One Village’s Solution to Domestic Violence

 The U.S. Consulate General, Hyderabad participated in a number of events observing “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence,” a global campaign dedicated to the awareness and the elimination of gender-based violence. One such event was a trip to Toopran, a village 50 kilometers outside Hyderabad, where Consul General Katherine Dhanani and I attended a meeting of the state government’s Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP). SERP sponsors a number of social programs including a program that utilizes groups of mostly female villagers, known as Social Action Committees (SAC), in conjunction with community-managed Family Counseling Centers to help detect, arbitrate, and resolve domestic issues in local communities. The program is designed to resolve domestic disputes before they are brought into the judicial system, a process which can take many years to reach resolution. The program is mostly rural and utilizes nearly 15,000 members in 1,440 SACs throughout the state to counsel fellow villagers and raise awareness of such social issues as domestic violence, child marriage, girl child education, substance abuse, and dowry harassment.

India, like many countries including the United States, suffers from societal ills such as domestic violence and issues related to substance abuse. India also has a number of issues that we generally don’t see in the United States, including child marriage and dowry harassment. Although both men and women are affected by these issues, women are most often the victims. Furthermore, many women do not have the support systems, education, or resources they need to help them resolve these issues and are often afraid to turn to local police or government authorities. Women seeking assistance and justice can now turn to a group of peers in whom they can find trust and empathy.

A SAC will open a case for the victim and then proceed to take action. To me, the process seems very similar to what we in the United States would consider an intervention. After receiving the complaint, a SAC will attempt to counsel the offending party and convince them to attend a session at one of the Family Counseling Centers along with the aggrieved party. The counselors are a kind of hybrid between a therapist and a legal arbitrator who seek not only to resolve the current dispute but to alter the behavior or mentality that led to the issue in the first place. Community sentiment and involvement are still very strong in rural India today and social pressure can be a powerful force. SACs seek to harness this force to affect change through social obligation as well as legal obligation.

During the meeting, we heard stories of how members of SACs successfully addressed domestic issues in rural areas. During their interaction with the consul general, a few domestic violence victims narrated the problems that the SACs helped them overcome, such as securing a withheld inheritance and overcoming physical abuse. SAC members described the challenges they faced in achieving success with arbitration and counseling. Impressed by the grit and determination shown by the victims as well as the members of the SACs, Consul General Dhanani said that she was truly inspired by the accounts she heard. “You have given me excitement and encouragement,” she remarked. CG Dhanani noted that although men may have greater physical strength, woman have the mental fortitude to overcome any challenge in life.

Travis Coberly is the Political-Economic Officer at the U.S. Consulate General, Hyderabad.

Learning about Leprosy

On Sunday, January 29, LEPRA India organized a walk for World Leprosy Day to fight stigma and discrimination.  I was honored to be invited as chief guest and pleased to see how many Hyderabadis turned out for the walk, including students, activists and persons affected by leprosy. 

Before the march, Dr. Ranganadha Rao, LEPRA’s chief executive briefed me about leprosy in India, and I was disturbed by what I learned.  Leprosy is a treatable, curable disease, and there’s no need for newly-infected individuals to experience the kind of disabilities that we all associate with leprosy as long as they are diagnosed early and begin multi-drug therapy.  Unfortunately, though, stigma and misinformation discourage patients from seeking medical help early, resulting in late diagnoses and unnecessary suffering. 

I was struck by some sad parallels between leprosy and HIV/AIDS.  Both diseases were at one time considered incurable and consequently extremely feared.  Lack of accurate information about disease transmission in both cases led many members of the public to shun those affected by AIDS and leprosy.  In the late 20^th century, science prevailed over superstition at least enough to fight off proposals to quarantine AIDS patients, but for many years leprosy sufferers were forcibly segregated from society.  Even today, stigma is so great that many leprosy survivors who bear the disfiguring traces of the disease choose to live in leprosy colonies because of discrimination and ostracism in the wider world.  To some extent it’s a vicious cycle: misinformation, stigma, and discrimination cause irrational fear that contributes to delay in diagnosis.  Delayed diagnosis results in irreversible damage so that those cured of the disease remain marked by it, and suffer discrimination.

The facts are indisputable.  Untreated leprosy is a communicable disease caused by a bacteria, but it’s very hard to catch, and most people (about 95%) have natural immunity.  Within a very short time of beginning treatment, patients are no longer infectious, and in less than a year, they’re cured.  If you meet someone who bears the signs of leprosy, you can be 100% sure that they have been diagnosed, treated and cured—you run no risk of catching the disease from them.

