Fall discounts on Reality Tours!

Yes, you heard that right. We are offering $200 off select trips this fall using the discount codes listed below.

From Fair Trade in Palestine, to indigenous rights in Mexico, to the Rights of Nature movement in India, this fall we have several great trips that will highlight important issues around the world. Join us as we meet with local leaders and movements to learn about the innovative ways communities and individuals are organizing for social change. Return with a new understanding of the issues and, perhaps most importantly, new ways to engage and support these inspiring movements from home.

But don’t miss out – discount codes expire September 1st!

Cuba: Sustainability and Community
October 10 – 17, 2015
$2,450
Promo Code: CubaGXfall15

During this historic time of change between the US and Cuba, we invite you to join us for a week-long People-to-People trip to learn from Cubans of the amazing work they are doing in and around Havana to create sustainable communities for all. This unique itinerary will look at sustainability via development, restoration, community programing and programs in the arts for the people.

Palestine: Fair Olive Harvest
October 24 – November 3, 2015
$2,500
Promo Code: PalGXfall15

Learn how Fair Trade cooperatives are restoring hope and providing economic alternatives to the Palestinian people. Stay with a local farming family and then harvest olives with farmers who use organic practices. Witness community-building traditions and cultivate a greater appreciation and understanding of Palestinian culture and pride. More importantly, you will learn first-hand from Palestinians about the impact of the occupation on farm lands, the economy, tourism and day-to-day life.

Oaxaca, Mexico: Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos
October 28 – November 5, 2015
$1,450
Promo Code: OxGXfall15

If you’ve never been to Oaxaca during its famous Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos celebrations, you really should. Join us as we make our annual pilgrimage to Oaxaca at the end of October. Dating back to the Aztecs, this celebration is a family event to remember departed souls and to celebrate the resurrection of their spirits. In addition, explore Oaxaca’s rich culture through excursions to historical archeological ruins, mezcal palenques, and artisan workshops. Meet with local social organizations and indigenous leaders, and learn about fair trade/free trade and globalization in Oaxaca.

India: Rights of Nature

November 1-11, 2015
$2,550
Promo Code: IndiaGXfall15

Travel to and stay at renowned activist and author Dr. Vandana Shiva’s Navdanya Biodiversity and Conservation Farm while learning about rights of nature in India and the power of the seed. While many over the past decades have explored the idea of living in balance with the planet and limiting the role of unfettered corporate power in all aspects of life, the rights-based movement that seeks to change fundamental law and culture is both relatively new and rapidly growing. It has kept pace with the realization that the current corporate-led global economic framework has brought us to the brink of economic and ecological disaster, and that true change will only come from the grassroots.

Venezuela: Community Development ​​

​November 21 – 30, 2015
$1,900
Promo Code: VzGXfall15

Travel with Global Exchange to dig past the headlines and explore the changes occurring in Venezuela, Latin America and the hemisphere as a whole. You will meet with human rights activists, rural agricultural workers, labor unions, community activists, journalists, government officials and opposition figures, and see for yourself the unprecedented social change that is occurring at this historic time in Venezuela and the region.

We hope you can take advantage of this great opportunity and travel with us this fall!

Check out our full list of travel opportunities

www.globalexchange.org/reality-tours

Yes, you heard that right. We are offering $200 off select trips this fall using the discount codes listed below.

From Fair Trade in Palestine, to indigenous rights in Mexico, to the Rights of Nature movement in India, this fall we have several great trips that will highlight important issues around the world. Join us as we meet with local leaders and movements to learn about the innovative ways communities and individuals are organizing for social change. Return with a new understanding of the issues and, perhaps most importantly, new ways to engage and support these inspiring movements from home.

But don’t miss out – discount codes expire September 1st!

Cuba: Sustainability and Community
October 10 – 17, 2015
$2,450
Promo Code: CubaGXfall15

During this historic time of change between the US and Cuba, we invite you to join us for a week-long People-to-People trip to learn from Cubans of the amazing work they are doing in and around Havana to create sustainable communities for all. This unique itinerary will look at sustainability via development, restoration, community programing and programs in the arts for the people.

Palestine: Fair Olive Harvest
October 24 – November 3, 2015
$2,500
Promo Code: PalGXfall15

Learn how Fair Trade cooperatives are restoring hope and providing economic alternatives to the Palestinian people. Stay with a local farming family and then harvest olives with farmers who use organic practices. Witness community-building traditions and cultivate a greater appreciation and understanding of Palestinian culture and pride. More importantly, you will learn first-hand from Palestinians about the impact of the occupation on farm lands, the economy, tourism and day-to-day life.

