Thursday, October 11

Breakfast at hotel then drive to Mota Fofalia to view Dr. Kiran Patel’s ancestral village and visit the school, hospital and clinic. Return to Vadodara for evening

Today we are going to see Dr. K’s ancestral home and main philanthropic project. On the way to the village a rock shatters our bus window. It breaks into thousands of pieces. Several Indians stop to see what happened and then leave. Cell phone reception is weak. Eventually we get in touch with the school and they send a school bus to pick us up. It is a beautiful day. At least the weather is cooperating.

Despite our late arrival we are greeted with much fan fare and are welcomed by the doctors, teachers and students. It is an impressive campus. The three story school has rebar sprouting out of the tops of the support columns. I’m told it is because they expect to continue expanding. We are treated to a long school program by the students and a tour of the campus. The students are charged a nominal fee for attendance in order to reinforce the value of education to the children’s families. The Patels come to life in the village telling stories about the school and Pallavi tells the story of how she first came to Mota fa Folia. Dr. K takes particular delight in watching everyone climb into ox carts for a tour through the village. Everyone has come out to see us. Dr. K tells us about the toilet project providing sanitary outhouses for many families in the village. We also tour the fisheries project, a large restored pond that fetches some of the best prices in the market for its outstanding fish. This provides substantial income for the village. The hospital tour is tomorrow.