Your worst day could be someone's best day...
After hearing personal stories from the women that work with CRHP, I had to take a step back and think about my life and the women surrounding me. I realized the importance of having faith and more importantly, to never lose that faith.
The level of oppression the women face in this culture is indescribable. Women are thought to be worthless. Even within the social caste system, in India, the women are beneath the untouchables.
Many Village Health Workers ("VHW") shared their stories with us. One of the stories that struck me the most was of a Shudra woman whose family couldn't gather enough money for her dowry. They finally found someone who agreed to marry her without a dowry. She was married at the age of fifteen and moved to Mumbai to live with her husband and his family. Within the first six months she was pregnant. Her husband was constantly sick so she had to take care of her husband and her baby. Her husband got so sick, she had to take him to the hospital where it was discovered that he had HIV/AIDS. He died shortly after the diagnosis. She later found out that both she and her baby were HIV positive. With this news, her in-laws did not allow her to stay with them. They believed she caused their son’s death. She tried to return to her parents but was no longer welcomed there as well. She and her baby were homeless. Eventually finding a job as a manual laborer, during the day she left her child unattended inorder to go to work. After a few weeks of the same routine, one evening she returned from a long work day to find her son dead. Feeling desolate, she attemped suicide many different times. A VHW found her and took her to the CRHP Hospital. She was very thin and sick with symptoms of HIV. She was nursed back to health at the CRHP Hospital. CRHP has greatly cared for her has prescribed a regimen of antiretroviral drugs for the past four years. Currently, she is working as a Manager on the CRHP farm.
With the help of CRHP, she has regained confidence in life and her health. She is encouraging other people with HIV/AIDS and young girls about the plight of women in their villages.
We see these Ladies throughout our days in Jamkhed. Each one has a story to tell. Each has overcome some kind of abuse or life obstacle, yet they are still smiling and living life to its fullest. The language barrier is invisible. The very little Marathi I speak nor the little English they speak desn't hamper our understanding of each other. It is enough for us to understand each other - woman to woman. Her story is one of many I have heard. The women struggle everyday for their wellfare, well being, and to earn their respect. While they have conquered much, there is a long road to travel. I realize that as a woman I take many of my civil liberities for granted. I now see things through different eyes.
TTYS.
After hearing personal stories from the women that work with CRHP, I had to take a step back and think about my life and the women surrounding me. I realized the importance of having faith and more importantly, to never lose that faith.
The level of oppression the women face in this culture is indescribable. Women are thought to be worthless. Even within the social caste system, in India, the women are beneath the untouchables.
Many Village Health Workers ("VHW") shared their stories with us. One of the stories that struck me the most was of a Shudra woman whose family couldn't gather enough money for her dowry. They finally found someone who agreed to marry her without a dowry. She was married at the age of fifteen and moved to Mumbai to live with her husband and his family. Within the first six months she was pregnant. Her husband was constantly sick so she had to take care of her husband and her baby. Her husband got so sick, she had to take him to the hospital where it was discovered that he had HIV/AIDS. He died shortly after the diagnosis. She later found out that both she and her baby were HIV positive. With this news, her in-laws did not allow her to stay with them. They believed she caused their son’s death. She tried to return to her parents but was no longer welcomed there as well. She and her baby were homeless. Eventually finding a job as a manual laborer, during the day she left her child unattended inorder to go to work. After a few weeks of the same routine, one evening she returned from a long work day to find her son dead. Feeling desolate, she attemped suicide many different times. A VHW found her and took her to the CRHP Hospital. She was very thin and sick with symptoms of HIV. She was nursed back to health at the CRHP Hospital. CRHP has greatly cared for her has prescribed a regimen of antiretroviral drugs for the past four years. Currently, she is working as a Manager on the CRHP farm.
With the help of CRHP, she has regained confidence in life and her health. She is encouraging other people with HIV/AIDS and young girls about the plight of women in their villages.
We see these Ladies throughout our days in Jamkhed. Each one has a story to tell. Each has overcome some kind of abuse or life obstacle, yet they are still smiling and living life to its fullest. The language barrier is invisible. The very little Marathi I speak nor the little English they speak desn't hamper our understanding of each other. It is enough for us to understand each other - woman to woman. Her story is one of many I have heard. The women struggle everyday for their wellfare, well being, and to earn their respect. While they have conquered much, there is a long road to travel. I realize that as a woman I take many of my civil liberities for granted. I now see things through different eyes.
TTYS.
