Dalit Freedom Network Canada

Jyothi is the Community Health Worker at a Good Shepherd School in central India. In the past year, she has had a tremendous impact on the lives of students and villagers alike. Jyothi spends two days a week at the school, teaching classes on health and hygiene. She assists with period medical camps, where children are weighed, measured, and treated for a range of conditions.

Jyothi spends her other three days traveling to the neighbouring villages and slums, where she teaches the residents preventive measures to avoid common diseases and provides basic medical care. In partticular, she encourages pregnant women to seek prenatal care, teaches them about nutrition, and distributes iron tablets to counter anemia. She also teaches new mothers about safe care of newborns and follows up to make sure they are getting their babies immunized.

Beyond medical assistance, Jyothi provides hope and support. Recently, she was of great help to a woman whose husband died twenty days after the birth of their third child. Jyothi spent time with the mother and counseled her and encouraged her. The mother is doing much better now and is able to work in order to support her family.

Health Workers like Jyothi are working in our schools across India, providing Dalits with dignified treatment and life-saving education. DFN continues to work towards the goal of seeing a Health Worker in all 107 Good Shepherd Schools.

A soy milk project has begun at several of our Good Shepherd Schools to provide extra nourishment to the children. Soy bean milk contains the same amount of protein as what is found in cow milk; it is a healthy drink given to the students who are physically weak and lacking nutrition. Many times students come to school without breakfast and it is not unusual for students to faint during the morning assembly. Around 400 students are being given 250ml of this milk five days a week. We can already notice the increase of energy, and overall health. The teachers mentioned that they even notice the students growing in height.

Many of the Good Shepherd Schools have a community health worker who cares for the health needs of the students and the community at large. We now have over 60 health workers spread across India.

These healthcare workers examine and educate the community on the many health matters, including the following:

- Pregnancy
- Fever
- Cough
- Cuts & bruises
- Children's monthly vaccinations
- Mosquito-borne diseases
- Healthy diet
- Medicines
- Vitamins
- Mental challenges

The health workers are having a tremendous impact on the villages where they work. While Dalits are often discriminated against in public clinics and hospitals, the GSS health workers visit people in their homes, thereby ensuring equal access to medicine and treatment. It is our hope to have a health worker at each of our schools; please consider giving to this Project in order to help make this dream a reality. 
 

In recognition of World AIDS Day on December 1, the Good Shepherd Schools and Clinics all around India held rallies, marches, and programs to bring awareness to their communities. The diagnosis of HIV/AIDS often bring with it fear and discrimination, and many people do not understand how the virus is contracted or spread. The Good Shepherd teams joined with local officials and families to bring information and hope to surrounding villages. Students made posters with slogans such as “Stop HIV/AIDS, Save the World” and “Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise” in local dialects. Not only did villagers learn more about AIDS, many also heard about the Good Shepherd Schools and Clinics for the first time. At one school, the evening program was closed with the lighting of candles to signify the light of hope. As the students are educated about healthcare, this knowledge spreads to the entire community. This is just one more way that the schools become a symbol of hope and freedom.

In addition to monitoring the health of the students and villagers, VLK’s health care worker teaches Health and Nutrition classes to the older students. She focuses on teaching the children good habits, such as bathing daily, wearing sandals at all times, and combing their hair. She also teaches them basic nutrition principles such as eating fruits and vegetables. The students learn and practice keeping their classrooms clean, as well as their homes. They also learn how to dispose of garbage properly and drain stagnant water where mosquitoes breed. This class is having significant impact on the students at VLK, allowing them to be healthier and more productive. We hope to one day see this kind of teaching in all our DFN schools. 

This month, in lieu of writing a Project update we are inviting you to share your thoughts, opinions, and stories. We are asking you to write a comment on this page telling us and other readers why you support this particular project. What is it about health care workers that interests you? What made you decide to get involved?

The staff of DFN Canada truly believes that you are as much a part of what is happening in India as we are. We are very thankful to have you as part of the team.

Let us know why this cause caught your attention!

