*Supposed to be posted June 27th Today I woke up 3 hours before I usually do to catch a ride with my coworkers into a rural community in northern Goa. This was my first field experience since coming to Sangath and even though the sun was barely up, I felt excited that I would finally be able to see mental health work in action in the field. Three of my coworkers who were also trained lay health workers were tasked…
* Supposed to be posted June 2nd I think one of the most poignant things about my internship is how at home I feel at Sangath. Everyone has been so welcoming and warm to me since the day I got here. They’ve made a place for me at the office with my own desk space and have provided me with two mentors to help guide me while I conduct research here. I’ve gotten to know my coworkers here through shared…
*Due to technical issues could not post on the correct date – supposed to be posted May 19th My first few days of my internship have ended and I reflect on how I arrived here in this tropical wonderland of villages. I had landed in India May 8th and stayed with my cousins in Mumbai before we all decided to make a family road trip down the western coast to Goa. It was an estimated 10 hour car trip…
I’ve been back in Michigan for about 3 weeks now but it seems like parts of me are still left behind in Goa. I think about all this fellowship has provided me with this summer from the chance to travel half way around the world and live independently in another community, to that fact that I got to hands-on experience in the field what I hope will become a very big part of my future career. While at Sangath, I…
Yesterday morning, my first full day back home post-fellowship, I took a steaming hot shower for the first time in two months. I exfoliated, I washed my hair with coconut-scented shampoo, I shaved, I scrubbed in between my toes. And – I’ll admit – I just stood there under the hot water and inhaled the steam that swirls around the bathroom when the water is hot. It felt like an outside layer of skin melted off my body and slipped…
This past week, I was fortunate to accompany the program director at FPAI-Hyderabad to his bi-weekly trips to local slums and villages where outreach clinics have been set up. During both of my trips to Jinnaram and Rasoolpura, I began to gain a better understanding of the difference and similarities of an urban versus rural setting. My first trip was to Jinnaram, a village area located on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The car ride to Jinnaram, passing through acres of…
I thought everything would feel strange and different in the US when I returned after three months in India. Yet it all felt the same. My initial impression on entering the airport in Chicago: “I didn’t miss the TSA and it smells like saturated fat.” Nothing about the US feels strange being back, rather it just occurs to me how things are different here. Restaurant menus are filled with beef. I can now wear shorts. The traffic is well ordered…
Many of my friends warned me that reverse culture shock (confusion resulting from going back to your own culture) would be worse than culture shock itself. One friend said “when you go to a new culture, you have an open mind, ready to take in the new culture. You don’t expect it to make sense to you.” However, when you go home, you expect to feel a certain way, to fit in. You expect it to make sense. So, if…
Today is my last full day in India. I finished my volunteering in Mumbai and have spent the last week and a half traveling with two of my sisters. It was so special to share a piece of my time here with them. Now, I’m sitting in a little café in Rishikesh, solo again, overlooking the Ganges and Himalayan foothills searching for words to summarize my experience fully. I’ve tried a few different beginnings to this post and they’ve ranged from existential…
It took me many tries to write this final blog post. Every time I had started writing, it just dawned on me how it would mark the end to this wonderful experience here. I kept pushing it back, trying to squeeze in as much time as I could. I guess there is a limit to how far back I can push this, as here I am, sitting at the airport, writing my last blog post in India. I have also…
