One LOUD town

Our neighbor Komala and her neice Ambily continue to take care of us. Komala just simply cooks for us now. She keeps asking us if we cook. In fact, she asked if we had servants that cook for us, trying to figure out why it is that we are so miserable at making food here. I don't think she understands that we honestly cannot even ID half of the vegetables at the market.
Anyhow, everday now she wants to come and modify my Sari and dress me up in it. I haven't been dressed by someone else since I was four, but Komala is taking great joy from it so I just stand there and take it.
This particular evening, I refused to get into a Sari, so she settled for putting a bindi on me. Bindis are worn by everyone here in a variety of locations and colors. They are considered a thing of beauty and I was complimented profusely by the neighbors once they had adorned me. They explained that the traditionally bindi between the eyes is symbolizing ones self. Then there is sometimes a horizontal line just above that which symbolizies God. If a woman or man also have a vertical line right at their hairline on the forehead this means that he/she is married. Lastly, a mark at the base of your neck in front means that you have children. So Leigh just had a single Bindi, but I was also marked at my forehead because I am married.
Since we keep getting put into the Indian mold. We suggested that Ambily try on some Western clothing. She looked great! She said it felt uncomfortable and we discussed that it would be impossible to wear in Rajakkad because of all the men and cat calls etc. THEN, Komala imitates a man walking with an umbrella, we think this is funny. Except that it turns out she is imitating Leigh and I and saying that we walk like men and it is funny. She also thinks it is amusing all of the attention that we attract in town.
We hit upon the subject of Feminism with Ambily because Leigh was reading some feminist theology. We have both decided we feel really bad for Ambily becasue she knows enough about the world outside of Rajakkad to know what she could be and what she is missing. But, she also knows what her life will be. She is 26, and as of yet unmarried because her family cannot afford a dowry. She is hoping to be able to marry in just two years, but they are not sure. Hopefully she will be able to marry, and then she will have a domestic life and bear 1-3 children and serve her husband. She will no longer work as a financial worker as she does now. She will not have much opportunity to ideas like "feminism". She has a lot of spunk and an independent mind and we can tell she is fairly unhappy where she is, but there are not a lot of options outside of what she has.

Then, this morning we start working when suddenly there is ear-splitting music and a sound system. Turns out there is a protest not only coming up our street, but stopping at the entrance to our building! There are three policemen at the bottom of our stairs and there is no way we are going to get out of the building. For the next three hours Leigh and I resort to wearing ear plugs because the event is so loud. There is chanting and there is yelling into a microphone. Then there is a very long speech by some man, in which people sit down and become quite subdued. He goes on and on. We have no idea what he was saying. We went down our hall to the Spice Board office which shares our building and asked what it was about. They said it was the communist party protesting the treatment of tea plantation workers. Sort of ironic since that is the population that HPWDS serves and we know all about their difficulties and conditions. Whey the protest was in front of our building is still very unclear.

Success professionally! Hooray!

Me, goofing off in front of our Program model card storming board. We spent two full days explaining how to think of a program (inputs, intervention, outputs and impact) and then how the impacts are not known for sure and therefore must be evaluated. The kind of data you will get and use, and most importantly, HOW do you have an evaluation, construct a survey and specifically, what the heck is an ILS diary, why is it special, how does work, and why do we actually want one. Phew! It was a start with the basics sort of event, but it worked like a charm. We finally feel like we have the staff on board and that they understand what this is all about. We insisted that we have certain staff members and other stakeholders (like the president of the board) present for the training so that it will no longer be just Mohanan who knows about this and sits on things with no action. I'm hopeful that by educating the whole organization progress will actually be made.

