Kundapura

After the short walk in the morning through the village, I came back to the campus by 7. Students and inmates were already in the middle of their work. A lot of them were running around cleaning up the campus, and by the time I sat down to run through the pictures we took yesterday, the campus was resonating with the "Omkara". It was so peaceful, so touching and thoughtful for me to see the gathering of the students and teachers offering prayers for global peace and self enlightenment.

some of the finished products designed and developed by the students:

From yesterday morning onwards we are in the "Namma Bhumi", an initiative managed by CWC. (The Concerned for the Working Children, India).Situated in Kundapura in Karnataka, this campus consists of students, teachers and the locals. Set in a 6 acres campus, Namma Bhumi supports more than hundred children to equip themselves with livelihood skills and education.

Founded by Nandana Reddy, "CWC has been working with local governments, community and working children themselves to implement viable, comprehensive, sustainable and appropriate solutions in partnership with all the major actors, so that children do not have to work. It empowers working children so that they may be their own first line of defence and participate in an informed manner in all decisions concerning themselves."

Sand mining in Kubja nadi. At least there were no massive machines, but small boats.

We were here to explore the option of working together. Since TBY is developing various travel initiatives in Karnataka simliar to the ones in Kerala(especially River Nila), it made all sense to work with people who have been functioning in the region for more than two decades now. We went around seeing a 900 year old mud palace, a temple with wooden idols depicting the mythological stories, and a two-hour consultation with the local elders.

It was quite eerie to go inside the 'palace' because of hundreds of bats and the 'haunted' look of the place in the twilight. We were guided by some of the local teachers who touched our heart by their passion and enthusiasm. Most of them spent their childhood in and around this palace and were quiet sad to see the palace far away from its old glory. We shared with them our experiences from Kerala about how heritage buildings like this were renovated with private public participation and how we could probably think of similar consultations.

Inner courtyard filled with bats!

Consultation with the local elders.

While leaving the village in the night, both of us were so overwhelmed that all we were thinking about was how we could work together with these people! Hopefully you will hear about these initiatives soon.

Kundapur GP © 2007