I’m sitting in an Internet cafe in Hyderabad, India. I have been here since Sunday, and already life is busy, full of amazing experiences, and totally fascinating. For several months I have been feeling that this blog was without purpose, without interest, and without anything to make it unique. Finally, I feel that I again have something unique to contribute to my corner of the Internet. I’m looking forward to having plenty more exciting stories to tell.

For roughly the next two months, I will be interning with BASIX, a livelihood promotion organization based in Hyderabad. In only a few days working with these people, I have already learned so much about the practical difficulties of dealing with rural poverty. However, more importantly for the purposes of this blog, I have seen amazing things.

Yesterday, I received my project for the summer. I will be based in the state of Orissa, and I will be examining opportunities for BASIX to expand agricultural and business development services in the region. We already do things like get dairy farmers access to affordable vaccinations for their livestock, and promote more productive and more sustainable practices for cotton and rice growers. My self-directed project is to find what more we can do. This means lots and lots of fieldwork and interaction with locals, near total self-directedness, and an unparalleled opportunity to see India in a way that few visitors can.

And I get to share it all with you. Don’t you feel lucky?

Seriously though. I already have many stories to tell. Hopefully I will get the chance to backpost in the next day or two. I want to get everything caught up before I head to Orissa on Tuesday.

So stay tuned. I know I’ve promised this before, but this time I PROMISE, not only will I write, but I’ll write things worth reading.

Posted on July 8th, 2005 by Lee
Filed under: Uncategorized