This Sunday our village was full of sounds. Firecrackers marked the beginning of the Hindu New Year according to the Malayam calendar in Kerala. Anxiously awaited by many of the children at our English classes, this “Vishu” Festival carries a very suiting (yet unorthodox) name for a new start. “Vishu” meaning “equal” according to the Sanskrit language or equinos, the time when the day and the night are equal in duration. So, as children were running around
Read more ... →
Dear Friends, I’ve returned Stateside after a productive summer in Wayanad, India. One major accomplishment is the purchase of 2.7 acres of land, just outside of Prashanthagiri. We are getting ready to renovate the property to accommodate our field fellows and other field volunteers. All of Profugo’s development initiatives, such as the Water for Life Project, Tailoring Program, ELS, Agriculture, Aquaponics, and Natural Resource Management will be housed here. Future plans are underway to integrate
Read more ... →
The children were giggling and screaming out the names of vegetables, fruits and flowers. It was an intense review game for our weekend English class in the rural community of Wayanad. Jessi, a community member and one of the Spoken English teachers had already chosen a vegetable name which all of us had to guess in order to win the vocabulary game. The children, ages from 4 to 14, were energetically screaming and giggling trying
Read more ... →
This past Monday evening, Victoria and I met with a couple of young activists linked to the organizations Wiser Bangalore and Heal the Soil, a local organization that provides seeds and permaculture training to their community. They talked about their experience with local non- profit organizations in Bangalore and beyond. It was a good break from work, we had a great time and learned lots about their work. I look forward to collaborating with them
Read more ... →
