Montréal Walks for Mental Health

It was a breath of fresh air to be united with almost 1000 people, all walking to raise awareness and remove the stigma of mental illness. People of all ages, all walks of life.

After my diagnosis, it was very difficult to see any way out of the mess I was living in. People's misinformed views on mental illness made my recovery even more exhausting. But 5 years later, I've gained confidence to speak publicly about my experience, in hopes to change people's view on mental illness. Further, I now feel ready to be actively involved in my community/ies and unite with others to make our society more friendly for people who fall out of the norm.

Here are some links to news stories covering the Walk.

Des manifestants réclament des investissements ( RDI, with video)

Margaret Trudeau knows the power of the mind (the Gazette)

1 month reflections

I’ve been here 5 weeks now and all the things that shocked me at first have become very normal. So normal in fact that I’m not really sure how we montréalais-es and Ottawa-ins live. Like how do traffic rules work in North America?... how can you have a road block without a cow or donkey? What are stop signs? What is the purpose of lanes and those lines on the pavement?

Also, I don’t think I’ll every be able to be punctual again (I know, I was never really punctual, but here, 2 minutes could mean 10 minutes, 2 hours, or tomorrow). Although I’m pretty sure I’ll catch my flight.

Having some independence will be aaaamazing. I go to the grocery and other shops alone; they are 250 to 500 meters away. But aside from that, I’m accompanied everywhere. Not speaking the language fluently, being an unmarried ‘girl’, and clearly looking like a foreigner makes traveling alone quite difficult. Everyone stares all the time; some with smiles, others looking like they just saw a ghost! I could just imagine if I had blond hair, blue eyes and really fair skin.

My interviews are about 80% done. It’s been taking quite a while to complete them. The transportation here is completely unpredictable,

and now the heavy rains of the monsoon routinely damage all dirt roads that go to the remote villages. De plus, the 2 translators that I work with also have (2) fulltime jobs (office and home). That has made it quite difficult to complete more than one interview per day. But it has given me the opportunity to stick around the office, learn more about what the organization does, help out, and give them some coaching on computer use (Microsoft suite, internet). Lunch time has been declared as ‘English time’, when the women speak whatever English they know. I try my best to encourage them to practice speaking what they know.

The interviews have been very inspiring and revealing. While I already had a rough idea of how the organization promotes social change, it has been a wonderful experience to really go in depth and see how this is happening. Women that have come from such difficult backgrounds have somehow managed to turn their lives around and ensure a bright future for themselves and their families. Most of the women that I interviewed from rural areas were married off at 14 to 16 (one at 11), and many are illiterate. They managed to take their lives into their hands, and through group support and activities, women have managed to get out of their homes, travel outside their villages, provide mutual support to each other, change mindsets on educating girls and marrying girls after 18, refusing dowry, discouraging sex-selective abortion, etc.. 19 out of 20 of these women I spoke to said that they would not (or did not) marry their daughter before 18, and before she would finish 12th standard in school.

While my study is more about the mechanisms of change than measuring the actual impact, the stories about change are truly remarkable. With some of the stories, I just thought of how unfathomably difficult these women’s lives have been. It just makes me feel that any kind of difficulty I’ve had in my life is incredibly meaningless by comparison. It is also very inspiring for my organizing work in Canada with social justice/feminist groups.

One woman was married at 14, and only attained 5th standard education. Her family lived in a tent-like shelter for many years. She worked the fields for 12 hours per day. Her 3 children were born in her home, unattended, no drugs, no doctors. She worked until the day of her deliveries and 2 days after she delivered.

Through her participation in savings groups, she got to know about land and property rights which allowed her to officially ensure that the deed of the land that her home is on has her family’s name on it. But it’s not only about knowing property rights, it’s also about knowing how to deal with usually corrupt government officials, demanding bribes and having to fill out lengthy application forms.

Through her savings accumulation and small loans, she managed to build a small brick hut with her family (replacing their tent), and get an electricity connection to her home (something her father-in-law could not manage to do due to the long and complicated process). Her 3 children are in school and she makes sure they always do their homework. She learns literacy from them also. She has gotten a job with MBUP as a general office assistant, instead of working 12 hrs per day in the field. She has now learned how to make deposits, count large amounts of money and deal with bank officials. She has a great smile and spirit.

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I have 2.5 weeks left in the rural area, and then I head off to Puné (city 200 km east of Mumbai) for 5-6 days. ….And then back home!

Bramha Kamal: the most magical flower I've ever met

 

 

 

 

Bramha Kamal: the most magical flower I've ever met

 

 

 

 

Bramha Kamal: the most magical flower I've ever met

 

 

 

 

Settling in to Sangola

So starting to feel ‘at home’ here. Somewhat of a routine has settled in. My mornings are free to Skype with my mom and my boyfriend and transcribe the interviews of the night before. Of course it’s not that simple because there are always kids running in and out of here. But when I firmly say “Mee kam kurté” (I am doing work) or “Chup bas” (sit down and keep quiet) they pretty much listen…most of the time. However, there are these 3 girls that keep banging on my door during the evening and mocking the way I speak Marathi!…let’s just say it's an opportunity for me to work on my patience.