Oaxaca, Mexico: Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos
October 28 – November 5, 2015
$1,450
Promo Code: OxGXfall15

If you’ve never been to Oaxaca during its famous Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos celebrations, you really should. Join us as we make our annual pilgrimage to Oaxaca at the end of October. Dating back to the Aztecs, this celebration is a family event to remember departed souls and to celebrate the resurrection of their spirits. In addition, explore Oaxaca’s rich culture through excursions to historical archeological ruins, mezcal palenques, and artisan workshops. Meet with local social organizations and indigenous leaders, and learn about fair trade/free trade and globalization in Oaxaca.

India: Rights of Nature

November 1-11, 2015
$2,550
Promo Code: IndiaGXfall15

Travel to and stay at renowned activist and author Dr. Vandana Shiva’s Navdanya Biodiversity and Conservation Farm while learning about rights of nature in India and the power of the seed. While many over the past decades have explored the idea of living in balance with the planet and limiting the role of unfettered corporate power in all aspects of life, the rights-based movement that seeks to change fundamental law and culture is both relatively new and rapidly growing. It has kept pace with the realization that the current corporate-led global economic framework has brought us to the brink of economic and ecological disaster, and that true change will only come from the grassroots.

Venezuela: Community Development ​​

​November 21 – 30, 2015
$1,900
Promo Code: VzGXfall15

Travel with Global Exchange to dig past the headlines and explore the changes occurring in Venezuela, Latin America and the hemisphere as a whole. You will meet with human rights activists, rural agricultural workers, labor unions, community activists, journalists, government officials and opposition figures, and see for yourself the unprecedented social change that is occurring at this historic time in Venezuela and the region.

We hope you can take advantage of this great opportunity and travel with us this fall!

 Check out our full list of travel opportunities

www.globalexchange.org/reality-tours

In 2013, Shannon Biggs traveled with Global Exchange to India with Dr. Vandana Shiva, and got a surprise visit from His Royal Highness, Prince CharlesIn preparation for our next trip to India this November, we are re-posting Shannon’s report-back!

Prince Charles and Vandana Shiva, Global Exchange delegation, other visitors and Navdanya staff.

Prince Charles and Vandana Shiva, Global Exchange delegation, other visitors and Navdanya staff.

 

Arriving in Delhi (or nearly anywhere in India), can be a bit of a cultural hard landing for those not from the country. As my friend and Rights of Nature Reality Tour participant, Suzanne York said, “The sights — cows in the road, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, begging mothers, horse and cart, dogs, goats, pedestrians; I’m sure I’m leaving one or two things out.  The sounds – car horns, truck horns, rickshaw horns, firecrackers, dogs barking…did I mention the horns?” Yet despite the pollution and the crowded chaos of the city streets, there is a magic and a poetry that keeps travelers like Suzanne coming back to India time and again (this marked her 5th India trek).

Over a billion people live in India. High levels of poverty and pollution met us in the cities, just as environmental degradation is visible on farms, dried riverbeds, and throughout the countryside. Yet India is equally a land of peaceful, transformative revolution and a cultural and spiritual legacy of dignity for people and sacred respect for the Earth.

Along with spending time with world renowned anti-globalization movement leader, physicist, and eco-feminist, Vandana Shiva, founder of the seed-saving and Earth learning farm, Navdanya, it is this dichotomy that we came to explore in the age of climate chaos, corporate globalization and its quest for endless growth on a finite planet. Rights of Nature, which, as put forward in the Constitutions of Ecuador, national laws in Bolivia and New Zealand, and a growing number of U.S. communities—defines legal rights for ecosystems to “exist, flourish, and regenerate their natural capacities.” 

What is the promise of Rights of Nature in a place like this?

Did you know there are more NGOs in India than anywhere else? 

While our Reality Tour tour visited a few big cities, the focus of the trip was on India’s growing work for Rights of Nature and how that fits with Gandhi’s legacy of peaceful revolution for change.

Children and cows picking through the trash on the streets of Agra.

It is here we learn that there are more NGO’s—whether advocacy groups or direct service providers—than hospitals or schools in India. Here non-profits provide support in formal and informal settings. Many are very small, connecting people in rural settings and big cities with very localized support.

