Today I decided to skip classes at the university and to go instead with Kathryn, Stacy and Adam to Janta Colony.
They work there only two days per week, and with only three weeks remaining in their internship, the time had come.
Janta Colony is located outside the city limits of Chandigarh, in the Punjab. I am not sure of the total population but it is very densely populated and resources are scarce.
DIR has a good, but not large, building within the bustee that was originally designed to house 20 families.
There is a preschool for 2- to 5-year-old, very sweet children.
This gives them a very good foundation to move into schools in Chandigarh when they get older.
Work days begin with some yoga and exercises. The rooftop of the building provides a good spot for this.
Over the past few weeks, they have had this brick structure built, filled it with soil, and planted vegetables, flowers and herbs.
They have also distributed over 80 large pots to individual homes so people can begin to grow fresh food for themselves.
Our UFV interns have also spent one day per week in one of the Chandigarh schools that is attended by many children from the bustee. Their focus has been on nutrition and growing healthy foods there as well.
One room in the DIR building is for teaching sewing skills. Another component of the project is teaching residents how to generate some income. Many women sew bags and clothing which are then sold.
They also make shopping bags from old newspapers.
The cloth bags are usually made of a heavy upholstery fabric. Donations of upholstery remnants come from furniture manufacturers.
He has a chart for each child and monitors weight on a regular basis. The mothers were all very welcoming and spent time discussing the health of their children with him.
There is much teaching about preventive measures happening.
Sunil had 17 homes to visit within a two hour time period.
Most children had gained some weight, and Sunil discussed food options with the Moms of the ones who had lost.
This one-year-old boy has had a cold that required some medication. Sunil was listening to his chest to see if the congestion had cleared.
This woman wore a veil throughout our visit. She had two small children.
Obviously, Sunil is a popular HP. Most children respond positively to him and the mothers seem to trust him.
He has done this work almost since the project began and finds it very satisfying.
This lovely lady spoke a bit of English, and she invited us into her house for a cup of tea.
This is her daughter-in-law and grandson. Now, this little boy cried at the sight of Sunil. He hadn't forgotten the vaccination he received the last time they met at the DIR office!
Janta Colony has some of its own shops. Because it is festival season, there were many vendors selling bangles and other jewelry.
The cows, chickens and pigs roam freely and snack on whatever is available. That is why rooftop gardens are most desirable.
Some of the streets are very narrow. Sunil wove his way through these to find the homes he wanted to visit.
Unfortunately, there are still open sewers and generally poor sanitation. I am sure Dr. Shaw would love to have the funds to work on that issue.
This young man, on his way to or from school, wanted to have his photo taken. So, I did that with my iPhone as I had accidentally dropped my camera (ugh) and cracked the lens protector. No, the iPhone wasn't good enough for him. He pointed at my large camera and indicated that was the one I should use!
This is the gate into the DIR building. Mr. Pannu is the person who runs the office, Natasha is his assistant, and Min is a medical doctor from South Korea who is helping out for a few months. She does some training of the Health Promoters.
Dr. Shaw, the wise man!
His "teach the people to fish.." model is a success. The statistics have been gathered to show that.
Like any such project, this one requires funds. UFV Chandigarh helped with the Sufi concert a few weeks back and that raised some much needed dollars.
Anyone interested in helping, the website is dir-help.org.