VLK School in South India is privileged to have a health care worker. The young woman divides her time between the school and surrounding villages, bring knowledge and free medication with her everywhere she works. She is already having a significant impact on the health of the students, as she is distributing daily vitamins and supplements. Since starting at the school in 2008 she has attended two intensive training sessions, in addition to her initial health education; this ensures that she is providing the best possible care to the community. Many schools are not yet as fortunate as VLK and are still awaiting funding for a health care worker. Please consider supporting this project. 

RSP school has been educating slum children for fifteen years and has developed a very good reputation in the community. Parents are thrilled with the high standard of education their children are receiving, as well as with the love and care displayed by the staff. Because of this long-term relationship between school and slum, when RSP’s health care worker first arrived at the school last year she was graciously received. She earned the community’s respect simply by being part of a staff the residents already trusted. Now the health care worker is able to visit patients at home, conduct public health information programs, and take people to hospital whenever needed. RSP’s commitment to improving the lives of their students through education has led to the possibility of reaching the larger community through health care. This is just one example of DFN’s vision being lived out: transforming entire communities, starting with a school. 

KKL now has a health care worker! She started her job at the school on March 9, fresh from the February training. She is a local woman who the school manager met and sent for training; this is a huge asset, as she is already familiar with the local community, language, and culture. Because of this she will be very helpful not only in the school, but in all the surrounding villages she visits. She will be bringing the same unique health care approach as the other school healthcare workers to the community of KKL: visiting families in their homes, providing free medications, treating the students, distributing vitamins, and much more. She is now one more of the hundreds of incredible DFN staff bringing transformation and hope to the remote corners of India. 

During February many DFN healthcare workers congregated in Hyderabad for further training. While some of these workers have been at their respective schools for multiple years, they are continually developing their skills and increasing their knowledge in order to be more effective. Across India, these healthcare workers are extremely well-received, as they are working in communities where DFN schools have already earned a good reputation. The newly trained workers have now returned to their schools and are continuing their amazing work of educating and treating. 

Health care workers play a significant role in the education process at the Good Shepherd Schools. In the NGP school the health care worker spends most of her time visiting students and other community members in their homes, distributing medicine and educating villagers about hygiene and nutrition. Though there are other government health care workers in the area, the GSS health care worker is the only one who will go and visit the families in their homes; this allows her to help many people who do not or cannot visit clinics. This health care worker also teaches Health and Hygiene in the school classes and hopes to hold health education seminars for the surrounding villages. 

For the past year the RSP school has employed a DFN-trained healthcare worker, a smiling 23-year-old woman called Sarah (name changed to protect the individual). Sarah is now providing exceptional healthcare both to the Good Shepherd School and to the slum.

While there are twenty-five organizations providing healthcare in the area, the majority run expensive clinics and offer only infrequent community programs. DFN’s approach of having a healthcare worker available all week, visiting families in their homes, is unique and desperately needed. Sarah conducts awareness programs every Saturday about varied topics such as hygiene, nutrition, or prenatal health. These programs help to increase general awareness, and Sarah further supplements the teaching with regular home visits, where she can show people how to apply what they have learned. She visits homes three days a week, averaging about fifty homes a day.

Sarah also works in the school two days a week. She distributes daily vitamins to the students and measures their growth twice annually. She observes the students in their classes, treating them when necessary, and doing follow-up care. Sarah reports that the students are now always washing their hands before eating and having daily baths even in winter; this marks significant progress. Students are in turn teaching their families these new habits.

There are some health myths that Sarah is attempting to dispel. One belief is that pregnant women should not eat bananas or papayas, as they could be abortive. Sarah is encouraging expecting mothers to eat nutritious food, including fruit. Another obstacle is social stigma, which is particularly prevalent around HIV/AIDS. People will not admit to having this disease out of fear that their families and community will shame them; Sarah is working hard to combat these fears as well.

