Departure from Bombay was slow. Poverty, dirt and exhaust fumes. Hot and much to see, take in, comprehend and digest. A multitude of people and cars as well as an unpleasant odour. We were prepared for that but the traffic was too chaotic. We were uncertain whether traffic was right- hand or left- hand. Eventually we understood that left-hand traffic applied (or dominated).

We travelled to India to visit TUFF`s projects in Dharampur with all the schools, wells, dams and mango tree plantations in which TUFF through the years has been involved. TUFF`s partner in India is VPSS (Vedchhi Pradesh Seva Samiti), an organization that works on development in the impoverished mountain area Dharampur, population of around 200,000 (tribals). Bhikhu and Kokila Vyas are responsible for the project.

Following a brief visit to Kokila’s home in Bilpudi we travelled to Tamachhadi, the school where we were to sleep the first nights. The way in through the gates and up to the buildings was bordered with planted flowers including blue bougainvillea in full bloom. Many of the school buildings were beautifully embellished with paintings by one of the pupils. The school was very prettily situated, high on a ridge with the now virtually dried up river below and wooded hills on the other side. White birds that could have been doves of peace soared over the valley and the atmosphere was very peaceful. The contrast with what we had seen in Bombay was vivid.

After we had unpacked and changed clothes we went round to greet children and personnel. 95 children board in this junior school and 90 in the nearby senior school. In addition to school work they also prepare food, bake as well as carrying out cleaning and laundering. The children's dormitories are used for some of the lessons. They seemed dark and cold and it was therefore pleasing to learn that some lessons were held outdoors. There were no benches and the children had a small mat to sit on instead of directly on the cold stone floor.

The next day we went down to the senior school where pupils sat on small cushions and sang for us when we arrived. We were also given the opportunity to see the school's vegetable gardens and mango trees, which appeared to have been planted recently. This school had also built a compost which they were proud to show us.

In the afternoon we travelled with Bhikhu in "Tempo" (a jeep) to look at "soil bunding". Terraces are constructed to prevent the soil from being washed away. The terraces are utilized for cultivation. Dams are also built to retain the water and during our tour we also saw diesel pumps that significantly facilitate irrigation. The area is undulating. And it is hard toil for those families who have yet to receive help with pumps, dams or wells . We could see people who toiled in the heat to make life more tolerable. Women bearing urns with water on their heads. Men who did this on motor cycles, people who washed themselves and their clothes in the little water that remained in the well, or by the roadside.

After two marvellous days in Tamachhadi it was time for the next school Virakshetra in the Kaprada district. We travelled together with Bhikhu and his colleague Ladak along a rather poor, at times non-existent road. We stopped several times to look at cultivations, wells and terracing.

During our journey they showed us several impressive wells, dams and cultivations. Once again we came in close contact with people who worked hard in building terraces in order to create new soil and to improve water supply by building dams, so called check dams. To prevent the wells from running dry during the dry season they build a simple dam with stones and earth situated on the slope above the well. A reminder of terraces that are built filled not with soil but with rainwater thereby preventing the well from running dry.

We met many proud and happy villagers. Wherever we came we drew great attention. The really small children looked and also were really scared. Many smiled at us, many simply stared. But all were interested.

In those places where water availability is good there are plantations with inter alia melons, pumpkins, carrots, tomatoes, aubergines and various bean types. We also saw much larger and more mango trees than those we had seen in Tamachhadi. The improved water availability facilitates two harvests per year, which gives the villagers a better basis for dealing with isolation during the monsoon rains.

We were invited to lunch at the school. Really excellent food and youngsters who sang and danced for us, something that would be repeated at every school we visited and which we appreciated deeply. There was a problem in that we too were expected to sing but we always succeeded in dodging out. Following an all too brief visit and with lots of children waving goodbye we resumed our journey to the next school, Chandvegan, where we were to sleep.

This school too is beautifully situated. Plateaus surrounded by hillocks in which the newly created cultivations begin to take shape. A little river winds its way through the countryside. The school is virtually encircled by the river which, according to Bhikhu, never runs dry. A landscape ideal for hiking.

We also talked about how incredibly beautiful the landscape must be following the monsoon rain when all the streams are full and when the greenery is at its prettiest. Here we were also able to see papaya and cashew trees as well as enormous mango trees that call for later visits during harvest time.

The night was cold. Chandvegan lies much higher than Tamachhadi. In the evening Bhikhu suggested a promenade in the pretty moonlight and this was something really fantastic. The road-less plateau when we walked seemed to be snow-covered. The trees also appeared to have a light covering of snow. Prettier than a Christmas card.

On Sunday the children had no lessons but they certainly were not free. The boys scoured themselves as well as their clothes in the cold river water. The week's clothes hung drying in the wind. It was a day when they should do everything that they had not managed to do during the past week and to our great pleasure we also saw children who were at play. Sometimes, however, we had a feeling that everything here was a game, something we are not used to seeing. Children who bake, laundered, clean and do whatever but nevertheless seem so very happy.

