I’m writing this from, of all places, Mumbai International Airport. How India has changed since I came here first 5 short years ago. This afternoon I saw a middle aged woman in a sari power-walking along the seafront boulevard, listening to an ipod. I also saw a police van pull up and chuck a beggar, who’d been minding his own business, into the back and drive off. Clearly some things don’t change; much in India remains a facade, the substance a crumbling wreck they don’t want you too see.

But this is not the case everywhere, I hope. In the last six months real progress has been made with the school, henceforth called Jagriti, in a real, substance based sort of a way. Attitudes are changing for the better and the feel of the village, at times, takes on a new, more progressive air. The charity in itself has had time to grow too, and substantially so over the last month I’ve been here. Ash and I, being in India at the same time and allowed to visit the school, had a great opportunity to get a lot of ground covered but I don’t think either of us imagined it would be as much as has happened. The charity has taken on a new directive and new direction which is in some ways radically different from before, and in other respects – the next stage that was only natural from our continuing challenge to change ourselves and constant self searching.

The path of Educate for Life will only get more exciting from here. I feel truly excited about what we do in a renewed and vigorous sense. With this we also have the great joy of welcoming our first volunteer, Rebecca,  in India who isn’t Ash or I or a friend (well, she is now but when approached us wasn’t) as well as a fleet of new hirings on the horizon and an intent to increase our action beyond the real of Jagriti, so it’s all good!