Next week a team of 10 volunteers will be headed to India to begin construction of the Kalavai Colony Community Center.The colony of Kalavai is a small village where 65 low Irala caste families live - they have been outcast and most times overlooked until a team arrived to help rebuild the village last January.
Kalavai is located in the southern most state of Tamil Nadu, India in the district of Vellore and is approximately 150 miles west of Chennai, India.
It will take the team 3 hours to drive to Chicago (O'Hare Airport), 21 hours flying from Chicago to Bangalore with a stop over in London and a 5 hour bus ride from Bangalore to Kalavai. Since housing is extremely limited the team will be living in tents and bathing in a well with a water level 40' below grade level. The first step is always the most difficult!Team members include Dan Blacketor, Chad Anderson, Daniel Scott, Les & Velma Rassi, Nancy Leist, Todd Hollingworth, Nancy Tucker, Denise Walsh and Kevin Maggert.
The idea for a community center was birthed when Raj and I were talking how we could help the community break free - education, micro-business and literacy are essential to having any chance of hope for a better life. Raj, our director of Life Mission India has seen and
visited MC3. He has seen the transformation and wanted to see if that was possible for a people group 9,500 miles away from the famlies of Monroe Circle. If it worked in Indiana could it possibly work in India?During our stay we will also be offering conversational English classes, literacy training and micro business development. We probably won't call the afternoon program SonCity Kids but I like the way "Pasangal Kadavul" (Children of God) sounds!
You can follow along on the GCC India Team Blogsite
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