Final Reflections

- Has your involvement in community-based research impacted your motivation to engage in community issues, research or service?
- What assistance will be most helpful to you in the fall semester in wrapping up your CBR project?
- Write a brief letter of advice to a 2010 CBR-SURF.

When I started this research project at the beginning of the summer, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was going into a new country to immerse myself in a new community, and at the same time trying to complete a research project whose only validation was a grant proposal. However, it has been a couple of weeks since I have been back in Chapel Hill, and I think it took this time to realize the significance of my project. My participation in an international community-based project this summer has helped highlight problems and issues locally. Having lived in Chapel Hill since elementary school, I think I had become almost desensitized to the various forces that shape this community. However, by traveling to a completely foreign place and by making discoveries along the way, I have come to better understand my environment here in Chapel Hill.

Right now, I am continuing to maintain email correspondence with the SMILE program coordinators. We are collaborating to create and implement changes to the SMILE curriculum and to also answer some of the questions that I wrote about in my previous post. So far, the discussions have mainly involved the photovoice project and how it can be used to educate the residents of Rasoolpura. The coordinators hope to use my blog and video as a means of communicating the effort of programs like Mahita to the greater community. I hope to continue this correspondence through the fall semester, and I will update the blog with any new information.

If I had to give any advice to future CBR-SURF participants, I would say that the most important part of the process is your project proposal. As obvious and simple as it sounds, it really is the most crucial element. Although your proposal will be nothing close to perfect, trying to sketch out most of the details and foreseeing problems that might arise will make the completion of your project much easier. Also, it is really important to believe in your project and be excited about it. You will be working on this for at least 9 weeks, so make sure it is something you truly care and are curious about. Another piece of advice is to start your IRB as early as you can! I think that one of the most difficult parts of my experience was the IRB approval process. Although the IRB process and your final exams will probably occur during the same time, just go ahead and finish the IRB because it is just a time-consuming process that you can't really avoid. I remember for my project, it was extremely difficult because I was a) working with minors b) using media c) working with underrepresented groups and d) working in a region that didn't speak English. So having all these, I probably had about 50-60 pages of IRB paperwork! START EARLY on the IRB because you can't start your project until you get approval. Finally, I would say to have fun on your trip. As cliche as it sounds, there will definitely be times, especially if you are working in a new location, that you will just want to quit, pack up and go home. However, it is during those times that you should realize that you will only get this opportunity once, and you should be able to enjoy, or at least learn from, the good and not so good elements of it.

Good luck everyone, and thanks so much for keeping up with me and my project this summer!

Photovoice Video

Hey Everyone,

Here is a short 10-minute video that I made about my photovoice experience this summer:

July Prompt: Phase 2

- Briefly describe the current status of your project.
- How does your CBR experience compare to your initial expectations?
- What has been the most rewarding and challenging aspects of working with your community partner?

I am back in Chapel Hill now! Sorry, the blogging has not been as consistent lately, but after coming back, I have mainly been trying to maintain my communication with the individuals involved with my project, in order to complete Phase 2 of my research project. Phase 2 intended to use the results from Phase 1, or the data from the youth-led Photovoice project, to help improve the teaching program of Mahita.

In this second part of the project, I hope to work with the educators and directors of SMILE and Mahita, in using the photos, to assess and modify the curriculum of the Mahita education program in order to make it more relevant to the daily lives of the children. This will serve as a more qualitative assessment. Since this part of the project is being completed through internet/email correspondence, some time delay, inevitably, results between receiving and responding to the emails. I guess one of the main challenges that I have encountered in this project has been in consistence. In Phase 1, it was the inconsistency of attendance from participants, and in Phase 2 the inconsistency in email communication from both sides. There are many variables involved with this second phase and the coordination of both the educators and coordinators and myself, seems to be a more daunting task than I had foreseen. Despite all this, those who are involved with this project, including myself, remain interested in its goals and in using the results from Phase 1 to help improve the Mahita programs throughout Hyderabad.

The goals/questions that I hope to answer with this second stage of research are:
1) Does the current curriculum of Mahita schools effectively help transition dropout students to government schools?
2) How equipped are Mahita students in competing with local youth after this transition?
3) How important is it to increase the independent problem-solving skills of students?
4) How can we use the results of Photovoice (the photos and interviews) to help increase awareness and social action in Rasoolpura? How can the voices of the children become an integrated part of the curiculum?
5) How can Mahita/the community help translate the goals of the students into reality?

