The team developed a health curriculum for students at a school in the village of Bhutiya near Udaipur, India. Through interviews with gunis, teachers, parents and students, they identified key health topics of hygiene, nutrition, seasonal illnesses and daily routine. The curriculum was implemented as a "Health Week" with gunis and teachers. Evaluations found students' knowledge increased. The project strengthened relationships between gunis and the school. Future interns are recommended to communicate clearly and use time efficiently to have greater impact.

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Teaching with Gunis and Glitter: Developing a Health Curriculum
For Tribal Communities
Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti
Udaipur, India
Summer 2015
Authors:
Erin Bennett, Northwestern University
Heather Deng, Northwestern University
Johnny Patino, Northwestern University

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I. Introduction
With a population of 471,000, Udaipur is the third largest city in the state of Rajasthan,
located in Northeast India. While most individuals in the city speak Hindi, the predominant
language in the surrounding rural areas is Mewari. With its peaceful lakes and mountain ranges,
Udaipur has become a popular tourist destination. However, Udaipur and its surrounding areas
still suffer from drastic inequality and low living conditions. Due to its proximity to the Thar
Desert, Udaipur and its surrounding areas are dry and arid, leading people to rely on the
monsoon season for sustenance. Udaipur has become a hotspot for NGOs, serving as a home for
organizations concentrating in all areas of social work. Before our arrival, a new push for the
creation of clinics in both rural and urban areas by the government had begun.
Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti (JJVS), roughly translated to “People’s Awakening and
Development Society,” is an NGO founded in Udaipur in 1985 hoping to address the low socio-
economic status of tribal communities. These groups live outside the city in poor, rural
conditions. JJVS seeks to ameliorate poor living conditions through the promotion of traditional
systems of medicine and community development projects that improve management of local
resources. Consequently, JJVS has developed strong ties to traditional healers, or “gunis”, many
of whom are now officially employed by the NGO. Through the establishment of a field site in
Vali, a village two hours from Udaipur, they have accomplished a number of projects in villages
farther away from the city. They recently finished a second guni clinic, an herb garden in the
village of Bhutiya, and developed partnerships with schools in both Bhutiya and Karabar,
villages outside of Vali.

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II. The Team
The JJVS team originally consisted of Erin, Heather and one other student who, at the
last minute, could not attend GESI India due to visa issues. The members of Johnny’s original
group were also unable to travel to India, so Johnny was moved to Erin and Heather’s team after
four days in India. The unprecedented changes redefined our entire group dynamic. Therefore,
on the first day of work, we discussed personal assets, individual values, and established group
expectations and values: Namaste, Honesty and Acceptance
GESI Team Assets
Member Assets
Johnny Outgoing/social skills, first hand awareness of effects of development,
adaptability, good with kids, speaks Spanish, experienced economic diversity,
good at comforting people, teaching experience, calm demeanor, rational
Erin Organization, research, devil’s advocate, compromise, plays guitar and sings,
good with kids, knowledge in medical anthropology, speaks French, good note
taker, experience with Excel, grant writing, good with elderly, cultural awareness
Heather Research, culturally understanding, adaptability, goes with the flow, experience
in youth health education, sings, good with kids, speaks Chinese, good note
taker, good with visuals, good at thinking from a child’s perspective
III. Project Decision
The day we arrived at JJVS to begin our internship, they handed us a document with
three project ideas we could accomplish for the summer. The first project suggested we develop
an herb garden for the students at the Smart Children’s School in the village of Bhutiya. This
project would give the school a constant food source, and introduce the students to traditional
medicine and herbal remedies. The second project asked us to help JJVS strengthen the bond
between gunis and their disciples. Because disciples are the only way guni knowledge is passed
on, it is crucial that successors are able and willing to carry on the profession. The final option
was to design a health curriculum for the Bhutiya students. We were excited that JJVS knew
exactly what they needed, as this would save valuable time trying to develop a project of our
own. At the same time, we understood that the most successful project would draw from our
assets.. Therefore, we conducted field visits to get a sense of the Bhutiya community before
deciding on which project to undertake.
The first field visit was a success and helped us decide we would have the greatest impact
and success developing a health curriculum project. When we visited the school, we noticed a
majority of students, who were aged 4 to 11, spent little time cleaning up after themselves. Their
lunches seemed innutritious, typically with only a few pieces of chapati, small pieces of flat
bread, or namkeen, a grainy snack food akin to Chex mix. It appeared the students would benefit
greatly from a health curriculum. We also noted that there was already a thriving guni nursery
outside the school; therefore, a school garden did not seem to be a priority. Our team also had