This was our marathon day of editing. Leigh and I have completed a 50 page ILS diary which is tailored to the evaluation and programmatic needs of HPWDS. It has many pages with indicators and evaluative aspects and it has almost an equal number of pages which are learning elements meant to enhance HPWDS's programs and help the SelfHelp Group Members plan for their future. It's an exciting document and something we're proud of. It was a little nerve wracking to bring it to the customer and have them go through it with a critical eye. It took 6 hours, page by page, of discussion, explanation and critique. BUT, I am so happy to say that the changes are pretty minor and that they really liked and understood the diary. In fact, I don't think I can emphasize enough how happy this makes me. It feels great. We have three days next week left working in the office (leigh has to leave Aug. 9th, because she flies home the 15th) and we will be spending these days doing additional training with the staff on how to facilitate the diary with the women out in the field, how to capture the data from the diary on an evaluation basis and use the data for their organization and to do it in a participatory and ethical manner. Then we have to go through some of the computer instruction so that the files we leave with them will make sense. Phew! It's just going so well. All of our critical thinking, and gnashing of teeth at the beach, when we didn't know how to explain ourselves or what we were doing paid off. It is admittedly not the ideal way to construct a diary, but it is better than not having one at all. Ideally we would have 6 months to work with the staff, see the field, develop survey items and consult on issues, and use an artist to get the pictures tailored to the region, BUT that just wasn't the situation.

On our day of diary editing, Mohanan had TV station guy come and do some filming. So potentially Leigh and I will be airing on Malayalam TV news. It was weird to have him there, but I hope that it will be beneficial for HPWDS. They are the only ones in this area directly addressing the needs of the tea plantation workers and are doing so in a really participatory and new fashion. So maybe the press is a good thing.

Out of the Sand and into the Mold!

Leigh and I have left the beaches and are currently back in Rajakkad working furiously with HPWDS to finish our work.
We stopped in Ernakulam/Kochi on our way back “home”, and spend an unanticipated extra day there. The computer power available is shockingly poor and so the simple task of “just printing the diary” and going to Rajakkad, became a 6 hour ordeal that did not end all that happily. The computers here could not handle the file size of the powerpoint with the whole ILS diary on it. The printer rejected the idea of graphics and made weird whining noises and the staff made get out noises. They informed us our printing project was tying up their single main computer and would be please just accept that it could not be printed. Except, this IS THE PROJECT! The diary is what we came here to do, it’s what we finished on the beach, it’s our baby, and without it printed, well . . . let’s just not think that way. Long story short; we used Leigh’s computer to convert files, my computer to save things separately, and their computer to open earlier drafted diary pages and print them in a readable, but incorrect format. Oofta. I’ll admit, I was not a pretty sight in the hotel that night, it kind of undid me. Everything seemed backwards, nothing was efficient, nothing was built with the future in mind and, most importantly, I felt like I did not have control over anything! The stress of India had built up, and I was a sticky puddle on the floor.
I have recovered some measure of sanity (whatever was there previously, we shall not debate this subject). Since arriving back in Rajakkad I have been kept busy battling a full mold invasion and acting as professional trainer to HPWDS staff.
When we opened the door to our concrete apartment the mold practically took human form and waved. I’ve never seen anything like it. Most surfaces were covered with a white fuzz, certain items had changed color entirely; a massive inspection was launched. The whole evening we spent quarantining items, treating those that were treatable, and giving a good mopping to those with more common cases.
The following day was, I think, the first truly “successful” day at the office. It was a thrill to train and present information you’ve tailored for someone and find out that they thought it was relevant and that you communicated it clearly. In fact over lunch, one of the employees actually told me, “You have very good English, your pronunciation is very clear, very understandable”. It took me a minute to understand what he was getting at, I thought it odd that a Malayalum speaker should compliment me on my native language skills, but then I understood. It was such a successful day, hooray!
Now, Leigh and I are in uber crunch mode trying to prioritize the minimum amount of training for proper implementation of ILS into an organization’s programs. We have spent an hour discussing it and planning the rest of our days (until Aug. 8th), and have worked ourselves into a perfect frenzy. I can’t say if it will all work or not, but we’ll simply have to do what we can. In some ways I think it’s funny that we continue, despite all previous experience up until this point, to furiously plan, plan, plan. We have a schedule. We have set expectations about how the next few days will happen. There’s a voice in my quietly saying, “Ehem, aren’t you in India?” But, hey, American future orientation, planning and my own control freakishness are hard to shake. What can I say?