Given these facts, discrimination and stigma are cruel, unfair and just plain inexcusable.  But many Indian laws continue to discriminate against leprosy patients.  For example in many states, including Andhra Pradesh, they’re prohibited from running for local office.  Leprosy patients aren’t allowed to drive according to the Motor Vehicle Act of 1939, which still applies.  LEPRA is launching a signature campaign to try to raise awareness and combat these pernicious practices.  The idea is “each one, teach one,” and this blog is one of the ways I’m trying to do my part.  I hope you will too.

Hyderabad- A Home Away From Home

On the Yacht

Goodbye from me until mid-September.  I’ve been asked to go to Washington for a five week assignment, and will take a little time off while I’m in North America, so I won’t be in Hyderabad for some time.  While I’m away, my colleagues will serve as “guest bloggers” to keep this blog alive. 

I have mixed feelings about such a long period away from my Hyderabad home.  I look forward to spending some time in the U.S., and getting a feel for the difficult political and economic environment I’ve been reading about in the press.  I’ll be seeing family and catching up with some old friends, although this trip is much more work than vacation.  But I know I’ll be more than ready to get back six weeks from now.

I certainly don’t feel I need to get away to find recreational opportunities.  I’m a dedicated golfer, and Hyderabad is blessed with some excellent golf courses and a very congenial community of golfers.  I know many people view golf as an elitist activity, and racquet sports enthusiasts often tell me they think golf is for old people.  I love golf, though, and think it has some unique advantages.  Although golfers participate in competitions where winners are identified, golf is really about competing with yourself, and trying to achieve the best score your skill allows.  It’s a game that men and women can play together, and relative beginners, as soon as they learn the rules and etiquette, can play with experienced golfers without affecting the latter’s enjoyment.  At both the clubs where I play there are excellent teachers and numerous aspiring junior golfers, so I’m sure golf has a great future here.

On July 9 I had a chance to sample another sport that a growing number of Hyderabadis are becoming passionate about: sailing.  I was invited by the yacht club of Hyderabad to participate in the Monsoon Regatta on Hussain Sagar.  It was inspiring seeing some 75 sailboats out on the lake when I arrived, with a junior race underway.  I was privileged to participate in the regatta alongside some of India’s most skilled sailors.  I’m afraid I wasn’t very helpful, but my boat managed to win the second celebrity race despite my getting in the way of the crew every time we shifted course.  If I didn’t already have an addiction to golf, I could certainly imagine becoming a dedicated sailor. 

I’m starting my trip in Vancouver, which the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) says is the world’s #1 most livable city.  I don’t think the EIU includes Hyderabad in its survey, but with a growing number of excellent golf courses, and a beautiful lake in the middle of the city (which HMDA is working assiduously to make clean), Hyderabad is surely climbing by any measure of livability.

So, goodbye, Hyderabadis! I’ll be back in September.

Through the Eyepiece

One of the honors I’ve experienced as Consul General in Hyderabad is being invited to participate in the openings of art exhibits.  In the last few weeks, I participated in the launches of two shows of photography that demonstrated what a wealth of talent this city hosts.  The first was an exhibition organized by the Bhagyanagar Photo Art Club and the Salar Jung Museum of the photographic work of award-winning photographers from Andhra Pradesh.  The second was an exhibit at the Muse at Marriott Art Gallery presented by professional photographer Arvind Chenji featuring the work of six amateur photographers who are all IT professionals from Microsoft.   Both exhibits included a fascinating variety of works, from still lifes to photos of nature and city scenes, to portraits, to abstract compositions.  The award-winning professionals had an edge on technique, including interesting developing methods and special papers, but all the artists demonstrated great talent.  At both exhibits, it was interesting to hear from the artists about how they had captured the images.  In some cases, they said they waited hours for the light to be just right.  In others, they arranged objects for effect.  In many cases, they knew what they wanted to convey and sought it out, while in others, it seemed as if they just recognized and capitalized on the moment when a great image presented itself.

I retain vivid images of many of the individual photographs at both exhibits.  There were striking photographs of children who would appear to belong to categories we would label “underprivileged” but whose expressions radiated uncomplicated joy.  At the “Photographic Thoughts” exhibit at the Salar Jung, a series of photographs of post boxes combined humor with social commentary.  There were other series showcasing Hyderabad’s cityscape by featuring clocks and doors.  I’m inspired to try to travel even more by the many beautiful pictures of different locations in India both exhibits contained. 

