Orissa here I come

Friday, September 16th, 2011

 In a short time I will be headed back to India for what promises to be my quickest trip yet.  This trip will contain some new experiences for me which I am really looking forward too; sort of an adventure you might say. 

I am going to India with 2 guys, one which was with me last February and the other is traveling to India for the first time, so its going to be a big adventure for him.

Once we fly from Kansas City to Chicago I will jump on the AA nonstop flight to Delhi then change planes to a Jet Airways flight down to Hyderabad.  In Hyderabad, it will be off to the Novotel for about 6 hours of sleep then back to the airport for a flight to Calcutta.

Never been to Calcutta before, I have made it on numerous occasions to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore but never Calcutta.  For some reason I was always scared to go there, maybe because it is supposed to be a lot poorer than Mumbai and if you travel the back streets of Mumbai, it can get really depressing fast.  Plus, knowing the work of Mother Theresa I was always scared that if I visited and she were alive she would look into my eyes while holding my hand and say something about me moving to Calcutta to work with the her and how could you look back into her eyes knowing her history of service and say No?  Now that she is with Jesus I think it’s safe to venture to Calcutta.

Actually Calcutta is just a stopping off point, when we exit the airport with our stuff we’ll be looking for a smiling Indian hopefully having a placard with my name on it.  If this fellow doesn’t then were just going to stand outside the airport and look lost and see who comes up to us and says “you must be Mr. Mike”.  Whoever tells us that, we’ll follow.

From the airport we’ll go about 5 hours I hear in a car to about the middle of a state called Orissa.  Never been to Orissa before and some time back Orissa made the front lines because of the religious violence.  Within the past several years things have been quiet though tensions still exist between the conservative Hindus and the Muslims and Christians.  My excitement rests in the fact that ever since the violence I thought it would be cool to venture into this area and take a peaceful stand against the violence, sort of a visible act of disobedience to the other worldly forces that are engaged for the lives of those in Orissa.  You could say that for me this is a covert mission for God, sneaking into enemy territory and plundering it and then getting out without causing uproar with the locals.

 There is more to traveling to Orissa than this, actually the main reason we are headed there is to dedicate a water project which we will have completed within the next day or two.  This project is on some property recently acquired by a charitable organization there in India which wants to do some cool things within the surrounding areas and yet before any of this can happen they reached out to us for help in bringing water to this land and it didn’t take long for me to jump on this opportunity.

From Orissa were headed back to the East Godavari District, more specifically the Tuni area and dedicate at least 4 projects recently completed.  In addition to the water projects we hope to spend some time with the kids at New Life Children’s Home and Light of Love Children’s Home and maybe even make a side trip to the Bay of Bengal to jump some waves.

Last thought to leave you with is this, more water.

That is what our partner, Fr. Dhana in Trichy is asking of me. 

Villages throughout his area have made application for fresh water projects and he continues to set priorities for me and these aren’t just hand pump projects for villages in need of water but schools also.  I have 15 project proposals waiting for funding, all hand pump projects which need donors.  Our drilling prices along with material has increased dramatically these past 2 years and I have been absorbing this cost and now with the latest increase I have to do the inevitable and unfortunate thing and that is raise my rates. 

In Trichy our projects now will be $2,000 for a hand pump; same number of people will benefit from each project, just an increased price due to the economic conditions in India and the dollar’s decline.

I would appreciate your continued support in bringing water to rural India and not allow this increase to detract you from saving lives and providing life’s most basic necessity which is clean water. 

To read about the villages, schools and the community center which has made application for clean water, click this link – http://www.wellsforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Community_water_projects_.docx

To get involved and fund all or a portion of any of these projects, send me an email or call me and let me know which village you want to make the gift of life to.  In November I hope to travel to Trichy and dedicate those projects which can be funded between now and the end of October.

 Thanks for your support and for making a huge impact in the lives of India’s rural people.

Tags: new projects, Orissa, Tuni, Wells for Life
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