My life was relatively peaceful and uncomplicated running a vacation rental business in the mountains of Colorado and enjoying my eight grandchildren. And then one day I found myself face to face with

The Untouchables of India have been the most widely oppressed people group for more than three thousand years. They comprise nearly 1/4 of the total population, a massive 250 million men, women, and children. They are considered the "outcasts" of Indian society - the "untouchables", those the Hindu scriptures call the "unborn" - translated: it would be better if they had never been born.
read more...

I asked, how can I help? What is the most immediate need? The untouchables themselves answered my question with, please, please can you educate our children.
read more...

Shimoga Village is a small settlement in the Shimoga District of the state of Karnataka. The settlement has a total population of 10,600 people. 90% of this population are untouchables. The entire settlement lives in poverty. The living conditions of the people are extremely low. They live in huts made of straw, mud and tarpaulin. Running water is difficult to find; drinking water is not available.

Both children and adults suffer from chronic disease because of a lack of adequate

nutrition and the consumption of contaminated drinking water. 90% of the children under the age of 18 have never been to school.

Each Shimoga child must be sponsored to be able to attend the school. Just $28 a month gives an untouchable child a quality English medium education built on high academic standards and a world view based on human dignity and self-worth from passionate, qualified teachers.
read more...

We want to start educating the children while they are still young, before they grow up to believe what 3,000 years of caste oppression tells them - that they can't be anything.