My work placement with SNEHA commenced on 02/05/2019. Since then, I have been involved in numerous activities, including field visits and attending community sessions.
The community sessions that I have attended have been based on two different topics. The first session was conducted for boys and girls in Dharavi from ages 10-15, where the topic of gender-based and sexual violence was discussed. The second was based on emotional resilience and was conducted for girls aged 10-16 in a community centre in Bandra.
It has been a very interesting and enlightening experience, accompanying SNEHA’s facilitators during these sessions. It has given me an insight into how NGOs design programmes for educating the youth within vulnerable communities.
I assisted my supervisor to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa on the 10/05/2019. We met with the Dean of the medical college with a proposal to collaborate on a health project for adolescents.
I have also been lucky to have contributed to a refresher module on nutrition and health for the youth of Mumbai. Independent research on the following topics were necessary for my involvement and contribution to this task: anaemia, tuberculosis, malaria and dengue. This has enhanced my knowledge on my own topical areas of interest and the prevalence of such disease in India’s slums, particularly during the monsoon period.
I was primarily in charge of the tuberculosis portion of the refresher module and associated activities to further engage and challenge the children. After researching the topic heavily, I designed several module activities, including flashcards on the symptoms, causes/consequences and treatment of the disease. I also included several other mind-jog activities and video clips, all of which will be transcribed into Hindi and included in the ‘Nutrition and Health’ refresher module.
I created an anaemia training PowerPoint presentation for SNEHA staff. This will be translated into Hindi and made into flip charts for home visits.
During my few weeks with SNEHA, I have also been involved in a civic action project, where myself, along with another volunteer, have travelled around communities in Dharavi and Kalwa to interview change agents about different projects.
The projects undertaken by change agents aim to tackle the following issues: open spaces becoming dumping grounds, unsafe and/or broken toilets, garbage and blocked gutters, health posts, and poor traffic signals. My involvement lies heavily in the documentation and editing of the interviews. I have also been given the task of photographing the change agents and the community areas. These images, along with relevant quotes and background summaries of each project, are to be included in a final brochure.
In addition to this, I have undertaken numerous editing, referencing and research tasks.
International Development Placement 2019 