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little to no experience with gardening, and did not feel that the project would align with our
assets or interests. In the beginning, strengthening the guni-disciple relationship was the most
interesting project to us, but after our visit to Bhutiya, we realized it would involve a lot of
background research and integration into the community. With only 8 weeks to complete our
internship, there would not be enough time for us to have a sustainable impact. Therefore, our
final plan was to analyze the health status of the Bhutiya students and design a health curriculum
for the school’s use.
This project would have been impossible to accomplish without the assistance of JJVS
staff, who contributed a number of resources and assets to the project.
Asset map of JJVS community members
JJVS Staff Assets
Nagendra Pal
Singh Rathore
(NP)
Fluent in English, strong relationships with staff and community in Bhutiya,
understood the organization and the importance of our project, forward-thinking,
coordinated our transportation, lodging, food and water while we were in the field
Sunakshi Fluent in English, relatable and understanding, encouraging, Head of
Administration, friend and colleague
Dr. Ram Kishor
Deshwal (Dr RK
Ji)
Ayurvedic doctor, strong relationships with Bhutiya gunis, historian of guni
medicine, helped us understand the health status of the Bhutiya community,
eagerness to share his wisdom, proficient
Pankaj Paliwal Principal supervisor, consistently checked in on status of project, always offered
advice, facilitated visits to Bhutiya
Dr. Chandra Patel
(CP)
Fluent in English and Mewari, able to translate written work, friendly face in the
office
Gunis: Bhanwar
Lal Meena, Pratapi
Bai, Bhagwan Ji,
Veil Ji, Kalu Ji
Provided bulk of the material used in the health curriculum, had knowledge about
local herbal alternatives to allopathic medicines and hygiene products, helped
tailor the curriculum to the unique Bhutiya community, teaching experience
Chompa Stress reliever and loyal companion, our treasure, took the food we didn’t want.*
IV. The Project
Interviews:
Once we finalized our project decision, we conducted interviews to better understand the
health needs of the Bhutiya community and what we could feasibly achieve in 2 months. We first
interviewed gunis as they had an established relationship with parents and children, were
*
Disclaimer: Chompa is a cow.

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medically knowledgeable, and were easily accessible. Examples of interview questions included:
What problems do your patients face? How can these illnesses be prevented? All gunis
recognized that children were getting ill during seasonal changes from preventable causes and
that the biggest obstacle was general unawareness of hygiene and food safety. These findings
from our interviews convinced us that developing the health curriculum was both necessary and
sustainable.
We then interviewed families, teachers, and students to ascertain the community’s
understanding of health to help us decide which topics were vital to include in the curriculum.
Interview questions for parents included: What are the most common illnesses your child gets?
Do you receive treatment from gunis?
Why or why not? For students, we
asked: When do you wash your
hands? When was the last time you
were sick? Can you walk us through
your daily routine? During our
interview field visits, we also played
with the students during recess in
order to build a rapport. We realized
that the students were very shy, which
led us to develop various activities for
the curriculum that served as
educational instruments and
icebreakers.
Overall, our interviews were informative but we received contradictory information
between groups. Since our sample size was very small (7 families and 10 students), responses
were skewed and it was difficult to generalize our findings. Parents often disagreed with gunis
and teachers when addressing the health status of their children; they felt that the children were
healthy and that their food was nutritionally adequate. Alternately, feedback from teachers and
gunis indicated that parents prepared their children’s food the night before and students were
often sick. Because the students were shy, it was difficult to get detailed answers. The benefit
was that we recognized the groups interviewed did not represent the entire population, and since
the health curriculum was to be distributed to everyone, it was necessary to cover all bases.
These interviews also revealed that parents played a large role in the students’ daily routines and
eating habits; thus, an additional parent intervention seemed necessary.
Initial Project Design:
After discussing the results with our supervisors, we planned to include six topics:
Hygiene, Nutrition, Seasonal Illnesses, General Illnesses, Daily Routine, and the Pros and Cons
of Allopathic and Herbal Medicine. We planned to implement this curriculum in a series of six
one-hour classes over the span of a “Health Week.” In addition, we hoped to teach a modified
version to parents by organizing local village visits or having a parent assembly at the school.