In the evenings we have spent dinner with our neighbor Komala. Do you remember her? The older, somewhat bossy, but ultimately motherly woman that lives across the hall with her niece? Well, she came over and I showed her the fancy sari that I bought for the first formal I have at home. I need her to make the proper undergarments for me—turns out she is a tailor. She wrapped me up properly in the sari and I’m nearly certain I have little hope of repeating any similar action in the United States. The amount of fabric involved in a single sari is incredible! It’s at about a yard wide and probably a dozen yards long. How women learn to tie one by themselves without the aid of an entourage is well beyond me. Komala has also been cooking with us in the evening, so we learn to cook Indian food and get a good meal. We bring the ingredients and she supplies the kitchen tools and know-how. It’s a good arrangement, although a bit more time-consuming than Leigh and I and our American ways would prefer given the amount of work we still have left. It’s an example of the domestic economy that is never accounted for, period, but especially in developing countries. It take soooo long to have safe water, grow food, find food, cook food, wash clothing, wring clothing, dry clothing in the rain, fight the mold, bathe with any sort of frequency, clean the bathroom, kill the roaches/millipedes/meal worms/ants etc. the list could be endless. All the simple daily tasks that we do without thinking, take an enormous amount of time and effort. It sounds trite, but I will be so appreciative of all the “modern conveniences” we take for granted on a daily basis.

Lastly, while we were trying to work on Sunday (our day off), our door bell kept ringing crazily. The kids of the neighborhood were coming in groups to our door so they could meet us and giggle. It was adorable, if not distracting. Some of the kids were so shy they could just peek at us from under the stairs. It’s so funny being such an attraction, the giggling we inspire is really quite spectacular.

Hopefully Last post from Kovalum

This older fisherman was talking with me and describing the kind of fish they used to catch when he was younger. He was quite friendly. I felt sad for him to have his way of life diminished so dramatically.

In India you can buy ready made clothes, but you are more likely to have something tailored for yourself. They have stores everywhere. This was one waiting for business back behind our hotel in a labyrinth of paths. He agreed to have his picture taken. The sewing machines are all pedal operated (not electrical pedal).

Ahh, Anna exists. I forget to pop into my photos, but here I am. Leigh and I went on a little adventure at dusk, winding our way through back paths away from the beach. It is a bizarre mix of beautiful, ill-kempt, new and homey.

India is the home of the squatty potty. At the German Bakery where we have eaten almost every day for breakfast, they have this fabulous sign explaining how to use it. Hilarious.

I am feeling pretty sick again and have reinstated my cipro regimen. But, Leigh and I are planning on traveling all day tomorrow to go back to Rajakkadu. We have the diary finished!!! It is beautiful, truly we are quite proud of it. I finished the facilitation manual yesterday and there is just data capture pages and the spreadsheet left to pump out today. Oh, and our three powerpoint presentations on programs, evaluation and ILS diaries. It feels good to have some of this finished. Wish us luck on the training portion of it. Ideally, we'll have our laptops running, but given the monsoons, we are printing all the slides now so we can present off of them just in case.
Graham is coming to me so soon. I can hardly tell you how excited I am to see him. I really had no idea how hard it would be to be separated for so long. I'm really looking forward to his arrival with me in Kochi on August 2. He'll be in Rajakkad with us for the final week of training before we all go our separate ways.
That's all for now. Keep the email coming, I like hearing about the summer I'm missing state-side.
Anna

The best part of Kovalum

10 years ago Kovalum beach was a small fishing village, it has since become a resorty, tourist town, but yesterday morning it showed its true colors. We started by noticing men out in the water, and then heard chanting. The men were pulling the ropes in as they chanted a rhythm, it was really cool.

There was a lot of net to be managed and probably there were 40 men or so working on the effort, both in and out of the water.

A crowd kept growing on the beach and when the nets were finally in everyone gathered around to see what was brought in.

