Getting Ready to Leave

We, my husband and I, began packing for india the other day. Our house is being subleased to a soon to be married couple who will be moving in April 23 and will live there till we get back on August 23. Our house was a disaster so we began packing up clothes in the bedroom, moving our bed into the living room (more room), we moved our couch into the bedroom so we would have a study area with the desk in the same room, and cleaned up the kitchen. We left enough cloths our for the next couple of weeks. We have to be our of our apartment on April 23 so we get to be homeless till the 28th. We need to stay in Provo because I will be working double shifts so here is to sleeping in the back of the truck and showering on campus! No we just need to do our actually packing for india. We are starting to prepare by buying the alternate plug-ins and getting clothes that we can take but after finals week it will have start becoming more and more prepared. We need to get bug repellents, malaria medication, our last Japanese Encephalitis shot, maybe water purification tablets, and train tickets. The website (http://traveltips.usatoday.com/travel-light-india-1062.html) I was reading suggested the following:

"Things Needed

• 1 pair of closed-toe shoes/sandals 
• 1 pair of light flip-flops 
• 3 shirts and pairs of socks 
• 2 pairs of underwear 
• 2 pairs of trousers/shorts 
• Paperback books 
• Pocket digital camera with high-capacity flash disk" 

I am excited to get everything packed and ready. After our homeless week is over we will be able to stay up in Salt Lake until will leave on May 6th. We are both getting very anxious. Now the next thing we need to figure our is how we are going to travel in india. The indrail pass seems most plausible but we are debating whether we will pay trip by trip or just pay for the unlimited pass.

Wednesday and today are project presentations. My project is very unique in that it does not apply to my major. Previous to coming to BYU and starting my major in Exercise Sciences I attended ASU were I was a Life Science major. I loved it there because it was so general yet specific. My classes ranged from general biology (i. e. plants, animals, fungus) to genetics, to cell biology, to human anatomy. It interconnected all living things -- cells, plants, animals and humans. Now my major is much more specific but considering I have completed all my necessary elective course I choose to do the project I am doing which is connected to agriculture, plants, and farming. My project presentations is as follows:

Title: A Survey of the Adaption of the Agricultural Practices in a Tibetan Refugee Community in South India

In 1959 the Tibetan people became so suppressed by the Chinese Government that they choose to flee to india. The Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala which has become a hub for the Tibetan Refugees. The Indian Government has allowed the Tibetan Refugees to settle in over 35 settlements spread across India.

In 1963 India's Green Revolution began. This introduced high yielding seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. Everyone began to take advantage of it because you could produce a large harvest and export the goods for profit. BUT these fertilizers and pesticides destroyed the 'healthy' soil.

In 2002 the Dalai 

Japanese Encephalitis

Today we got our second to last set of shots, the Japanese Encephalitis shot. It is a $261 (plus another $261) shot that I would say is well worth it! Though many may think is too costly, I know I certainly do, Japanese Encephalitis is something I rather not get while I am in India.
Japanese Encephalitis is a serious infection caused by a virus which is spread by the bite of an infected mosquitoes.

Bylakuppe is a very humid place, especially during the summer, during the monsoon. It is a rural community where mosquitoes are highly populated. Although it can be avoided to some extent by repellents, long clothing, and staying in screened areas it is hard to avoid for nearly 4 months.

A person who is infected by Japanese Encephalitis can have no symptoms while others will have raging fever, headache or severe encephalitis (brain infection). Symptoms of encephalitis are fever, neck stiffness, changes in consciousness, or coma. Approximately 1 in 4 people who are infected with encephalitis dies and of those that don't die, half suffer permanent brain damage. The shot is recommended to any travelers to Asia who spend at least a month in areas where Japanese Encephalitis occurs, those who are going to be engaging in outdoor activities or where there have been outbreaks. Considering that I will be working on rural farms in Bylakuppe (Southern India) where Japanese Encephalitis risk is high I found it worth the cost.

My sister-in-law's father suffered from encephalitis. I don't know much other than he wasn't really there in the head. One day last November he was taking a walk and crossed the street at an undesignated spot. A 20 year old girl hit him and killed him instantly. I don't want to be that crazy person that crossed the street at the wrong spot because I didn't know any better and even more importantly I don't want to cause a 20 year old girl, or anyone for that matter, to have to suffer the image or what happened like with my sister-in-law's father.

Scholarships

Scholarships! Yes, great things, and something I am definitely depending on. Money is certainly tight when it is costing about 13,000 dollars for my husband and I to go to Bylakuppe, India. I have been working long hours when I probably shouldn't be because I have been sick but you do what you gotta do. Last week I found out that I can now qualify for the half tuition scholarship for spring and summer terms. BYU requires a transfer student to attend the school a year before academic scholarships can be received and I finally hit that mark. I was already budgeting the scholarship because I thought I would get it but now it is absolutely in the picture now.

I started filling out the Field Studies scholarship today and I feel like I am lacking substantial answers to receive funding. For example, how will this experience fit with your major/minor or career goals? I am not exactly sure. I don't know how to apply this to an Exercise Science major. I choose this project because it was interesting and I have fulfilled all my electives previous to this project. I hope that it will be beneficial as being a mother and wife in being able to garden organically and provide various fruits and vegetables that can sustain my family to some extent but that won't be for a while. I am hoping that a 6.35 GPA will help get me a substantial scholarship because who can seriously beat that?!





Ok, maybe I'm not that smart....Beau got home and I was showing him my scholarship application and he caught my 6.35 GPA. I would have never realized it. I am slightly dyslexic especially when it comes to numbers. So, maybe I have a 3.65 GPA and I don't have a great reason to do my project other than to be with my husband but that is okay with me. I am excited to be with the Tibetan people and learn about how they learned to farm in India. I am excited to talk with Tenzin Damdul, the manager of the Organic Research and Training Center, and expereience everything Bylakuppe has to offer.

Tibet's Geography and Agriculture

Shen, T.H. "Agricultural Resources of China". Cornell University Press: Ithaca, New York. 1951. Print

Shen talks just briefly of the pasture lands of Tibet. He explains them as being rugged, desolate, and barren. Most of the land is wasteland and the rest is meager grazing land. There are very limited agricultural sections. Vegetables can be grown at the bases of the highlands, and barlely and grasses at higher elevations. Food produced there is not sufficent for the populations and depends to some extent on imports through caravan routes.
This kind of information is key in comparing farming in India and the changes and adjustments they have had to make to farm in India. Rain in Tibet is between 300- 600mm while in Bylakuppe it rains approximately 35in just in the summer.