Welcome to our blog! On January 6th we will be departing for Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh province (the UP!) in the north of India. Once there, we'll be volunteering through American Jewish World Service's Volunteer Corps.
A couple months back we went through an extensive interview process with AJWS. They took our resumes and (fast forward through arduous weeks of waiting) found a non-profit in India that was looking for a couple with our skills (Couple? Check. Skillz? Double check.)!
For various legal reasons we can't mention the non-profit where we will be working by name, so let's just call it Lucky's (after the city, obviously). Lucky's is an non-profit organization that offers lots of different programs. Here's what we know about the organization so far- we will learn more once we are there:
* They operate a training facility for other grassroots organizations to partake in workshops, share best practices, and build capacity
* They have programs that focus on providing education and opportunity for India's most disadvantaged, specifically Muslim women and the Dalits.
Dan's work will be focusing on the first – building workshops that teach conflict resolution, team-building, and communication; Kate's work will center on the second – watching these programs in action and documenting them.
We will spend the next month preparing for this experience by getting vaccinations, debating the value of water purifiers vs. filters (go with the purifier), and testing out our over-the-bed mosquito net (it's like sleeping in a princess bed). We hope that you will continue to check-in for updates, stories, photos, and videos.
We are guessing that if you click the 'Follow' box over to the right you will be notified when we post an update; feel free to do so, we'd be honored!
In the coming months we would love and appreciate your comments, emails, and letters.
Love,
Kate and Dan
