Lily Jordahl
ARMMAN India
Mumbai, India
When I left Delhi at the end of July of 2012, it was difficult for me to imagine how I could find a way to come back to India in the near future, yet I remained determined to do so. While my seven week trip to Delhi and the Northern regions of the country last summer was wonderfully fulfilling and left me with a host of memories that I will likely never part with, it also felt more like an introduction than a conclusion to my relationship with the country. As I became comfortable there, I found myself wanting to know more about how different parts of society intersected and to delve deeper into the parts of culture which I have been drawn to in most places that I visit: gender and health.
Thus, it has been a complete shock and blessing to me when I realize that I will be returning to India in several short weeks to examine both of these subjects in greater depth. This time, however, I will be traveling to Mumbai, India where I will be working for the nonprofit organization Advancing Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity of Mothers, Children, and Neonates, or in shorter terminology ARMMAN. This organization has several projects in action, yet the one which I will be working directly with is an initiative which transmits voice messages to the mobile phones of pregnant women living in rural areas outside of Mumbai, which provide them with information about their body and the growing fetus, as well as ways which they can care for themselves during this time. This project is extremely interesting to me as it takes an approach to public health that is localized and also gives women the opportunity to control their own healthcare by providing them with knowledge, rather than simply the administration of medical care.
At times, especially as my departure date looms closer, I become nervous, as I am sure anyone does when embarking on this type of trip, about traveling to India and taking on this type of human rights project, but I tend to assure myself by remembering the whole host of research that I have done on the topics of gender and health. I have created a concentration in Gallatin titled Reproductive Justice and the Politics of Motherhood, which focuses specifically on the way in which reproductive healthcare is skewed and manipulated by public viewpoints and socially created ideals about gender, sexuality, and reproduction. Furthermore, I have focused even greater on this topic, specifically in the context of India, through my independent study during this past spring. Through this course, I have been able to gain a greater perspective of the historical nature of Indian development, as well as to understand the different actors in the field of social welfare. I believe that all of this information that I have accumulated will be helpful in my journey to India. But, this study has also made me recognize the extremely complex nature of the way in which international relationships and pressure have influenced the development of the Indian state and population. As a result, I believe I will have to think very cautiously about my own role in the country as a white American woman traveling to work there.
In all honesty, however, some of the best advice that I have received about my upcoming trip is that as much as I can prepare for it, much of it will be about learning to release my own expectations for everything that I will be doing there and simply take what comes my direction. One of the most wonderful things that I learned when I was in India the previous summer was to relax and recognize that things may not go as planned, but then a better plan may appear as a result of that. I am extremely positive that this upcoming trip will hold amazing academic prospects that will expand my way of thinking about my subjects of interest, yet it is difficult to say exactly where I will find the most moving and interesting information.