About halfway through this trip of a lifetime, we are fortunate to get some much needed R&R at a local hotel in Anand. Then we'll hit the ground running again tomorrow evening for our last two weeks.
From Bhavnagar, we headed to Wadhwan where we met another group of incredible Rotarians and saintly hosts. We visited a beautiful garden developed and maintained by Rotary in the heart of the city (where unsalted water is not easy to come by). We also visited a school for blind women, where the love and compassion of the founder and the children in her care moved me to tears. Perhaps most impressive was the windmill project Rotary recently started in the desert to assist salt farmers 60 miles from the Pakistani border. The windmills pump salt water from the ground to salt ponds where farmers rake for hours, tilling the salt to maximize the size of granules. The water evaporates over time, and farmers sell salt to industries after the seven month harvest. Rotary's windmills save farmers about 60 percent per year over the diesel alternative. There is nothing but cracked earth as far as the eye can see in this desert, and farmers live in these conditions for seven months at a time.
After Wadhwan we made our way to Anand, stopping to see a step well built in the 1400s and Gandhi's ashram. We have vocational visits coming up, and I'll be visiting one of the largest ad agencies in Gujarat. Cannot wait.
January 18, 2010
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Whitney, it sounds like an AMAZING trip!! Windmills are such a cool thing to learn about. We miss you here, but I know you're having the experience of a lifetime. Be safe!
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