In Delhi, near the railway station, we walked the troubled street life of homeless youth with our guide, a young man whophoto[10] figures he’s about 22, having been discarded by his father when he was around 5. Now college-bound, he works for the famed Salaam Baalak Trust, an organization that helps homeless children find  safety and alternatives to drugs (which are commonly introduced to kids as young as 5 years of age on the streets), and possibly a new future. Our group also met with scholars and activists in the movement against the Korean-based POSCO corporation’s dangerous and deadly project to build a 12 million-tons-per-year steel plant in Orissa, with a captive port and iron ore mines. According to the India Times, more than 250 international human rights organizations, comprising social workers, scientists, legal luminary activists, academics among others, have strongly criticized the Orissa government for using forces to acquire fertile lands on behalf of the corporation, a practice also know as “land grabs.”

photo[16]

In Jaipur, better known as the ‘Pink City,’ we celebrated Diwali, the Festival of Lights, and participated in an entrancing ceremony at the temple of Birla Mandir, honoring Lakshmi, Goddess of both material and spiritual prosperity, for whom Diwali is celebrated, as fireworks and firecrackers and light displays illuminated the skyline. By day we also met with a large group of women empowered through a community micro lending project. From there it was a quick 6 hours by bus to Agra, a city of stark contradictions. The streets are barely able to contain the carpeting of trash and piles of garbage bags, all in the midst of luxury hotels surrounding the Taj Majal. The haze of pollution and the sheer volume of Diwali firework smoke still hanging in the air made it hard to see the Taj from any distance, but stepping closer to this world wonder it is a palpable marvel of architecture and cultural history.

 What the Earth tells us if we listen

Dr. Vandana Shiva at Navdanya

Next stop, a working farm called Navdanya, which promotes biodiversity conservation, organic farming, seed saving, the rights of farmers and the rights of nature.  The farm sits a quiet distance back from the bustle of Dehra Dun and its mere 600,000 inhabitants. As the bus pulls up to the gravel road marked with newly laid chalk, we walk the last 1/2 mile to the open gate of the learning farm. After settling in to our appropriately spartan rooms, equipped with solar showers distilling rain catchment water from the roof, we sit in the gazebo for a conversation with Vandana Shiva before taking a tour of the farm.

Navdanya’s Soil Ecology Lab and Bija Vidyapeeth (Earth University) draws inspiration from India’s first Nobel poet (1917), Tagore, who created a university based on living in and learning from the Earth.  “We must stop living as owners of the Earth, because it is a fallacy that we can continue that path. Here on the farm, we can first begin to learn to be a member of the Earth community,” says Vandana. Circled around her, we speak to Vandana for an hour or more, as she explains the farm, the library, the community activities, and invites us to get our hands dirty while we are there. As the sun gets lower in the sky, she encourages us to walk the grounds, we will meet again tomorrow.

It smells good here, energizing. It feels good here, with the crunch of the Earth beneath our feet. We walk the grounds as our guide, Anna, an intern from France staying on for 6 months, explains that all the food prepared each day for upwards of 50 people, comes from the bounty grown in the humble fields before us. Despite the expertise of the staff and its transient population of interns, scientists, researchers and farmers who have come from around the world—it is the land that is the true teacher here. The rows of plantings are tidy, but not uniform. Anna explains that plants with shallow root systems are placed next to compatible plantings that take their nutrients at deeper levels of soil. Dotted around those are marigolds and other natural insecticides, and crops that replace nutrients the others remove. These acre plots are surrounded by fruit bearing trees and quick growing bamboo. There is a healthful pharmacy planted as well, providing ingredients for the soap used, and natural remedies to treat “Delhi Belly”and other ailments.

Our guide points to another series of single-acre plots, part of a project dedicated to teaching farmers how to grow organic, regionally and nutritionally rich food for a family of 6 on only one acre of land.  As Vandana says, “the idea that we need corporate farming to feed a hungry planet is a destructive notion that contributes to the breakdown of the farming system. We demonstrate the viability of self-sufficient farming that relies only on the relationship between farmer and the land. No chemicals, no GMOs, no seed patenting. Here we plant in right relationship with the land.”

