claudine_c

I (inexcusably) have not been keeping up with current Australian fiction, so I can't comment on the literary merits of the listed authors. I am simply surprised that, in 2009, only 30% of the long list and 0% of the short list were written by women.

(Don't let me get started on ethnicity...)

One of the strategies of primary health care is to keep children -- especially girls -- in school as long as possible. Child health and education are strong focuses at CRHP. The program operates a kindergarten and also provides a home for children of seasonal workers who have to leave home to work throughout the year. There are always small children around the compound, playing cricket, jumping on people and posing for photos. They don't need much to keep entertained: sticks and stones, a few words of English, and tall, pale foreigners to play with. This kind of childhood is spent mostly out of doors, physically active and in the company of other children. This seems much healthier than the isolated and sedentary lifestyle of many children in technologically advanced societies.

All of our five village visits have featured lots of children. Rising levels of school attendance are a matter of pride for village schools. At Kusudgaon, we visited a couple of classrooms where children showed off their knowledge of English and afterwards mobbed us for autographs. In this area the school day seems to go from ten to five, with lunch provided, giving children the opportunity to work at household chores or play with others in the morning. In all the villages we were able to talk to children about their daily lives and their aspirations.

Women may still be regarded as workhorses and baby factories with expensive dowry requirements by some people here, but CRHP has been working to change these beliefs. All children are expected to complete at least seven years of school. CRHP has recently started a program for adolescent girls centred on health education and self-esteem. A number of these girls have learned karate and demonstrated their defenses against male predators. They also learn about puberty, reproduction and sex, dispelling the silences and myths they may receive at home and school.

The village health workers supported by CRHP provide services and education to their villages and the process of becoming a village health worker is itself a source of empowerment and self-awareness. When the Aroles arrived in Jamkhed in 1970 they found women and untouchables who had internalised the hatred and contempt to which they were subjected. The Aroles decided that female volunteer health workers would be an effective means of health education, but before they could be trained as health workers they needed to find faith in themselves as humans. The training program for village health workers begins with teaching them to celebrate themselves as women and respect each other regardless of caste.

Local village health workers meet at CRHP every week to brief each other on the week's events and to receive further training from more experienced VHWs and CRHP staff. On Wednesday we observed one of these training sessions and later heard from some of the women about their lives and what changes CRHP had brought them. It was common for women to be given names like 'burden' or 'garbage'. Some of them had changed their names to more positive ones, and all who had daughters had given them positive and beautiful names.

It was difficult to listen to the women's stories; unimaginable to live through them. Being married at the age of eight; being thrown out by a husband for giving birth to daughters; having no property of one's own... Meeting with other village health workers allows them to enjoy the company of their peers and validate their own experiences.

After a day of serious lessons our group threw a party for some other overseas visitors who were moving on, and invited the village health workers and the migrant workers' children. The children and women bashed at piñatas filled with toys and Australian souvenirs, then sang and danced around a bonfire. The women had even more fun than the children, shrieking and scrambling for toys and dancing to folk songs sung by visiting students from Nepal. Perhaps while the children play out of simple innocence, the women who have survived incredible adversity have more reason to rejoice.