From concept to concrete

As our time in India comes to a close, our work begins to solidify and assume a more tangible form. Throughout the year we attempted to put together our project proposal (an official document detailing the minutiae and plans of our endeavor), but never succeeded in compiling a thorough and focused game plan. Although we had prepared ourselves and thought out our ideas extensively, it proved difficult to put something so crucial together before immersing ourselves in not only Indian culture, but also life in the village of Ananthaiahgaripalli. We had to assess the needs of the village, including understanding the current role of the government school and its shortcomings, the lack of resources, and the villagers' perspectives.

Malli, servant daughter and love of our lives.

We arrived in Ananthaiahgaripalli the second time with a precise game plan in mind. The welcome we received when we came back was heartwarming. Since we were no longer strangers, families welcomed us into their homes without qualms and children ran up to us to jump on our backs and braid our hair. All inhibitions gone, we not only loved and felt loved in return, but we could feel the common appreciation and excitement for our plans. To contour the curriculum and school facilities to the immediate and long-term needs of the villagers, we conducted a needs-assessment survey in which we interviewed a number of families and children to gain a better position on their value systems, financial situations, perception of gender roles, marriageable age, and how these factors influence their view of education and schooling.

Malli and her father.  Although currently enrolled in school, she acknowledges that she will soon drop out to be a servant.

We found that most families in the village fall into a similar frame. Due to the entirely rural nature of the area, the livelihood does not vary greatly from family to family. Men tend to land (they either own their own land or work on someone else's), look after their farm animals (mostly cattle and foul), or freelance their labor from week to week to make a living. Women and children keep the house, prepare meals, and help in tending to farm animals. Gender roles largely dominate the interaction between men and women in the village; they are clearly defined and not often breached. Marriageable age is somewhere between 15 and 18, and women are expected to get married, usually as a means of ameliorating financial duress. Money is sparse in the village, and children often stay home because the family cannot afford to lose another potential laborer. Many families we interviewed recalled marrying their daughters early because they could not feed another mouth. Almost everyone expressed a genuine interest in the possibility of keeping their children in school, to avoid falling into the same pattern of life, but in an ideal world without onerous financial situations. This a hugely important idea to consider. We can build a school, provide the facilities and the resources, but how can we provide families with the incentive to send their children to school everyday? Taking a hint from the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society in New Delhi, we are considering putting a small sum of money into a fund for each day that a child goes to school which they can only withdraw when they complete the 10th standard.  This would serve as an ongoing incentive to send children to school, enabling them to obtain a full education and graduate with the means to help their families, continue their education, or start up their own lives as they please.

The government-run school only goes up to the 5th standard and is house in a dilapidated building.

When asked about the resources lacking in the village, every villager we interviewed unanimously expressed a dire need for greater water availability and quality, and a hospital. We plan on instituting both of these things before the completion of the Sanjeevani Project. As discussed earlier, not only will we provide a clean-water filtration system but also a 25,000 liter water tank to ensure a constant supply of water throughout the year. A health center will also be phased in and families of children enrolled in the school will have preference of some sort, to continue to promote enrollment and attendance in the school.

Not only children would benefit from our endeavor.  A health center, community hall, and clean water resources will aid in the improvement of the overall quality of life in the village.

Extracurricular activities and leisure activities are mostly a spoiled concept. Elders in the village do not possess any special skills that they can teach children; families and children often sit idle or fall victim to the lure of mischief and alcohol. When asked if they would enjoy having these resources available for fun and to diversify their daily activities, almost every family expressed interest. Our multipurpose hall will serve the role of community involvement and development.  It will also be the stage for addressing common health issues (especially women's health, a conversational taboo in the village).

We continued conducting our needs-assessment surveys throughout the week, with Abhita's uncle serving as our ever-amiable translator. It was a real help to have someone so friendly act as the medium between us and families. All of the stories we heard were so moving that one has to wonder if the families would have volunteered the information to just anyone.

We submitted our completed and culturally relevant project proposal to the YSR (formerly Kadapa) District Collector, and verbally presented our ideas to him. He was impressed, to say the least. It was quite a relief to see the District Collector so moved by our efforts! He expressed his desire to help us in any way that he could and is forwarding our request to begin construction on the 10-acre plot of land. Within the next two months we should have government approval and we can begin preparing for construction.

We hope we have made you aware of the urgency of our cause.  We ask you to donate to our cause; each rupee counts more than you could ever imagine.

Love, Peace and Schools,
SJP

Where time is far from fleeting: Village life in Ananthaiahgaripalli

Following information overload in Hyderabad, we boarded a twelve-hour train to the village; rather, Rajampet, the closest “city” to the village.