As the sun goes down bringing a chill to the air, it is too dark to finish the tour so we pass the barn, and say hello to the new calf and the two cows that provide milk for the chai tea we are about to enjoy back at the dining hall. That night in the lecture hall, in preparation for tomorrow’s Royal visitor, the lecture on permaculture was postponed in favor of watching the film “Harmony”, a collaboration with Vandana Shiva and outspoken advocate for organic farming, His Royal Highness, Prince Charles who first converted his Scottish home, Highgrove Castle to organic in 1986, to great public ridicule.

Rights of Nature: A gift fit for a prince

photo[7]

By sheer coincidence, Prince Charles and his wife the Dutchess were in India on a general tour, and while Camilla was off making pottery in Debra Dun, the prince walked the farm with Vandana, the same tour we had taken with Anna, ultimately visiting the seed bank where Navdanya conserves 1,500 seed varieties. There he planted two varieties of barley, and ultimately made his way to the gazebo, where the rest of the staff and visitors were drinking chai.

Accompanied by Vandana, he spent about 15 minutes with our delegation, readily making jokes and asking questions about our journey, Green party politics in Texas, the state of the US anti-GMO movement. Introducing our group, I described the delegation’s purpose, and shared our understanding that currently, law treats nature as property, and that our legal systems are aimed at controlling and dominating nature. (So far he seemed interested, so I continued): unless we begin to use law to drive rights for communities and ecosystems, the natural and organic farms that he championed were all under threat from agribusiness, GMOs, and industrial activities like fracking. I wrapped up my sermon by giving him a copy of our Rights of Nature book, which I mentioned was written by people he knew, including Vandana Shiva, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bolivian President Evo Morales, and others.

Once the caravan departed and the Royal dust settled, our group sat down with Vandana Shiva for a discussion on Rights of Mother Earth, water and seed saving. “The seed, for the farmer, is not merely the source of future plant  food, it is the storage place of culture, of history,” as Vandana has said. “Seed is the first link in the food chain. It is also the source of life itself, the ultimate symbol of food security.” Through patents on seeds, Monsanto has become the “Life Lord” on the planet, collecting rents from life’s renewal and from farmers, the original breeders. Patents on seed are illegitimate because putting a toxic gene into a plant cell is not the “creation” or invention of the plant.

photo 3

When seeds are no longer the bounty of the Earth, but corporate property, the farmer enters the cycle of being forced to purchase Monsanto corporation’s seeds, which do not produce as promised, take more water to grow, and require expensive pesticides—putting farmers into debt they cannot repay. This is the leading cause of farmer suicides in India, and a growing phenomenon in the United States, as corporations like Monsanto gain control over farmers everywhere. “That is why we have started Fibres of Freedom in the heart of Monsanto’s Bt (GMO) cotton/suicide belt in Vidharba. We have created community seed banks with indigenous seeds and helped farmers go organic. No GMO seeds, no debt, no suicides.” Before we left Navdanya we gave a presentation to the community on Rights of Nature, speaking about communities in the United States, and the movement around the world. (Watch Shannon Biggs and Vandana Shiva speak on the Global Exchange panel at the UN Rio + 20 summit in 2012.)

Floating candles, flowers and prayers for the Rights of the Ganga

photo[18]

Despite the undrinkable nature of tap water for visitors, or the toxins and pollution that flow freely into the waterways from homes and industry—water in India is sacred, and nowhere more so than the Ganges, or the Ganga, as she is called.  We left the farm for Rishikesh, a hilly village that is as famous for its role in the making of the Beatles’ White Album as it is for its stunning landscape, built around the Ganga and framed by the Himalayas. It provides about 40% of India’s water, though the entire watershed is breaking down under the intense strains of use and abuse.

The widespread Save Ganga movement follows the Gandhian model for peaceful change.  A powerful component of that broad coalition is the National Ganga Rights Movement, led by the charismatic Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji. We met with him and his staff, sitting cross legged on the ground in a small quiet garden oasis behind their office. “Welcome Home,” Swami greeted us.  As he would explain, we breathe the same air that our ancestors did, drink the same water and are connected to one another by the web of life. So we are always home.

photo[19]

They are working to pass a national Ganges Rights Act to protect the entire river watershed with our allies at CELDF.   Some of the language included in the Act can also be found in a chapter we wrote with Mari Margil, for our book, Rights of Nature: The Case for A Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.  It was exciting to see it being used in actual legislation:

Under a rights-based system of law, a river may be recognized as having the right to flow, fish and other species in a river may be recognized as having the right to exist and evolve, and the flora and fauna that depend on a river may be recognized as having the right to thrive. This legal framework seeks to protect the natural ecological balance of that habitat. Just as the lion hunts the antelope as part of the natural cycle of life, recognizing Rights of Nature does not put an end to fishing or other human activities. Rather, it places them in the context of a healthy relationship where our actions do not threaten the balance of the system upon which we depend. Further, these laws do not stop all development, rather they halt only those activities that interfere with the existence and vitality of the ecosystems dependent upon that land.

