India Q&A: Funding for Housing Projects and Uncaste India Campaign
May 15th, 2009 | Published in India, Longitude, Volunteer
Hello to all Longitude supporters.
The subsequent posts represent a Q and A session extending from the request I made to our supporters before my April 09 Evaluation Expedition I made to our project sites in India. There are some very good questions, and I tried to give as much detail as possible to help illustrate the need the Dalit face and the working solutions Longitude and ARV have come up with so far.
Please read over then posts here and above, and let me know if you have any further questions. I will do my best to find the answers to them. Many thanks for you support!
Q. Is the money from each volunteer expedition included in the total funding target of US$12,000 needed for the Longitude Uncaste India Campaign?
A. No, each volunteer expedition and the volunteers on the respective crews fund raise exclusively for their work camps. That is, the donations they raise (for example the May 09 crew: www.golongitude.org/www/JET_May_2009.html) go towards the building materials necessary to construct the family homes in Gummallapadu Village during their work camp.
At this point, one family home costs US$375 for Longitude to build in Gummallapadu Village. Before my visit to the village, we had contracted to build 84 homes. I learned from Ravi that the government intended to release land for another 20 or so houses in the near future, bringing our commitment to well over 100 houses in Gummallapadu Village.
The Longitude Uncaste India Campaign is funded separately from the building work camps our volunteers attend. Anyone wishing to learn more and to support our efforts to Uncaste India can join us at: www.golongitude.org/www/Uncaste_India.html.
While the house building work camps are an integral part of the Longitude Uncaste India Campaign, they are large enough sub-projects that separate fund raising is necessary. All funds raised by volunteer crews go towards the building process. All funds raised for the Uncaste India campaign are allocated according to ARV’s an Ravi’s recommendations of best use towards Dalit Survival, Empowerment and Equality.
Thank you for your support!
Wandanamuru!!!
Rick Mickelson
Longitude Director of International Volunteering
volunteer[at]golongitude.org
