March 1, 2013 Village of Nagra -charotar district -population- 10,000

A group of 50 women were waiting when we got there but I told them its worth your time. It took us a little time to set up the projection as some of these places are not set up to run such technical equipments. Lots of young Asha workers attended today’s presentation. It’s nice to learn that lot of them are aloud to work outside their homes.  Asha workers main work is to visit the 1000 people they are assigned in a village to educate and bring awareness on health related issues. After learning from me about breast cancer, they can educate  the village women on how to look for early signs in detecting breast cancer, how to take only 5-10 min monthly to do breast self exam and why its important to do a mammogram after the age of 40. We always carry lots of pamphlets to hand out and we give extra especially to Asha workers so they can hand them out to other women on their visits

I came across a woman who’s mother had breast cancer and didn’t survive. I suggested to here that she must get a mammogram as you may carry your mothers genes or may not! but it’s good to check as sometimes genes play a big role and her age was also 43. At CCC we are providing free mammograms to so many women and specially to the poor women who can’t afford to.

We had some nice hot sweet Indian coffee and headed back to khambhat. What a satisfying day! Today, I reached out to so many women who are wanting to learn about how to live a healthy life.

March 2, 2013 Khambhat- Lioness Club And Bhagani Samaj

We reached in time to Lions club hall in Khambhat after spending so much time in Machipura. It was that time of the day “tea time” the women were just arriving slowly but surely.

These women who belong to the clubs are pretty well to do but some are still ignorant, unaware of the signs of early detections, mammogram and self-exam. I started by just briefly telling them about three main things about breast cancer that I mentioned above.

Today, I also wanted to focus on how to make minor life style changes by eating healthy and exercising and by doing that it can bring wonders to one’s life and gear towards disease free body.   Eating a low fat diet-low calorie diet, less sugar and salt helps maintain weight, blood pressure and sugar levels. To have 20 min of walking or other exercise in their routine is the best thing to have a healthy heart and maintain weight.

Most of the women were above 40 so we set-up a list of names of who should get a mammogram.

 

March 2, 2013 Village of Machipura- population-

About 5 kilometers from Khambhat. Again a very small village but the largest group of women came, close to 150. I was just amazed and so happy to see so many women came to learn about BCA. I would say a good mixture of young and old aged women came.

In this large of a group I’m sure their are many who know how to sing and in a small village they all know who has a sweet voice so while we were waiting for others to come I would always ask them to sing. Main singer starts and the rest follow so its a like a orchestra by itself. It’s usually always a religious song. It’s just wonderful!

This group of women were very eager and ready to learn and understand about the disease. They followed my instructions as I was their teacher in a classroom. Like pointing out the 12 signs of early detection or showing a picture of how to do self breast exam.  Just amazing how they showed such serious interest.

The projector had to be set-up indoors in a small room attached to this outdoors open but covered place. The room was very small for 150 women but they all fit some how! You will see from my photos how they all fit in that room. But before before we started the presentation video it was question-answer and talk time. There is alway at least one case of BC that I will hear from each village. Most of the time it’s full mastectomy or terminal cases. Today, a woman  and her two daughters age 25 and 22 are sitting in front of me, the mother went through breast cancer. Full mastectomy of one breast but has survived the disease due to early stage detection.  I asked if she gets annual mammograms and she said “No” so I suggested that you do a mammogram once a year for sure and if you need financial help we at CCC will do it free of charge. Also, I told both of her daughters to go for mammograms as the mother has had the disease and their is a possibility of them  carrying the gene.

Some will get nervous and worried that they will get breast cancer just like that but i would tell them to learn and to be aware and to be educated about the disease is better then being so unknown.  Knowing the early signs of breast cancer, doing monthly self exam (10 min) and annual mammograms for age 40 and above is the key to early detection in cancer.

They all piled in the room to watch the presentation. Again, showed so much interest and quietly watched and absorbed.

