Longitude Blog

As a new member of the Longitude team, I took the opportunity to travel to India to meet Ravi Kumar and the rest of the ARV staff.

Days at the office include numerous phone calls from the villagers, government officers, and volunteers. In the office, reports on current projects are completed and new endeavours and discussed.

There is always much activity in the office, with 5 ARV staff members there on a daily basis.

When the PROFESA Academy opened the doors to its new building in January of 2009, students were thrilled with the gorgeous classrooms and spacious computer lab.  

However, due to a lack of funds the students had to go without desks for the next 18 months.

I am so glad that I have been able to meet so many past volunteers and new volunteers in Japan. I am indeed grateful all the past volunteers whom I met in Japan like Annie, Vishal, Sadaf, Nancy, Jonny, Duncan, Matthew, Clair, Yi Hua, Melissa, JoAnn, Erin, Meghan, and Masayo, for their involvement during my visit in Japan. We had a wonderful time recollecting all our experiences with the Dalit communities in KI, GP and Chevuru villages.

When we were preparing for Ravi’s trip, our goals were to help Ravi spread his message and expand his volunteer network in Japan. Now though, as we meet more and more people, I realize that there is also great value in what Ravi has been able to observe with his own eyes. Volunteers from Japan have often made suggestions to Ravi about public systems like recycling that they have seen. For the first time, Ravi understands firsthand where we are coming from- this has been an invaluable experience for him.

We are en route to Shiga prefecture now where we have secured an informational meeting with a nature conservation society that works with the largest freshwater lake in Japan, Lake Biwa. I am looking at Ravi right now as he writes thank you notes to the activists and professors we’ve met so far and still can’t get over the fact that he is here, on the shinkansen, eating an onigiri (Japanese rice ball) in a Uniqlo y-shirt that Jonathan picked out for him the other day.

Just like Ravi, I'm not accustomed to being in a big city like Tokyo; I've spent the past two years in rural Japan in a village of 10,000 people. Here, I feel as though we are constantly moving from a train to a subway to a light rail, with only brief glimpses of towering skyscrapers before being shuttled along underground.

For the past few months I have been going over the many differences between Japan and India and wondering how Ravi will react to things like the Japanese trash system and umeboshi (really sour pickled plums). I haven't been able to sleep or eat for the past few days because I am so excited to see him here!

Ravi has shown us such wonderful hospitality in India and Jonathan and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to return the favor here in Japan.

Even though it was hot, it ended up being a wonderful day from beginning to end. As the day went on the games got better and better with a few going into extra innings. We'd like to thank all 60 players who participated this year. Congratulations to our tournament champions, team Pelletier & Mirza LLP. They defeated Team New England in a game that ended under the lights. Tom Mirza was named MVP of the final game after leading his team too victory by driving in four runs.

The founder of the Indian grassroots agency ARV, Ravi Kumar, will be traveling to Japan to complete a 2-week long speaking tour. Both ARV and Longitude feel this is a great opportunity to build new partnerships, meet potential donors, expand the Japan-based volunteer network, and increase awareness of Dalit issues. Ravi is scheduled to visit both Osaka and Tokyo in efforts to further develop ARV’s capacity through these speaking events. Past volunteers have already collaborated to generously provide the plane ticket for Ravi’s flight to Japan.

On a recent hot June night in Central Falls, RI the Ghana Association of Rhode Island hosted its first ever Kente Cloth Celebration and Longitude was a featured guest. Board member Kwaku Afful and Longitude President Shawn Rubin were in attendance to dance and celebrate, but first there was an important presentation from GAORI president Kwasi Asante.