Sargur
Our first stop was the Vivkananda Memorial Hospital
in Sargur. The facility is a secondary health center that has 40 beds.
One of the focuses of the hospital is sanitation. It features
a one of a kind “sanitation park” with many model toilets on display to
demonstrate the affordability of toilet facilities. Next to the
hospital is the Viveka School of Excellence, which is a primary school
for children living in the area. Fun fact: The students
going to Viveka School of Excellence are learning FOUR languages
(Hindi, Kannada, Sanskrit, and English). Six students will be staying at
working at these facilities.
Kenchanahalli
Next we visited the primary health center in
Kenchanahalli. This health center uses a combination of allopathic and
Ayurvedic medicine to treat local communities which include many
tribal villages. Two students will be working at this site on different
projects concerning the Ayurveda and medicine allocation sectors of
this health facility. The grounds were beautiful with many different
natural medicines being grown directly in front
of the front doors and the surrounding jungle atmosphere gave this site
a unique and adventurous feel.
Hosahalli
Last, we visited the Viveka Tribal Centre for
Learning in Hosahalli. The school houses and facilitates for up to 400
tribal students each year. Classrooms for the youngest students
are open to the outdoors to increase comfort and help transition
students to the school setting. Two students will be working at this
site.