These are not questions with answers, but through communication with the different levels of Mahita coordinators, I hope to understand the goals of the organization and, in using those goals, promote a liberal education program that will enhance the social education of the children, so that they are more successfully transitioned into year-round public schools.

That’s all for now, and I will try to put up the pictures from the project ASAP, but all of them are currently in hard-copy form, so I will have to scan them first in order to upload them on the internet. I will also be working throughout this month to create a short video of my Photovoice experiences.

Madhu

Thoughts Thus Far

I think my project is going pretty well so far. There have definitely been some setbacks and challenges, but overall things are moving better than I had expected. One of the things that has greatly helped me with this project has been my prior exposure to the Photovoice methodology.

I first learned about Photovoice in my Comm089 first year seminar with Professor Patricia Parker last semester. This seminar focused on adult-youth partnerships for collective change. The ultimate goal of the class was to plan a conference that highlighted collective leadership models for sustaining youth and adult partnerships. While my small group was involved with planning the conference itself, other classmates created coalitions with local youth to create projects that they could present at the conference. Two of the four small groups decided to use the Photovoice methodology. While I was not directly involved with their projects, each group presented their progress weekly to the class. Through these discussions, I learned a lot about the challenges of Photovoice, especially in working with youth in vulnerable communities. One of the most important things I learned from the other groups was the importance of first connecting to the research participants. In adult-youth partnerships, there can usually be an intimidation factor that creates a disconnect between both groups. Thus, creating a comfortable working atmosphere is crucial. I remember when I first walked into the Cambridge school; all the students stood up and said “Good Morning Ma’am.” I remember I told them that I was not a teacher, and that my project wasn’t anything close to schoolwork. Furthermore, my classmates also made it clear that it was important to maintain a balance between becoming a “friend” and being in charge of completing a project. Thus, during my project here, I spent the first week learning about Rasoolpura from different angles: the teachers, the administrators, and the children. However, after I selected the participants, I went over a project contract with them and told them what I hoped to gain from the experience, and also what I thought they could learn. In the same way, I am using the advice of people who know the area best to help me in the project. The teachers, Ms. Lalitha and Mr. Shankar, and administrators, Mr. Swarup, have all given me great tips to make the most out of my experience. I remember before starting my project, Mr. Swarup advised me to not entice participants to participate by telling them that they each would receive a camera or by bringing candy. I am glad I followed his advice because in the end, I think that my research kids are genuinely interested in what they are doing, which also makes everything else a lot easier and fun for me.

I think that these initial steps helped lay a strong foundation for the rest of my project. While there have been some problems like not having consistence attendance and not following protocol, I am more than happy with the way things are going. The pictures came out great, and so did the interviews. It’s almost time for me to head back to the United States, where I will be working with Mahita teachers and administrators in completing Part 2 of my project.

Post-Interviews

This week we finished taking the pictures, and after getting them developed, it was time for the post-interviews. When I went in this week, the two male participants were out of town, and thus could not be a part of the post-interview process. The rest of us went upstairs in the school where there is a large empty space looking over Rasoolpura. I hadn’t looked at the pictures myself, so I was just as excited as the children when I opened the big bag of photos. I gave everyone their respective photos, and asked them if they could write a few sentences on the back of the ones they thought were meaningful. The main questions discussed were:

1. What do you SEE here?
2. What is REALLY happening?
3. How does this RELATE to your life in Rasoolpura?
4. WHY does this problem exist?
5. What can we DO about it?
   

They didn’t have to answer every question, but rather they served to open up our minds to the various factors that I would like to show through this project. The older kids had no problem with this task, but the younger ones seemed to have some difficulty translating their words into writing. When I asked them, however, all of them had wonderful insight into each and every picture they took, so instead of writing it out, we decided that it would be easier to videotape participants as they spoke. I was shocked at the quality and depth with which some of these pictures were taken. One of the interviews I remember most was when we were looking at a picture of boys playing marbles outside. I asked Sandhya why she took that particular picture, and she said, “They don’t have an interest in going to school, so they skip and play silly games.” I then asked her, “Well, why don’t you think they are interested?” She said, “I don’t know I mean school is free, and the government is even giving everyone free lunch, but I guess if teachers, instead of hitting students for not studying, taught in more interesting ways, like with games, they would go.” I became an interviewer without even knowing it. It wasn’t as though I was prodding them for a certain answer, but they were questions that came to me as they were speaking. After each video, I played them back on my laptop, and the kids had a blast laughing at what each other had to say. I also interviewed the teachers, Ms. Lalitha and Mr. Shankar, about their view on the problems facing Rasoolpura and ways to remedy the situation. The girls also wanted me to tape them dancing and singing, and they were actually pretty good. All the videos are in Telugu, so I’m dreading having to add captions to all of them.

