Hubli

I arrived in Hubli, a city in Northwestern Karnataka, at the Old Bus Stand in town and finally met up with Arati. We had lunch and took a rickshaw back to her house. It was so great to see a friend and it was nice to stay in a "home" rather than a hotel, I felt very comfortable. Also Arati hooked me up with some Indian clothes to wear as you will see in the photos- I am so lucky that I was able to connect with her- thanks Mrs. Kelly!

The next day I went to the local campus, where Arati works, to participate in a volunteer orientation that her organization put on. Arati is a program manager for the Deshpande Foundation which funds several NGOs in and around Hubli. New volunteers had just arrived and were being introduced to the principles of Deshpande and visiting the local NGO's they will be working with. I felt very fortunate that I was able to tag along and learn about what Deshpande does, ask some of the volunteers about their projects, and it was very cool to drive out to the communities outside of Hubli to visit the NGOs.

School children waiting outside Deshpande Foundation to walk through the "Internet Bus"

The first organization we visited was Akshaya Patra, a huge kitchen that feeds over 250,000 children everyday. We got to tour the kitchen which included huge vats for cooking rice and lentils, a grain sorter, silos, conveyor belts, and huge bins of vegetables. Everyday fresh wholesome meals are prepared and loaded up into a caravan of jeeps and delivered hot and steaming to children all over the area. It was an amazing operation.

Akshaya Patra

Arati and I in rice storage- yes we had to wear hairnets :)

Delivery squad

Later that day we drove out to some agricultural communities outside of Hubli and visited the NEEDS organization. We saw homes that had been built with the help of Habitat for Humanity and spoke with a local woman who created a community bank by initiating small investments from all of the women in the community. Today the bank is still operated by women and has helped put local children through college. I can only try to imagine all of the other bold and couragous ideas like this that are being made into reality all over the world. There are really some amazing people out there. Arati is so fortunate to work with many of them everyday.


That evening we went out to a nice dinner in town. It is surprisingly much cooler in Hubli than it was in the north due to the recent rain, and I finally have an appetite again. Before it was so hot I feel that I mostly drank water and the delicious roadside drinks. Now I am enjoying some really good South Indian cuisine. I have one more day in Hubli and then I am off to Mangalore, a well known port on the Arabian Sea.

Me and Arati about to enjoy a south Indian feast