This school has Robert Library in memory of TUFF member Robert Stieger.

Our journey proceeded to Bilpudi where Kokila lives and the recently opened girls` hostel is located. Here come girls from remote villages where they are unable to receive training at senior level, 11th and 12th grades [Gymnasium]. They live in the girls` hostel and go to school in Dharampur. They all take turns to bake, prepare food, to wash up, to clean and they appear to thrive really well. Just now there are 25 girls but in autumn the number is expected to be twice as many. New hostels are planned, for boys too. The financing of new hostels is shared by those donors who earlier had financed the girls` hostel in Bilpudi.

Bilpudi will be a centre for conferences, meetings, visitors and for the administration of schools in Dharampur and Kaprada, as well as the centre for the social life of the village. Here also is the Mobile Van that functions as a well-equipped, mobile teaching-aids library with wall charts and materials for experiments, games and books that are made use of when the van travels round to various schools.

We were given the opportunity to travel with the van for a day and in the company of two special teachers we visited two communal schools. We were really well received at the first school where we were guided round and shown various classrooms. It was much shabbier here compared with the other schools we had seen. The children were much livelier and when the bell rang for a break hordes of children ran out into to school yard in the attempt to be first to the swings, slides and climbing frames. The only school we saw that had play equipment for children!

The second school we visited was founded a long time ago by Bhikhu and Kokila and was a boarding school. It was rather shabby and lacked the pretty flowers to be found in all TUFF schools. However, there was an old TUFF well. The heat was stifling and our wait for the car that was to take us to Valod seemed never-ending.

In Valod we stayed in TUFF Friendship House which, in our opinion, after many years of use, needs refurbishing and made more congenial. Bhikuh’s closest colleague Shaik looked after us . He invited us to dinner in his nice home with his family. His wife had prepared delightful food including chicken and meat balls – a pleasant change from the vegetarian food.

Aided by Shaik and Kokila we purchased pretty silver trinkets that we will sell at TUFF’ s bookstall in Tyreso.

One morning we travelled with Shaik to Kasturba Ashram, the school where he works and where Kokila was headmaster for many years. It was the first school to be sponsored by TUFF. It is a large school with both junior and intermediate levels and there is also a Primary Teachers Course (PTC). The 100 or so girls who study there are able to practice in this school as well as in the adjacent state school.

We were welcomed and sat like royalty on a dais and were all given a delightful little bouquet and we felt highly honoured. Some of the girls were very curious and inquisitive, whereas others appeared not to understand much English and probably did not either. They wanted to know "everything" about Sweden – history, culture, climate, food, education etc and we answered to the best of our ability.

There were two girls in particular who were very inquisitive. One of them, Hetel, became our guide. Hetel is very charming, pretty, lively and has a very attractive body language, completely different to those girls we had met earlier. She talked incessantly and consequently was nicknamed Speech. Sangita, the other of the two, was a complete contrast to Hetel. Serious, burning with curiosity and, like Hetel, her English was very good. She knew much about different flowers and animals that they worshipped and adored. And also about respect for everything living. Sangita came from a small. poor village. It would be highly interesting to return someday to see how two so different personalities have developed as teachers. This school was big, the largest we had seen, but it had a quiet, friendly atmosphere that was very pleasing. More more than 100 persons could speak decent English.

We ate lunch at the school and it was one of the best meals we had enjoyed. Newly baked bread. nourishing spiced soup in a little bowl, mixed salad, two different vegetable courses that were suitably spiced, followed by rice. One eats with the right hand from tin plates. We were also given a spoon, an aid for we westerners who have difficulty in coping without cutlery, in particular as regards soup. The school also possesses a well equipped data classroom. Just outside the school grounds lies a small shop with a very limited selection, e.g. biscuits and confectionary.

The schools visited earlier functioned so that in the daytime rooms served as classrooms and at night mattresses or blankets were laid down on the floor and the rooms became dormitories. Boys and girls slept in separate dormitories. At the PTC there were real beds with mattresses and lamps and 100 girls in each dormitory. When we asked how they could sleep, from the answer we understood that one did not sleep so much because there was so much to talk about, to giggle and laugh at.

After lunch we were guided around outdoors to see the spice cultivations belonging to the school as well as the adjacent and vast sugar plantations. We also paid a visit to the adjoining communal school for lower aged children. As at all the other schools we were welcomed by all the children standing up to greet us with song.

Jaipur
Following a fantastic time in Dharampur and Valod we flew to Jaipur in Rajastahn, known as the "Pink City". We requested our taxi driver to take us to an hotel and we were driven to a fantastic, old maharaja palace converted into an hotel, precisely that which Bitte had dreamt of. So expensive!. Nevertheless, we decided to stay and were given a suite with an enormous bathroom. It was so luxurious!

