On their trip to India, students focused on the "three" Indias. Wherever they went on their service learning trip, children were sure to follow, like these three in Jamkhed.
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Trip Studies India's Rural Health Issues
- Slideshow: Students Focus on Healthcare in India
December 2007
STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS—Each year, MBA student trips offer a brief but intensive learning experience in parts of the world of interest to Business School students. Alumni or classmates who have previously worked or studied in the countries involved may help students arrange meetings with leaders of major corporations and nonprofit agencies, as well as governmental leaders. Here are some observations from trip participants.
India 2007 Service Learning Trip
By, Rob Bland, MBA Class ’08
and
Joy Goor, MBA Class ’08
They entered the room like a series of brilliantly colored butterflies. The 19 MBA students meeting a group of village health workers, each a resident of a different village who had been trained by the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) to give the basic health care. The program and the women’s work had all but eliminated preventable disease, such as leprosy, in the 500,000-person area served. But they were more than health workers. They were part of a revolution in India.
Our December, 2007 service learning trip, was envisioned and built by Amanda Greco, an assistant director of the school’s Service Learning Program. It was led by second-years Corey Harris and Dave Haynie, and supported by Professor Harikesh Nair, the only Indian in our group. The trip provided a deep look into the fundamental role improving health plays in breaking the cycle of poverty.
We visited several sustainable/profitable organizations such as a pharmacy, a eye glasses distributor, and the Aravind Eye Hospital, all sponsored by Acumen Fund, founded by Jacqueline Novogratz, MBA ‘91.
We began to appreciate the challenges of poverty in India when one presenter described the three Indias: India One— the rich Indians, many IT professionals we read about in Business Week, India Two—those making around $3/day, and India Three—those with no income. Together, India Two and Three make up 80 percent of the population. For reference, our airfare to India was over $1000 each and our hotel in Mumbai was over $200/night, so $3/day does not go far. The most common reason for extreme poverty was unexpected health care costs. Government hospitals have such bad reputations that people in India Two do anything they can to go to private hospitals, even though it takes all the money they have.
The people with no income were children of malnourished mothers, victims of violence and violent accidents, and those who couldn’t earn income because they were taking care of the aged and infirm. There was no possibility for them to get the education necessary to make a better life, and it wasn’t for lack of will.
In the towns around Jamkhed, the village health workers called on everyone in their village, preventing many hospital visits and helping villagers get to the hospital Rural Health Project hospital when necessary. The women make sure children have their vaccines, treat leprosy, and help deliver babies, to name a few of their tasks. But, they didn’t just help the village, they also helped themselves.
One of the colorfully-garbed workers told her story. She had been married off at 14 and had three children by the time she was 18. Daily she dodged her brother-in-law’s and father-in-law’s attempts to rape her. With no schooling and as a member of a low caste, she believed she could do nothing but work in the fields, only to see the yield sold off by her husband to fund his alcohol habit. She was powerless as he beat her.
A woman from a neighboring village took her to a health worker gathering at CRHP where, she learned that these women, some of whom were now village chiefs, had been just like her. They had learned how to take care of themselves and at the same time to improve the health of their villages. She learned how to increase her crop yield and keep some of the money to invest in more land and in education for her children. She multiplied her income by 10, and used it to change her life. Her extended family, who was previously abusive, has even become more supportive because of her financial security.
The moment where she learned these things—that she could be healthy, learn valuable skills, earn an income, and command power via increased earnings, that she was a human with worth—was the first moment she gained dignity she said. In that moment, she joined the women-led revolution in India, where the work of organizations like those we visited are facilitating the whole-person transformation necessary to lift their nation from poverty.