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July 20, 2008
Living and Learning in Lucknow-Ginger
With a few more days under my belt, I feel I am staring to get adjusted to this place. I love the chaos of the streets. It never really seems to be silent here, at least not for more than a minute or so. There is never ending stream of trains passing or horns blowing, people talking, dogs barking. The city seems truly alive, a feeling that I especially appreciate at night. The streets are never empty, as many people sleep, gather, and light fires to cook along the sides. The middle of roads are often claimed by cows and stray dogs who have an equal command of the space as do the humans speeding by them. There is always a plethora of smells, not always pleasant, but always interesting to accompany what meets the eye.
Last Tuesday I returned to the elementary school, alone this time. As soon as I arrived I was greeted outside by one of the students who cheerfully exclaimed, "good morning, ma'am!" I'm not used to being called "ma'am," but in India that seems to be the norm. Once in the classroom I had the students work on a project of coloring and labeling a map of the US. I had them repeat the names of the states after me and I wrote them on the board for them to copy. It can be difficult to give clear directions since so many of the kids do not have very developed English skills. I think they did like the activity overall though, and I greatly enjoyed working with them. I am stilling planning my next lesson for this coming Tuesday.
For the past few days I have been going to SEWA, first to learn more about the organization, and secondly to begin conducting interviews. SEWA was formed in the early 1980s as a way for women to gain skills and a means of self employment without a middleman. SEWA trains artisans in making chikan, an embroidery native to Lucknow. The women then sell the products back to SEWA for a fair price, or to independent buyers of their own choosing. The idea is that the women can still do all of their normal duties at home, such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children while also earning income by doing some stitching on the side. This way, women have financial leverage within the family. This can serve to mitigate the pervasiveness of male domination that is a cultural norm in much of India, especially amongst the poor.
On Friday I interviewed three women about their health. The reason for this is that because the workers are poor, many of them have barriers to receiving proper care in times of need. I am aiming to determine what aspects of health are most problematic, and what potential solutions are out there. In India, only 3% of the population is insured for health care. Government hospitals exist and provide medicines and treatments at low costs, but are not always of high quality and come with the price of long waiting times. Private doctors can be very expensive, but can often deliver results in a far more timely fashion.
The women I interviewed make between 1000 and 1200 rupees per month, which is roughly 25 US dollars. Their husbands made an average of twice that amount, and all had at least 3-5 children. So far it seems that the women would love to have insurance, but can only afford to pay about 15-25 rupees per month towards the policy. The next step is to do more interviews and contact insurance companies to see how much it would cost to keep them insured. The other option is for SEWA itself to act as the insurer, collecting fees and reimbursing workers for their health care expenditures. SEWA originally tried to manage its own hospital, but this proved prohibitively expensive. Beyond having insurance, there are other things SEWA could do to improve the health of the artisans, and I am trying to gather what types of projects are most needed through interviews. Hopefully I will get some more done tomorrow, and will give an update when I have more information.
Posted by gcline at July 20, 2008 12:57 PM