Today, the Ganga River Basin is right-less, mere property to be used at will. The proposed legislation would:

• Establish the basin’s right to exist, thrive, regenerate, and evolve;
• Establish the rights of the people, as well as other ecosystems and natural communities, to a healthy river basin;
• Provide that any activity that interferes with the basin’s rights is prohibited;
• Provide that any damages that may be awarded for violations of the basin’s rights are to be awarded for the purpose of, and in the amount necessary to, restore the ecosystem to its pre-damaged state;
• Establish enforcement mechanisms to protect and defend the basin’s rights, including establishing governmental offices responsible for defending those rights; and
• Empower people, communities, civil society, and governments within India to protect and defend the basin’s rights.560018_10151233539055667_1490919102_n-1

One of the ways the Ganga Rights movement is spreading education is through the Aartis, a devotional ritual that uses fire as an offering, held daily at 6 pm in the three most spiritual parts of the Ganges, including Rishikesh. Each night thousands come to the river to participate in this beautiful ceremony. The Priests say a prayer using lanterns, and the people float flowers and candles down the river in tiny boats made of woven leaves. The offering is made to the Goddess Ganga, goddess of the most holy river in India.  With prayer, it is believed the holy Ganga can cleanse the sins of the devoted. “The problem is,” says Swami Saraswatiji, “people believe that in addition to washing away sins, many believe the river can clean the toxins.  We use the aarti each night to educate people about the rights of the Ganga, and what is needed from us to protect her.” The swami is one of the priests who preside over the Rishikesh aarti, which Prince Charles and Camilla had attended the night before.

photo[9]

Our last stop on the Ganges was in Hardiwar, considered the holiest of places on the river Ganges and where we would take in an Aarti.  Thousands came, prayed and left. It is not a long ceremony.  As I stood with my feet in the river Ganges, I said a quiet prayer for the rights of this river, and for the people that would come together to defend those rights, and sent my flowers and my thoughts  floating quietly into the night.

Prince Charles Vandana

Shannon Biggs explaining Rights of Nature to Prince Charles, with Vandana Shiva

 

Click here to learn about our next trip to India, November 1-11, 2015!

In 2013, Shannon Biggs traveled with Global Exchange to India with Dr. Vandana Shiva, and got a surprise visit from His Royal Highness, Prince Charles. In preparation for our next trip to India this November, we are re-posting Shannon’s report-back here.

Prince Charles and Vandana Shiva, Global Exchange delegation, other visitors and Navdanya staff.

Prince Charles and Vandana Shiva, Global Exchange delegation, other visitors and Navdanya staff.

Arriving in Delhi (or nearly anywhere in India), can be a bit of a cultural hard landing for those not from the country. As my friend and Rights of Nature Reality Tour participant, Suzanne York said, “The sights — cows in the road, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, begging mothers, horse and cart, dogs, goats, pedestrians; I’m sure I’m leaving one or two things out.  The sounds – car horns, truck horns, rickshaw horns, firecrackers, dogs barking…did I mention the horns?” Yet despite the pollution and the crowded chaos of the city streets, there is a magic and a poetry that keeps travelers like Suzanne coming back to India time and again (this marked her 5th India trek).

Over a billion people live in India. High levels of poverty and pollution met us in the cities, just as environmental degradation is visible on farms, dried riverbeds, and throughout the countryside. Yet India is equally a land of peaceful, transformative revolution and a cultural and spiritual legacy of dignity for people and sacred respect for the Earth.

Along with spending time with world renowned anti-globalization movement leader, physicist, and eco-feminist, Vandana Shiva, founder of the seed-saving and Earth learning farm, Navdanya, it is this dichotomy that we came to explore in the age of climate chaos, corporate globalization and its quest for endless growth on a finite planet. Rights of Nature, which, as put forward in the Constitutions of Ecuador, national laws in Bolivia and New Zealand, and a growing number of U.S. communities—defines legal rights for ecosystems to “exist, flourish, and regenerate their natural capacities.” 

