In search for home-base

We are moving back to India on Jan 20th ’07. We plan to work with development projects to get a better understanding of grass-root issues and also contribute towards solutions in our own small way.

Over the last few yrs we have been working on supporting developmental projects in India through Asha for Education and have visited a number of them. However, neither of us has lived for any reasonable period of time in a village and am sure are unaware of what it involves not being a guest for a couple of days, but living there.

Our attempt to move has brought many responses from "how are you going to earn a living” to “that’s wonderful” and many things I had not even thought of. On the whole our friends and family have been very supportive and many have come forward with contacts of their own in the field of development that we can contact.

Many of our friends have asked us questions in the past regarding our move back here are the most common ones.

Q: Why? A: Over the years we have become quite aware of the many issues that face the majority of the people in India. A good number of problems are not related to lack of funds, but attitudes and complex human dynamics. There are no doubt many people making an attempt to reach out to the underprivileged, but there is always space for two more. More importantly it just seems the most natural thing for both of us to do.

Q: How are you going to earn a living? A: We have both worked in the US for a couple of yrs and have saved enough for being able to volunteer for at least a year without worrying about how we are going to sustain what we do. At this time we just want to work on different issues to figure out what it is that we want to do before figuring out how to sustain it.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you see going ahead? A: This would be fitting in. It’s fine to contribute to a community and feel like you are helping, but as a respected social worker said, you can’t sustain something if you feel like you are making a sacrifice. The fact is we are also looking to find a place we will feel comfortable. This is the reason for the title too.

Q: What will you be working on? A: Not sure. Possibilities that presently interest us are education, village economies, organic farming and land reforms.

Q: Where are you starting? A: We are hoping to start working in Ananthapur Dist. Of Andhra Pradesh with a group called Timbaktu.

Please feel free to post your questions and comments and we will be happy to answer them if we know how.