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Around three weeks into our research period, we realized the initial project design was not
feasible to complete in two months. After discussing our situation with JJVS supervisors, we
narrowed down the number of topics from six to four, including: Hygiene, Nutrition, Seasonal
and General Illnesses, and Daily Routine. Furthermore, we decided to remove the parent
component of our project because we wanted to concentrate our time on building a
comprehensive curriculum. Our supervisors agreed to encourage future interns to build on the
project by adding the parent component.
Final Project Design:
The curriculum would be taught in a “Health Week” where a new topic would be
introduced during the first hour of class each day. Each class would use activities and posters
designed by our group. This “Health Week” was to be repeated during every seasonal change
since each new season brings new challenges to children’s health. Every time this curriculum
was repeated, a unique version of the Seasonal Illnesses curriculum would be introduced,
catering specifically to the threats of that season. In order to ensure the sustainability of our
project, we realized that we needed individuals who were interested in teaching the curriculum
once we were gone. Due to the gunis’ proximity, close ties to the school, and teaching
experience, they were enthusiastic about co-facilitating these sessions with teachers. This
situation addressed two JJVS missions: creating a health curriculum, and strengthening the
relationship between gunis and potential apprentices.
Project Implementation:
Once the curriculum was completed, we spent two weeks helping the gunis prepare for
Health Week and editing the curriculum based their feedback. We went over the material,
demonstrated the activities, and addressed any confusion. We then worked with translators to
create English and Hindi versions of the final curriculum, had them professionally printed and
bound, and distributed them to gunis and teachers.
Finally, Health Week arrived. The gunis taught the sessions with one team member
helping when needed, while the other two group members and teachers helped administer
activities. The students reacted positively to
each lesson, and were extremely enthusiastic
about the activities. The most popular activity
used glitter to demonstrate how germs spread
from person to person. Another activity took
the form of a scavenger hunt, where students
searched for pictures of foods throughout the
school and decided if they were nutritious or
not. Thanks to our inclusion of pre-tests and
post-tests, which were used to test the
students’ understanding of the material, we

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saw that they learned a lot from each lesson, making the curriculum a success.
V. Challenges
After 4 weeks in country, we realized we had not discussed our budget. We originally
thought we were only responsible for the cost of our curriculum: printing, translating, and
purchasing materials for the activities. However, once we brought up our budget with JJVS, we
realized all our site visits were costing us hefty transportation and lodging fees. JJVS also asked
us to spend a portion of our budget on plants they suggested would play a role in our project.
However, due to cultural and language barriers, we began to feel that our project supervisors
valued our money more than the project. After discussing this challenge with the Foundation for
Sustainable Development, who helped us communicate more effectively with JJVS, we realized
there had been a miscommunication and reconciled with JJVS. As a result, we had to plan our
future expenses carefully, and limit the amount of overnight visits to the villages. Our final
budget left us with ample money to give to JJVS to purchase the plants for the guni nursery,
which would also benefit the students of the Bhutiya school.
Another obstacle we faced was transportation to and from the villages. The bus schedules
were unreliable, and due to language barriers, we had to rely completely on translators to get to
the field. Additionally, if we could not secure transportation from Vali to Bhutiya, we had to wait
on the side of the road and hitchhike in milk trucks. Although the uncertainty of transportation
added a little excitement to our experience, it placed us behind schedule.
We were equally unprepared for the biannual monsoon season, which created a lack of
transportation and electricity. Consequently, our schedule was further pushed back, turning
Health Week into a two-day program. We also had to spend a considerable amount of time
outside the office where we could access the Internet, possibly affecting our relationships with
the JJVS staff. Because we often did not have backup plans, these challenges impeded on our
progress and our morale.
Unlike other FSD groups, we had the privilege of working with a translator from JJVS
for most of the project. Nagendra Pal Singh (NP) became a key asset to the success of the
curriculum, not only by translating, but also by raising our spirits. During our last week of
teaching the gunis, when we were facing pressure to complete our project in time, NP fell ill and
could not accompany us to the field for an extended period. We began working with Devi Singh,
another JJVS translator. Since NP was heavily invested in our project from the beginning,
working with a new translator who was not familiar with our project was difficult, especially
during such a time-sensitive period. Fortunately, NP recovered in time for Health Week, and
they worked well together for the rest of our time in India.
VI. Reflections
Our GESI team agreed that building rapport with the NGO, host families, and community
members is absolutely critical to the success of any project done abroad. Building strong
relationships with our JJVS supervisors led to more fluid and productive conversations about our
project, making our internship experience enjoyable and fruitful. By becoming close to
individuals at the Vali site and Udaipur office, we felt extremely connected to these communities

