The train journey to Kolkata was to take 24 hours leaving at 6.45 am,  and I decided to spend a night in Kolkata so I could see the city and buy some presents, unless you want vegetables, rice of plastic buckets  there is nothing to buy in Koraput.  When I woke up on the train next morning I expected to be in Kolkata but we weren’t there so I surmised the train must be running late.  Strange that the man sleeping next to me had told me he would be ‘alighting the train at Tata at 1.30am’ and it was 7am and he was still there! Around about 8.30 someone told me that the train was running at least 10 hours late – maybe more!! The naxalites (the extremist Marxists or Maoists or CP  – they go by various names in the press but the people call them naxalites) had blown up a station and part of the line in orissa during the night and the railway system was in chaos. Just as well I decided to spend the night in Kolkata otherwise I would have been stuck in Koraput and missed my flight. There was no food or water on the train and as I had drank all my water and eaten the poori and potato dish Luna made me for the journey I was beginning to worry.  We stopped for over an hour in the middle of the countryside and, never ones to miss a commercial opportunity, people appeared from nowhere selling snacks and water, but it was not packaged water they were just filling up bottles, so I went without. The last thing I wanted was to be ill on that train!

We eventually arrived in Kolkata over 13 hours late, and because there was no space for the train to pull in at the main station (Howarth) we stopped at a small station further out. There were no coolies to carry my bags and no taxis! The only way to get out of the station seemed to be to cross the line – almost impossible with a suitcase of wheels, a large heavy bag, laptop case and 2 other small bags. I t was very dark and after 37 hours on the rain and only a bag of cashew nuts to eat all day I was ready for giving up and lying down on the track – but as usual lovely Indians came to my rescue. A very nice man carried my bags across the track and him and asked his driver o take me to my hotel, on the way we did the tour of Kolkata by night! This man and his colleague worked for a large company  (engineering/robotics company) based in south Wales, so they know Cardiff areas very well. Sometimes people’s kindness is embarrassing they want to do so much for you and other times (as in the market) they just want to rip you off and charge you 6 times as much as Indians will pay. One thing I have learnt living here is that human being are the same wherever you go (same emotions, some honest some dishonest, some you just seem to click with and others are hard work) The differences we show are shaped by our culture and our upbringing, and it’s almost impossible to leave it behind. Maybe the intrepid travellers amongst you knew that anyway!  I will certainly be much more understanding of people from other cultures and if I meet anyone who is living away from their homeland I will be much more welcoming ‘cos I know how lonely it can be.  Can’t wait to see my family and friends and the hills of home!

Over and out from India.

Tomorrow is a big festival in honour of Lord Ganesh, he is the one with the elephant head and my favourite. It’s him you worship before you start anything new as he is the remover of obstacles and makes things run smoothly. The atmosphere here is like Christmas with fairy lights and sparkly banners, tinsel and Ganesh statues everywhere. I bought some tinsel and glittery banners for my house so it looks very festive for my farewell party.  Hinduism is not just religion its a way of life and I just can’t imagine a group of guys in their 30s back home enjoying themselves as much as they have here this week – cutting up bits of polystyrene , gluing glitter and making little shrines ! They were all laughing and generally having a good time and not a drop of alcohol involved – see what I mean about endearing, you just can’t help but like them.

My old Oriya teacher, Prakash (the one who says we’ve been together in a previous life) called me last week; he had heard on the grapevine that I was heading home. What is this county like – he lives 300 Km away! Not only are they endearing but they must be the nosiest people in the world. Nothing can be kept secret, they know what you’ve had for breakfast. I had a man come up to me in the street and ask ‘Excuse me mam but what is in your bag’ What possible interest can the contents of my carrier bag be to anyone, and complete strangers have come up and asked me if I have fully recovered as their auntie, brother or granny saw me in hospital – and what was wrong with me anyway! Don’t come here if you want privacy! Prakash was heartbroken about me leaving so I told him I will come back and see him in Digapahandi – maybe I will who knows. But I will definitely come back to India and if everyone I have invited to the UK turns up I will be very busy!

