Sullurpet Bird Sanctuary

I have just received word that our last stop in India prior to the train trip back to Hyderbad as we head home, will be a village called Sullurpet. This village has a bird sanctuary that I have been told the Rotarians in that area will be sure we get a chance to visit. In the photos sent me there are flamingos, kingfisher, and pelicans as well as many other species. This particular stop should be of great interest to team member Chris Egan as his job involves preserving animal habitats and lands placed into trust for this type of use.

Nellore schedule confirmed

I just received this schedule from our hosts in Nellore today. Watch for us. We only have 3 and a half days till departure! Here you can catch a glimpse of the "vocational Days" that are being organized for the team.

23-Jan-2008

2.00 P.M.
RECEIVING THE TEAM AT Rtn. PHF. D.S.REDDY’s RESIDENCE AND SENDING THEM ALONG WITH THEIR HOSTS. FREE TIME WITH HOST FAMILIES.
(Time may change as the team comes from Ananthapur by Road)


24-Jan-2008 (VOCATIONAL DAY)
9.00 A.M. to 10.00 A.M.
BREAKFAST WITH VOMMINA’s FAMILY(for GSE Team only, hosted by Rtn. PHF. Vommina Subrahmanyam)
(All hosts are advised to bring the team members to Vommina’s residence, santhapet by 9.00a.m.)

10.30 A.M. to 12.30 P.M.
VOCATIONAL VISITS
CHERIE BINNS WILL BE TAKEN TO NARAYANA MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL BY PDG D.BHARATH KUMAR REDDY

CHRISTOPHER EGAN WILL BE TAKEN TO VARIOUS REAL ESTATE VENTURES BY Rtn. PHF. P.SRINIVASULU REDDY

REBECCA JOHNSON WILL BE TAKEN TO A.C.N.NEWS CENTRE BY Rtn. Y.JAGANNADHAM

MEGAN SOKOLOWSKI WILL BE TAKEN TO NARTHAKI MOVIE THEATRE BY Rtn. PHF. S.SIVAKUMAR REDDY & Rtn. PHF. M.SANATH KUMAR REDDY

REGINA DE ANGELO WILL BE TAKEN TO S.R.K.SCHOOL BY Rtn. KRISHNAMURTHY

1.00 P.M. to 2.00 P.M.
LUNCH AT WANGS KITCHEN (for GSE Team only, hosted by all hosts of GSE Team)
(All hosts are advised to join the team at Wangs Kitchen by 1.00p.m.)

2.00 P.M. to 6.00 P.M.
REST

6.00 P.M. to 7.00 P.M.
VISIT TO ROTARY HOSPITALS
(All hosts are advised to bring the team members to Rotary Auditorium by 6.00p.m.)

7.00 P.M. to 8.30 P.M.
CLUB MEETING & TEAM PRESENTATION
DINNER TO ALL MEMBERS SPONSORED BY Rtn. PHF. V.V.KRISHNA REDDY

25-Jan-2008

REST DAY

26-Jan-2008
9.00 A.M.
HANDING OVER THE TEAM TO ROTARY CLUB – NELLORE SOUTH
(All hosts are advised to drop the team members at Rotary Auditorium by 9.00a.m. after breakfast.)

One of our hosts

I'd like to take a few minutes to introduce you all to Bharath Reddy, Past District Governor of District 3160 in India and most recent GSE team leader from that District to District 6060 in Missouri this past April. Bharath has been a Rotarian for the past 23 years and has served in many roles on both the Club and District, now International Levels. He is married with 2 adult children (both software engineers) and his 87 year old father lives with him and his family in a house that has been in the family for over a hundred years. Bharath has given permission to share excerpts from his emails to me (he will be my host in Nellore from 23 January through 27 January) as well as photos of his home and his team. The photo at the beginning of this post is the team (Bharath in the gold stole) at District Conference in Missorui this past Spring.

This is the home I will be staying in when we reach Nellore. It has been in Barath's family for more than a hundred years.

Bharath's family has been rice farmers for generations. This photo was taken at the beginning of December 2007 a week after the new plantings of rice seedlings.