Unfortunately, for all that effort, the catch was mostly anchovie size fish, nothing to write home about. Apparently it's become increasingly difficult for the fishermen here who fish on a subsistence basis. There have been laws that during this off season there are to be no trolling ships or big merchants doing commercial fishing, but I'm unclear how much that helps.

I think you like the pictures best

Just a little British remanant, hahaha

Everything, everything is made from concrete around here, we're not really sure why, but this picture epitomizes the construction. It's concrete. and there are 7 men, 7 whole grown men working on this tiny section. India's whole economy is based on surplus labor. Have I mentioned this before? It is. Efficiency means nothing, employing as many people as possible is everything.

This building says "Cooperative Service Examination Board". I have two things to say about it. First, my colleague Katrina commented that, "India has a way of making even legitimate operations look illegitimate." I think that encapsulates it perfectly and succinctly. YOu start looking around the cities and it's true. YOu can stand in one spot and the longer you stand there the more notice, but at a glance you'll miss most of it because our western eyes don't register what doesn't look clean and in good repair etc. So this building is a good example. It probably is exactly what it says it is. WHICH, lead me to my second thing. Speaking with the men from the handloom weaver's, we learned that one of their wives if a government typist and what an honor and security that was for their family because she can never be fired and she has a lifetime pension, plus the job pays well. What they also told us was that she competed against over 100,000 other people for the job. Incredible! We next learned that Anhil two weeks earlier had taken a civil service examination test because he had applied for a government job. We asked why the test? He said that's how you get any of the government jobs. They're all roughly the same test. He wasn't sure if he had gotten some of his answers correct so he wanted to double check with us: "What is the national animal of the United States?", "Who abolished slavery in the United States?" "Who said, 'A government for the people, by the people and of the people' (?? did I get the quote right?)"? These questions just to be a typist or any other government position. Pretty interesting.

THis is the lighthouse on Kovallum beach, I felt like I owed you another beach picture since I am staying beach front.

So Sorry for the Absence

I was busy avoiding rash driving, so as not to "reduce" my life! This is a bus station stop. The signs in India, I swear, are almost the best part!

Douglas Martin, no more Dr. Ramaswamy for you. Check this out! This is a 260 year old Hindu temple in Trivandrum named Sri Padmanabhaswamy! Whoa.

Mr. Ganesh with a fuzzy beard from a temple which was all black. We're not sure why.

A detail of Sri Pasdflk jfdaghjk; swamy Temple. Each column looked to be about my height, it's enormous and beautiful and still very much in use.

So. I'm still at the beach. The rains are unusually strong this time of year and the landslides and lack of electricity keep happening. Currently, I am in Kovallum which is near the capital Trivandrum, of the state Kerala. I don't really like it here all that much because it's so touristy, but we're at the mercy of good working conditions and so we must stay.
My professor was here for a little bit and our boss came south from the highrange to consult with us. Helzi clarified our work for us, gave us direction and under no uncertain terms told our boss where our efforts needed to be focused. It felt great. and then we got ill. Fever and the runs galore. oof. It took us off track and now we are starring at computer screens with post-fever glazed eyes wondering how we are ever going to get this much work done before we're finished August 9th. (Leigh leaves India August 15th and needs time to travel back up to Delhi for her flight, so we have no wiggle room on the end date). Essentially, HPWDS still needs help with mission, vision, funding proposals and strategic planning - but these are all things that future consultants can provide for them. While, Helzi has trained Leigh and I specifically in ILS diaries and HPWDS has been asking for a diary for 11 years now. Helzi told Mohanan we were the last students she was sending so if he wanted ILS he better let us focus on ILS and not do other things. Which, as it turns out is 100% true. It became clear that along with the diary for the women participants, you need a diary for data caputre, and a diary facilitation manual and a codebook and a data entry spread sheet and an overview manual AND then you have to train all the staff. So as soon as is humanly possible we will finish the production phase, return to Rajakkad and train our little hearts out. Beginning from a very basic concept of program evaluation, moving into editing the diary, training facilitation, then sampling and data capture. PHew. We are ambitious, I"m not sure it's possible, but we're giving it a good go.