Some history

On the day after Easter 2005, I had the privilege of leading a group of Rotarians and Friends of Rotary from the USA and UK to south India, for the purpose of working HANDS-ON in the areas which were devastated by the tsunamis of December 26, 2004. The team consisted of twenty-two members, men and women, young and old, skilled in building construction, or NOT (which covered most of the group!) but all with hearts and spirit which served us well during our stay.

The members of the team came from California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, as well as from Norwich, England. We arrived in Chennai (formerly Madras) and were met by fellow Rotarian and my younger "brother" Sanjiv Saran, who had arranged for all of our ground transportation, lodging, meals, and work details, prior to our arrival. Sanjiv's daughter, Pallavi, also joined our group. Pallavi also traveled at her own expense during the summer months to Maine and California, where she performed a number of times to help raise funds to pay for permanent homes for fishermen and their families who had lost so much in the tsunamis. Each of the five functions were hosted by Rotarians.

When we traveled south to Pondicherry Union (within the state of Tamil Nadu, in the southernmost part of the Indian subcontinent) we were invited by Swami Chidanand Saraswati, of the India Heritage Research Foundation based in rishikesh (along the banks of the Mother Ganges) which also has a 502 (c) 3 foundation in the USA. Together with the "Bollywood" movie star, Vivek Oberoy, the Swami established PROJECT HOPE - to bring aid to the victims of the tsunamis, and to build permanent homes for the fishermen and their families who had lost nearly everything to the tsunamis.

We arrived in Cuddalore and were invited to join forces with PROJECT HOPE in constructing a home for children who had been orphaned by this disaster. the home was to be directly connected to a home for destitute young women of the area. In brilliant planning, the Indian government determined that the best way to care for these children is to NOT have them moved to other parts of the world, but to remain within their own land. Further, the plan calls for these particular children to be housed in this complex, where each one will have an older "sister" or an "auntie" to care for them and to help maintain their culture.