Bye bye week four......

Week four went by crazy fast since we were in a different city. We took a morning train to a city called Panchula which is by Chandigarh. The train station was crazy! There was the famous blue traveler trains and there was poo on the rail roads. So now you know that there are no tanks on the train to hold waste... It was so funny traveling past villages because you look out and there are all these men just crouching in a field and watching the trains go by. Then I realized that all these men had their pants down having a morning poo party, no invitation necessary! Riding on the train was super nice. They have stewards that serves you tea and a meal. It was so much better than an airplane flight! You get so much food and a new paper to read! Once we got to Panchula we got started right away with SWACH ( society for women and childern health). The structure was the same everyday orientation then a field visit.

The first day was HIV/AIDS awareness with female sex workers. We got to meet them and talk to them about how they got into that line of work. All their stories were so sad. It ranged from their husband left them for another women to their husband and son fell ill and it was the only way to support them. Now they are kind of stuck in the work because it pays so good and it is the only way to make a living with no other skills :( Now they help promote other FSW to use condoms with their clients.

The next day was a program that promoted population control. They promoted temporary and permanent solutions to prevent pregnancy's. I got to hold a baby only to realize that the reason the blanket was wet was because they don't use diapers there since it is too expensive..... But the baby was super cute! Later that day we went to the famous rock garden there. It was pretty awesome. The guy who built it made waterfalls out the the recycled materials. There was a Sikh school visiting while we were there, it was pretty cool to see so many people in the same uniforms, but annoying that there was just so many people that had to keep in a group... I took a bunch of pictures there, you guys will just have to wait!

Wednesday was really awesome since we went to another city called Yamunanagar. On the way there we saw a tractor pulling a whole bunch of sugarcane and we stopped them to get some. So the whole way there and throughout the day we were munching on sugarcane! My dad would be so proud! I was like a panda, but not really since they eat bamboo... The city was so spacious and spread out. There was a lot of farming areas which I like to see. We got to visit a slum which was by far the cleanest and spacious one I have been too. We visited programs to promote pregnancy prevention and feminine hygiene .

Thursday was pretty relaxed. We visited a hospital and a primary clinic. We had time to go visit the lake and go on paddle boats!

Friday we did our presentation and that was the end of the SWACH program. Since we were done early, we watched a Hindi movie called "Wanted". The ending was so disappointing!

The place we stayed at that week was like a dorm. Way too many girls and way too many hormones under one roof. And not enough bathrooms! Plus there was bed bugs.... boo. But the people there was really nice. The way the lady said "welcome!" was sooo cute. Oh, they were also vegetarians too. Oh so hard to eat veg all week. I love meat, mmmmmmmmmm! I missed it so!

This weekend we went to Jaipur. It was awesome! We stayed in a room called the treetop room. Rode and elephant, and had dinner at a palace. More later, running out of time at the e-cafe.....

Loves and hugs!