Gandhi Legacy Tour

Our Group

For almost 3 weeks now I have had the opportunity to get to know and love the people on my tour. There are 22 college students and educators from California, Florida, and NY combined. Making new friends and connections. We learn lots, have a great time, and hang with all kinds of animals! We make the most of every moment!:)

A different kind of squirrel than what we are used to seeing in the US

Stray dogs rule lol

Every night we debrief about the day for 2 hours with the Gandhi's. It gives everyone a chance to reflect on their experience, notices and wonders.

This is a no stray dog zone with the brick!

All animals eating in one area...community living:)

You will usually have company for lunch in India, and they have mastered giving the puppy face!

We were trying to take a picture of the Wild Asses in the distance. Yes, that is the name of an animal here!!

Indians get married in the backyard of our hotel, and I can see why!

The painted horns tell you this cow is off limits!

Hard to blend in when our bus spells it out! LOL

Standing in front of a Muslim Mosque

Hanging out with an ancient poet

My first trip to the desert!

One of the ladies in our group helping a man with braces on both legs climb the steps to the mosque. It was a touching moment!

Barefoot College

At Barefoot College we saw incredibly innovative work in the areas of solar technology, medicine, dentistry, and education. This is a technical school that does not offer a diploma or licensing but rather valuable training that has helped many get out of the life of poverty and learn or practice a skill. A couple of people on our tour even had some acupuncture treatments. In the circuit board assembly area, we watched women from a wide variety of cultures and languages working on assembling circuit boards - skill training sponsored by their local villages and national governments with the promise of bringing electricity back to their homes. At this college, we also saw a puppet show. They use these puppet shows which is a traditional form of entertainment to help inform and teach about the issues that impact the surrounding villages. Each face on the puppets looks so realistic! What a talent!

Demonstrating for the group how to use a machine with a partner to bend metal.

Participants at Barefoot College come from many parts of the world!

Puppet show

They have created a way to filter, boil and store water.

Solar mamas building and using solar panels to cook. The panels boil water up to 300 degrees!

They broadcast live from the college 7 hours a day and inform the villages about the different programs offered. Notice the walls are made of egg cartons.

We talked with the head of the dentistry program here. She only finished up to 5th grade in school but is now performing most jobs of a dental hygienist after being trained.