In the last month we have had some amazing opportunities to share about India. I just finished our Monthly Activity Log for our director and realized in May alone we spoke at 11 different events! A huge thank you to those of you who have taken the time to be there to hear us speak, and an even bigger thanks to those who have now heard us tell the same stories three or four times!
We have spoken at two seniors' groups; having no idea what to expect with an audience we had not previously encountered, we were thrilled with both meetings. At the first over a hundred people gathered to hear an update on the many projects they have already funded. It was wonderful to speak to people who already understand and are committed to the work. After speaking at the second group Jon had two old ladies come up and tell him that they both worked in India for 40 years! They were so excited to hear about what the next generation is doing in a country that means so much to them; we were humbled that people with so much more experience than us cared to listen.
Many conversations have been totally unexpected. Jon went to get his hair cut last week and his chatty hairdresser asked how our trip had been. The simple question turned into a focused discussion of the horrors many people face daily in India and attracted all the other hairdressers to Jon's chair! It's amazing how people react when they hear realities that are so different from our own, when they hear that slavery still exists, that child-beating can be culturally acceptable. We know that people want to be a part of change and we love getting to offer them an avenue to do so.
I have been thinking a lot about the people of India - our friends, people we met by chance encounters, parents of the students we grew to love, and the hundreds of millions whose paths we never crossed. Every day I remember that I am fighting for these people, for the freedom of millions. I am fighting so that parents don't have to sell a child in order to feed the others. I am fighting so that all children can eat tonight. I am fighting so that women have rights, have jobs, have dignity. I am fighting for kids to no longer die of diarrhea. I am fighting for quality education to be a right, not a privilege, for every child. I am fighting for hope.