Jouney to the Deccan

I am sorry that I have not blogged lately and kept you up to date. Lots has transpired in the last few weeks. I'll start at the present and give you a quick rundown of the significant events in reverse chronological order.

I am now living in Hyderabad, India, and working with the Conflict Transformation (CT) team of the Henry Martyn Institute (HMI). It's a wonderful place with even more wonderful people. Although I do miss the beaches and my friends on the Andamans. I'll post pictures and more details of my work shortly, inshalla.

Between moving from the Andamans Islands to Hyderabad we had an MCC Retreat in Nepal. It was really great to meet the other MCCers on our team who are working in Nepal and Afghanistan. I got to spend a few short days with Subhekchya's parents in Kathmandu and had a wonderful time. The retreat was held in Pokhara which offered a great time to relax, relate and reflect... oh and we also got to go paragliding (don't worry that wasn't on MCC's bill).

Amongst all this exciting change there was also the sadness of leaving the Andmans and the good friends I have made there. They gave me a very meaningful farewell and my thoughts are with them as they finish up the project. Before I left Liz and Laura came to visit and we took a few days to visit Havelock Island and I finally got to go scuba diving after being on the Andamans for a year.

Before I left the Andamans I also had a quick trip to Bangladesh (to get my visa stamped). It was great to be able to spend time with Sri (the Asia Peace Coordinator) and Sarah (who is doing peace work for MCC Bangladesh). I didn't get to see a lot of Bangladesh but it was a good time to start switching gears from water to peace.

The main job I had on the Andamans this last time was to organize the National Water Seminar which was held at the end of January. It came off well and was a huge learning experience for me. One of the other jobs was conducting a Borewell Mapping Project. A few significant findings came out of the research but with the amount of time it was only a beginning.

So here I am in a new place making new friends and trying to see how I can fit into a new team.