Jaipur is a big city with over 3 million inhabitants and is called the Pink City because, during the great mogul's era, houses in the old city were painted pink to give the impression that they were built with red sandstone. City Palace lies inside the walls of the old city. This house has among other things the two silver containers that the maharajah filled with water from the Ganges and took with him when he visited England in 1902. But the most beautiful of all was Amber Fort, situated outside the city, with its beautiful buildings, temples and halls with beautiful mosaic all full of riches and works of art.

Arriving in Jaipur one encounters crowds and traffic chaos, exhaust fumes and poverty. Jaipur is the principal city in Rajastahn with large numbers of unemployed immigrants and the contrast between the beautiful palaces and the lives of the impoverished is vivid. Stalls line the very congested streets of the bazaar where one can buy almost anything .

We left Jaipur one early morning by rail to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. A rail journey in India is an adventure and to catch the right train, the right carriage and find our seats was an experience. It was cold outside and it grew worse on the train because it was not possible to close all the windows securely and wind blew right through the carriage. We wrapped ourselves as best we could in old newspapers that we found on the floor and in our thin summer jackets and mittens. Fortunately, we were able to purchase coffee, tea and sandwiches with omelettes so we experienced no great discomfort.

Taj Mahal
This must be the world's most magnificent mausoleum. It is incredibly beautiful. It was the mogul ruler Shah Jahan who had this beautiful shrine built for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died when giving birth to their fourteenth child. The mausoleum was built 1632 – 1648 from sand, limestone and brick covered with marble and semi-precious stones. The shrine also has four minarets that incline slightly outwards so that in the event of an earthquake they will not collapse on the shrine. When we had toured and admired the building and departed through the gate we encountered horse-drawn cabs, camels, cycle taxis, rickshaws and SALESMEN who would not take "no" for an answer.

We also visited Itmad Ud Daulah mausoleum (Baby Tai). It was the grandfather of Mumtaz who had this shrine built. This too is very beautiful although not as large as the Taj Mahal.

Agra
We travelled to the Red Fort situated just outside Agra. This was built in the 12^th century and rebuilt in the mid-16^th century by Akbar the Great when he appointed Agra his capital city. It was here that Shah Jahan was imprisoned for the last years of his life by his son who had seized power. It is a truly magnificent edifice of red sandstone exquisitely decorated with marble and semi-precious stones.

In Agra the manager of our hotel invited us to his home. It was an unusual experience as he said that his daughters were keen to talk English with us. The one daughter did not say much and we met the other one only briefly. The manager telephoned his father who came and dined with us. The family was Christian and we were served chicken. The father was an elderly gentleman and very pleasant company. He gave us information mainly about social and economic matters and he spoke excellent English.

We departed from an icy-cold Agra to a warm Bombay where Rajesh was waiting at the airport. We travelled out to Vile Parle East, a delightful and peaceful area close to both sea and airport, so the automobile journey passed quickly. Rajesh had booked us into the Rama Krishna hotel, a very charming hotel far removed from poverty and tourism.

Rajesh was all kindness and very anxious that we should be happy and enjoy our stay. We just mentioned that we would like to enjoy some fruit when he said "Well, we`ll go out and buy some". And he also paid for it before we even had asked the price of it. Initially we found this generosity embarrassing but we resolved not to be obstinate but instead thankful for the hospitality shown to us. We purchased or rather he purchased inexpensive bracelets which we intend to sell via TUFF`s bookstall. Rajesh said that his firm could purchase at a much cheaper price and send to Sweden. However, in significantly larger quantities!

We also paid a brief visit to his office and were greatly impressed by the fact that desks were so clear and tidy. No piles of paper anywhere! "We have computers" replied Rajesh in response to our question. Another very striking matter in our opinion was the fact that the computers were placed under the desks which were furnished with glass tops. A very ingenious solution, much easier on the neck when compared with what we have.

In the evening Rajesh invited us to an exquisite and expensive dinner at the hotel and so it continued during our stay in Bombay. We had at long last met Rajesh Shah, a person about who we had heard so much positive. The other person we were so eager to meet was Bhavna Shah.

We were to meet Rajesh on several occasions and he spoke readily of his friendship and admiration for Bhikhu and Kokila and also of the future regarding Dharampur and of his walking tours in Dharampur. He had wandered from village to village to meet the people and learn about their living conditions. When we expressed our desire to meet Bhavna he of course arranged this too.

Both of them are deeply engaged in VPSS’s work in Dharampur and Kaprada. Bhikhu and Kokila both have full confidence in them. They are both prominent, wealthy and self-employed. They consider that the time is now ripe to benefit other, less prosperous people. Bhavna informed us during our meeting that she had considered many NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) without finding any of them suitable . Then she met Bhikhu and Kokila. She had ceased her ordinary employment and studied further to prepare herself for charitable work.