What is the promise of Rights of Nature in a place like this?

Did you know there are more NGOs in India than anywhere else? 

While our Reality Tour tour visited a few big cities, the focus of the trip was on India’s growing work for Rights of Nature and how that fits with Gandhi’s legacy of peaceful revolution for change.

Children and cows picking through the trash on the streets of Agra.

It is here we learn that there are more NGO’s—whether advocacy groups or direct service providers—than hospitals or schools in India. Here non-profits provide support in formal and informal settings. Many are very small, connecting people in rural settings and big cities with very localized support.

In Delhi, near the railway station, we walked the troubled street life of homeless youth with our guide, a young man whophoto[10] figures he’s about 22, having been discarded by his father when he was around 5. Now college-bound, he works for the famed Salaam Baalak Trust, an organization that helps homeless children find  safety and alternatives to drugs (which are commonly introduced to kids as young as 5 years of age on the streets), and possibly a new future. Our group also met with scholars and activists in the movement against the Korean-based POSCO corporation’s dangerous and deadly project to build a 12 million-tons-per-year steel plant in Orissa, with a captive port and iron ore mines. According to the India Times, more than 250 international human rights organizations, comprising social workers, scientists, legal luminary activists, academics among others, have strongly criticized the Orissa government for using forces to acquire fertile lands on behalf of the corporation, a practice also know as “land grabs.”

photo[16]

In Jaipur, better known as the ‘Pink City,’ we celebrated Diwali, the Festival of Lights, and participated in an entrancing ceremony at the temple of Birla Mandir, honoring Lakshmi, Goddess of both material and spiritual prosperity, for whom Diwali is celebrated, as fireworks and firecrackers and light displays illuminated the skyline. By day we also met with a large group of women empowered through a community micro lending project. From there it was a quick 6 hours by bus to Agra, a city of stark contradictions. The streets are barely able to contain the carpeting of trash and piles of garbage bags, all in the midst of luxury hotels surrounding the Taj Majal. The haze of pollution and the sheer volume of Diwali firework smoke still hanging in the air made it hard to see the Taj from any distance, but stepping closer to this world wonder it is a palpable marvel of architecture and cultural history.

 What the Earth tells us if we listen

Dr. Vandana Shiva at Navdanya

Next stop, a working farm called Navdanya, which promotes biodiversity conservation, organic farming, seed saving, the rights of farmers and the rights of nature.  The farm sits a quiet distance back from the bustle of Dehra Dun and its mere 600,000 inhabitants. As the bus pulls up to the gravel road marked with newly laid chalk, we walk the last 1/2 mile to the open gate of the learning farm. After settling in to our appropriately spartan rooms, equipped with solar showers distilling rain catchment water from the roof, we sit in the gazebo for a conversation with Vandana Shiva before taking a tour of the farm.

Navdanya’s Soil Ecology Lab and Bija Vidyapeeth (Earth University) draws inspiration from India’s first Nobel poet (1917), Tagore, who created a university based on living in and learning from the Earth.  “We must stop living as owners of the Earth, because it is a fallacy that we can continue that path. Here on the farm, we can first begin to learn to be a member of the Earth community,” says Vandana. Circled around her, we speak to Vandana for an hour or more, as she explains the farm, the library, the community activities, and invites us to get our hands dirty while we are there. As the sun gets lower in the sky, she encourages us to walk the grounds, we will meet again tomorrow.

It smells good here, energizing. It feels good here, with the crunch of the Earth beneath our feet. We walk the grounds as our guide, Anna, an intern from France staying on for 6 months, explains that all the food prepared each day for upwards of 50 people, comes from the bounty grown in the humble fields before us. Despite the expertise of the staff and its transient population of interns, scientists, researchers and farmers who have come from around the world—it is the land that is the true teacher here. The rows of plantings are tidy, but not uniform. Anna explains that plants with shallow root systems are placed next to compatible plantings that take their nutrients at deeper levels of soil. Dotted around those are marigolds and other natural insecticides, and crops that replace nutrients the others remove. These acre plots are surrounded by fruit bearing trees and quick growing bamboo. There is a healthful pharmacy planted as well, providing ingredients for the soap used, and natural remedies to treat “Delhi Belly”and other ailments.