It’s strange being back in Delhi, when I arrived in India last November I found it to be a manic, crazy and very Indian city. But after living in Digapahandi and then Koraput it seems quite sedate and cosmopolitan. No one stares at me. you can buy all sorts of western foods and there are lots of good restaurants.  The VSO volunteers in Delhi have a very different life to those of  us who live out in rural India – they go to bars, join the gym ,  go swimming and hang out with the ex-pat communities.  Those of us in rural India have to make our own entertainment and buying a new plastic bucket is about as good as it gets in terms of shopping experiences!  Must admit I am so glad I was sent to a rural place where I have led the life of a minor celeb! My India is so different from the tourist’s India and that of the Delhiites.  My only regret is that no one has been to visit me in Koraput and I have not been able to share the tribal villages and all the wonderful experiences with anyone.   

VSO have put me to work here in Delhi and yesterday I, and other volunteer, ran a session for the group of new voluneers on ‘Coping Strategies’ Hope we didn’t put them off!

However today I have to say goodbye to the comfortable bed, the TV and the warm shower at Sundeep’s guest house and make the 36 hour journey back to Koraput (2 nights on a train!)  Thus undoing all the good the visit has done me.  Oh well not long until I come home, but now I must dash and buy some toilet rolls for Ali’s birthday present – a rare treat in Koraput!

My recent experiences in Koraput hospital will make you squirm and bed 54 in the women’s ward will remain forever etched on my memory. If I had been well enough to resist I would never have gone  to hospital, a place reminiscent of a workhouse hospital in Victorian Britain – only with modern drugs.

The nurses don’t do nursing care, they put in IV lines (badly) and give injections. There are no clean sheets, no bowls (for being sick or anything else) and no one cleaning anything up. Any nursing care is provided by patient’s families who sleep on the floor at night. If you don’t have a family (like me) no one looks after you. Anyone who has ever criticised the NHS should spend a few hours in here!  What an experience!

First of I was placed on a concrete shelf (constantly being sick) to be looked at by the doctor who for obvious reasons didn’t seem to want to come  too close, there were no trolleys or wheel chairs to take me to the ward, you have to be carried or walk.

 Once admitted the nurses struggled to put in an IV drip. They dealt with my dehydrated state by sticking enormous needles painfully into my both arms and slapping me about to try and find a vein! I was too ill to protest that I have my own sterile needles and IV lines provided by VSO. They are pretty pointless anyway why would anyone carry them around with them on the off chance that they might end up in hospital. Talk about an uphill struggle for the poor doctors who were (mostly) very caring. The hospital seemed to have very little equipment or diagnostic tools although I did notice as I left that there was an x ray room and an operating theatre.

My Indian colleagues were great – putting cardboard into the broken windows to stop the rain coming in, finding screens (1930s style) to put round my bed while I changed my clothes and just caring. Waking up in the middle of the night, lying in my own body fluids, I found Ali (my VSO colleague) sleeping in the chair next to my bed. He stayed all night until the office boy arrived at 7am and took over the day shift. I don’t know what I would have done without them. Going to the bathroom was a big mistake! This must have been one of the worst latrines I have seen. But worse was to come – when I staggered back to my bed I noticed a large rat running around the ward. Then realised there were several running around the people who were sleeping on the floor = ugh.

Most (but not all) my fellow inmates were tribal women and the level of bacteria in the place must have outweighed any benefits. I was the main diversion of the day for anyone well enough to appreciate me – groups of people gathered at the door to see the sick white woman and stood by my bed just staring at me  – no smiles or nods. Although there was one lovely tribal lady, who came over to me, put her arms around me and rocked me , she came back several times to check on me and offer me water but she was the only one who showed me anything other than (intrusive)curiosity.

At midday food was brought round in a cardboard box – a loaf of bread still in its wrapper, a hard boiled egg and a cup of hot milk for each patient. Thank goodness I couldn’t eat.  Ali was going to bring the video camera in and make a short film for his blog but he decided maybe I wouldn’t want to be seen in that state – that would have been some film!

I survived the hospital and returned home to my very damp house. Still feeling tired and a bit sorry for myself  but no doubt I will perk up when the rain stops and I get my appetite back!

Last weekend I took the overnight train and visited my VSO pal Anna in Berhampur, who is finishing her placement and leaving India.  I am always intrigued by the amount of luggage Indians have – it’s the same on the internal flights – what on earth can be in all those boxes tied up with string, sacks, carrier bags and cases!  The train left at 6.30pm and around about 8 pm out came the tiffin tins with enough food to feed the entire train. They had chapattis, roti, chana masala. mushroom chilly, veg curry, dal, pickles and goodness knows what else! I had my banana and my bottle of water.  After the food the ritual of making up the beds began (always done by the men the woman do nothing except sit) and by 9.30 they were all asleep. Their ability to sleep anywhere amazes me – I guess it comes from a lifetime of sleeping on bed rolls on the floor. Soon the carriage was filled with 60 or so different snores. I actually slept most of the way but was glad when we arrived as the toilets on the trains are amongst the most disgusting I have encountered. I am going to have to get over my sensitivities because when I go to the VSO volunteer conference I will be on the train for 3 consecutive nights and 2 days so I may have to go for a wee!