The most common illnesses the healthcare worker sees are malaria and typhoid, due to the current cold weather and the dirty environment. She reports that people routinely get treatment for these diseases, visiting a clinic or hospital for medication. If GSS students are ill she takes them to a clinic with which she has a partnership and where the students are treated at no cost. Sarah reports that the primary cause of death in the slum is accidents, not illness.

Sarah faces many challenges every day. While all the healthcare, training, and medicine she provides are free, this in fact poses a problem: since they have not paid, patients often feel no obligation to take medicine. Because of this Sarah consistently has to explain the importance of treatment and convince patients to take their pills. Also, while people’s homes are generally clean, the streets are filthy. Municipality street sweepers clear the lanes but pile all the trash into a large heap that only gets collected once weekly. Sarah identifies the slum’s biggest needs as increased health education and a DFN clinic, which will hopefully become a reality as soon as a suitable piece of land is found.

Despite the lack of health knowledge, there are certain admirable health practices that all slum residents adhere to. People drink good water, which is delivered by the government every other day; they only use the contaminated tap water for cleaning, bathing, and laundry. Every home has a toilet, which greatly helps hygiene. Most pregnant women deliver at a hospital and breast-feed their infants and as a result most babies are healthy. Each of these healthy practices is worthy of celebrating.

Already, DFN’s healthcare worker is having an impact on health in the slum and the school. People are very responsive to her teaching and Sarah says she is very well received in the slum. She attributes this to the fact that she works for the Good Shepherd School; the school and its teachers are so respected in the community that people welcome the healthcare worker openly. Because of the strong relationships the school has built with the surrounding community, they are able to do far more than just educate the children.

This is truly the mission of DFN: to transform entire communities. RSP is only one amazing story in progress in India. Thank you to each of you who sponsor a child at the RSP school or are involved in the work in some way. You are having a tremendous impact on many lives.

 Many DFN schools now have healthcare workers who divide their time between the school and the surrounding community. For the past six months, since the start of this academic year, V has been the healthcare worker at RAM school. V is a local man, living in one of the many villages near the school. Before starting his work at RAM he was already running a small clinic out of his home, which he continues to operate. V’s son is in grade 1 at RAM school; this is how the connection was made between him and the school manager, who was looking to employ a healthcare worker. V works at the school Monday and Saturday. He keeps diligent records of every student’s height, weight, immunizations, and illness history. On the other days he visits villagers in their homes, providing much-needed healthcare in a uniquely accessible manner. V reports that many children are sick from diarrhea as there is no clean water available in the villages; the poor quality of the water also leaves many with dental problems. V is able to administer some treatment and refers patients to a nearby hospital when necessary. Already he is having an impact on the health of RAM school and the local population.

 We have already had many great opportunities. On Friday of last week we were able to join with the medical team and head out to help with a mobile clinic. We went to a small slum not far from the base and set up shop. The clinic bus is amazing. Equipped to deal a wide range of problems from small cuts and wounds to x-rays to a full pharmacy. That night we maybe saw 40 patients, which we were told was a slow night. The medical branch of DFN is exceptional. They provide a clinic on the base as well as bi-weekly mobile clinics to the slums and poor villages. They also run health camps on all the school campuses and each school is equipped with a well-trained healthcare worker who deals with the health issues of both the students and villagers. They are doing amazing work and we have more stories to share later.

-Jon & Suzi

 Nayanaben is a Health Care Worker at one of our schools and cared for a young boy in the 4th standard. He came to her for medicine at school one day and she diagnosed that he his temperature 102.2 degree and she felt the symptoms was of malaria. She immediately informed his parents and after finding out the child had been sick for one week referred the child to the hospital. After 3 days in the hospital where malaria was confirmed the child is recovering well.

Nayanaben also does excellent prenatal care for three women who are pregnant. She visits them weekly and teaches them about nutrition, hygiene, exercise and rest and is making sure they all receive correct immunizations. She also checks their blood pressure, pulse and weight and checks the baby’s heart beat. With her care she is preventing many complications from illness as well as protecting lives of pregnant women and their babies.

She is really an example of how the Community Health worker makes a difference both in the Good Shepherd school and in the surrounding community.