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words?

This week we started the main part of the photovoice project. Before I begin my story for this week I will give you some background information.

First, I need to give some more information on the teachers:
Mr. Shankar: He is a teacher at the school who also serves as a liaison between Mahita and the Smile Foundation, which is a national nonprofit that strives to promote universal education among children from underprivileged backgrounds. Smile partners with various non-profits around the nation to sponsor education and health awareness programs such as the Cambridge School.
Ms. Lalitha: She has been working with Mahita and the Cambridge School for over seven years. She is also a resident of the slum, and knows the area better than anyone else.

Second, I must explain that the eight kids whom I had selected last week did not all show up this week, so I had to make do with those who were there. Especially since it is summer break, the students come as they please to the school and don't really have regular attendance. Therefore, for the second time I went through and explained my project. However, this time I allowed those students whom I had selected last week to lead the discussion and help the new participants understand the goals of the research. We spent the beginning of the week discussing the ethics of photography, and the kinds of pictures that we are allowed to take as researchers. The children were very insistent that they understood, so after I explained to them how to use the Kodak cameras, we split up into two groups. This week, a girl named Sandhya joined my group of researchers. Although a little older than the rest (she is in the 10th grade), she has become one of the most helpful people for this project. So, when we split off into two groups to take pictures, I chose Sandhya to lead one group of four, and I led the other three participants with the teachers.

My story:
My group consisted of both of the teachers and three of the child participants. We started walking down the lanes of Rasoolpura, which I found out is a large area split into many different "basthis," or small neighborhoods. Each of these basthis is distinctly different in terms of racial and religious identity, but taken as a whole, Rasoolpura is a diverse community. So, as we started walking, the kids ran about taking pictures of what they found interesting, but it didn't take long for me to realize that my "ethics" speech had gone through one ear and out the other for them. They started taking pictures of everything and everyone, so the teachers and I kept reminding them that they must first ask permission before taking pictures. It didn't seem like much of a problem at first. In fact, before we knew it there was a horde of people following us around because they thought we were reporters from TV9, a local news channel.

Halfway through the day, a little boy ran up to me and said, "Sister, the men over there are yelling at Mr. Shankar." So, I went over and saw that there was a verbal argument between Mr. Shankar and a group of very, very big men. They men were saying that some girl took a picture of them and ran away, and they demanded that we bring the girl to them or that something bad would happen. Soon, a mob of 20-30 people surrounded us, demanding what was wrong, and with everyone yelling in Hindi, I could only understand certain phrases, which happened to be "murder", "bits and pieces" and "who do you think we are?" Then, one of the men began to push around Mr. Shankar, tapping him “slightly” on the back of the neck. Another man snatched the cameras from the kids. Amid this confusion and yelling, I started crying. My crying calmed everyone a little and some of the women held my hand and told me that everything was alright and took me inside their house. Inside the house, the women offered me water, which I was hesitant to drink, but I drank it anyway so as to not disrespect them further. One of the older women said, “Child, why are you crying? Do you think we would let anything happen to you?”

This is when Ms. Lalitha came to the rescue. She was a little farther away when this all started, but she entered the chaos and swiftly explained the project to the residents. She said, "These kids are doing a project for school. This girl is from America, she can't speak Hindi that well, so screaming at her will do you no good. They are simply taking pictures of problems within our neighborhood, so hopefully someone can fix them. You all complain that nobody does anything about the issues here, and now someone is trying to help, and you made her cry." It was actually pretty funny because Ms Lalitha is about 5 ft tall and she took on a whole mob of towering men. After things calmed down, one of the men said, "Recently, one of our people was murdered and their body was cut into bits and pieces and delivered to us in a bag. So, when you just come and take pictures, we were scared as to what happened." We asked them how recent this was, and the man said "Some 20 to 25 years ago."

