India Project

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In 2007, McDaniel Knutson Financial Partners adopted the Indian village of Kanavaipudur. Our goal is to improve their quality of life and help them towards self-sufficience. Below, Wayne McDaniel tells the story of our adoption of the village in his own words.

"For as long as I can remember, I have had a warm spot in my heart for India. Maybe part of it was the mystique. Maybe part of it was compassion for the multitudes of poor, or maybe it is because three of my top heroes are associated with India: Mahatma Gandhi, Sadhu Sundar Singh and Mother Theresa. Whatever the reason, I knew I wanted to do something someday.

"After a lot of thought and prayer, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted our company to adopt a rural village. In my mind, this meant providing a wide array of services, with the purpose of bringing hope and opportunity to people who had little. This included healthcare, education, clean water and sanitation, economic development and spiritual liberation. Of course, I knew this was something we could not accomplish on our own. We needed a partner based in India which did this type of deed.

"I shared this vision with Tom Bassford. Tom’s organization, Significant Matters, exists to connect people who want to help with organizations that do the work. He did some research and brought to my attention a handful of organizations that might be great partners to accomplish my goal. I reviewed them and decided that India Gospel League (http://www.iglworld.org/) looked like they did exactly what I wanted to achieve. So we decided to make a trip to India to check them out firsthand.

"I liked what I saw in India Gospel League (IGL). IGL is an indigenous Indian organization, started and run by native Indians. They offer a broad range of social services targeted specifically to the poor and underdeveloped. In particular, they offer an “Adopt-a-Village” program that fit my objectives almost precisely. IGL is one of only a very small number of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) that India allows to work almost unimpeded.

"In India, we stayed at Salem -- IGL’s base, which is located in Southern India. It is a beautiful facility. On the base, you will find an orphanage (with a couple hundred children), a cancer-treatment center (there are only ten throughout India), a school, a junior college, a job-training center and mobile health van.

"Driving in India was a riot (literally!). We did not drive ourselves but were ferried around. On the roads are cars, trucks, bikes, motorcycles (with up to five passengers), ox-pulled carts, buses, people, cows, etc. They drive as fast as they can until something blocks the way. Then they drive as close as possible to whatever is in front of them, until they see the first glimmer of hope to pass. Then they go for it. More than once I was certain I was going to lose my life!

"While there, we visited a number of villages and a Sri Lankan refugee camp. At every place we visited, the people treated us like kings -- they were so gracious. I was able to talk to the people who ran the programs firsthand and see the fruit of their labors.

"I experienced the love and commitment that the leaders of IGL had for the people. An excellent example is our visit to a gypsy settlement. Gypsies are considered amongst the lowest of castes and continue to wander around India. Many would actually like to settle down, but they are outcasts and generally cannot stay long in an area. In this case, the Gypsies had moved to the edge of a town. An IGL leader met them and began to interact with them. He learned they would like to stay, if at all possible. The leader contacted the government and persuaded it to deed land over to the Gypsies and to drill a freshwater well. IGL built a school and gave the Gypsies micro-loans to help establish businesses. These are people who could never have done these things themselves but, because someone became their advocate, they now have a better life and a brighter future.

"I was also impacted by the overwhelming poverty and filth. This was not my first trip to a Third World country, so I thought I knew what to expect, but I was not prepared for its immense scale. It took me almost a week to be able to look past the poverty and see the people for whom they really are. By the time I left, I knew I had found the right place and the right organization to work with. It was an incredibly rewarding trip."

The Adopt-a-Village Program

While modernization has come to the cities, rural India is still largely underdeveloped. There are government programs, but they are generally ineffective.

For example, most villages have schools, but there might be only one teacher for 150 children. Many of the children must leave school prior to sixth grade to help care for their younger siblings, while the parents go to work in the fields or mines for a dollar a day. The nearest doctor or medical facility may be miles away, and there is no indoor plumbing. Sanitation consists of outdoor latrines and ditches running along the streets. Women are frequently abused and have few rights. The Hindu caste system, while officially outlawed, still defines people’s existence, with only those in the upper castes given opportunity. The vast majority of rural people live in spiritual, economic, and social bondage.

The United Nations has established Seven Millennium Development Goals:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women
Reduce child mortality and improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development

IGL’s “Adopt-a-Village” program is designed to address all of these issues and more. Its goal is to raise up an entire village. The objective is to bring hope and opportunity to people, and IGL has a multi-pronged approach to accomplish this plan.

Their process is first to identify an area of the country in which they want to work. Most of their work is in southern India, but they are expanding in the north. They also identify a Christian pastor with whom they can work. These pastors are independent and must have a good rapport with the village.

IGL then presents the vision to the village leaders, which includes the building of a “Life Center” that becomes the central point through which IGL provides childcare, education, job training, etc. The Life Center also serves as a meeting place for the church and for community functions. IGL provides the building, but the village must provide the land and foundation. In this way, the village has “skin in the game.”

Prior to beginning work, IGL conducts surveys and studies to identify the village's problems, needs, demographics, and resources. The “Adopt-a-Village” program spans five years, throughout which the statistics are continually updated. In this way, IGL tracks how effective it is at fighting infant mortality, disease, etc.

A plan is developed for the village with quarterly objectives. Key to the program are “Women’s Transformational Groups,” in which women are taught how to manage finances, basic diet and sanitation principles, and job skills. Microeconomic loans are made through support groups.

The overall objective is that, at the end of five years, the village will be able to continue the programs initiated on a self-sustaining basis.

Kanavaipudur

The village that McDaniel Knutson adopted is Kanavaipudur, in the Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Our commitment to this village began January 2008 and will continue through December 2012.

Kanavaipudur is a village of approximately 7000 people. It is a rural, agrarian village. Unfortunately, most of the people of the town struggle to meet their basic living requirements and have little hope for more. Kanavaipudur has been rooted in poverty for many generations. Social, material, and spiritual deprivation has made the local community seek refuge in superstitions. Their discrimination toward women and children and lack of education has only made their journey more difficult. Drunkenness, casteism, infanticide, dowry, early marriages, and religious divisions also add misery to their daily life. Below are some statistics:

Religion	70% Hindu, 20% Christian, 5% Muslim and 5% other.
Literacy	30%
Income	$150 average annual income
Education	Two government schools. Of the 1350 children, only about 350 are attending school.
Health Care	The nearest hospital is about 17 kilometers away. No residential doctors.
Transportation	Tar and Mud Roads
Housing	Brick, Concrete, huts
Electricity	Available
Government Programs	Nearly nothing

McDaniel Knutson is planning visits to the village in fall of 2011 and 2012.