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Aarohi: Himalayan Care

Nestled at seven thousand feet above the sea-level is a small village called Satoli. You wouldn't even know about Satoli and the impressive view that it has to offer. It is on the road to Mukteshwar, famous for the vetenirary research institute, the jaali—a rockface with a seven and a half thousand feet drop and the panoramic view of the snow peaks. It is in the Nainital district and as you climb towards Mukteswar from Mona, you come across this lovely school on right and a notice board that announces Aarohi.

You climb to the office, a brick and wood building, with door-panels carved by local artisans. The carvings, called likhai, belong to a dying tradition of the Kumaon hills. There is an out-patient department, a clinical-pathology unit, a dispensary, a radio diagnosis unit and the leadership of Dr Sushil Sharma—the founder of Aarohi. In the ninetees, Sushil and his wife Oona came to the hills and started this non-profit organisation.

The healthcare programme of Aarohi was started as a modest curative service with the inception of the organization. The team consisted of two locals and the resident doctor. The boy was trained on the job as a laboratory technician and the girl was trained as a nurse. This small service continued for three years and provided essential out-patient treatment for people living in the neighboring 25 odd villages. Emergency service was available round the clock and proved vital at a time when no such facility existed in the area.

The harsh mountain terrain, poor accessibility to the nearest District Hospital in Almora along with ignorance and poverty made morbidity and mortality levels high. Maternal and infant deaths were common. The tradition of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) was dying and as the bearers of traditional knowledge were getting old, the newer generation was losing this vital source of knowledge.

It was then decided that this knowledge be revived and revitalized and be given a sound scientific underpinning. These issues were discussed in open village meetings but found little favour amongst the people since their felt needs focused more on obvious issues like availability of drinking water, sanitation, fodder and fuel wood and livelihoods. The spread of the work was in an organic manner and extended to 12 villages, where the prime criterion used was interest expressed by concerned women. To date, the programme has involved the training of 24 TBAs who are now independently handling deliveries in and around their villages.

Training for these TBAs initially focused on safe deliveries and perinatal care and then included other important health issues like family planning, dental care, menstrual hygiene, general hygiene, personal and environmental sanitation, the management of diarrhoea and pneumonia and first aid for common problems. The TBAs have also recognized the limits of their knowledge and capabilities and know when to refer a patient.

After two years of this training, an impact study was done in the initial five villages. The percolation of the knowledge of the TBAs in their own community was found to be less than what had been expected. The strategy was reviewed and a concentrated effort was made to spread health awareness through various women's groups like the Self Help Groups, pre-primary schools and youth groups. The health team developed its own communication skills in the field by using puppets to deliver health messages. While the women's groups have involved close to 100 women from seven odd villages over the last three years, the school health programme has consistently dealt with some 1000 children from 20 schools of the area.

The health centre of Aarohi is currently providing out-patient services to about 2000 patients every year from 40 neighboring villages and round the clock emergency services.

About 80 per cent of the medical surgical and gynecological problems are being handled by the centre and the remaining 20 per cent are evacuated to the neighboring district hospitals. The centre has a diagnostic laboratory that can perform basic stool, urine, blood and sputum examinations. It has its own pharmacy that stocks essential drugs for a requirement of six months. A 20 mA portable X-Ray unit takes care of Emergency radio diagnostic needs.

Funds for running the project have been raised from various national and international donor agencies and is currently being funded by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust in Mumbai.

Aarohi also runs a nature shop near the school. Apart from selling herbs, apricot scrubs, and naturally extracted oil they also sell bhujapatra (the ancient papyrus in India) paintings. Arohi ties up with other non-profits and sells their products as well. You get some great pickles and beautiful shawls. On a cold day they might to treat you with thyme tea and jaggery cookies.

Oona is no longer there. She passed away recently. Pradeep Gupta, a banker from Uttar Pradesh along with his wife, Shubha look after the affairs. They are a great support to Sushil who still spends time with Arohi. Pradeep and Subha have built their home in Satoli. It is a quaint old bungalow with a small garden and a big walnut tree. Standing on the verandah of the bungalow, one can view the snow clad mountain peaks. It is a hundred and eighty degree view and something that one can't easily forget. Aarohi is a fitting tribute to the spirit of peace that these mountains instill in you.

Vocabulary

1. Nestled: Settled comfortably. Here, the word applies to the village of Satoli. It imagines the village to be alive like a human being.
2. Panoramic: A view that spreads over a wide frame
3. Inception: Beginning; from the starting point
4. Terrain: The geographical nature of a territory
5. Morbidity: State of being unwell
6. Underpinning: Basis, foundation
7. Perinatal: The period around the time of the birth of a child
8. Percolation: In sciences, it concerns the movement and filtering of fluids through porous materials. In the text, it stands for the passing on of knowledge to people or futher generation.

Reading Comprehension

1. Who are the founders of Aarohi?
2. What was the nature of medical services offered by Aarohi at the time of its inception?
3. What are the dying traditions that the above passage discusses?
4. What contributed to the high mortality rate in the villages that Aarohi served?
5. How did Aarohi seek to negotiate the issues of perinatal mortality? Why do you think they chose the kind of strategy that they employed?
6. How important is communication in the kind of work that Aarohi undertook?
7. What are the kinds of medical facilities that the Aarohi healthcare unit can now use?
8. How has the nature shop become a part of the goals that Aarohi has?

Language

Read the following sentences:

1. The team consisted of two local and a resident doctor.
2. The boy was trained on the job as a laboratory technician and the girl was trained as a nurse.
3. This small service continued for three years and provided essential out-patient treatment for the people living in the neighboring 25 odd villages.
4. Emergency service was available round the clock and proved vital at a time when no such facility existed in the area.

The highlighted portions are prepositional phrases. A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and an object of the preposition.

Pronunciation: Spelling Sequence

Spelling sequence ‘ch’ may be pronounced /t∫/, /k/ or /∫/; ‘ss’ may be pronounced /s/, /z/ or /s/ and ‘th’ is pronounced /θ/ or /ð/ but in English names it is pronounced as /t/. Spelling sequence ‘ng’ is pronounced as /ŋ/ at the final position; at the medial position also if the word has been derived from a verb or when the plural maker ‘s’ is added to nouns ending in / ŋ/ but it is pronounced as /ŋg/ if the words are not derived from verbs.

Find out the pronunciation of the following words from a dictionary:

Writing

Imagine that you made a visit to a rehabilitation centre at Shimla. Narrate the experiences of your visit as a unique exposure of your life.