A Change of Plans...pack your bags, this calls for a site visit to the villages!

What I thought would be a regular morning walk around the city became one of the best ways I spent my morning. Instead of a jog, our journey turned into a hike reaching 850 meters above ground and instead of around the city, we saw the city at bird's-eye view.

Through 40 minutes of steep, winding pathways, viewing exquisite scenery, and seeing a pack of peacocks, we met the Neemuch Mata Temple at the top of our hiking destination. This shrine was dedicated to the Shree Nimcha Mata, a clan Goddess for a royal family here. Needless to say that this was a tranquil moment...something that I inevitably needed to balance-off the adventures that have kept me on my toes.

I am having a thrill ride with Indian food. As a native of Indonesia and growing up in southern Louisiana, I had my fair share of spicy, unconventional dishes. I have to say nothing can compare to Rajasthan cuisine. Almost all of the families here are purely vegetarian, but that did not limit the range of flavor in each dish.

My host family ate all of their meals with chapathi, what we would

relate to as tortilla bread, fresh off the cooking pan. We usually dipped that into dul (stripped dried lentil in a spicy, thick stew). With it we ate fried okra, seasoned potatoes, or other vegetables.

Even fruits commonly found at your local Wal-Mart are much more robust in taste here. The mango shake is definitely my favorite. Imagine the most ripe mango turned into a smooth, extra thick liquid of pure heaven.

Since the start of this experience I encouraged myself to be as flexible as possible, knowing that almost every aspect of Udaipur (from the customs, to the food, to social interactions, the aura of this city, and everything in between) could transform into a learning experience...but even this took me off guard.

After much research and debate, I've decided to change my project from livelihoods through ginger cultivation to water purification and hygiene. Several factors played into this decision:

1.) Water plays an essential role in the health and growth of a developing community

2.) An 10-week intern who previously worked at RBKS started a water purification project and had to leave it incomplete

3.) For the NGO and well-being of these communities - perfecting and officially establishing a training program for water purification is much more sustainable than undertaking a completely new project and have the likely risk of leaving it incomplete

I've chosen to stay overnight at two villages (which are my focal communities) - Parevi and Kharadiya. Parevi consisted of about 80 families while Kharadiya held around 400. After reading her final reports and others on this topic, I will be using tomorrow to observe the demographics and record my findings on these specific villages.

My supervisor informed me that if I can develop a successful program RBKS will utilize my techniques as a blueprint for other villages. Water purification was never attempted by my NGO. If I complete this in a few weeks I can expand my research to target hygiene, a topic directly relatable to water purification. Wish me luck and safe travels! Tomorrow will be a whole new animal, I can feel it.