It's the experience of a lifetime!

We have been here two weeks now, and want to fill everyone in on what we are doing. It is our hope to send regular, bimonthly updates by email, but we've already discovered how unreliable internet access is on our end, so we'll see how it goes. On that note friends and family, please don't be offended if we don't respond to your emails timely or at all-we've found that opening mail often disconnects the line! Regular mail is slow, but may be a better way to communicate. We accept care packages, and, in fact, are dying for some M&Ms!

Our address is:
c/o Söderströms Stiftelse Project India, Plot No. 5, Suraj Nagar (West), Civil Lines, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

For those of you who don't know already, Shalini, DeAnna and I are living in a rural Indian village for six months, as part of the joint IICD-HPPI
Development Instructor program. Our village is in the State of Rajasthan, about two hours South of Delhi and three hours North of Jaipur. Shalini is
working with the Family Programme on a water and sanitation project, DeAnna is working with health clubs in the village schools, and I (Joan) am with HOPE Project, and international HIV/AIDS awareness program.


We are living with local families. There is no running water and the electricity is on and off. We use latrines and take bucket showers.
Despite the vast difference from our old lives in the U.S. and New Zealand, we feel like we're all adjusting amazingly well - then again, it has only been two weeks! For any of our friends and family who are thinking of visiting, we strongly encourage you to do so. This place is utterly indescribable. It's the experience of a lifetime!

From Shalini:
I have been well introduced to the Family Programme by the 6 staff members here....I have met many interesting people in quite a few villages, both the men and women. The Water and Sanitation Programme operates in 23 villages
and so we are constantly driving around on motorbikes to these villages, which is scary yet so much fun.

Our main objective here is to mobilize the community members to improve their hygiene and sanitation standard in their homes and villages. All the members of the Family Programme have established good relationships with the villagers which really helps in motivating them to get the job done.

I am really enjoying life in India and specifically, Kutina. It was a little difficult getting used to it at first; it's just so different to life as I knew it. But people here are so friendly and willing to help that it has made the adjustment process that much easier.

There are camels, goats, dogs, peacocks, cows and buffaloes living with us here in Kutina, so there's always some interesting sounds around here.

My Hindi is improving a little and the more I speak it, the quicker I learn. I do want to learn it fast so I can communicate with the villagers better.

From DeAnna:
As you have heard I am in the school program. Each day I visit four to five schools to give a lesson in the Health Clubs. My counterpart, Sunil, and I have only a half hour to forty-five minutes to talk to the children, so we must use our time wisely. We start our day in the office at 9:30, so we can sleep in if we want-he he. I am also in charge of setting up two seminars
with village teachers and Health Club Motivators in the schools. We will have someone from UNICEF do the presentations but I must organize the dates and food.

Also we have to organize Common Actions with a few schools for the Health Clubs. For instance: school cleanup, digging garbage pits, and playing games with the children after school hours. I am enjoying myself. The children are all very eager to learn. Boy do they stare a lot though..........

Besides work..... The weather is starting to warm up a bit, finally. Our bucket showers are almost quite bearable. The mornings here can be quite
splendid, waking up to small birds sitting on the edge of my bed. We have a cook for all of our meals, so breakfast is prepared for us every morn.
When we drive through the villages all the children yell Angrez Angrez, which means English or Foreigners, the men yell stuff too but since I do not speak much Hindi I can not tell what it is they say. These are the moments I am glad I speak so little Hindi. It does not bother me so much when I am clueless.

The The Söderström Stipendiefond staff is really kind and they have made adjusting here in India a lot easier, so far. The three of us are quite happy here but we
are all itching to travel.....*grin*

Tillbaka till Home

info@soderstromdirect.freeservers.com