Week 2 in Trivandrum
Author: Caitie Goddard
Project: National Institute of Speech and Hearing | Disability Resources Website
It's been a week since we first started at NISH and we've jumped into our weekly routine. We work Monday-Saturday at NISH and at night we explore, work out, read and discuss whatever is on Al-Jazeera, one of the few English-speaking channels in our rooms. We started out a bit slow after realizing that sometimes places with terms like "24/7" really mean "we're open 10 hours a day, 6 days a week" and staying in a place named 'Technopark' does not necessarily mean there is wireless...or broadband...or even dial-up internet. However, we're going with the flow and learning how to adapt! Our office, about a 15 minute rickshaw ride from where we stay is great. The staff are friendly, helpful and most importantly, passionate about their work. In fact, this week is their annual Art show for student in their final year of their Bachelors of Fine Arts degree to show off their work. To put it mildly, we were amazed when we had a chance to walk through their studio and see some of the work.
Entitled 'Beyond Language,' most of the students are deaf or hard of hearing, facing significant challenges in a country that has not yet fully embraced that a person living with disabilities has limitless potential if given the tools and encouragement to succeed. Fortunately, NISH is ahead of government policy and recognizes that their students are an integral part of India's future. The Art Show allows students graduating with a degree in fine arts to showcase their abilities. The event even garnered media attention and was featured in a regional newspaper and Shyamaprasad, well-known Indian film director came to host the opening. The Art Show gave us an opportunity to learn more about the organization, students and staff that are here and we felt grateful that we are a small part of this.
Along with the art show, the daily chai delivery straight to our desk and our canteen lunch breaks where we (sometimes) successfully manage to order what we want, we have been putting in a lot of work on the site. I'm working on updating the state-policy section of our website while Elyse has carefully crafted usability surveys to get a better idea of where users see this site going and how it can be most useful to them. Kevin, our resident drupal guru continues to do things far too techy for me to explain (and usually understand) here so together, we are making this website come alive!
NISH is open 6 days a week so this past weekend we chose to spend out Sunday at the beach, relaxing on our day off. We take two public buses putting us back almost $1/each and about an hour later, we arrive at a much more touristy yet still small public beach where you can find everything from Ayurvedic retreat houses to German bakeries. We were able to watch the sunset sitting atop a wall next to the lighthouse before heading to a nice restaurant for a beer. Since the only place that sells alcohol is one town over from Trivandrum and there is a line to purchase the maximum 4 beers/person, a cold beer on the beach was a treat. Hopefully we will get there a few more times before monsoon season arrives!
Project: National Institute of Speech and Hearing | Disability Resources Website
It's been a week since we first started at NISH and we've jumped into our weekly routine. We work Monday-Saturday at NISH and at night we explore, work out, read and discuss whatever is on Al-Jazeera, one of the few English-speaking channels in our rooms. We started out a bit slow after realizing that sometimes places with terms like "24/7" really mean "we're open 10 hours a day, 6 days a week" and staying in a place named 'Technopark' does not necessarily mean there is wireless...or broadband...or even dial-up internet. However, we're going with the flow and learning how to adapt! Our office, about a 15 minute rickshaw ride from where we stay is great. The staff are friendly, helpful and most importantly, passionate about their work. In fact, this week is their annual Art show for student in their final year of their Bachelors of Fine Arts degree to show off their work. To put it mildly, we were amazed when we had a chance to walk through their studio and see some of the work.
Entitled 'Beyond Language,' most of the students are deaf or hard of hearing, facing significant challenges in a country that has not yet fully embraced that a person living with disabilities has limitless potential if given the tools and encouragement to succeed. Fortunately, NISH is ahead of government policy and recognizes that their students are an integral part of India's future. The Art Show allows students graduating with a degree in fine arts to showcase their abilities. The event even garnered media attention and was featured in a regional newspaper and Shyamaprasad, well-known Indian film director came to host the opening. The Art Show gave us an opportunity to learn more about the organization, students and staff that are here and we felt grateful that we are a small part of this.
Along with the art show, the daily chai delivery straight to our desk and our canteen lunch breaks where we (sometimes) successfully manage to order what we want, we have been putting in a lot of work on the site. I'm working on updating the state-policy section of our website while Elyse has carefully crafted usability surveys to get a better idea of where users see this site going and how it can be most useful to them. Kevin, our resident drupal guru continues to do things far too techy for me to explain (and usually understand) here so together, we are making this website come alive!
NISH is open 6 days a week so this past weekend we chose to spend out Sunday at the beach, relaxing on our day off. We take two public buses putting us back almost $1/each and about an hour later, we arrive at a much more touristy yet still small public beach where you can find everything from Ayurvedic retreat houses to German bakeries. We were able to watch the sunset sitting atop a wall next to the lighthouse before heading to a nice restaurant for a beer. Since the only place that sells alcohol is one town over from Trivandrum and there is a line to purchase the maximum 4 beers/person, a cold beer on the beach was a treat. Hopefully we will get there a few more times before monsoon season arrives!