Village life is slow. There’s time to breathe in and breathe out -- and plenty of time to spend thinking about it. The day starts at sunrise, and not a moment after, once the roosters call the village to attention and the daily chores begin. The servants wake up and begin boiling water for their morning baths (since running hot water is unavailable), while the women of the household wake up alongside them and begin preparing to make a day’s worth of food. Children run outside, playing and laughing, before they’re called inside to help in the house. Soon, the two dozen or so of them who actually attend the running government school emerge from their abodes adorned with perfect braids topped off with flowers and bows, while the boys look immature and handsome in their uncoordinated outfits. A few hours later, around 11 a.m., the electrical current is finally turned on (it’s only on for about nine hours a day), the ceiling fans come to life, and the hundreds of flies previously camped out on every imaginable surface scatter and buzz around the room. While we’re accustomed to a landscape dominated by buildings, business, technology, and transportation, the village pace is set by none other than the near countless animals and insects roaming the roads. Cows, left to their own devices, have a knack for blocking an entire street, while stray dogs will playfully walk after you with their innocent eyes (we laugh in the face of rabies... wait, none of us have that vaccine?). Goats, chickens, geckos, the occasional cat, and wild parakeets all complete the scenery. Not to mention the innumerable spiders and unidentifiable insects we discover on an hourly basis. Ananthaiahgaripalli is a picture of serene and slow life. Each day passes with the same itinerary, the same calm acceptance of simple, enjoyable life filled with relationships and lazy afternoons spent conversing about life and the project’s goals on the steps of a temple devoted to none other than Lord Krishna himself.

The functioning government school in the village plays a fairly minuscule role in the lives of the villagers and their children. It is comprised of two poorly maintained rooms and a highly unsanitary hole in the ground undeserved of the title “bathroom”. Children sit on the ground, which is very unclean. It should be noted that Nadine sat on said ground and stood back up with about five bites from (an) unknown critter(s) on her rump. Since it is a government-run school and will not be shut down, we have resolved to buy benches and playground equipment from Hyderabad to be shipped to the school to improve its condition. This school only runs up to the fifth standard, leaving children older than the age of around eleven or twelve unable to further their education. It is Telegu-medium as well, which significantly lowers their chances of securing any other means of education, since English-medium is increasingly becoming the norm. Children come and go as they please, and the teacher is almost ignorant of the constantly shifting numbers of children repeating after her. Working in the household and/or contributing to the family’s labor output is often more valued than spending the day in school, an attitude that Sanjeevani hopes to change.

We had the good fortune of being invited by Senator Vivekananda Reddy to lunch at his other residence, the same Senator we met previously for dinner. This time, he generously gave us a tour of the social work being done and funded by his nephew’s wife: an orphanage and a school with Christian undertones. It was quite inspiring to see what devoted individuals can accomplish. Women who worked at the orphanage found out it was Nadine’s 21st birthday and instantly crowded around her to clip freshly picked flowers in her hair and suffocate her with loving embraces and kisses. These children are most certainly in the best possible hands.

We will meet with the Cuddapah District Collector on August 14th to submit our site proposal, and hopefully receive the ‘okay’ to begin construction as a legitimate government approved presence in the district.

On our way back to Hyderabad, we stopped at Tirumala, the residence of Lord Venkateswara, the richest god in India. Pilgrims flock to Tirupati, the city atop seven hills, to see the deity for one fleeting moment before they are ushered away to allow the next shaved-head pilgrim a chance to make a wish in front of the god. The pilgrimage to the top of the seven hills consists of somewhere around 3500 steps spread out over 14 kilometers. It took Vic, Abhita, and Nadine about three hours to complete the pilgrimage. Most pilgrims complete the same journey in significantly more time, barefoot, and blessing every step they climb with colorful spices and devotional mantras. Our journey to Tirupati solidified our belief that India is like no country we’ve seen before. The culture is wholly unique, and we feel so lucky to have this opportunity to experience its magic with our own eyes.

Blessed steps and devout pilgrims.

A word to the wise: do not eat the ladus just outside Lord Venkateswara’s temple! If you are unwise enough to attempt digesting these right before boarding a twelve-hour train ride, Vic will be more than happy to teach you the simultaneous “vomit and poo”, which involves skillful pivoting, an Indian-style toilet (i.e. squatting), and some Pepto-bismol.

To learn more about life in the village and/or our project, contact us at thesanjeevaniproject@gmail.com. We will be more than happy to speak to you!

