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March 5 - Farewell

Amritsar
On my way back to Delhi, I stopped twice to met again with District Secretary Upkar Sethi in Amritsar, and District Governor Mohan Sachdeva in Jalandhar. This was an opportunity to have the matching grant paperwork signed by the District Governor.

In Amritsar, I went to see the Golden Temple. This is the Holy place of the Sikh religion. Upkar Sethi is Sikh, so he gave me a guided tour with lots of details on his religion. This was very educative. The golden temple is a gorgeous piece of art, and it also has some marble inlay work, like the Taj Mahal. Because it is smaller, the workmanship is even finer. It was built roughly at the same period, in the 16th century.

Farewell
My goal in publishing these pages has been to inspire some others to dedicate some time to helping others. The good work Rotary is doing worldwide is not well known, by non-Rotarians, and also by some Rotarians. Being able to show it in words, pictures, and video will help to spread the message that the world is in need of plenty of help. And there are plenty of personal rewards to helping others. This can be a wonderful experience for yourself also. Feel free to contact me for comments or questions. My email address is Philippe@Lamoise.net.

Summary
While I was in India, I trained the monks at the Namgyal Monastery in computer video editing. I also trained the local people in Dharamshala in basic use of computers, email and the Internet. I worked with the Rotarians of Dharamshala to create a matching grant project to provide a computer vocational center to the community. We also got started on another project to provide low cost shelter to some very poor people near Dharamshala; this will probably be done next year. I made lots of new friends and I will stay in contact with them to do more projects in the next few years.

What's next?
I will publish a CD-ROM version of these pages, with all the pictures (over 700). I will sell this CD-ROM and the proceeds will go to the Rotary Foundation. Send me an email if you would like to purchase it.

My next trip will be to Malawi, Uganda and Kenya from March 21 to April 23, 2003. Parts of this experience will also be published on this website.

Many Thanks
I will never say it enough, the hospitality here in India has been outstanding. I have many people to thank for the wonderful experience here in India:

Rtn VS Parmar, past-president of the Dharamshala Rotary Club; Rtn Arun Puri, current president of the Dharamshala Rotary Club; Rtn Vijay Sharma, assistant governor; District Governor Mohan Singh Sachdeva; District Secretary Upkar Sethi; District Governor Nominee Dr. Beena Misra; Rtn Sarika Singh; Rtn K.C. Soni; Rtn Raj Sharma; Lobsang Rabsel, coordinator for volunteertibet.org; Tsering Dorjee Bawa, from TIPA; Rtn Halinder Chauban, president of the Kandra Rotary Club; Rtn Yogesh Gupta, secretary of the Kandra Rotary Club; Rtn Dianne Aigaki, new member of the Dharamshala Rotary Club; Mickey, from Mickey Travel...

And outside India, thanks to Rtn Dory Beatrice who initiated the contact with the Rotarians in Dharamshala, and thanks to the Rotary Foundation, for the Rotary Volunteer program that funded part of my trip.