Like Rajesh she is a "Gujarati" but now also lives in Pale and is a great admirer of Kokila. Both Rajesh and Kokila speak with admiration of her and her 30 years of endeavours. They have already worked out a plan to replace Kokila, with five persons each suitable for her/his part of the work. They say that it is impossible to find one successor. "Kokila is so incredibly industrious."

Bhavna also informed us that she had animated educational material so that the children could understand easier and that it was she who had initiated the Library Van. According to her, those who come from poorer villages, have a very limited vocabulary and experience difficulty in communication. Furthermore it is seldom that a common language exists in the school. Sometimes children speak neither Gujarati or Hindi and speak their local tribal language. Isolation does not stimulate development and many, if not the majority of pupils, can neither read nor write. Nor do they have access to radio/television or newspapers. Many do not even know what these are according to Bhavna. She told us that one of the pupils, following a trip to the sea, had taken a bottle filled with sea water to show her mother that it was true, that it was salt, something her mother doubted strongly. Bhavna had also ideas about making work simpler in the villages in Dharampur by outsourcing (the transfer of work in industrial areas to poorer areas.) They, Rajesh and her, will gather a group of teenagers to learn about their dreams and plans for the future and they claimed quite frankly that none of the youngsters wanted to leave Dharampur to seek their fortune in the cities.

For Bhavna, a modern person with her own business in Bombay, it is obvious that Bhikhu and Kokila must have a home page but they don`t want one. They refuse. Their ability to stick to the maxim "Live small, think big" is to be greatly admired, states Bhavna.

After having met both of these dedicated and purposeful persons we are firmly convinced that the projects initiated by TUFF in the l980s and now developed more and more by others will endure. It has been very rewarding to hear them report on future plans for development and enhancement of the projects. Changes are inevitable. Time moves on. Techniques improve and new people make their entry. The old must give way to the new, but it is our hope that the appraisement of Bhikhu and Kokila will have an impact in the future also.

Tyresö 2008-05-20

This was the start of TUFF’s now 37 years’ commitment in India. For many years large amounts of money were gathered in through fund-raising days in schools and by gifts. All of this went to various projects in India. TUFF has fully or partly financed numerous school buildings, furniture to schools, text books, teaching aids and much else.

Wells were dug, health campaigns were run. Each village received playground items, books and clothes. School buildings were erected. Also undertaken were the planting of mango trees, the construction of check dams for artificial irrigation, installation of diesel pumps, oil mills and the erection of mini ashrams.

During the nineties TUFF annually financed simple tuition and light meals plus a set of clothes for around 3000 children of seasonal sugar-cane workers. In 50 or so of their miserable camps a large school tent was erected where one sometimes two young women teachers provided tuition.

Over the years many TUFF members have visited the projects and several persons from India have come to Tyreso and provided information in schools and charity organizations.

In the late nineties TUFF began to concentrate its activities to an impoverished area in the hilly, forested Dharampur, inhabited by over 200,000 tribals. TUFF started collaboration with VPSS (Vedchhi Radesh Seva Samiti), an organization that was already active in Dharampur. Our VPSS contact persons are Bhikhu and Kokila Vyas. There TUFF has financed inter alia six boarding schools with 850 pupils in classes 4/5/6/7. One of the schools also has secondary classes 8/9/10 and is now financed by VPSS.

130 wells have been built and repaired. 210 diesel pumps for irrigation of arable land have been distributed at half price to poor villagers.

1750 hectares have been terraced to prevent soil from being washed away by downpours of rain. 315 dams that gather the water have been built with the help of the villagers. For this they received rice and seed – ( "Food for work").

75,000 mango trees have been distributed to the villages at half the purchase price. 70,000 common forest trees have been planted. In the schools pupils have cultivated 25,000 mango trees which have been given to their parents.

Each year 4,000 bags of vegetable seed have been given away free of charge. By paying only the transport cost 1,000 families have received a pair of buffaloes to help with farming.

The work that was started by TUFF in India 37 years ago  has developed into a major project, Dharampur March. This project is supported regularly by many groups and individuals, not least in Bombay.

The TUFF schools
♥  Two schools are now fully financed by TUFF 
♥ One school is fully financed by VPSS
♥  Three schools by donors mainly in Bombay with some finance
   from  TUFF

Many schools undertake fund-raising days for TUFF´s projects in Dharampur. Prior to the fund-raising days, pupils receive information about the projects and sometimes the schools arrange special "India days". Over the years money from school fund-raising days and from donations given by many people has been sent to India. There it is put to good use and is well administered by our Gandhian partners in India, foremost Bhikhu and Kokila. All money from TUFF´s fund-raising account goes without deductions to the projects in Dharampur.