Saturday, June 22, 2013
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Posted by Hazel
So, I'm in India! I've been here nearly 2 weeks now and it already feels like I have been here for ages. The majority of my time so far has been spent learning all about how the project will work, some team building and more recently, visiting and learning about the village I will be living and working in for the remainder of the project.
Firstly however, the weather is not necessarily as I had anticipated. It is the beginning of the monsoon season over here which seemed to have escaped me when I was getting ready for my trip. Basically it rains at some point during each day. It's still warm but just wet - and the rain can get pretty heavy. Luckily I packed my raincoat so I'm prepped for the weather. The village that we are going to be working in, Kokkal, is in the Nilgiri mountains, and it's also pretty cold. So I think the tan I was hoping for maybe a distant dream...
I have been paired with Remya, my Indian team leader partner. We will both be taking 12 volunteers (a mix of UK and Indian 18-24 year olds) to live in Kokkal, a primitive tribal village in the South of India. I am really excited about the village. We went to visit it this week to find out more about it and do some risk assessments at the location.
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| Remya and myself visiting Kokkal, our village |
The people in the village are part of the Kota tribe. There are 7 villages in the area where the Kota tribe people live. They live by strict rituals and traditions that their ancestors have followed for many years. The Kota people believe they were created from the sweat of Shiva, one of the Hindu Gods. They believe Shiva's sweat created 7 men and 7 women, who then set up the 7 villages which they now live in.
One of the big rituals they follow is that all women must leave the family home during the time of menstruation. They believe that menstruation is evil and dirty so separate the women during their monthly period. They have a special 'Mense' house on the edge of the village where they live for 2 - 3 days at the beginning of their period each month.
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| The Mense House |
The Mense house they currently use is not really fit for purpose. There isn't enough room to house all the women comfortably, and there are no toilet facilities. They do everything they need to do in the one room in the building and openly defecate (go to the toilet outside) in the area surrounding the house. The main bulk of our project when we are living in the village will be to demolish the existing Mense house and construct a new one for the women to use. The women have no problem with the traditions and rituals which they follow, and it's not our role to change the way they live, but just to help them to live more comfortably.
Next week the volunteers arrive. Up until now it has just been the 12 UK leaders and 12 Indian leaders that have been living at the field base near Mysore. 6 of the groups (including mine) will start this week and the other 6 groups will start the following week as there isn't enough room for us all at field base once all the volunteers arrive (12 volunteers per team).
Today is a day off, the first full day we have had off since we have been here - it has been pretty busy, but I am now feeling much more prepared for the project, although we still have some more training this weekend before the volunteers arrive.
Here are some photos of the last couple of weeks...
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| You don't go far down a road without having to give way to a herd of goats, cows or sheep |
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A colourful house in a local village
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| Myself at Mysore Palace (an Indian family also has this picture somewhere to show their family a token white person they met) |
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| Spices, lentils and chillis at Mysore market |
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| My poor attempt at chai pouring in Mysore |
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| Ooty |
And some photos from Kokkal, the village we will be working in...
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| Having chai at one of the villagers houses when we arrived |
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| Local women weighing in their tea so they can get payment for it |
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| Cavin and his mum showing us our accommodation |
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| When one of the villagers said he would bring us a heater for our room, I hadn't anticipated he would build a fire in our bedroom...I loved it |
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| Kokkal, the view from our accommodation |
Love the blog Hazel, great pics too. My dad was in the Nilgiri Hills when he was in the army :-) x
Will you have to use the mense house??! Pics are great!!
The Mense house has probably saved a few marriages! - few days break from hubby each month. I think you should stay there even if they don't expect you to! All girls, great fun!!!
Looks fab out there Hazel. Enjoy and keep us updated! xxx