I got a ticket to India today, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Gary Lowe and Owen Cortner of Aggies Go Global, NMSU's initiative promoting international learning experience. Starting in June, I'll be volunteering at the Shraddha Rehabilitation Centre near Karjat in the state of Maharashtra. Shraddha is a unique farm that houses homeless men and women with schizophrenia and uses vegetable cultivation and dairy farming as part of the rehabilitative process. The farm, established in 2006 on 6 1/2 acres in the undulating grassy hills of Karjat, can house sixty men and women at any one time. Shraddha has helped more than 1200 men and women struggling with schizophrenia to get off of the roads and ultimately back with their families in far flung villages and towns throughout India. You can check out their website here.Oh, yeah, in Sanskrit, Shraddha (श्रद्धा) means faith.