Our guide points to another series of single-acre plots, part of a project dedicated to teaching farmers how to grow organic, regionally and nutritionally rich food for a family of 6 on only one acre of land.  As Vandana says, “the idea that we need corporate farming to feed a hungry planet is a destructive notion that contributes to the breakdown of the farming system. We demonstrate the viability of self-sufficient farming that relies only on the relationship between farmer and the land. No chemicals, no GMOs, no seed patenting. Here we plant in right relationship with the land.”

As the sun goes down bringing a chill to the air, it is too dark to finish the tour so we pass the barn, and say hello to the new calf and the two cows that provide milk for the chai tea we are about to enjoy back at the dining hall. That night in the lecture hall, in preparation for tomorrow’s Royal visitor, the lecture on permaculture was postponed in favor of watching the film “Harmony”, a collaboration with Vandana Shiva and outspoken advocate for organic farming, His Royal Highness, Prince Charles who first converted his Scottish home, Highgrove Castle to organic in 1986, to great public ridicule.

Rights of Nature: A gift fit for a prince

photo[7]

By sheer coincidence, Prince Charles and his wife the Dutchess were in India on a general tour, and while Camilla was off making pottery in Debra Dun, the prince walked the farm with Vandana, the same tour we had taken with Anna, ultimately visiting the seed bank where Navdanya conserves 1,500 seed varieties. There he planted two varieties of barley, and ultimately made his way to the gazebo, where the rest of the staff and visitors were drinking chai.

Accompanied by Vandana, he spent about 15 minutes with our delegation, readily making jokes and asking questions about our journey, Green party politics in Texas, the state of the US anti-GMO movement. Introducing our group, I described the delegation’s purpose, and shared our understanding that currently, law treats nature as property, and that our legal systems are aimed at controlling and dominating nature. (So far he seemed interested, so I continued): unless we begin to use law to drive rights for communities and ecosystems, the natural and organic farms that he championed were all under threat from agribusiness, GMOs, and industrial activities like fracking. I wrapped up my sermon by giving him a copy of our Rights of Nature book, which I mentioned was written by people he knew, including Vandana Shiva, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bolivian President Evo Morales, and others.

Once the caravan departed and the Royal dust settled, our group sat down with Vandana Shiva for a discussion on Rights of Mother Earth, water and seed saving. “The seed, for the farmer, is not merely the source of future plant  food, it is the storage place of culture, of history,” as Vandana has said. “Seed is the first link in the food chain. It is also the source of life itself, the ultimate symbol of food security.” Through patents on seeds, Monsanto has become the “Life Lord” on the planet, collecting rents from life’s renewal and from farmers, the original breeders. Patents on seed are illegitimate because putting a toxic gene into a plant cell is not the “creation” or invention of the plant.

photo 3

When seeds are no longer the bounty of the Earth, but corporate property, the farmer enters the cycle of being forced to purchase Monsanto corporation’s seeds, which do not produce as promised, take more water to grow, and require expensive pesticides—putting farmers into debt they cannot repay. This is the leading cause of farmer suicides in India, and a growing phenomenon in the United States, as corporations like Monsanto gain control over farmers everywhere. “That is why we have started Fibres of Freedom in the heart of Monsanto’s Bt (GMO) cotton/suicide belt in Vidharba. We have created community seed banks with indigenous seeds and helped farmers go organic. No GMO seeds, no debt, no suicides.” Before we left Navdanya we gave a presentation to the community on Rights of Nature, speaking about communities in the United States, and the movement around the world. (Watch Shannon Biggs and Vandana Shiva speak on the Global Exchange panel at the UN Rio + 20 summit in 2012.)

Floating candles, flowers and prayers for the Rights of the Ganga

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Despite the undrinkable nature of tap water for visitors, or the toxins and pollution that flow freely into the waterways from homes and industry—water in India is sacred, and nowhere more so than the Ganges, or the Ganga, as she is called.  We left the farm for Rishikesh, a hilly village that is as famous for its role in the making of the Beatles’ White Album as it is for its stunning landscape, built around the Ganga and framed by the Himalayas. It provides about 40% of India’s water, though the entire watershed is breaking down under the intense strains of use and abuse.

The widespread Save Ganga movement follows the Gandhian model for peaceful change.  A powerful component of that broad coalition is the National Ganga Rights Movement, led by the charismatic Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji. We met with him and his staff, sitting cross legged on the ground in a small quiet garden oasis behind their office. “Welcome Home,” Swami greeted us.  As he would explain, we breathe the same air that our ancestors did, drink the same water and are connected to one another by the web of life. So we are always home.

