Passion

"Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life." --Confucius

You know those days when you're just sitting at work, wondering why you're there, and then suddenly something happens that takes you back to why you're doing what you're doing? Well on Friday I had one of those moments. 

I've started to interview people for my graduate school research capstone and have been lucky enough to be connected with some amazing people working in various public health offices on a national level. When I initially sat down with the Executive Director for the organization I'm working with and he listed all the organizations he's connected with and who I could interview, my inner professional self did a happy dance. To be able to talk with some of the people who have developed the adolescent reproductive health curricula for the entire country or talk with people who have been part of one of the largest IEC/health promotion event in the world just gives me the greatest joy. 

So on Friday, I met with staff at the National AIDS Control Office (NACO) under the Ministry of Health. Back in 2007, NACO started the Red Ribbon Express, one of the largest health promotion campaigns in the world. They knew that they had to develop an innovative and successful health promotion campaign teaching people about HIV prevention and why to get tested. So they decided to have a train go around the country for an entire year, spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS, promoting safe sex and reducing discrimination against AIDS victims. They painted colorful murals on the outside of the train cars and inside the train cars were various multi-media exhibits. 

This campaign was so successful that they ended up running this train for a total of three years, with each year having a different focus. The second year of the Red Ribbon Express focused on how to change stigma about HIV/AIDS and the third year focused on targeting youth. 

When I spoke with someone who had worked on this campaign from the very beginning, it just amazed me that despite all of their challenges and issues they thought they would face along the way, they were still very successful in their efforts. During the first year of the Red Ribbon Express, they thought that people wouldn't come for HIV counseling because of the stigma associated with it, but in fact it worked so well that during the second year of the train, they added HIV testing to their activities. 

This is what drives me. It gives me the motivation to get through those crummy days because I know that sooner or later I'm going to have one of these amazing days. And when you have an amazing day at the office, you know it's been a good day.

Where do we go from here?

On the metro ride home from visiting Kingsway Camp (SPYM’s de-addiction and rehabilitation center for adolescent boys) this past Thursday, I had a really good discussion with my supervisor. No, it wasn’t about the deep understanding of cricket or Shahrukh Khan. It was about the state of funding and HIV/AIDS in India. My kind of conversation. He said that for the past few years, funders such as UNAIDS and others have started to decrease their funding in India. He said that he wouldn’t be surprised if UNAIDS even left India within the next 5 years.

Like I thought, it was 1) because the rate of new infections have stabilized and even gone down in some areas and 2) with India being a lower middle income country now, funders want to focus their attention on countries that really need it.

So, that leaves me with some questions. Where does India go from here? How do they keep on the same path of lowering the infection rate? And on the flip side of the coin, with India’s new infection rates decreasing, where should UNAIDS and other funders put their priorities? Where will their money matter, where a country will not take it for granted and instead move up in the world?

I told him though that in my experience a middle income country is only charged with such a status because it’s the average of the country. And he said the disparity between the rich and poor is becoming more and more of a gap. He’d told me earlier in the day that there’s a mall not too far away from our office where items there start at $2,000 US….Coach purses for $5,000 US. Initially I was shocked, but after thinking about it, it makes sense. We’re in Delhi, the capital of the country. If India wants to keep growing and changing with the times, they have to bring in Westernized stores for the 1% that can afford it. I wonder what Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat book) would have to say about this.

After getting off the metro, I told him how happy I was to be able to learn more about this topic from grad school. Not only to be knowledgeable about this topic, but to be able to ask these important questions and actually have a conversation with professors that might have the answer. But I am privileged. Even though I am part of the growing population relying solely on loans to go to grad school, I am still privileged. I am privileged to be able to take out those loans, to be able to live in the US and to be able to attend an American institution. Umm, SITers, I think there’s a little bit of Ken Williams rubbing off on me. Flashbacks of Social Identity class are coming into my head!

At 7:30pm on a Thursday and after a long day, it was certainly not the kind of conversation that I’d thought I would have on the metro ride home, but then again India is constantly surprising me and keeping me on my toes. And I am grateful for it. 

To India I Go Again

Sunday September 29, 2013

After much delay, the day has finally arrived. I am headed to New Delhi, India to start the second half of my Master’s degree and my five month practicum. I’ll be working with the Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM), based in New Delhi. They have many different programs that they have but I will primarily focus on working with their HIV/AIDS program. 

The words “much delay” couldn’t be farther from the truth though. Originally I was supposed to leave for India at the end of August for six months. With life though, it seems like nothing always happens the way you want it to. Since international flight costs can skyrocket after a certain time, I chose to book my flight earlier rather than later and figured I would get my visa after my flight was definitely secured since I saw no issue with a visa taking more than a few weeks to obtain. But boy was I wrong! At the beginning of August, India changed the company that they were going to outsource their visa processing to. And with transitions come delays. With this came aggravation and a few breakdowns knowing that I would have to cancel and rebook my flight since I wouldn’t have my visa in time for my flight. After a few hundred dollars on top of my original flight cost, I finally got my visa and was able to book my flight again. This time though I’m only able to be there for five months rather than six due to the visa timeframe. 

I think I can now say that I have a better understanding of how to be patient and grateful for my family and friends that have been able to support me in so many different ways. If anything, this whole ordeal has prepared me for the busy and crazy life in India that awaits me! My practicum with SPYM sounds like an amazing opportunity and I know that all of this is worth it. 

As an intern with SPYM, I hope to be working with people living with HIV/AIDS, then participating and later organizing HIV awareness/prevention workshops in New Delhi and other areas in India where SPYM already works. I’m really excited to be getting out of the classroom and to be able to apply what I’ve learned during my first year of grad school into a real world setting. And what better setting than India???

Ever since I studied abroad in Mumbai in college and interned at an all-girls orphanage where some of the children had HIV/AIDS, I have been interested in how this health issue affects a culture and how a culture affects the health issue. With my social work and public health experiences and my interest in policies that advocate for this population, I believe that this practicum is right up my alley! With anything new, I have an idea of what I’ll be doing over the course of the next 5 months but really, I won’t have a real sense of my role and responsibilities until I get there. A few years ago, it would have driven me crazy not knowing every little detail of this new experience, but now it’s kind of fun not knowing and being surprised by the unknown. 

Well, I think that’s about it for now! I’m currently sitting at the airport and will be boarding for New Delhi in just a few short hours!