The travel photography reminded me of another exhibit I saw a few months ago that was organized by Milestone Enterprises at Icon Art Gallery.  I was distressed to read last week about the fire at Icon and I wish the Gallery all the best as it works to recover. 

Individual Actions for Greater Greener Good

At the Andhra Pradesh Forest Academy

It was a great honor for me to be asked to be Chief Guest at the Earth Day celebration organized by the AP Forest Academy and AP Environment Connect on April 22.  The ceremony featured awards to and presentations by citizens dedicated to protecting the environment in a variety of ways, including planting trees, combating plastic, harvesting rainwater and raising awareness.  Each of them demonstrated how individuals can make a difference—but their most important contribution is their inspirational example. The importance of good examples was stressed by the apt designation they were awarded: that of Environmentalists Worth Emulating.  If we all were to emulate them, the state of Andhra Pradesh would be a cleaner, healthier and more beautiful place to live.

In advance of Earth Day, the Consulate supported the NGO Better Hyderabad by participating in a trash run on Necklace Road on April 17.  I was on my way to Mumbai at the time, so I could not participate, but I hope this is something we’ll do again.  Picking up garbage is worthwhile in itself, but the biggest benefit of such activities is raising awareness of the importance of respecting the local environment.  My colleagues told me they also gained a deeper appreciation and respect for the hard work that street sweepers carry out tirelessly every day—let’s all give them some consideration.  In my lifetime in the U.S., littering has changed from a common activity that no one thought a lot about to a socially unacceptable and relatively rare offense.  I hope the same thing happens in India. 

The U.S. may have come a long way as far as littering is concerned, but I learned a surprising and disappointing fact about my countrymen while researching Earth Day last week.  According to the Gallup Poll, in 2008 67% of Americans said they worried a great deal or a fair amount about climate change.  In 2011, that number had declined to 51%.  I hope this is more a reflection of Americans being distracted by economic woes.  The scientific evidence that climate change is happening as a result of human activity is clear.  While we may be enjoying an unusually comfortable April this year in Hyderabad, I know that the trend lies in the other direction. 

A volunteer at the 'Trash the Trash' run 

This year’s Earth Day slogan, “A Billion Acts of Green,” reminds us all of the importance of individual action to achieving global environmental goals.  When it comes to climate change, though, individual action is essential but not sufficient to meet the challenge.  We need action at the national and international level as well.  I’m pleased that, despite opinion polls in the U.S., President Obama was clear about this in his Earth Day Proclamation (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/22/presidential-proclamation-earth-day)  when he said: “Our entire planet must address this problem because no nation, however large or small, wealthy or poor, can escape the impact of climate change.” 

Franchising: A Win-Win Situation

With the IACC Chairman 

The Consulate had the great pleasure of hosting Assistant Secretary of Commerce Nicole Lamb-Hale and a delegation of American companies this week.  The companies visited Mumbai, Hyderabad and New Delhi to explore interest in India in the franchises they represented.  Most of the companies were offering opportunities for investors to license food and restaurant franchises, and that this is an area where American companies have a record of success was demonstrated by an event that the Assistant Secretary attended during the visit: the celebration of the 200^th Subway sandwich franchise in India.  But whether we’re talking about a franchised Denny’s Restaurant or a new Radio Shack outlet, the high level of interest we saw in Hyderabad was a clear indication of how valuable these kinds of opportunities are for both sides. 

Of course the American companies are excited about the potential in India’s massive population and high rate of economic growth.  But Indians are also excited about the possibility of adopting proven best practices, participating in brands with worldwide recognition, and delivering their customers guaranteed top quality products.  It was great to be part of the process, and after all of eight months in India, I enjoyed with some trepidation being turned to by the visitors as an expert on the local market environment.

While I might not be an expert on India, one of the things that was brought home to me was how much I have dropped out of touch with some of what’s going on in the U.S. today—and how knowledgeable many Hyderabadis are about my country.  Some of the visitors represented relatively new, fast-growing chains that I’d never heard of-- like the “Which wich” restaurant--but our Indian guests at a reception knew just who they were.  I told the visitors I thought the strong links between Andhra Pradesh and the United States made this the best prospective market in India for their success.

The visitors were here less than 24-hours.  While I think their short visit was enough to show them what I meant about this being an ideal environment, it wasn’t nearly long enough for both Indian and Americans to exploit the win-win potential of the trade mission.  I told the visitors that I hope to welcome them back soon to finalize deals, and when they return, they need to make time to visit some of the state’s other population centers, like Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.  I’m determined to build more U.S.-India connections throughout my consular district.