First houses completed!

Good news from the KI Village - the first of the houses have been completed! Ravi sent out these photos of the first house being "dedicated." Here is Ravi's message included in the email:

Most Loving Greetings from Association of Relief Volunteers (ARV)

I have great joy today to share with you that ARV has been completed 10 Dalit widow permanent houses with the help of local Government and International Volunteers.

All the widows are so happy to see their new houses which they had never thought. It is great achievement in widows lives, which gives protection and dignity, their children are also so happy to see their comfortable houses.

I am thankful to all the volunteers and local government for their valuable support for Dalit widows in GP village, Andhra Pradesh, India.

The first widow house was opened by a volunteer, Isoko – Japan

Thanking you with kind regards.

Ravi Kumar

Secretary

Association of Relief Volunteers

Andhra Pradesh

India

This photos shows the widow's old house next to her new one.

This news made me so happy - to know that some of the houses we worked on are finally being moved into. We had been told that May was the estimated completion date, so it was a surprise to know that some are ready now. You can see from the photo above that the villagers were living in huts made of mud and straw with dirt floors and no windows - the new houses are brick and cement, with roofs made of tin. Each house has several windows and is divided into two rooms. The will have cement floors and a door with a lock. There will also be proper bathrooms attached to each house - previously the villagers just went and squatted in a nearby grove of trees.

A few weeks back, I spent some time with some friends from the volunteer group, and we kept getting onto the topic of how our time in India had changed us. I personally had never expected it to have the impact that it did - I look at the world through different eyes now. I won't try to put it all into words; in fact there is much of what I experienced that would be futile to even attempt to explain.

But I can say that it has made me much less materialistic and much less consumer-minded. It has made me more grateful for the life I have, and I am less prone to taking things for granted now. India toughened me up physically, and that has started a chain-reaction of lifestyle changes which has drastically improved the way I feel on a daily basis. It has deeply impacted me emotionally and spiritually as well and it will probably forever change the way I chose to travel.

Trust me, I could get *really* long winded on this topic, but I will resist, resist!! For now I will just leave it at this - India changed me, and I am thankful for it.

Thank you again to everyone who donated to the ARV project on my behalf. Our group ended up surpassing our fundraising goal by a lot - in the end we had about $13,000. And yes, I was the top fund-raiser in the group. A lot of people asked me how I managed to raise so much money. My answer was simple -- I have a lot of generous-hearted people in my life, and all I had to do was ask.

ARV is constantly raising money for various projects, so if anyone is looking for a worthwhile organization to donate to, please keep them in mind! I can vouch first-hand for their professionalism and effectiveness! I know personally, I'm hesitant to give money to organizations that I'm unfamiliar with - but take my word for it - ARV is the real deal.

In addition to the India housing project, they also have an educational project going on in Ghana. All their work is described on Longitude's website:

http://www.golongitude.org/www/Home.html