THE PLAN

So here's the plan!

We need to complete the purchase of a small farm of a little over 8 acres. It's in the Telangana district and you can see a brief video of it here produced and introduced by Joji www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXT1ZRob7Qs

The actual location of the land is in the Telangana district, some 500 kilometers from Visakhapatnam. However, the land is 8 times cheaper there than in the environs of the bustling and growing port city where land prices are at a huge premium due to construction/development demand. The logistics of transporting the crops have been closely considered and work out fine.

If you haven't had the time to watch the video, here are a few pictures:

The huge tamarind tree on the land produces enough fruit for a year's supply for the children.

The land has its own abundant water supply.

The land has fertile red soil and, while 8 times cheaper than that around Visakhapatnam, is also of much better quality.

Almost all the important food such as rice, dal,  tamarind, chilly, black grams, green grams, onions, garlic can be produced
every year on this farm. Once everything is settled,as far as the food needs are concerned, the children's hostel project will become self sustainable forever. Once we have possession the farm, the children in the project will not need to become the victims of the frequent fluctuations in food costs (now the inflation rate is 7.14%,and we are feeling hardships with the limitless increases in the costs of every commodity).

The day to-day situation is not predictable - sometimes we are forced to buy onions for Rs.50/kg (normally we used to get 4 kgs for Rs.50).
Sometimes some of the food items are not available because of the creation of artificial scarcity by the traders. We can overcome most of these problems when we have the farm.

The final cost will be about Euro 23,300 - That's about US$36,000 at June 2008 exchange rates. We've raised and paid almost half of it and have to get the rest by May 2009. And we'll do it...and we'll do it a lot faster than that if you'll join in the effort and help us. You might well have some good ideas of your own either to suggest or, even better, that you can implement yourself at home, at work, at school or with your friends. If you'd like some ideas you could possibly put into practice to help us get that farm, click here for a few suggestions as to how you can Get Involved!

We're really looking forward to getting to know you and to working with you to get this great project over the line for the hostel children of Shantidhara!