Well, these last few days have given me quite a few lessons in what can go wrong during field work, thats for sure!!
To begin our first day in the field, we drove almost two hours from the health station we were staying at to the village of Nagar. Upon arrival, we were shown to a nearby house and blankets were laid out for everyone to sit on. Now, it just so happened that this house was sitting at the corner of the main road and foot traffic was quite heavy at the time we came. So, we had an enormous group of women (almost 25 - 30 at one point; we were supposed to have no more than 10), as well as hoards of school children and men standing by and staring at us. We asked the school children to move along only to be inundated by a new wave of children on their way home from school. Meanwhile, men kept trying to enter the women's group and were getting upset and giving me dirty looks when I asked them to leave. This was admidst a loud and unruly group of women, many of whom got bored of the hub-bub and left before we introduced the second technology.
The men's group was even more of a disaster due to the fact that the village drunk decided to show up and be heard. Not only did he convince the remaining men not to vote for one of the technologies, he also loudly belittled the group's responses and regularly talked over the quieter men. Needless to say, my attemps to get him to leave or be quiet were futile and he continued to be a regular source of laughter for the rest of the men. He continued going off on random tangents to talk about issues that had nothing to do with our discussion and loudly proclaimed again and again "these are modern times! we want modern technologies!" ... By the time we finished, I honestly could not wait to get out of there. The only consolation was a delicious cup of chai before getting back into the car to start the bumpy journey back to the health station.
We had yet another drunk man in the our discussion on the second day, although I admit he was much easier to handle. It helped that there were more elderly men in that group and they could tell him to be quiet (because many men were actually very interested in the technologies).
I'm starting to think I jinxed myself after my last blog entry. Things just did not run smoothly this time at all. We were hardly ever on time to meetings, whole groups of men and women never showed up, we went waaaay out of the way to pick up field coordinators, and the driver kept stopping to run his own personal errands on Wednesday. Not to mention, the main bridge back to the health station was washed out by the rains on Tuesday, so I was asked to pay 500 extra rupees (about $8) for us to go back to Kherwara and through a neighboring block. I know that isn't much when think about it in USD, but it's quite a lot to ask for by Indian standards.
So, all that said, here are my take-aways from this field adventure:
Plan for the unplanned. Things will inevitably go pear-shaped, even if they have been going splendidly before that.
Expect delays. As you all probably know, the rest of the world does not run on western time. If you want to be somewhere by a specific time, plan to leave earlier than necessary. Also, your schedule is not your own. Unexpected road-side meetings, getting lost, unpassable roads, or getting stranded beside a flooded bridge are all possibilities when it comes to field work.
Be culturally sensitive. I admit, during some of these discussions I was frustrated by what I saw as a lack of understanding on the part of the participants. For instance, one group was adament that they should receive a water-based toilet, even though there was nothing to suggest that they had existing water connections or that they even understood the expense of bringing that technology to them. I truly did not push the issue, besides to remind that them Rajasthan is a dry region and a water-based toilet might not be the best solution for them in times of water shortage. Upon speaking with the field coordinator about this, he reminded me that it is not necessarily a bad thing that these people want a water-based toilet, and that it speaks to their aspirations for the future. After all, why shouldn't they have equal opportunity to access modern technologies?
Patience is key. I really wanted to scream at the drunkard during that first meeting. I mean, REALLY!!! And a million other moments I can think of during my last two months here where I have repetetively tried to get a point across just to be met with blank stares, stupid bureaucratic procedures, corruption, or just outright ignored. Letting go of things has become easier as time goes on (remind me to tell you all about the saga of trying to get my room switched at the hostel). Deep breaths. Patience. Learning to laugh it off. And if you have to scream, do it in private. Tears are a definite no-no in public.
Respect people's time. Most villagers I meet are hard-working people. Also, many of them are poor and struggle just to get by. Yet, they give up work time to meet with me. The vast majority are respectful, humble, and even down-right thankful to receive a visit from outsiders. They offer me chai, if they have milk. They give me a chair or a bed to sit on. They share their stories with me. When I thank them for being gracious enough to spend time with me, they instead thank me (sometimes profusely) for coming to see them. It is a humbling experience to say the least.
