Pooja, the founder of Town School, the NGO I worked with in dehradun India asked me to write a letter for her about the NGO for a volunteer website called Omprakash. Dear Omprakash, My name is Alex Landt. I’ve just returned to the USA after over a year in India and Nepal. I spent about 4 months during my travels volunteering. I met Pooja Dwivedi and Town School through another volunteer site, Workaway. I arrived in the first week of February 2011 and stayed for a month. I was her first volunteer. I returned for a two-day visit in the first week of December to say goodbye to Pooja and everyone who I connected with during my time at Town School. I have seen a few NGO’s and I’ve learned that many do not live up to their words. Town School does. It is a project that has been started by a local for the locals. Pooja is totally devoted to her work and the community. The challenges have all been taken in stride. However, in its second year, Town School is growing in leaps and bounds. In my eight months of absence from the school new rooms were added, a truck was bought to act as the school bus and enrollment has gone up. This project is one persons attempt to make a positive change in this crazy world. Pooja is doing wonderful work. She has such a big heart that extends to everyone she meets, pulling volunteers like me into her family in only one month. Not only does this attitude extend to the volunteers but to all the children and the community. This project is worthwhile for anyone wanting to see what one person can do when they’re willing to just follow their dreams. The area of Satyon is in the mountains, the foothills of the Himalaya, just north of Dehradun. The city has been known since the British Raj as a center of learning. Many famous Indians have gone to school in this city. Pooja is working to bring this high level of education to the local people. The community has been extremely responsive and many on the staff are locals. She is connecting many worlds with her work. Volunteers bring their skills, including English. Undeniably, English fluency is very important in the global world. Even in India it is hard to get a job without speaking English. Pooja has gone to the extreme in hospitality for her volunteers. It was the most comfortable place to stay of my travels. She provides all the amenities that we feel are necessary in the West; hot/clean water, good food and individual rooms for the volunteers. My stay with Pooja was a highlight of my trip. I got to experience the life in an Indian family and village. I was able to teach English and invariably learn so much more than I was able to impart. I’ve made lifelong friends in Pooja and the Town School team. Town School is a project that is working to make the world a little bit better for everyone. The opportunity for people to come and teach, see life in the Indian hills and to make new friends is wonderful. The education is amazing. Seeing the kids when I went back and visited, to see how well they understood English in only eight months just proves that with a dream, passion and the heart to change anything can be done. Smiles can’t be empirically measured, but my smile mirrored the children’s expansive gleam when I went back to visit.

This piece I wrote for the Daily Tidings, it was in Letters to the Editor on January 5th. Since my return to the states from India and Nepal many people have asked me to sum up my experience. “What was the highlight of your trip?” or “What did you learn during your travels?” Often times people ask me to sum it all up in a short amount of time. This just compounds the difficulty of expressing myself. Trying to tell my stories has been so enjoyable, seeing how I respond and react to people’s questions. A theme has emerged from the many conversations that I’ve had: Gratitude. Coming back to Ashland, The Valley, Southern Oregon, the Northwest and the USA has deepened my appreciation and gratitude. This place is a sanctuary, an intentional community in all definitions because people have come to this place to live out of choice. There are so many reasons to love Ashland, without listing them myself because I’m sure everyone can think of so many, I would just like to say thank you. Thanks to everyone who is dreaming, who is working to make the world a better place consciously or unconsciously. I’m so thankful to everyone who has made Ashland and the surrounding area their home. The people who have made this place the beautiful way that it is. Gratitude is a lesson that I’ve learned while traveling, to be thankful for all that there is. So thank you and happy New Year. May this year be filled with love, joy, gratitude and blessings for all.