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and, consequently, very dedicated to our work. Our host families helped immensely because,
being members of the Udaipur community, they were able to give us their perspective on living
in the city compared to the villages, and had strong opinions on how children grow up in the
villages.
Through our communication difficulties while abroad, we also learned that there is no
such thing as too much clarification. We found that, had we asked for clarifications earlier rather
than assuming everyone was on the same page, we would have worked more efficiently as a
team and could have accomplished more. Open communication within the group, between the
group and the NGO, and especially with a translator is crucial to the success of any GESI
project.
How the GESI team felt about the project
Overall, the JJVS GESI team felt very satisfied and extremely thankful for this
experience. Because of this project, not only did we have an exhilarating and eye-opening
experience, but we also saw that we made an impact. We feel a strong sense of accomplishment
especially because, after Health Week, the school principal expressed her gratitude and desire to
continue the program. Additionally, the gunis expressed their appreciation for our work and
emphasized that the founder of the school had always dreamed of a health curriculum, but never
had the resources to create one. In the end, we recognized that no matter what, we made a
difference in the community and created a framework for JJVS to build off of in the future.
Our Recommendations
Our first recommendation to future GESI participants is to use your time wisely. Near the
end of our internship, we reflected on how differently our project would have gone had we
allocated our time more efficiently in the beginning of the summer. While eight weeks may seem
like a long time, one would be surprised by how quickly it goes by. It is imperative to always
have a plan and a backup plan, and to allot time to having fun and exploring the country.
Our second recommendation is to be patient. This was something that members of our
group constantly had to remind each other of. Being in a foreign country can be difficult due to
culture shock and, in the case of India, a different pace of life. We consistently found ourselves
adjusting our mindsets to be more patient as we dealt with complications and unexpected
challenges, especially those we couldn’t control. In these moments, it is important to remember
the ultimate goal of this experience is to learn, not only about working with an NGO, but also
about another culture.
As we came together to write our final case study, we realized that we were extremely
proud of the work we accomplished while abroad. Being in Udaipur for only two months was
nowhere near enough time to soak up all that the city has to offer, and exploring after work
became a good way for us to bond as a group and develop relationships with people around the
city. Spending time with individuals at the Vali field site became a great way to relax, and we
cherish these friends greatly. Our final recommendation for future GESI participants, therefore,

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is to, as Johnny puts it, “be a sponge”. Soak up every opportunity, every relationship, and every
day.
Acknowledgements
There is no way this project could have been possible without Northwestern’s Global
Engagement Studies Institute and their wonderful staff who prepared us for life abroad and
allowed us to have this opportunity. Thank you to Roma, Chris, Rahul, and Poonam at the
Foundation for Sustainable Development for their constant support and translating, and for
immersing us in the Indian culture. The staff at JJVS provided us with the tools we needed to
complete a sustainable project, and taught us more than we could have ever expected. Thank you
to RK Ji, Pankaj Ji, Sunakshi, NP, CP, and the gunis for their invaluable help and investment in
this project. We would also like to thank Mukesh Ji, Ram Ji, Ganesh Ji, Roop Ji, Bharat, and
Kayla for their support and friendship. Lastly, we would like to give a huge thanks to our host
families who made our experiences truly unforgettable and gave us a home away from home.
Bibliography
1. “Udaipur, The City of Lakes.” Web. 10 March. 2016. <http://www.udaipur.org.uk/facts.html>.
2. “Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti: People’s Development and Awakening Society.” Web. 10 March.
2016. <http://jagranjan.org/>.