I know I promised pictures, but I am nowhere near my camera right now, so look for those soon!
xoxo,
Alec
To begin our first day in the field, we drove almost two hours from the health station we were staying at to the village of Nagar. Upon arrival, we were shown to a nearby house and blankets were laid out for everyone to sit on. Now, it just so happened that this house was sitting at the corner of the main road and foot traffic was quite heavy at the time we came. So, we had an enormous group of women (almost 25 - 30 at one point; we were supposed to have no more than 10), as well as hoards of school children and men standing by and staring at us. We asked the school children to move along only to be inundated by a new wave of children on their way home from school. Meanwhile, men kept trying to enter the women's group and were getting upset and giving me dirty looks when I asked them to leave. This was admidst a loud and unruly group of women, many of whom got bored of the hub-bub and left before we introduced the second technology.
The men's group was even more of a disaster due to the fact that the village drunk decided to show up and be heard. Not only did he convince the remaining men not to vote for one of the technologies, he also loudly belittled the group's responses and regularly talked over the quieter men. Needless to say, my attemps to get him to leave or be quiet were futile and he continued to be a regular source of laughter for the rest of the men. He continued going off on random tangents to talk about issues that had nothing to do with our discussion and loudly proclaimed again and again "these are modern times! we want modern technologies!" ... By the time we finished, I honestly could not wait to get out of there. The only consolation was a delicious cup of chai before getting back into the car to start the bumpy journey back to the health station.
We had yet another drunk man in the our discussion on the second day, although I admit he was much easier to handle. It helped that there were more elderly men in that group and they could tell him to be quiet (because many men were actually very interested in the technologies).
I'm starting to think I jinxed myself after my last blog entry. Things just did not run smoothly this time at all. We were hardly ever on time to meetings, whole groups of men and women never showed up, we went waaaay out of the way to pick up field coordinators, and the driver kept stopping to run his own personal errands on Wednesday. Not to mention, the main bridge back to the health station was washed out by the rains on Tuesday, so I was asked to pay 500 extra rupees (about $8) for us to go back to Kherwara and through a neighboring block. I know that isn't much when think about it in USD, but it's quite a lot to ask for by Indian standards.
So, all that said, here are my take-aways from this field adventure:
Plan for the unplanned. Things will inevitably go pear-shaped, even if they have been going splendidly before that.
Expect delays. As you all probably know, the rest of the world does not run on western time. If you want to be somewhere by a specific time, plan to leave earlier than necessary. Also, your schedule is not your own. Unexpected road-side meetings, getting lost, unpassable roads, or getting stranded beside a flooded bridge are all possibilities when it comes to field work.
Be culturally sensitive. I admit, during some of these discussions I was frustrated by what I saw as a lack of understanding on the part of the participants. For instance, one group was adament that they should receive a water-based toilet, even though there was nothing to suggest that they had existing water connections or that they even understood the expense of bringing that technology to them. I truly did not push the issue, besides to remind that them Rajasthan is a dry region and a water-based toilet might not be the best solution for them in times of water shortage. Upon speaking with the field coordinator about this, he reminded me that it is not necessarily a bad thing that these people want a water-based toilet, and that it speaks to their aspirations for the future. After all, why shouldn't they have equal opportunity to access modern technologies?
Patience is key. I really wanted to scream at the drunkard during that first meeting. I mean, REALLY!!! And a million other moments I can think of during my last two months here where I have repetetively tried to get a point across just to be met with blank stares, stupid bureaucratic procedures, corruption, or just outright ignored. Letting go of things has become easier as time goes on (remind me to tell you all about the saga of trying to get my room switched at the hostel). Deep breaths. Patience. Learning to laugh it off. And if you have to scream, do it in private. Tears are a definite no-no in public.
Respect people's time. Most villagers I meet are hard-working people. Also, many of them are poor and struggle just to get by. Yet, they give up work time to meet with me. The vast majority are respectful, humble, and even down-right thankful to receive a visit from outsiders. They offer me chai, if they have milk. They give me a chair or a bed to sit on. They share their stories with me. When I thank them for being gracious enough to spend time with me, they instead thank me (sometimes profusely) for coming to see them. It is a humbling experience to say the least.
I know I promised pictures, but I am nowhere near my camera right now, so look for those soon!
xoxo,
Alec
