Hello all,

Since sending out the letter which informed our friends, family and supporters of our decision to resign from IDEAS, we have received many messages.  The message we originally sent out contained a few gaps and was missing some important information.  In particular many of our supporters inquired as to where they should now send their donations.  While we have sent in a letter to IDEAS informing them that we intend to resign, our working relationship will remain active until August 1st of 2009.  Since we are terminating our working relationship on good terms and with mutual understanding, our IDEAS account will remain open during this transition period.    Continue reading Clarification and our potential USA itinerary

Hello all,

Last week I set off to visit the village of Nok Dara with two female teachers as my guides. There is a primary school there under the supervision of Father Felix. I went to assess the population in the area and its need for healthcare. Leaving the road behind, we climbed together up through the traditional villages. With one ear I was listening to the wind rustling across thatched roofs, children whacking down grass for the livestock, foot operated rice threshers pounding out the kernels and a wooden plow quietly slicing through the earth and with the other I was listening to the 2 Lepcha teachers chatting in Nepali between their puffs of breath.

“Did you hear the new ring-tone I put on my mobile?”

“No, what?”

“Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams”

“Oh, really I love that one and what a great ring-tone!”

Unexpected paradoxes and juxtapositions come part and parcel with living in India. The old and the new live in such a strange tension here. Who would expect village schoolteachers who earn $40 dollars a month to have mobile phones? Who would expect to hear about ‘Summer of 69′ in the middle of a non-road-accessible Lepcha village perched in the Himalayas? Continue reading Old and New