June 2012

   In January, Cynthia and I returned to India. We found India still a wondrous complex society with stunning economic growth while battling poverty. We traveled with George Nepert (FOI Editor and Treasurer) and his family visiting three FOI charities in Kodaikanal and Theni in Tamilnadu, that complement one another.

• Forgotten Children provides micro financing assistance to poor families to run small businesses to supplement family income. These funds reduce dependency on the labor of young girls and encourages schooling of more young girls up to the 10th standard.
• Luckey Dozen then provides some scholarships for an additional 2-years of education so these girls can take on professions such as nursing and teaching. This gives the young girls the potential to give back to their families.
• SAPWII provided a bio-sand water filter to a Forgotten Children-supported school.

We then stayed at one of the 32 orphanages supported by Paul Wilkes’ Homes of Hope project (www.homesofphopeindia.org) based out of Wilmington NC. The enthusiasm, and potential of the 90 young girls under the guidance of the six Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco was profound. Seeing this, Cynthia and I decided to support this orphanage and the adjacent school through a 6th Friends of India Charity. See details inside newsletter.

Friends of India Today and Tomorrow or where do we go from here?: Over the years we have been communicating well with our newsletter, reunions, website and emails. I do not know where our FOI will be 10 or 20 years from now as we approach the “old goat” stage of our lives. I know we have “the story” of our lives, before, during and after our Peace Corps service. I know we have made a difference with our families, communities and our country. We also have a history of maintaining relationships with one another and India. And, perhaps quietly in our journey of life, we interested our younger family members, friends, and colleagues in India and the world with our stories. To me, we still have unfinished business which includes passing our Peace Corps-India-World baton to the future. Why? Our PC service did not end after we left India.

   The words of President Kennedy’s vision is as relevant for us now, as it was when we flew off to India. We went to India to help others in developing countries and promote peace and friendship. We did this in the context of the three goals of Peace Corp: (1) assisting the need for trained individuals, (2) fostering a better understanding of Americans in India and (3) on our return home, fostering a better understanding of India and the world outside America. And we ALL did a good job. Peace Corps’ underpinnings: giving to others, learning about other cultures, and promoting US understanding of them are as important in today’s world as 50 years ago, perhaps more so.

   So where do we go from here? Let me focus on the www.foindia.org/ website in this newsletter to get us started. Right now our website needs major updating and retooling to become a more informative. And this will need your contributions to bring it a reality. Here are some ideas we plan to implement, but again, your input to the FOI Webmaster, Maureen Nichols, and me will be critical in making our “new” network function. We plan the following:

1. Make the website much more alive….include stories, pictures, slide shows, videos, etc.
2. Invite not just former Volunteers to participate but actively encourage our families, friends here in the US and in India to participate.
3. Make FOIndia as an organization that include subgroups, e.g.,
   1. Have individual India groups with a designated group leader/coordinator for maintaining a sub-site on the main FOI website. This can be done by training group, e.g., India I, 2, 3, …99..130, etc or by activity, e.g., agriculture, science teacher training, health and nutrition, etc.,
   2. Encourage India groups that already have websites, e.g., India 41 to hyperlink to the main FOI website.
   3. Set up individual India Group Facebook pages. There will be more information on this on the FOI website.

Please contact me with your thoughts about the above, other ideas and any interest you might have coordinating any of the above. All people are welcome, including younger members of your family.

Final Notes:

1. Please send any pictures, and stories (digital or otherwise) for website.
2. The endowment idea for FOI charities did not float. So FOI charities depend solely on our contributions. Please continue your generous support. Within a short time, PayPal will be available on the FOIndia website.
3. We will be doing only two newsletters per year.
4. Finally, my apologies to you all and especially to George Nepert, your editor, who wanted this newsletter out weeks ago

Namascaram, 
Jack Slattery 
Email: FOIndiaSlattery@aol.com