Introducing the Team

Here is a brief introduction of the Team:

Cherie....GSE Team Leader. Rotarian in District 7950 Wakefield Rotary Club 6703 since October of 2003. Classification Health Care Advocacy. Serves as Foundation Chair for the Club, on International and Charitable Committees as well as Scholarship selection committee and Balloon Festival Committee.

Rebecca: GSE Team MemberAssignment Manager the News Desk at WPRI television in Providence, RI...an affiliate of CBS News and Fox news. Rebecca works with a team of editors, producers, photographers and reporters to get the breaking news out to the public in a timely fashion.She likes photography, cycling, reading and attending local festivals.

Chris is a transplant to the Island of Martha's Vineyard , 6 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, from New Hampshire. He made the move in 1994 and manages the non-profit trust called The Trustees of Reservations for the State of Massachusetts in their land holdings on the Vineyard. As such, he is responsible for oversight of the recreational use and preservation of the holdings of this trust.He is an avid hiker and snowboarder in his free time and spends quality time with his dog Pete.

Megan also lives on Martha's Vineyard and recently went to work for a Web Developer on the Island. Recently, she and her two roommates took a 4 day hike around the enore Island covering the 65 miles of coastline on foot. Her interests include reading, music, hiking, writing and she is learning to cook.

Regina spent 27 months in the Peace Corps in Ghana in the late 90s as an Instructional Technologist. Haling from Philadelphia, she accepted a position at Yale University upon returning to the States as their Instructional Technologist and worked there for 5 years. Recently, she and her partner Scott bought a real "fixer-upper" near the southern shore of RI and she accepted an IT position at Brown University where she is a resource to Faculty.Regina is a budding artist, writer and is learning first hand how to be a handy-person homeowner. She and Scott own a deisel Mercedes that they have converted to run on used vegetable oil.
11:47:00 AM

The following locations are listed on the potential itinerary for the 2008 GSE team from District 7950 USA to District 3160 India. Not all of these places will necessarily be able to be visited but here are some links to those that might be on our schedule so you may have the chance to familiarize yourself with sites, customs, geography, economy, etc.

Raichur: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raichur_District

Bidar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidar

Gulbarga: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulbarga

Adoni: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoni

JVSL: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Vijayanagar%2c+Bangalore


http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Vijayanagar

Hampi (while in JVSL): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampi

Davangere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davanagere

Chitradura: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitradura

Anantapur: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anantapur

Kurnool: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurnool

Nellore: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellore_district


Hyderabad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad%2C_India

Bangalore: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore

Introduction to the GSE TEAM

We came together as an unrelated group of five individuals in the Fall of 2007 for the purpose of becoming a Team who would travel to, explore, learn about culture and business and economics in a brief month in Southern India in January 2008.

The team consistes of Cherie C. Binns, RN BS MSCN, a health care advocate from Southeastern Rhode Island and the only Rotarian on the Team. Regina DeAngelo, after serving in Ghana in the Peace Corps, returned to CT and worked as an Instructional Technologist for five years at Yale before taking the same position at Brown University a year ago. Christopher Egan manages the land trusts and reservations for the State of MA in Martha's Vineyard while, Megan Sokolowski, also from the Vineyard is a web developer for a small private firm on the Island. Rebecca Johnson manages the news desk at WPRI television a CBS and Fox News affiliate.

This group of five will travel to Hyderabad, India on January 2-4, attend the Rotary District Conference on the 5th and 6th then are off for two to three days at a time to different cities, towns, villages and historical and cultural sites to see how their professions are practiced in India and to see how Rotary International's programs worldwide are working to address world hunger, fighting polio, addressing Literacy needs and providing safe drinking water for a population in need of all of these.

Rotary International has been doing GSE team exchanges now since the late 1960s and these involve sending a team, as described above, to another Rotary Districts in another parts of the world for a month then that part of the world sending a similar team to the initial region for a month shortly after the first team has returned home.
For more information on Rotary programs go to http://www.rotary.org/

We will attempt to update this site with photos and diaries of our experiences as the trip progresses between January 2 and February 1, 2008