Margaret Andrews
This weekend we went our separate ways, Stephen and Roseanna to the forest, Ruth and Linda to the cultural centres of Chennai, and I to Kanchipuram to visit the RIDE projects there.
The visit was a great success. Jeyeraj (the founder and director) saw to it that I had a full agenda. I attended a morning meeting of RIDE coordinators and visited the RIDE training centre, with its gardens and many treadle sewing machines. I met in their homes a silk weaver, a sari embroiderer, a paper mache maker and a member of a women’s micro-loan group. In the afternoon we drove to a brick works that used bonded labour.
On the way back, we stopped at a shrine belonging to the driver’s family for a taste of a rural religious festival and at a silk shop that sold no goods made with child labour. Throughout the day I was introduced to members of RIDE’s staff and board of directors.
An added pleasure was socializing with volunteers working at RIDE (an American couple and two Dutch students) and with a young Australian student visiting from a semester-at-sea ship.
Thought for the day: Travel is broadening.
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