Recent Reports

Below is the most recent report of our activities in India. Previous reports are available here.

Developing Indigenous Resources - India

Summary of Activites

March 2010

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH – The Worst sin against our fellow human creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity” (G.B.Shaw) 

A.     CEO’S MESSAGE

(From Frederick Shaw)

Another busy month has come and gone in a flash.  We expected March to be part of Spring, but alas, it became confused and we had many hot summer days, with temperatures above 90 degrees before nine in the morning.

DIR-India had its Annual General Meeting on 19th and four of our five Trustees participated.  We are especially grateful to Mr. T.R.Srinnivasan who spends most of his time in Bangkok, and Mr. Rajendra Mishra who lives in Delhi who both made special efforts to attend.  Dr. Gaurav, who is increasingly becoming active in promoting human rights, offered to resign since his activities would probably cause him to receive negative criticism and he did not want his reputation to sully DIR’s.  Other Trustees assured him that they fully supported his work, and it was resolved that workshops to educate and promote human rights be conducted for DIR Health Promoters who should then pass on the information throughout the bustee.  Since part of the fate of the poor is that they are taught they have human rights, this could be an important new activity, and possibly one which will be frowned upon in some powerful circles.

Trustee Mishra brought with him to Chandigarh, his colleague R.N.Singh, who is also retired from the Department of Health, Government of India.  These two gentlemen generously spent much of their time educating us on how the Government of India operates and providing advice on how we may best collaborate with it.

Our Pre-school continues to grow, and we shall add one more class and one more teacher this coming year. The Indian academic year commences in April.  Canara Bank, one of India’s leading banking corporations, donated school furniture in the form of desks, white-boards, and ceiling fans, enabling us to start the year in better style than ever before.

Meetings with faculty from the Government Home Science College (HSC) and Panjab University (PU) concerning continued collaboration have been held and we are planning educational experiences for MPH students from PU and Master’s Students in Nutrition from HSC.  This collaboration is valuable for all of us and is helping get DIR better-known in very positive ways.

We sadly said farewell to Intern Eirik Winnberg from Norway, in the early part of the month and welcomed Intern Dr. Marta Mateos, a physician from Spain in the last week of March.  In addition to her varied duties, Marta will be continuing the Emergency Medicine and First Aid classes which were started by earlier interns.  Marta plans to be with us until September. 

(Dr. Gurpreet Singh - DIR-I )

Child to Child Health Program had been postponed for the month of March, as the participating children were busy with their annual academic exams in their respective schools. By the end of the month of March, all students would have finished their examinations, and the Child to Child activities will resume from the 5th of April. In the month of April, children will be given demonstrations on various low cost nutritional recipes in DIR bustee office. The people in the bustee are generally ignorant about the nutritional importance of various foods leads to malnourishment amongst children. By teaching nutritional importance of various foods through the program, we seek to improve the eating habits and the health standards of people living here. We are hopeful that, after a gap of one month’s period children will rejoin the program with the same enthusiasm, they have been showing till now.

C. WATER PURIFICATION PILOT PROJECT

(Dr. Gurpreet Singh - DIR-I)

In the first phase of the Water Purification Pilot project, seventy-nine ceramic candle filters were installed in selected households of Janta Colony and Adarsh Nagar. Eleven more candle filters are yet to be installed. In the next phase, A Chemical method of water purification will be applied in other 90 households in the bustee. People who have got candle filters installed at their homes are very happy about the filters. These people are now promoting the project through the word of mouth in the whole bustee by praising these filters. The extent of praise is such that we are getting many requests from people in bustee for water filters to be installed at their places, to which we unfortunately can not oblige at present because of our financial constraints.

(In photo: Candle filter being installed in one of the houses in Janta Colony.)

D.  NUTRITION

(Ms. Natasha Bhardawaj – DIR-I Nutritionist)

In our regular nutrition classes, HPs were told about the medicinal values of various locally available herbs and spices. Beside that, as part of the annual assessment of Health and Nutrition knowledge of our Health Promoters, a comprehensive exam including questions related to Health, Nutrition and Skelton system was conducted. All Health Promoters did very well in the exam.

