired and hopeful for the future.
The final program we visited here in India was also one of my favorites, Saalam Baalak Trust. They help to rescue street children from the Delhi railway station and place them to safe homes or return them to their families. Many of these children leave home in seek of a better life in the big city, some even think they can become Bollywood stars. However, many end up drug addicted or get sold into slavery. Saalam Baalak enlists the help of former street kids to help motivate and convince the young children to come off of the street and seek help. They offer them safe places to live, educational programs and health care. We stopped by one of their drop in centers for boys and met two young men who had run away from home when they were little. They don't remember exactly how old they were or when their birthdays are because they left home at such a young age. One, said that he had walked across the border from Bangladesh when he was just six years old. Despite what they had been through, they were excited to share their stories with us and just as eager to ask us questions. Saalam also runs a program where they enlist young boys in their program to lead walking tours of Delhi for tourists, showing them a different side of the city and sharing their own stories along the way. I thought that this was a really great way to help build their confidence as well as to show outsiders a perspective not heard by many who pass through the Delhi each year not really hearing about the cities real issues.
