Homeless Visit

Homeless encampment at Mumbai Central

Today, I went to visit a homeless camp as part of my Friday St. Xavier’s College class.  The first part of my visit consisted of a visit to Pehchan in Mumbai Central.  Pehchan is an organization dedicated to the empowerment of homeless individuals.  In order to do this, Pehchan teaches them their rights, provides and creates employment opportunities, creates awareness about homelessness, and fights to give them their identities and rights.  In Pehchan’s office, I learned that many of the homeless are workers who either do not have proof of citizenship or cannot afford to live in Mumbai.  These individuals have been repetitively harassed by the police, evicted from their place of stay and have had their belongings confiscated, robbing them of their dignity.  Some are even sent to beggar camps for periods of time in order to “clean” the streets of Mumbai.  Unlike America, there are no government programs to help the homeless. 

Image taken from Pehchan

For the second part of my visit, we went to visit a homeless encampment in Mumbai Central.  The homeless encampment was surrounded by two luxurious golf courses, showing the juxtaposition between the two.  As we entered, even though we were intruding on their space, the community welcomed with open arms.  As the women started telling us about their story and struggles, I thought about one word—resilience.  Even though they’ve been neglected and pushed away, they still had hope.  This is shown as the women walked up to us to tell us about her community’s situation.  Not only that, but they embraced Brijesh, the director of Pehchan, like he was family.  They talked about how grateful they were to him and everything that he had done for them.  

Vimala Centre

Today I went to Vimala Centre in Versova, a Leprosy Hospital specializing in inpatient care.  This hospital was an example of vertical integration, as the care given was Leprosy-specific and patients with ulcers or disabilities stayed in the hospital for continuous treatment.  This visit made me even more grateful for choosing to intern at Bombay Leprosy Project, and showed me the difference between Leprosy NGOs. 

Vimala’s facilities were a lot nicer, as the complex was huge compared to BLP’s facilities.  Most of the patients in Vimala had Grade II deformities, significantly more than those at BLP.  When I asked about ulcer and disability care, the employees told me that they were only offered as part of inpatient care.  This showed me the emphasis that BLP put on preventative and self-care. 

The second part of my visit consisted of visiting the inpatient rooms.  This visit made me extremely solemn, as I saw at least five beds crammed in one room.  Many of the patients were missing limbs and had deep ulcers.  While some were grateful for the care they were getting, others were extremely sad.  One moment that I remember extremely well was when I entered a room and I noticed a patient curled up and shaking.  While all the others seemed to welcome our visit, the man was curled up on his bed shaking.  Because at BLP, I am able to interact with patients, even with a communication barrier, I tried to approach the man.  However, the man turned away whimpering.  This interaction prompted me to ask the employee about psychological services, in which she told me that there were none. 

The inpatient rooms seemed very lonely, as none of the patients I saw had visitors.  Instead, they were surrounded by reminders of the disease they had.  This made me realize that the integration of Leprosy care into the General Health System was a good thing, as it helped get rid of the stigma towards the disease. 

Overall, my visit to Vimala Centre was an informative one, as it showed me another approach towards the treatment of Leprosy.  Vimala Centre stressed immediate care of the patient, while BLP stressed both immediate and preventative care of the patient.  

Rural Village Program

Rural Village Home

Today, I went to the rural area outside of Mumbai.  There, I witnessed the interconnected network needed for Leprosy treatment and prevention.  The villages were all separated from each other and each village had one or two Leprosy patients.  All the patients completed Multi-drug therapy (MDT) treatment, but all of them needed supplies for disability prevention and treatment. 

BLP goes out once a month to provide these supplies to the Leprosy patients in the rural areas.  I went with members of the BLP satellite clinic, and we saw approximately twenty patients over the course of nine hours, showing how difficult it is for patients who don’t have access to transportation or clinics to receive health care. 

Rural Village Home

This experience has also shown me how extensive BLP’s network is.  Not only does BLP work with people in Mumbai, but it also reaches out to the rural areas, something that is extremely difficult to do.  In order to achieve this, BLP has a volunteer in each village who visits the village members afflicted with Leprosy and contacts the organization if there is a new case of Leprosy.  This is a form of community-based prevention, as the volunteers are all members of the community who know everyone in the villages, and know the cardinal signs of Leprosy.  Not only is this more effective, as volunteers will be able to detect incident cases faster than the BLP workers, but there will be less of a stigma towards Leprosy. 

Rural Primary Care Center

Throughout my experience here, I have realized the need to learn more than one language.  Everyone in India knows at least two or three languages.  Finding that out has humbled me because they can communicate to such a big range of people.  I've realized that I need to learn another language if I want to communicate to a greater range of people.    

Week 1

Week 1 of India consisted of orientation, or learning how to get around India.  First of all, the traffic rules here are crazy.  There are no lanes and pedestrians don't have the right of way.  I've learned to always be aware and walk as fast as possible when crossing the street.  The minor has always stressed the importance about integrating yourself with the culture you will be serving in, and I feel that the Global Internships Program did an amazing job with helping the students and I learn about Indian culture from Hindi lessons to shopping for clothing and restaurant excursions. 

Introduction

My name is Janine Myint and I'm an incoming senior majoring in both Public Health and Integrative Biology.  For my practice experience, I will be working with the Bombay Leprosy Project in Mumbai, India.  Along with this internship, I am taking a class at St. Xavier's college and an online course (ISF W187) as part of the Berkeley Global Internship Program in Mumbai.  

The Bombay Leprosy Project is a non-profit organization with the goal of "A World Without Leprosy."  Currently, Leprosy affects approximately a quarter of a million people in the world, with the majority of the cases in India.  Leprosy is a disease that affects the nerves, resulting in disability and disfigurement.  In India, Leprosy is an extremely stigmatized, with many of the infected being dropped off in Leprosy colonies and isolated from the families and friends.  Leprosy is an extremely complicated disease which requires specialized diagnosis, treatment, and disability prevention/rehabilitation.  As a result, NGOs such as BLP work with the government to provide specialized care to those inflicted with the disease.

My project during the program is to create and administer a form that BLP will use to measure the effectiveness of their treatment and disability programs.  These answers will be entered into a database, and be used for impact measurement.