All of us at Relief Workers International are grieving for the loss and pain the people of Mumbai have suffered. The commuters at the railway station, porters, the staff of the Jewish Center, hotel employees and international travelers, the police were all innocent victims of pointless terror.
The attack came not long after RWI staff had completed another pre-planning expedition to Gujurat to prepare for our upcoming trip.
We have struggled with the issue of what we do next. There were many initial moments of fear and worry, and the thought that we ought to cancel our trip.
For several reasons, we have decided to continue on. As we watched the television coverage, it was impossible not to think about the attack in New York on 9/11 and the attack on Madrid then London.
Terror is like a large boulder thrown into a beautiful still lake. For a while, all you can see is the shockingly unexpected ripples.
For us, it is important to remember the lake the way it was. With the knowledge it can and will return.
We remembered how excited we were on our recent return trip to Gujarat to see the new itinerary take shape, to see the villages we would visit, the places where we planned to host our medical clinics. We remembered all the work we had done in the years before: the schoolchildren we treated, the smiles on their faces when we gave them the gifts of books; the faces of those who, thanks to our Gift of Sight program, could once more see. We looked forward to expanding that work to a new region. Imagining new friends.
For us, there is the challenge of trying to maximize safety in an unsafe world. And we believe the Rann, our ultimate destination, because it is a sparsely populated desert region is far from any form of danger.
Unfortunately, this new world we inhabit, while home to countless acts of kindness, and grace, and heroism is also home to mindless cruelty. It would be a lie to pretend that we can completely guarantee safety.
What we say now is that we will not be stopped. We know first-hand how we are made more whole by the small acts of bringing school supplies to village children; and how the lives of others are transformed by our free medical clinics.
Relief Workers International is more committed than ever to traveling with a purpose.
We hope you can join us as we travel in January to Gujarat, or sign up for one of our other trips later in the year.
Our trips are limited to 12 participants. If you are interested in joining us please let us know soon, as our trips tend to fill up quickly.
The dates of our upcoming trips are:
January 29 through February 9, 2009.
February 27 through March 10, 2009.
Please click on the above dates to view detailed itineraries
Please feel free to write or call 413.329.5876 should you have any questions or if you would simply like to learn more about the trip.
We hope you’ll join us in India this winter.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Alexander Souri
Tags: Gift of Sight, Gujarat, Rann, Relief Workers International, Terror attacks in Mumbai, Travel forward, travel with a purpose, VolunTourism India