Before I left I had asked them to make a list of all the women over 40 so we can do free mammograms for all. So many were to go for mammogram at CCC in the next few weeks. I really want women of Gujarat to understand that annual mammogram is important for age 40 and above for early detection and more important then that is monthly self-exam. Most of the time it’s the women who find a lump on their own while doing self-exam.

Kaanisa- March 1, 2013 – charotar district-population-3000

This village was a lot of fun as so many women took interest in learning about the disease. It was a small PHC and we filled it up to max. About 95 women came. I met a Asha worker who’s auntie died from breast cancer. It was found at a later stage so it had spread in the lungs and in the brain and so on… She didn’t survive. If that woman had some awareness or education of the disease may be she would have found the diseases earlier and may be her chance of survival would have been there.

Today with BA I also talked about being healthy. India has the most fresh green vegetables but people put so much oil an butter in it so it would be tasty but they are not aware of the fat that comes along with it. I told them eat a healthy diet with less fat with lots of veg’s and fruits. Vegetables are affordable and reasonably priced for a common man in India.  Vegetables & fruits supply the body with needed vitamins that helps build good immunity and with strong immunity body can fight diseases much better. Also eating like bajri, juwhar, nachni and grains and lentils that are high in iron, protein and calcium which is a MUST for the Indian women as women in India tend to be anemic in general and more after pregnancy.

There was a man making a lot of noise outside the building and so I asked if there was a problem! The Asha worker told me that the man who was screaming outside, his wife sitting in and listening to the presentation which he didn’t like so he was making noise but the wife kept on doing what she Wanted to do and that was to learn about Breast Cancer. Today, I’m happy to learn that women like her are standing up for whats right and whats wrong for them. The health awareness will not only educate her but may be some day she may be able to help another woman. Knowledge is key to early detection!

Village of Khada – Bhaal District

Village of Khada – Bhaal District – population 3,000

An hours drive from khambhat in the area of Bhaal where wheat grows. Bhaal area’s wheat is known the best for wheat flour. The drive to Khada was just fields of green land like tall grass. Passed many small villages with homes made of cow dung and mud and clay roofs. Lots of buffalo’s and cow’s roaming for hay in the fields. The village’s main income is selling milk. Milking the cows and bhuffalo’s and taking care of the heard is women’s main work in the village of Khada.

We got to the village by 10:30 and everyone was excited to see me at the PHC. The program was to take place at the Dairy which is at the center of the village where all the village activities take place. Women were gathered from 5 near by villages. A good number of 99 women had showed up even if it was their cooking time. I had the women a sing a religious song for me as we were still waiting for others to join us. I had a very enthusiastic group of women. As usual I do let the women know if anybody is beyond age 40 we will do a free mammography for them at the center as long as they let me know. After understanding the material I presented to them several women came up to me and signed up to get a mammogram done. Some of them stopped by to look and feel the breast dummy. Some will really understand the dummy some will laugh and feel its kind of strange. It’s something they have never seen so its very different and new to them.

Before I left the village I was offered a small bouquet of beautiful roses. The roses always reminded me of my grandmother’s flower shop in khambhat. In the night the flowers were wrapped up in a wet cloth so the heat did not wither them by morning!

Tarapur

For the last couple of days it has been a fascinating experience at the Cardiac Center and General Hospital. The center was having a mega surgical camp where as many as 150-200 surgeries were to take place. A team of 15 doctors and nurses came from US to perform the surgeries. Also met the partners and suporters Hasubhai, Hershaben and Kiranbhai of Hersha Hospitality Trsut for the world surgical foundation.

So many surgeries in 5 days.Full hysterectomies, gall bladder, cosmetic surgery, orthopedic surgeries, hernia and so many more. It’s wonderful to see that these outsiders come to give free services in our country and that to in health care and hospitals which is most expensive for a common man. Along with the team of doctors came Dom, Dr.Domingo Alvear’s son who was not a doctor but he was making a documentary on the surgical camp. Also, a dentist, Dr. Marty who joined me as well. Dom was able to capture the outdoors of the rural Gujarat. We were headed to the village of Tarapur which was about half hour away.

