Notes From The Field: Home Visits
Day 1:
The plan was for Miriam to arrive in Mumbai a day before the rest of the team so that she could help with the set-up of the team. Unfortunately, it took me over 48 hours to travel from Toronto to Mumbai due to the Volcanic activity in Iceland. Maryanna and Tina reached Mumbai before Miriam and Nasinya (Miriam's 2 year old daughter). Miriam is still waiting for her luggage to catch up with her. This has meant that we have hit the ground at a runners pace without much time to recover and definitely without our running shoes on. Nevertheless, it has been an inspiring time.
Mumbai is over 40 degrees Celsius ---and because it is on the ocean, very humid. You don't have to do a thing to sweat. It is also a swirling mix of car honks, smokey diesel fumes, fishy smells, other scents that are unimaginable. From the window of a vehicle the thought of stepping out onto the streets is very daunting. I did today walk a block to get a coffee from a coffee shop and felt like I had earned that coffee- in order to cross the street you have to make a wish, shut your eyes and just walk.
Our team had an initial meeting the morning of the 13th. Bhimrao our lead coordinator here in India met us where we have been staying. After a brief chat about the schedule, we took off in our car to the first of two site visits. The first stop was Warli. We were visiting one program site that is run through our partner agency Bahujan Trust (BHT). This is one of 3 locations in Mumbai. We met the Coordinator of Mumbai, Sharad and two practitioners who are based in Warli. We met in a small room that is used to run weekly parent meetings. The rest of the time they make home visits. This particular site is an "easy" site to run this kind of programming. There are a number (something like 145) of 4 floor buildings that used to be barracks and/or prisons during colonization. Once the British left, homeless people moved in and took over the rooms.
Each family lives in a room the size of a large closet. Sometimes it is a multi-generational family with brothers and sisters living together with their spouses and children. The rooms are quite immaculately kept, I think they would need to be because there are so many people living together. During the day, beds are pushed aside to leave a clear open living space and kitchen. At night the rooms must be filled wall to wall with people sleeping. So, after having a conversation with the two practitioners we made our way from home to home. In each place we were offered cold drinks, sometimes food. We had the amazing opportunity of asking questions of the family and hearing how and why they are interested in the work that IFLI does with them. One of the biggest reasons it is so successful is because practitioners actually visit each home. They spend one on one time with each family, pulling out the (Potali-grandmother's purse with toys in it), showing them the different ways that they can engage with their children. In one case, a very excited father stayed home from work because he knew that we were visiting. He shared how he believed that his child has become much more alert and engaged since the home visits have begun. Most parents shared that they loved hearing about how their child's brain is developing, and that they didn't realize that there was a different way to relate to your child other than hitting them when they were doing something that displeased them. Several parents, including a practitioner, said that one of the biggest changes since beginning this work was that they have stopped hitting their children.
Tina, Maryanna and I were overwhelmed with gratitude for the very honoring way that we were treated and for being there to witness the work of these practitioners and the resiliency of these families. We have had several other experiences in other areas of Mumbai, and will share those at a different time.
One other thing- the project is blessed to have a number of supporters who I don't think we would be in as good a shape as we are in without. They have given us their drivers so that we can be picked up from the airport, shared their homes with us, taken us for meals and given us telephones. So, although there has been some hardship, we are in good spirits because we are surrounded by great people.
Talk soon---IFLI Int'l team.
The plan was for Miriam to arrive in Mumbai a day before the rest of the team so that she could help with the set-up of the team. Unfortunately, it took me over 48 hours to travel from Toronto to Mumbai due to the Volcanic activity in Iceland. Maryanna and Tina reached Mumbai before Miriam and Nasinya (Miriam's 2 year old daughter). Miriam is still waiting for her luggage to catch up with her. This has meant that we have hit the ground at a runners pace without much time to recover and definitely without our running shoes on. Nevertheless, it has been an inspiring time.
Mumbai is over 40 degrees Celsius ---and because it is on the ocean, very humid. You don't have to do a thing to sweat. It is also a swirling mix of car honks, smokey diesel fumes, fishy smells, other scents that are unimaginable. From the window of a vehicle the thought of stepping out onto the streets is very daunting. I did today walk a block to get a coffee from a coffee shop and felt like I had earned that coffee- in order to cross the street you have to make a wish, shut your eyes and just walk.
Our team had an initial meeting the morning of the 13th. Bhimrao our lead coordinator here in India met us where we have been staying. After a brief chat about the schedule, we took off in our car to the first of two site visits. The first stop was Warli. We were visiting one program site that is run through our partner agency Bahujan Trust (BHT). This is one of 3 locations in Mumbai. We met the Coordinator of Mumbai, Sharad and two practitioners who are based in Warli. We met in a small room that is used to run weekly parent meetings. The rest of the time they make home visits. This particular site is an "easy" site to run this kind of programming. There are a number (something like 145) of 4 floor buildings that used to be barracks and/or prisons during colonization. Once the British left, homeless people moved in and took over the rooms.
Each family lives in a room the size of a large closet. Sometimes it is a multi-generational family with brothers and sisters living together with their spouses and children. The rooms are quite immaculately kept, I think they would need to be because there are so many people living together. During the day, beds are pushed aside to leave a clear open living space and kitchen. At night the rooms must be filled wall to wall with people sleeping. So, after having a conversation with the two practitioners we made our way from home to home. In each place we were offered cold drinks, sometimes food. We had the amazing opportunity of asking questions of the family and hearing how and why they are interested in the work that IFLI does with them. One of the biggest reasons it is so successful is because practitioners actually visit each home. They spend one on one time with each family, pulling out the (Potali-grandmother's purse with toys in it), showing them the different ways that they can engage with their children. In one case, a very excited father stayed home from work because he knew that we were visiting. He shared how he believed that his child has become much more alert and engaged since the home visits have begun. Most parents shared that they loved hearing about how their child's brain is developing, and that they didn't realize that there was a different way to relate to your child other than hitting them when they were doing something that displeased them. Several parents, including a practitioner, said that one of the biggest changes since beginning this work was that they have stopped hitting their children.
Tina, Maryanna and I were overwhelmed with gratitude for the very honoring way that we were treated and for being there to witness the work of these practitioners and the resiliency of these families. We have had several other experiences in other areas of Mumbai, and will share those at a different time.
One other thing- the project is blessed to have a number of supporters who I don't think we would be in as good a shape as we are in without. They have given us their drivers so that we can be picked up from the airport, shared their homes with us, taken us for meals and given us telephones. So, although there has been some hardship, we are in good spirits because we are surrounded by great people.
Talk soon---IFLI Int'l team.
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