Focus groups and fruit

the view from our balcony. check out the pretty red flowers on the far tree.
mango!
chilling on the balcony
Waking up before 6 am is awesome. When you're in India. The weather is cool, breezy and perfect for a long walk. Which is exactly what Leslie and I did. The streets were calm and we didn't even get sweaty! We talked about how it was interesting that people weren't out in the cool air, even though it was early. Both of us have spent time in Africa (me in Ghana and Leslie was a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana) where people get up early and go to bed early, mostly to take advantage of the cooler mornings. Here it seems that people get going a little later, eat lunch a little later and eat dinner a little later (especially in Chennai).

I also noticed that the people we've seen around here who do stay out later are men. We went out for a drink last night and passed several food vendors with lots and lots of men gathered around eating. We were wondering if they might be truck or bus drivers (we are near a large bus station) stopping for dinner?

Either way, I plan on continuing to get up and take advantage of the morning time to walk or run and have some peace in the cool air!

Today was also our first class day! We spent some time talking about how to determine what information you will need to gather in the field to design effective interventions and how to obtain that information. We mainly talked about how to use surveys and focus groups. The ICTPH staff and our instructors have been awesome in helping us learn how to design appropriate (both culturally and linguistically) questions when we are out in the field. I feel like my brain is constantly going a mile a minute trying to learn about all of the cultural nuances and subtleties. The language, the body language, the pace, the sense of humor, topics of conversation. So much! And at times I've been nervous about making sure I do and say the right things when we get into the field. It's really reassuring, though, to know that we are surrounded by smart, hard working and supportive folks to help us process all that we are absorbing. It's really illustrated the fact that it's so important to have relationships on the ground when doing work in another, still unfamiliar, place.

We also had the chance to chat more in-depth with some of the ICTPH staff members leading our teams. I had the opportunity to ask Sengeetha, our GI team leader LOTS of questions. I feel like I have a better picture of what some of the general health landscape in this region and some of the perceptions of different types of clinics. The government establishes free clinics, and other private providers have the freedom to establish their own clinics. Many people who can afford it prefer to go to private clinics. The services are perceived to be more valuable, perhaps at least somewhat in part to the monies they require from patients. It's interesting (although not surprising) that people prefer to pay a small amount for services, because price is associated with quality. I mean, I pay more for industrial organic food because I think it's better for the cows and for me, or something like that...

I also still have a lot to learn about what "better services" means to the people who live around here. Sengeetha mentioned that a lot of people think good services means getting strong antibiotics, even when they aren't necessary. They then get frustrated when the doctor rightly does not provide unnecessary medicines that actually may cause resistance later on. Sort of similar to the US, I suppose. I'm excited to think more about this.

I ended the day with some shopping in town with Audra. We explored a market downtown and pulled each other out of the way of barreling buses more than a few times. We were so absorbed in watching all that was going on we forgot the constant vigilance necessary to avoid becoming a pancake on the side of the road. Well worth it. It was a great adventure though-- seemed like these little side streets didn't see as many white folks as the area we are staying. Lots of people wanted to chat, or wanted money. I've been struggling a lot with saying no to people asking for things as I wear my fancy sandals and carry fancy bottled water...

We took an auto back to our neighborhood and grabbed a bunch of bananas (they are much sweeter, shorter and fatter here) and some chocolate cookies. We searched and searched for some chocolate Digestives (which I lived on in London) to no avail. Not that I need them with all of the delicious food and fresh fruit...definitely running tomorrow morning...