-SJP

Wide-eyed and curious: Sanjeevani arrives in India

Four of the five of us have successfully arrived in Hyderabad. At present, the team consists of Nadine Ibrahim, Victor Siclovan, Abhita Reddy, and Hugo Massa. Kurtis Fjerstad, the last member of our fleet of do-gooders is arriving on August 3rd. Hyderabad will function as our home base from this point onwards, due to the convenient fact that it is in the same state (Andhra Pradesh) as the village of Ananthaiahgaripalli and thus speaks the same language. It's great that we are staying in one of the biggest cities in India -- and the largest in the South --, since we will have the opportunity to explore Indian culture and business practices before immersing ourselves in village life.

Not 45 minutes after our group convened did we run to attend our first press conference. The conference was put together by a family friend of Dr. Reddy, Abhita’s father, and it was attended by most of the main TV stations and newspapers in India, both local and national. Our main goal in arranging this was to raise awareness for our cause -- why we're in India, what we're trying to do, and why it is important that people know about the project. Mostly, the more the word gets out about our magnanimous efforts, the more credibility we will have in the future when it comes to getting our paperwork pushed through the government, which is a notoriously daunting task. The press conference ran smoothly. It was quite a novel experience being in the limelight and striking ironically candid poses for innumerable photos. Over the course of the next few days we were featured in a number of papers

Oh, hello fame!

The next day, keeping true to our high-paced beginnings, we met with the Naandi Foundation to discuss the possibility of opening a clean water treatment facility in conjunction with the school. Naandi builds these facilities in rural and village areas around India to promote healthier lifestyles and to prevent unnecessary ailments caused by contaminants and dissolved solids in the available drinking water. We should be receiving a water needs-assessment from a Naandi officer soon, and then we will be aware of all, if any, contaminants consumed daily by the villagers in Ananthaiahgaripalli. The most common problem is fluoride consumption, which is often present in dangerously high levels in underground water sources. Fluoride ingestion causes Fluorosis, which contributes to bone density loss, mangled bone structures, stunted growth, and warped teeth. We are planning on meeting the quota for liters of clean water purchased per day by providing schoolchildren with water from the plant, since our school will cater to children outside of Ananthaiahgaripalli as well. (Edit: Hugo later made the courageous yet unfortunate decision to drink a cup of said untreated “drinking” water. A few hours later he was hallucinating about “respiration temples” and found himself in a creaky hospital bed with a fever above 104 F.)

Meeting with the Naandi Foundation to implement a clean water system.

We wanted to see as many functioning schools as possible throughout our trip, so we visited the Sai Vikas Model School in Hyderabad where we met with TV N, a local television station, to discuss the details of our project. More publicity! The Sai Vikas school caters mostly to children from nearby slums, and provides them with a free education. We spent quite some time speaking and playing with the children. Their level of curiosity is inspiring; within five minutes of standing outside we were surrounded by excited crowds of three-foot-nothings, reciting everything they knew in English. “Hi, how are you. I am fine!” Victor led a chorus of children counting up to twenty. Heartwarming, to say the least.



That week we had the good fortune of being invited to dinner at Senator Reddy’s house. His brother, the late Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, was very loved in the state. Last September he was tragically killed in a plane crash, and following his death approximately 700 Indian citizens committed suicide. Senator Reddy was very sweet; he was most welcoming and was quite interested in listening to our proposal since members of his family have committed a significant amount of time to doing similar acts of charity.

Victor went with Dr. Reddy to meet with representatives of the ASHA Foundation, an organization that regulates and sometimes funds other organizations with charitable intentions. It was stressed that the school needs to be designed around the overall needs of the children; they need to be provided with a moral and social upbringing that supersedes that of the parents, whose intentions might not always align with the best interests of their children. In order to determine the exact needs of the children, we must conduct a demographic study of Ananthaiahgaripalli. This process, of course, requires a great deal of thought and planning, one that Nadine will begin working on to be completed before our second trip to the village mid-August. For example, children in agriculture-based villages are an integral part of the labor supply, so the difficulty is convincing the parents and the children that education is more valuable than field labor. We will also begin considering the feasibility and value of providing a midday meal program.

To learn more about the educational environment in India, Hugo and Nadine met with the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society in New Delhi before they arrived in Hyderabad. The representative was incredibly informative and helpful when it came to crossing government roadblocks and identifying ways to address the needs of the village. Pardada Pardadi is an all-girls vocational and boarding school that caters to poor families. Its mission is to educate women, because they believe values are passed down maternally. Upon graduating the girls are given a sum of money (about $650) to use as they please: as a dowry or as seed money for any endeavor they hope to pursue. This strategy is definitely something we hope to consider, not only as an incentive to keep children in school, but also a way to compromise with families in the village who might think a day spent in school is not as productive as one in the fields.

-SJP