Ghengis Naan

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Finances

Current issues surrounding the travels to be taken are budgetting concerns. A bit of inquiry has not resulted in any broad grants or fellowships begging to be stolen by an engineer doing social work in India. The result will be a month of working in Austin, meaning a nice trip home, not quite at the peak of summer, and the potential to do a lot more planning.

Also on the table are plans to interview non-profits along the way, asking questions about incorporating new technology and where funding comes from, recording the videos on my new flip video, and eventually helping Mrs. Deborah Edward (aka Mom) to write a book on the subject, using her non-profit expertise.

Another idea is to try to get a local outdoors store to support my travels in exchange for an article or two for a newsletter or just mad props on my blog. Other thoughts?

Saturday, March 15, 2008

where is he going?

Worst attempt at route map ever created with Photoshop*

Departing June 17th for the shortest frequent flier ticket I could find to Bilbao (~24 hrs)
Embarking June 24th from Azkoitia, Spain in a newly purchased used car
Associates/Fellow Drivers: Thomas Chris Kelly, James Kelly (brothers)

1. The Drive: Driving through Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Mongolia
Arriving Ulan Bataar ~6 weeks later.

Blue means driving

2. CHINA: Next step is a train ride down to Beijing - a day or two of OLYMPICS! Also an opportunity to stock up on some clean shirts - other shirts = most likely perma-stained

Dotted = flight to Chengdu. Blue was going to be a motorcycle drive through Tibet to the capital but that is looking less likely due to politics.

3. Volunteer in India: Flight or train to Uttarakhand, India where I will volunteer with Avani-KUMAON to develop water sanitation and alternative energy programs in the rural areas at the feet of the Himalayan mountains.

4. Southern India: the green is around a thousand mile bike ride down to the southern coast of India in April and May

Returning with stories and maybe a new haircut: ~May 29th (longest I can hold off on getting my return ticket with frequent flier miles)

*more poor attempts at photoshopped maps to come until access to program is discontinued

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Social Work in India

Philanthropy and the Third Sector (India) - information about the history of and current situation for philanthropic work in India.

Gautam Yadama - WashU's Brown School of Social Work's director of Int'l Studies. Interests: "Micro-institutional strategies of development; Social and economic development; International development; Role of non-governmental organizations in development"

Glen Stone's Brave New Crops (Syllabus) - section on GMO's in India

Dolly Daftary (ddaftary@wustl.edu) - WashU PhD student; M.A. in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, food security in rural areas