At 11am, the organization’s office hours start so I join them for singing their morning prayer. Then I either try to continue to do work in my guestroom (which is quite difficult with all the interruptions) or I speak to some of the working women. I also travel to some other villages for interviews on some days. I also travel to some closer villages in the evening to take some interviews.

This week I went with the mobile health clinic of the organization, Aarogyadoot to two different villages, each 20 to 30 kilometers from

Sangola. That doesn’t sound like a far distance by Canadian standards, but the road to take us there was not really a road, they don’t have an buses going there, they do not have a hospital or any doctors in the village, or electricity for that matter. So it’s really cool that this bus goes there to give free checkups for pregnant women, infants, and school children and free monthly hemoglobin tests. They also have a staff member that goes to the primary school of the village (usually in pretty bad condition) and teach the children some songs and cultural activities. They bring materials like toys, colours, coloring books, and storybooks—resources that don’t exist in those schools.

They chose 7 remote villages of the sub-district, for the 3 year pilot project. They go to each village once per week. Next year they will be choosing 7 new villages. To ensure some sustainability for the project, they are training 1 woman from each village to be able to take blood pressure, measure temperature, and know when it is an emergency for going to the hospital. The funds for the project have been épuisé, but they are funding it with the org’s general funds. The organization that I fundraised funds with at McGill, Association for India’s development, we’ll be donated those funds (200+$) to this project. Also, my cousin Sabrina from the TD bank got TD to donate 100$ to this project.

My interviews have been going well. I’ve done 12 so far, 23 to go. There are of course some translation challenges, but the inspiring stories easily shine through. More to come about those soon.

All the best from rural India,

Milena

Sangooola after 1 week

So it is the beginning of my second week in Sangola, a small town in a draught-prone region of rural Maharashtra (central western state of India).

I’m just getting over this nausea-vomiting- body ache bug. Woah, did I ever feel horrible. Nice to be surrounded by 5 doctors! [the director of the organization I’m working with is a doctor, and her family clinic (with her husband, son, and daughter-in law all as doctors) is across the street. Oh and the mobile health clinic they run is parked right in front of my guestroom with another doctor!]…So at least I’m being taken care of.

There were quite a few things that shocked me about this place the first few days. Some things I had forgotten about…

Namely,

· just how dusty this place is (e.g. at the end of the day, you have a generous helping of dust on the folds of your elbows)

· How ‘clean’ is a very relative term

· How ‘bed’ is also a relative term (metal cot with a 1inch ‘mattress’)

· How my guestroom, hard as it is for me to adapt to, is quite privileged by comparison to the local norm (I have a bathroom and running water (undrinkable to me), 2 beds, space, and an ‘inverter’ which allows me to have a light and a fan during the 6 hr /day power outages)

· In case you didn’t catch that: no electricity 6 hours per day, everyday. At least this time there is a schedule so you can plan out your power needs. (in more remote villages it goes up to 12 hours/day)

· People’s frankness…while ppl are very chaleureux, generous, and really happy to see me and be with me, they are pretty frikkin honest about certain things which I’m not used to… About 10 ppl told me bluntly that I got fat from 3 yrs ago. This varied from “you got healthy” to “3 yrs ago you were beautiful and now you are fat”. I told them to give me a few weeks of diarrhea and vomiting to lose 10 pounds ;)…

Whatever, more hilarious than hurtful. And I should say that these are the same ppl that constantly give me compliments on how I’m dressed with matching bangles and bindis…

o Not having grown up with brothers and sisters it’s really nice to have kids coming in and out of the guestroom calling me ‘Milena Tai’ (big sister)

o Most ppl here (99%) eat on the floor, with their hands. In one room homes for 5 ppl, there isn’t much room for a table, so the floor is multi-purpose. And richer families that can afford tables say it keeps them human (returning to the earth, being part of the earth).

o I’ve got to say that I forgot just how fragrant the open gutters of Sangola are :s, on top of goat, cow, and donkey dung sprinkled throughout the town as well as in the parking lot in front of my guestroom. Did I mention ppl throw garbage everywhere? Oh, and garbage management = setting garbage on fire. Great for your health and environment.

o Ridiculous roads and driving, it’s a wonder I’m still alive. Lanes don’t exist, and honking is the only rule.

o Coffee here means: MILK + SUGAR + coffee powder

But the women of the organization are just wonderful. 10 big sisters/aunts/mothers.

In terms of my research, so far I’ve been informally talking to MBUP workers, get accustomed to the town (biggest chunk!), and attending their various activities:

· Cluster development program: supporting local artisans through training and links to markets

· Aarogyadoot: Mobile Health Clinic for remote areas. Scheduled to go this past week, but the monsoon rain damaged the roads and could not support the bus!

· MBUP primary school held a training / personality development of rural children from remote areas of the district. The program is based on the survey I worked on 3 years ago. There are only boys for now b/c it is ‘simpler’ in the pilot phase, ‘and then we’ll see’…hm. For further investigation.

My first official interview was last night.

Keep in touch,

Milena Norveeti