I had a lovely weekend with Anna and we went to our favourite place – Golpalpur on Sea – where we were set upon by a dog and had to be rescued by 2 police women with batons. Bit scary but very amusing for the locals –  2 white women scared of a dog.  They were taking photos on their mobile phones instead of rescuing us!

I am now back in Koraput and back to the boredom of life in a bed and breakfast (without the breakfast and the TV) The most difficult aspect is the  boredom and being a woman I can’t go and wander about the town after dark or play football or cricket with the locals in the park and eating alone in the scruffy cafes (don’t even think about the kitchen) is not on either so evenings and Sundays are pretty grim in the guest house. Fortunately there is another volunteer here and he invites me round for something to eat twice a week, and on the 1^stJuly I will have more pals as the yanks are coming. Pragati have a house organized for them because they are a couple and from the US therefore they can’t possibly stay in the guest house! Maybe they will take pity on me and invite me over.

However this is going to be a more serious blog about the organization I work for, so I hope you will not be bored!

Pragati Koraput is a non government organization (NGO) working in remote areas of Koraput District, where the  population is over 50% tribal and 80% live below the poverty line.  We work mainly in sustainable agriculture, organic farming and forestry, and help people to help themselves. There are several projects running funded by Trocaire, Ireland, the Indian Government and Oxfam. 

There are many problems in this area. For a start it’s remote – you only have to look out the window on the  train journey to see just how remote it is.  Its hilly and forested so much of the land is unsuitable for growing crops, deforestation has taken place and there are frequent floods, droughts and landslides. The people are not aware of their rights and have been cut off from government schemes by poor communications and lack of information.  India has far too many people and feeding them is a big problem. In the villages the land can feed the family for part of the year, but the rest of the time the head of the household migrates to find work (laboring in brick works, mines etc) This leads to breakdown of family life, women headed households and -  wherever you have men working away – the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Pragati runs a community development programme to help villages set up resource committees. We train and assist the committees to apply for government grants, help people access their rights and generally improve their lives. The disaster planning workshop I went to is part of a new programme (Funded by Trocaire Ireland) on Disaster Risk Reduction.

We also run a Sustainable Rice Intensification (SRI) programme. This is an organic, more productive method of rice cultivation. Here in India the farmers traditionally grow rice (or paddy as they call it) by scattering the seed, irrigating the land and just leaving it to grow. SRI means they have to work harder but can treble the yield. They have to prepare nursery beds, plant the seed in rows and transplant the seedlings. They also have to weed between the rows as no chemicals are used. We do road shows, demonstrations and education programmes to encourage the farmers to take up SRI.  

I find the work really interesting.  This case study shows how little money is needed to change one family’s life. There are around Rs 70/- to the pound!

Chandra Masti lives with his wife and two children in Tarliput village and a pair of bullocks has changed his life!  He was orphaned at the age of twelve and had nobody to look after him. Although he had 2 acres of land he didn’t know to cultivate the land for himself at this young age. He worked as a bonded labourer for almost 5 years and managed to earn a living. When he grew up the villagers gave him the responsibility of herding the livestock and in exchange they gave him two meals a day. Chandra got married at the age of twenty. His father-in-law used to lend his bullocks so that he could cultivate his land. After a gap of twenty years Chandra cultivated his land and he produced food for his family. But this wasn’t enough., so he used to migrate out for six months every year to earn a living. Chandra was selected by the village committee to  received Rs 6890/- to buy a pair of bullocks and Rs 1325/- to construct a shed, insured his bullocks and attended training on cattle care and management. During the first year he cultivated his entire patch of 2 acres and raised paddy, ragi, niger and a few vegetable crops. Besides feeding his family he earned Rs 1200/- by selling the surplus and opened aa account at the post office and started saving Rs 20/- per month. Chandra has been able to buy a few utensils for the family and new clothes for his wife and children.   It has increased his confidence and participation in the community.

So what am I doing to help all this you are all wondering – well at teh moment I am writuing their annual repost, I hav drafted a brochure and I am getting to liaise with arench television documnetary team!!! Impressed