Namaste!

Sorry its been awhile but I have been one busy girl!I'm in the second phase of my trip- that being- "internship mode"!The first phase was tourism and my final phase is relaxation/trip to the north west of India.Anyway- typical India- my plans have changed numerous times and now with the help of Julie I'm pretty sure this plan is going to hold up.If not, I may freak out!I can only take so many plan changes in 1 week!I mean really…lets get it together people!

New plan:Still working for Apne Aap Women Worldwide (A2W2)It's a 5 year old anti-human trafficking NGO established by journalist Ruchia Gupta.Its serves 5,000 women and children in red-light districts and slums of Bihar, Delhi, Maharashtra, and West Bengal through anti-trafficking units, schools, legal cells and community centers.

Apne Aap is currently been commissioned by the National Commission of Women to research the status of the Nutt (yes Nutt) in Bihar and make recommendations to prevent Intergenerational Prostitution in the community.

It is basically a small rural village that consists of men (who traffic women/children) and women and children (who are the trafficked).This community is already stigmatized due to the impression that India and the world has on the state of Bihar.The perception of Bihar is that it is "the armpit of India".Traditionally the Nutts are nomads, traditional healers, and known thefts.This theft part is where a lot of stigma comes from.It is difficult for them to get help because of the stigma that is associated with them and their state.The geographer in me wants you to know that Bihar is a large state which is 12 km from the Nepal border. Ha!

So my new plan is to create a public health toolkit for data collection that will consist of 4 different questionnaires (one for women, men, public health officials, and focus groups).I am also creating a consent form, outline for a rapid assessment report, and field testing each questionnaire.This may sound like…ummm..really easy…NO NO NO.You are wrong…it has made me want to bash my head into Julie's colorful concrete walls!!!Public Health is so broad that I've had to think of a lot, a lot, a lot of different issues that would arise out of this community.But the hard part is over…so I'm telling myself.I have circulated it around Apne Aap and they were really happy with my work!"Its very comprehensive" "Its very nice" so they say! Smiles!

I have most of it done except for the field testing which I will be doing tomorrow morning!Wish me luck!I will be interviewing women and men from the Nutt community in Delhi because my plans for actually going there did not work out.I would have had to travel third class on a train to Bihar and the possibility of no translator…we voted NO way.Its not safe for me as a women to do that.Apne Aap agreed so I am developing all these things for them and someone else will write the report.Yay no 30 page report to write!! I'm totally excited.When I finish I'm going to possibly volunteer my extra time and play with HIV positive kids in Delhi.They need some lovin'.

To show my devotion, passion, and responsibility I went to an Apne Aap retreat that they really wanted me to go to.It was sooo painful!It was four hours of listening to Hindi speakers!I wanted to blow that popsicle stand! Better believe that crappy retreat WILL be going on my resume! Ha!I was setting next to a man (who was sooo funny) he is a doctoral student at a university in Delhi.For part of the time he was translating for me, but towards the last 2 hours we (Julie, Subir and I) rolled our eyes and laughed a lot!It was cool talking with him because he is studying the Nutt community as well.I got a lot of information out of him.He was the first Indian I have seen with curly hair!But anyway, the pain subsided the very second I walked out of that building! Whew that's over with!

More to come! Shanti (peace)!