Annually a group of people are take a volunteer trip to India, follow our journey. Contact us if you are interested in joining or donating to us.
Beginning in 2011 our group started what turned into an annual trip to Southeast India to serve. The first two trips were to build sports courts at two different orphanages that our Indian partner organization operates. Those trips were in partnership with Courts for Kids (www.courtsforkids.com). Our trip in March of 2014 was a little different. We were able to build a playground, conduct a few me
dical clinics, a health advocates conference, as well as spend time with the children at both orphanages. It was an amazing trip! Our trip in 2015 we took on a huge project and began the work to build a second floor of a current orphanage building! In 2016 we completed the second floor and we entered into a new indigenous group in northern part of the state where we began a Health Advocacy training. With each year being so different, we are always open to whatever the plan is and what the need is! We can't wait to go back! The purpose of our trips are always three-fold:
1) First, we always want to leave India better than we find it. Many teams go over, serve and leave. We want to leave something. A project, a building, a playground, a well. Something that is tangible. By doing so we also show the underprivileged tribal people that we are no better (or worse) than them by working along side them. It breaks down huge barriers and stereo types when we lift shovels and dig trenches with them. Our team hopes to provide the financial resources and manpower to get each project done for them.
2) Second, we will work with a Ministry in South India to provide leadership training and educational for the village leaders on basic health care and leadership values. Each village (they work with over 440 of them!) will send a Health Advocate to represent their village. We hope to teach the basic of how to stay healthy, giving them some life altering tips when your environment is often sewage and garbage surrounded.
3) Third, we will go over there with humility and a willingness to learn and share love. We tend to look at people in less developed countries as less fortunate. While this is true in some areas, it is definitely not true in others. We know that we will be inspired by the Indians in ways unimaginable to us now. We seek to learn and grow through this experience so that we will be changed as we come back.
Our partner in India is an organization which, among others things, has orphanages in Southeast India. Many of these orphans come from the lower caste in India, which means, apart from some sort of intervention, they would be destined to a life of extreme poverty. They believe if you are born in the lower caste, you are paying for mistakes you made in a previous life, and need to suffer for this life, in order to improve your lot in the next. When they become a part of the home these orphans are educated, clothed, fed and given a chance at a new life, where they won’t be limited by their caste.
