It’s a beautiful feeling when dreams begin to look real. This week, I spent many “two-hours” smiling to myself just thinking about and experiencing everything that was unfolding around me.
The first round of recruitment of visually impaired guides at the first Dialogue in the Dark centre in India got off to a flying start. The quality of candidates and the enthusiasm that I could feel from the team even though I was many hundred miles away from the scene of action has made me all excited and looking forward to the grand opening in November, 2010. I have often been asked about what’s so special about this exhibition that has made it survive the test of time and impact the millions that it has. I guess it has got to do with the fact that it’s not just about giving the disabled just another job or telling the sighted what it is to be blind. It has got to do with empowerment and respect for the other through a role reversal in a setting that is not preachy and contrived. I have seen the impact this programme has had in many countries where the blind are relatively well taken care of by the state, and I am filled with nervous optimism on what it can do in a country like India. Watch out this space for more updates!
I wrote sometime back about the status of palliative care in the world and how community-driven initiatives like the one run by the Pain and Palliative Care Society in Kerala can be a role model. The EIU report on this subject seems to have generated quite a bit of buzz and spurred an enthusiastic cartoonist to let pictures do the talking. Sometimes, pictures really do the talking, don’t they? http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13338&id=109063229135563.
Inspired by some of the work that organisations like The Blue Yonder, Ecosphere, Help Tourism, etc. have done for the revival of economy through supporting local community initiatives, I really have come to believe that tourism in many ways can be a change maker in bringing about a paradigm shift in the average citizen of the world by making them more aware on how one can really contribute real time to making the world a better place to live. And it was a blissful day long crash course I had this weekend when the members of Green Circuit, an alliance of a few committed responsible tourism leaders across the Indian sub-continent shared their stories and experiences of how one can bring about sustainable change in remote areas while preserving the local culture and heritage through tourism. A real case study in measuring social impact that has been possible through commercial ventures, and involvement of local communities.