India...

We departed on Sunday Feb. 26^th…to a 13 ½ hour flight to Hong Kong, 8 hour flight to Delhi, and then after a 10 hour drive…we finally arrived to our destination of Punjab, in northern India….and it was Tuesday Feb. 28^th. 

Initially, my boys were very overwhelmed with the differences between Canada and India…driving on the left side of the road, lack of adherence to the basic rules of driving, sharing of the road with everything from vehicles to horses, water buffalos, donkeys, and even camels and elephants.  They then noticed the inequalities of resources between different levels of societal hierarchical groups.  They could not believe that landowners lived in 3 story bungalows, and just outside of their front gates, the straw hut belonged to the “help”.  Social marginalization is very evident here, and is indicative of social status.

We initially stayed in the village with my mother-in-law’s relative's family.  With no internet, Playstation, or IPods to keep them entertained, the boys have spent time interacting with children from the village…and even their language deficiencies were easily overcome over a game of “football” (as that is what they call soccer).

After 5 days in the village, we headed to Delhi, and visited the Taj Mahal, and then headed to the sunny skies of the resort town of Goa.

 

Many times since arriving in India, I have tried to find information posted about “health education”, and I must say, have not found anything.  I have seen numerous business sponsorship billboards, but nothing related to health promotion or health education. 

On the other hand, active living is a way of survival in India.  Most people either bike or walk, and I have seen very few overweight individuals.  

One of my husband’s aunts is a registered nurse, and she explained there are numerous health promotion initiatives in place, but they are not openly advertised.  There are programs in place to support individuals with AIDS, as well as family planning programs.  When questioned about other programs, she stated programs like smoking cessation are just not priority enough for the government when issues like AIDS and population control are much bigger issues that need to be addressed.   When asked about the “beggars”, and whether support programs are in place for them, she stated that the government is fairly corrupt, and although many make promises to help the poor, nothing ever gets developed. 

This has been an excellent experience for our children, as books and pictures cannot do justice to what they have seen and heard since arriving in India.