Hey guys
So today we got back from visiting the village Nagipattinum which was the worst affected in India by the tsunami. It was really interesting to meet with so many people. We met with village leaders, with women self help groups, with fishermen, with state legislators, with NGO workers. And in India NGO’s are usually only good things meant to help various groups of people. Hearing about the amount of destruction caused by the tsunami and seeing some of it too is just unbelievable. Like we would go to the beaches and I can’t even begin to imagine what it would have been like to see the tsunami coming. The interesting thing though is that many of the men who were on their boats fishing when the tsunami hit had no idea that it had happened. They were just floating along out in sea and when they returned their village was destroyed. There have been some good things to come out of it. The support from other nations was said to be excellent. It was ironic to be studying about the tsunami so shortly after Katrina and right around Rita. There are some definite similarities between how the people of this country would have felt after the tsunami and how Americans feel about this.
The hardest question we got asked was about why as our press is covering the hurricane destruction they are so censored. We saw some of the newspaper photos from after the tsunami and they are completely different from what America showed. I wish our press was more honest about what was happening. It’s hard to see people losing everything but if something horrible happens people should be aware of it. Who knows maybe it would get people to care more. Anyways this week we are off to Goa which is suppose to be the most westernized place in India so that will be a big change from the rural village of this past week.
On other hand teacher driving me crazy but I’m making due and the other people and leaders are wonderful. I miss people from home a lot but I'm trying not to talk about it to much because it makes it easier. It is hard especially with drew though to go from talking every night to talking maybe once a week. I feel bad though because I know it is probably easier for me just because I'm travelling so much and in such a different place. I hope you all are doing well! If you actually made it through all of this wow. Later all