Gopalganj

So for the past two days we have been doing field visits in Gopalganj, a district which is northwest of Patna about 3-4 hours. However, the roads there are pretty great. Great in terms of I felt like I was on a road most of the time, which is pretty great.
The first day was a short day going around the District Health Society offices and the second day was a monster day trying to fit in interviews at 2 blocks. At each block to really do it right I’d need to talk to at least 8 people and to REALLY do it write probably more like 15. Usually with time and people not being where they are supposed to be, it turns into 6. Yesterday we did two blocks and 11 interviews.
My favorite experience of the day happened in a village about 1 hour from the district capital. We were walking around and Sanobar spotted a woman making a straw basket. On the way back she decided to find the woman and buy it. It turns out that the women in this village make these baskets for their daughters to carry their things to their husband’s households. They wouldn’t sell them because they just make them with grasses and wouldn’t take our money. So they gave Sanobar one, and then gave me one, and then someone else wanted to give us one, and then they couldn’t let visitors go with three presents so they gave us another one. It was so touching and I really wanted to give them something in return.. By the time we left most of the neighborhood and come out to see and send us off… :)
This morning we are headed up to West Champaran. This is the NW most part of Bihar and I’m kind of excited because it was part of my fake proposal to go here so now I really am going. :)
YAY

Gopalganj Visits

Now where's that CARE office?


Found it!


Pani puri!


On the street where the CARE office is... FANCY.


Sup Soup! :)

Patna Visits 4

Hanging saaris out to dry.. and my interpreter's dupatta.. :)


I thought some of the doors and walls in this village were really pretty.



Found some iron and folic acid pills!


New friend! I got to use all my Hindi phrases with this girl who was not a beneficiary or anything but got so excited that she invited us in for chai and chuda.

Patna Visits 3

Out the car window...



Looks like a village, right? Nope, it’s how they store the hay so it doesn’t get wet. :)

Patna Visits 2

In the village scouting out beneficiaries...





Who's that strange lady?

Patna Visits

We left town around 7am to do some interviews in Patna district. You’d think this would be close by as we live in Patna district but no… it was still almost 3 hours to get out to the field and this was not the farthest one, the ones that are farther the district team will spend the night half way and do work there and then continue on the next morning for the farther ones to get a full day’s work done there too.
This long journey did involve breakfast out at an exciting restaurant:

Thirumalai excited about his chole bhatura breakfast on the way to Belchi block in Patna district!



और Puri Padjhi for me! :)



By the primary healthcare center where we did the interviews there were many farms. I liked this guy because of his bright white ‘stache…



Outside the PHC... at least it’s easy to get people to look at me for a picture!

Interview Pictures

Some kids hanging out while we were interviewing..

Making Rotis

Meggha the pro showing me how it’s done!


Trying to make my roti not look like the map of India… :)

Some Pictures in the Field

Here are some photos I took in the field in Patna District - Day 1

This is one of my favorite pictures, so I played with the coloring a little :)

Wherever there is stagnant water, this new plant is taking over. It sort of reminded me of kudzu. According to the internet, it may be water hyacinth.

Patiently watching his momma during an interview.. :)

Just thought I'd document the groupies I acquired walking around town.

Adventures in Patna and Patna District

I decided to take some pictures today.. :)

On the street where I live...

Breakfast on the street!

After Patna interviews at the district offices we had some chai made the RIGHT way. Cooked on hot coals and served in clay pots. :)

Outside of Patna district office

On the way back...

खरीदारी - To Shop

Woohoo! Fun day! After a brief morning of work, we had a yummy brunch of upma and chai.

In the afternoon we set off to P&M Mall to try the delights of Cream Center… We ordered Papdi Chat for appetizer and obviously followed by the main meal of enchiladas and quesadilla (I even didn’t say anything when everyone pronounced the “L”… ) I think some tortilla instruction needs to be done in the kitchen but it was a pretty fabulous feast! :) Possibly more exciting was that the manager gave us a taste of the nachos because they had just made a new recipe for the cheese sauce… Free food!

Then we had dessert (hey, I never pass up an opportunity for ice cream as you know)… of hot fudge sundae (with flavorless maraschino cherry??) which was great and ice cream and chocolate and great.

Then we went to FabIndia to buy exciting wears… :) Got some presents so I won’t mention and two kurtas for me! Will post soon… Tried to buy a salwar but no luck… Still feel like a genie in them though they are super comfortable… :) Now back to work at the dhar…

आराम करना - To sit

Today was Saturday. Which because CARE had so many holidays
in October and will have in December it was declared a work day. Since I’m
basically working 7 days a week over here, this meant I got to sit at a desk,
have LAN internet connection for free, and office CHAI. Might be the happiest
I’ve ever been or will be for working Saturdays… J
In addition, all the district outreach officers came in for
a training session. SO, I got to see all of the outreach officers that helped
me along in the first three field visits as we interviewed officials and
healthcare workers. Woohoo!
I also learned today that if you don’t play Words With
Friends for a week people cancel your games. Patience please! I was in the
field! :(
Anyway, not much to share today except for work…
We might go do some shopping tomorrow and MAYBE even go to Ganga Ghat Pe Aarti. Ganga River is a major river in India that runs through Bihar. Especially on Saturday and Sunday evenings people gather by the river and send out flickering lamps as offerings on the river.

In any case, we WILL be going to Cream Center, a snazzy restaurant at the mall which will have delicious treats of every shape and size. We shall see how it compares to the sizzling brownie from Nirvana!

Field Visit #1: Purbi Champaran

So, everyone came back to the office on the 3^rd and we were off on the 7^th! It was hard to make sure everything was good to go but ready or not the van left on Monday morning at 5:30am!

My field visits are being coordinated to go alongside other CARE events so when a travel opportunity strikes, go we must…

There is one road to East Champaran that is a quite lovely 4 lane road full of smooth asphalt. There rest of the roads along the way were not like this and we spent much of the time bouncing around though I managed to fall asleep most of the time. When we arrived there was barely time for chai and we were off to interview some unsuspecting participants of the IFA supply chain (ok, they were suspecting... we gave advance notice!).

Checkin’ out the storeroom at the primary healthcare center.

We were only able to find 1 box of IFA… in a box full of gloves, but still…

Looks like I might even understand what everyone is saying…

You lookin’ at me? I’ll take your picture…

My interpreter, Sanobar!

Waiting for the next interview… (What? This is how I wait...)

ASHA kit!

Iron in the ASHA kit!

Pictures in the village

They run but they can’t hide!

Pahle Hafta – First Week

Highlights of the first few days with at new awesome place with new awesome friends :)

We got a fridge!

Potluck lunch with Ram!

And Ram Can Cook!

Views from terrace onto the street.