A nutrition demonstration of Sago Chaat was given to Health Promoters in bustee office. The same recipe was then demonstrated by health Promoters amongst the local people in the streets of Janta colony and Adarsh Nagar. The recipe proved out to be a great success in bustee as it is made with locally available seasonal vegetables. Ingredients used in the recipe, such as sago and peanuts are a rich source of carbohydrates and proteins; while carrots, lemon, spinach, onion, tomato are rich in vitamin A, C and Iron, making this a very “healthy meal."

(In photo: DIR-Nutritionist giving a demonstration of Sago chart to Health Promoters.)

E.  MOTHERS’ HEALTH

(Dr. Gurpreet Singh – DIR-I Physician)

Pregnancies

On the 1st of March, there were 91 pregnant women in Janta colony and Adarsh Nagar. Of these, 15 women delivered their babies during the month of March, and one child was stillborn.  Three others shifted their residence permanently from the colony. Twenty-five new pregnancies were reported this month. By the end of this month, there were a total of 97 pregnant women in the program. All the 15 women who delivered this month had had three or more Antenatal check-ups. 

Deliveries

Out of 15 women who delivered this month, thirteen delivered in the Government Hospital, Sector-16, one delivered in the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), and one in Government Hospital Sector-22. All the fifteen deliveries were assisted by qualified professionals. Of the newborns, five are boys and ten are girls.  All the women who delivered had their postnatal examinations within two days of delivery.

F.  IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMME

(Ms. Veena Rani – Senior Health Promoter)

In the month of March, DIR-I participated thrice in the government-run immunization programme, on the 8th, 15th and 29th day of the month.  A total of 228 shots were administered to the children. Details of the immunization are as follows:

a) Measles - 24                 b) BCG  - 4                         c) DT  - 10                d) DPT Booster - 20

      e)

G.     D.O.T.S.

(Mr. Sunny Bighania - Senior Health Promoter)

On the 1st of March, eleven Tuberculosis patients were being served medicines at our bustee office through the government DOTS program run by DIR. Our bustee office is an authorised DOTS centre, and patients from the vicinity get their supply of medicine from our office on a regular basis. One patient successfully completed his course of medication during the last month. Three more bustee residents were diagnosed with Tuberculosis and started treatment. This brings the total number of patients currently being served to 13.

Following is the distribution of these patients in different categories with a brief description of what each means:

Category I – All those new patients whose pulmonary smear is positive for Tuberculosis Bacilli or those whose pulmonary smear is negative but are seriously ill or those who have extra pulmonary Tuberculosis but are seriously ill are included in Category I. This month, we have 9 patients in this category.

Category II – Those old Tuberculosis patients who had either defaulted from the treatment at an earlier stage and have re-started the treatment or those who have again contracted the disease after being cured once or those who had not been cured even after completing a full prescribed course are included in Category II. This month we have only 4 patients in this category.

H. INCOME GENERATION

a.     Paper Bags

(Mr. I.B.S.Pannu - Administrator)

Primarily the Senior Staff of DIR-I arranges for waste paper (old news paper), which is passed on to women in the colony. These women make paper bags of two sizes. DIR helps disposal of these bags in the Chandimandir cantonment area near Chandigarh. A total of Rs. 2162 was realized from such sales during the month of March 2010. Rs. 1885 off this money was passed on to women who made those bags and DIR earned Rs. 277 out of the sale, which will partially pay for the expenses DIR had to bear for the sale of these bags. Details of the sale and purchase of the bags is as follows:

b. Micro-Finance

 (Dr. Gurpreet Singh – DIR-I Physician)

A number of fresh interviews were held in bustee office of people interested in getting a loan through our micro lending program with the help of Rotary club. DIR with the help of Rotary Club give interest free loans to those bustee people, who want to open good businesses, and which we think can be profitable.

C.     Skills Training

(Ms. Natasha and Mr. Pannu)

A trained, experienced lady stitching instructor has been hired by DIR to teach stitching to the bustee women, after the previous stitching instructor had left the job last month. Learning stitching can help bustee women earn some money for the family. We have four students as of 28th March 2010; hopefully the number will increase next month.

Aside from the stitching classes being held in DIR bustee office, DIR also give paid assignments to bustee women in form of stitching of wine bags. During the month of March, 9 bustee women made a total of 128 wine bags and were paid when the bags were checked and approved.

I.  EDUCATION

(Ms. Sunita Sharma – Head Teacher)

On the 3rd March, Nursery and Kindergarten classes were taken for a picnic as guests of G4S Security Services to a resort in Landran village near Chandigarh. In the resort, a number of joy rides and games were provided for the children, which they thoroughly enjoyed.  A total of 25 children from school went to the picnic and all of them cherished their time in that pleasant environment.