This was not the usual place like the PHC or The Dairy in the village but a foundation, called it TF center for short(Tribhuvandas Foundation)

I was to speak on breast cancer awareness but the center always has a topic of discussion and that day the topic was on “save the daughters” as most of us know that not only in India but so many other countries abort the babies if its a girl just because girls can’t hold the family name, can’t bring dowry and its considered a sin to have a daughter over a son! Today, so many Indian women have awaken and fought back by all the awareness given to them and have courage to keep their daughters alive!

We had as many as 75 women attend that day. Most of them were Asha workers which I had never met so this was a whole new area for the awareness. Before I came to I had the chance to meet Ms. Phyllis at Karmanos cancer hospital who gave me training in how to feel a lump on a dummy breast and so today I was able to share it with some of them. I describe my lumps as a seed of a lemon which doesn’t move and when they felt it was like a seed, they were just amazed!

Today was little different as I never have men attending any of my breast cancer awareness presentations especially not in the village as the women are quite shy and won’t say anything if men are present. It was pretty ok actually towards the end Dr. Marty wanted to say something ago I kind of became their translator usually it’s the other way around as sometimes I would get stuck and a Gujarati word doesn’t come to me and Chandrikaben helps me out! It’s all in the days work but its worth every minute of it.

Last Day – Presenatations in Metpur, Vasna, Bhuvel, and Vatra

Today is my last day at the CCC and with this project so I definitely had a full day starting at 10:00 am. I am visiting the ONGC Health Center, Metpur, Vasna, Bhuvel, and Vatra.

I started my day at the ONGC Health Center, and although it wasn’t originally on my schedule, I wanted to share my presentation with as many women as possible. All of the women welcomed me so respectfully and offered by a bouquet of flowers. It was so sweet! I started with my verbal presentation and before I could even start my video they started asking me questions. They were so interested in the topic and not embarrassed or scared to know the facts about the disease. One of the women asked if it could start in the lymph nodes and I responded that it can and that it’s important to check under the arms during self-exams. Another woman talked about how her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years ago and wanted to know if it could reoccur. I explained that it can come back and that her mother should get mammograms every year and also recommended that she get a mammogram and examination with a doctor since there is a family history. One woman asked if she could get cancer from the hot flashes she is having during menopause. I explained that there is no correlation between menopause and breast cancer but she should still go in for routine examinations. They were very happy that I was able to make time for them even with my tight schedule today.

Next I went to Metpur where we arrived an hour late because the women at ONCG had so many questions. Luckily, many of the women waited for my presentation so it went well. After the presentation, Angelaben did about 4 exams on women as they were just concerned about lumps but nothing that she noticed needed attention right away. One woman mentioned she had been feeling pain for a couple months so we suggested she go to the CCC for a mammography.

After Metpur, we headed to Vasana where I met with a lot of older women, many of whom could not read or write. Many of the women were not interested in my presentation and didn’t really understand why they needed to learn all of this in such old age. I tried to explain it in terms they would understand. I talked about how they care for their cows and buffalos and give them medicine when they fall ill so they can continue to produce milk. I explained that they have to care for their own bodies in the same way so that they are around to care for their families. I think it made sense to them.

We were soon on our way to Bhuvel where a small group of women sat through the presentation very quietly and didn’t ask any questions. Normally, I would have stayed to chat with the group but we were already late to our next stop.

We arrived in Vatra, the final stop of my journey, to lots of women who had been waiting on time but had to leave before I arrived. We still had a good number of women there to hear the presentation. After I was done, I asked if they all understood what I had said and if they understood the video. Most of them couldn’t believe that breast cancer was a real disease and had never heard of it before because they’re so caught up in their daily lives. . I reasoned with them to take 5 minutes of each month to take a break from taking care of their families and take care of themselves. Most women in these small villages are ignorant about health awareness due to a lack of time and fear of facing a disease.

My breast cancer awareness project came to an end after the presentation in Vatra. I had a wonderful time doing all of this and am so happy I had the opportunity to educate so many women. I will be going back to Khambhat for a day or 2 to finish up the project and say goodbye to all at the CCC.

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