After this when everyone finally understood that we were all just innocent school children, the men came up to me and apologized, and the eldest man gave me some great advice. He said, "What you are doing is great, in fact, if you had told us first about this project and why you are taking pictures, we would let you take a hundred even a thousand pictures, but you just need to tell us clearly. Anyways, you need to be strong. There is no need to cry when you know you aren't doing anything wrong." It was some of the best advice that I have ever received. They gave us back our cameras, and insisted that we take pictures of them, so they pulled out their combs and starting brushing their hair and posed in front of a tree (Not the kind of picture we wanted for our reserach, but we let it slide). This argument had lasted about an hour or so, so we were all tired by the time it finished and went back to the school to wait for the other group. The other group strolled in smiling an hour later and said, "Oh, back so early?"

Overall, I learned a lot this week. I guess I have been pretty sheltered my whole life, so I was kind of naive about what to expect when I decided to research in the "slums."I realized that the word "slum" is not some geographically isolated term, but rather a conglomeration of the social, religious and racial complexities that exist in an overcrowded and under recognized area. Many of the residents of Rasoolpura are uneducated, so throwing foreign things upon them can become overwhelming. Furthermore, I understood the importance of communication and more importantly the importance of effective communication: a communication that needs to be altered depending on the various factors that define the recipient, such as age, gender, class and vernacular.

Secondly, a lot of the time in non profit and service projects, a group of wealthy, educated individuals tries to go into “needy” areas in order to “fix” something. However, these individuals are completely removed from the dynamics of the situation that they are in fact trying to fix. That is why I commend Mahita for selecting a woman from Rasoolpura to teach at the local school. Ms. Lalitha helped greatly in this situation in not only serving as a liaison for both sides, but also in knowing who she was dealing with. Everyone knows everyone to some level in Rasoolpura, no matter what bhasthi you live in. In fact, Ms. Lalitha walks through this neighborhood everyday on her way to school, so utilizing relationships such as these are vital when trying to initiate social change. The wisdom and experience of community members should never be dismissed when creating community based partnerships.

I also learned the importance of having a positive mindset in new situations. Combined with the fears that my family instilled in me with every email and phone call, I was honestly pretty scared when I got to Rasoolpura, especially when I had to leave the school and walk around. Thus, as soon as this dispute escalated, I immediately started to cry because I had gone into the situation with a negative attitude. However, after it all, I realized that they were all normal people, probably more normal than me. In fact, if someone ran into my dorm at UNC, took a picture, and ran away, I don’t even know how I would react.

A Weekend in the Village

This past weekend, the family that I am staying with here in Hyderabad had to attend a wedding in a small town called Eluru and took me along with them. I noticed the differences between Hyderabad and Eluru right away. The temperature was a lot warmer, and stickier, and there were a lot more bugs. I had 24 hour electricity in Hyderabad, but here they had a weekly schedule of when they would have electricity. However putting all of this aside, the people of the village didn't let me feel like an outsider at all. I was taken in as "part of the family," and I became an integral part of all the preparations for the wedding. A traditional South Indian wedding lasts several days, and there are various rituals that take place at both the bride and grooms' houses. I was staying with the bride's family, so I was part of various events such as the henna, bindi, and bride-making ceremonies. The most interesting part was the bindi ceremony where a procession band is hired and all the ladies on the bride's side of the family go around to every house in the village to invite them to the wedding. I remember the last Indian wedding I went to in India was very similar to those in the United States: a huge hotel, lots of guests, and food. However, this wedding was very different in that everyone in the town was somehow involved with the wedding. It wasn' t just a family celebration, it was a village-wide festivity.

While I was there, I started to think about what the children at the Cambridge school had said about the vast differences between rural and city life. I thought it would be interesting if I could find a way to incorporate this issue of migration into my project by comparing urban poverty to rural poverty. Since I didn’t really have a school or anything there where I could recruit children, I asked Buddi, a maid at the house we were staying at, if she would be willing to participate. I explained the concept of my project, and how I thought it would be interesting to compare the health related problems and culture of the village to the city. Since I hadn’t brought any disposable cameras with me on the trip, I went around town with her and let her use my digital camera to take pictures.

Here are some of the pictures that Buddi took of the wedding festivities/culture and also health implications in Eluru:

The band for the bindi ceremony:

Women washing dishes in the local dam:

Several men sitting on a tractor going to town:
The village butcher shop: