A quick update on our 2021 progress –
I made my first trip to India the last week of July and into the first part of August and saw many of our water projects which were carried out during the beginning of the year along with a handful of projects from 2020. Being back in India after an 18-month break became an eye-opening experience for me in that I realized how comfortable I had become staying home and doing my part to stay COVID free. I realized that by not traveling, I had become rigid, inward focused, and really sensitive towards others who might be encroaching on my space, after all we are in a pandemic. Naturally then, who wants to venture out and really see the plight of those living on the other side of the world? The adage that awareness sucks really does apply here, at least to me. Despite COVID and my internal feels and reservations from those close to me, I ventured out and made the trip to India, and as you might expect, awareness sucks. Now a fresh perspective exists on how spoiled I am and how the color of my skin gives me certain advantages over many when I’m moving around in India. So yes, the trip was a new, eye-opening experience for me and one which reminds me how much more work needs to be done, both in myself and in India.
A difference has been made over these last 20 years of being involved in India, yet again, there’s so much more to do.
On my final day in Tamil Nadu, I traveled out into the interior and saw one of our larger projects which we completed early 2021. This project provided water for physically and mentally handicapped people. Not only did the project meet the drinking water needs, but also supplied enough water for the cultivation of a few acres of land for income generating purposes.