Final academic examinations were conducted for all the three classes, namely, Prenursery, Nursery and Kindergarten in our ‘School With A Difference’. Results of these examinations were out on 18th March. Khushi, scored first rank in Kindergarten, Ranvir in Nursery and Bandana came first in Prenursery class. School was closed for the Spring break on 22nd March and will reopen on 5th April, with a new session and a number of new students in our school.

J.   PERSONNEL ACTIVITY

(I.S.B.Pannu - Administrator)

1.      Changes:

Mr. Eirik Winberg, an intern from Norway who joined DIR-I on 24th September 2009, left for his country in the first week of March. Earlier he planned to be with DIR-I for nine months, but latter due to revised visa regulations, he had to leave early. Eirik was actively involved in the Water Purification project in the bustee. DIR wishes him good luck and is appreciative of his contribution. He was duly given a warm send off at bustee by the staff.

Based upon Health Promoters performance and their eagerness to share more responsibilities, Dr. Frederick has made the following changes effective April 1st, 2010.

Mr. Sunny is promoted as Field Coordinator.

Ms. Meena is promoted to the position of Senior Health Promoter.

Ms. Sangeeta and Mr. Sanjeev will be given an opportunity to work at  Headquarters in sector 8 to pick up more responsibilities at office work.

Three new Health Promoters have been hired w.e.f. 1st April, 2010 to replace the people who have been promoted.

Dr. Marta, from Spain joined DIR-I as an intern on 23rd march. She is a physician and surely will be an asset to DIR. She plans to be with us till September 2010 and we welcome her.

2.      Visitors

G4S Security Services celebrated Happy Day on 3rd March, to coincide with the Birthday of their English founder. 30 children from Janta Colony (including 25 from DIR’s School With A Difference’) under the supervision of three teachers from our school were transported to Landran Resort on Sirhind Road by G4S bus and were returned in the same bus. Children spent about 4 hours outing at the resort, where they had games to play and were properly fed. All our kids loved and enjoyed the day and returned to bustee safe.

Mr. Pritpal Shergill made another visit to bustee this month to persuade young unemployed people of bustee to join some technical vocational course, such as Electrician, Auto Mechanic, Welder, Plumber, etc.  The program is sponsored by Confederation of Indian (CII), Chandigarh Branch, wherein the fee of these courses will be subsidised partly by CII and partly by Mr. Pritpal. After the completion of the training a certificate will be issued which will enable these technitians to get a better job.

Mr. Ashwani Wadhera, the landlord of our bustee office visited and was happy to see the painting of all doors, gate and the grills, and readily donated Rs. 1000 to meet the cost of paints.

Two trustees of DIR-I, Mr. KT Srininivasan from Chennai, Mr. Rajender Mishra from Delhi paid a visit to bustee on 15th March, escorted by Dr. Frederck Shaw. Trustee were taken to field individually by the Health Promoters for a thorough study of the program. It was a good opportunity for the Trustee to scan the program, which they did. This surely would have had empowered them for the Annual General Meeting on 19th March 2010. Trustees stayed for a week’s time in Chandigarh.

It would not be out of place to record that a lunch was hosted at bustee on 18th March 2010 and all the vegetarian dishes were prepared by Health Promoters. The Trustees were appreciative of this good-will gesture. Dr. Gaurav Chhabra another trustee of DIR was also present for the lunch.

Local Chandigarh Branch of Canara Bank team landed at bustee office on 19th March 2010 to donate the following items for DIR School With A Difference:

Three ceiling fans

Two big white writing boards

Six Wooden tables

15 desks for children.

DIR is indeed thankful to the bank for their donations.

DIR staff including senior staff, all put their heads together for a secret mission, took Ms. Roberta Shaw in confidence and gave a surprise Birthday Party for Dr. Frederick Shaw, 40 years young (not counting the nights) energetic CEO of DIR-I. We made sure the whole show ends in half an hour and we achieved it. Mrs. Lobo, Mrs. Sethi (volunteers), school teachers, infact every one in DIR-I wished Dr. Frederick a good sound health.

[ Read previous updates: September 09, April 09, November 08, October 07, September 07, June 07, April 2007, January 2007, October 2006, June 2006 ]

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