They are working to pass a national Ganges Rights Act to protect the entire river watershed with our allies at CELDF.   Some of the language included in the Act can also be found in a chapter we wrote with Mari Margil, for our book, Rights of Nature: The Case for A Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.  It was exciting to see it being used in actual legislation:

Under a rights-based system of law, a river may be recognized as having the right to flow, fish and other species in a river may be recognized as having the right to exist and evolve, and the flora and fauna that depend on a river may be recognized as having the right to thrive. This legal framework seeks to protect the natural ecological balance of that habitat. Just as the lion hunts the antelope as part of the natural cycle of life, recognizing Rights of Nature does not put an end to fishing or other human activities. Rather, it places them in the context of a healthy relationship where our actions do not threaten the balance of the system upon which we depend. Further, these laws do not stop all development, rather they halt only those activities that interfere with the existence and vitality of the ecosystems dependent upon that land.

Today, the Ganga River Basin is right-less, mere property to be used at will. The proposed legislation would:

• Establish the basin’s right to exist, thrive, regenerate, and evolve;
• Establish the rights of the people, as well as other ecosystems and natural communities, to a healthy river basin;
• Provide that any activity that interferes with the basin’s rights is prohibited;
• Provide that any damages that may be awarded for violations of the basin’s rights are to be awarded for the purpose of, and in the amount necessary to, restore the ecosystem to its pre-damaged state;
• Establish enforcement mechanisms to protect and defend the basin’s rights, including establishing governmental offices responsible for defending those rights; and
• Empower people, communities, civil society, and governments within India to protect and defend the basin’s rights.

One of the ways the Ganga Rights movement is spreading education is through the Aartis, a devotional ritual that uses fire as an offering, held daily at 6 pm in the three most spiritual parts of the Ganges, including Rishikesh. Each night thousands come to the river to participate in this beautiful ceremony. The Priests say a prayer using lanterns, and the people float flowers and candles down the river in tiny boats made of woven leaves. The offering is made to the Goddess Ganga, goddess of the most holy river in India.  With prayer, it is believed the holy Ganga can cleanse the sins of the devoted. “The problem is,” says Swami Saraswatiji, “people believe that in addition to washing away sins, many believe the river can clean the toxins.  We use the aarti each night to educate people about the rights of the Ganga, and what is needed from us to protect her.” The swami is one of the priests who preside over the Rishikesh aarti, which Prince Charles and Camilla had attended the night before.

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Our last stop on the Ganges was in Hardiwar, considered the holiest of places on the river Ganges and where we would take in an Aarti.  Thousands came, prayed and left. It is not a long ceremony.  As I stood with my feet in the river Ganges, I said a quiet prayer for the rights of this river, and for the people that would come together to defend those rights, and sent my flowers and my thoughts  floating quietly into the night.

Prince Charles Vandana

Shannon Biggs explaining Rights of Nature to Prince Charles, with Vandana Shiva

Click here to learn about our next trip to India, November 1-11, 2015!

Last month, Global Exchange Fair Trade Store Manager Kara Roguly traveled to India with Handmade Expressions to meet with the artisans who make our Fair Trade tote bags and other beautiful items sold at our stores and also delivered the messages you shared with the artisans as part of our #BagsAcrossBorders campaign. Read on as Kara shares her experiences.

Bags Across BordersOn a bus just outside the city of Barmer, I want to say the landscape changes but really the natural environment becomes visible. Looking out the window, the gross amount of city trash, most notably plastic bottles, disappears into soft tan colored Rajastani earth. I can see Tulsi and Neem trees; small in stature, their shade provides a surprising amount of relief from the desert sun. I see groupings of people and animals breaking from the heat in these sporadic shade pockets.

I am excited for today. Today is the reason that I am in India. Our long-time Fair Trade partner, Handmade Expressions invited Global Exchange to northwest India to meet with a community of artisans who specialize in traditional wood block-printing and the production of our Fair Trade Eco-Shopper bags.

Bags Across BordersToday I am going to give the map Global Exchange and our members created for this artisan community. The purpose of the map is to show  where Eco-Shoppers live after production and to bring the artisans YOUR messages of why you love your Eco-Shopper.

In a time of bigger, faster, and cheaper production we want to thank this block-printing community for valuing sustainable and holistic working environments, and know that there are conscious consumers who value and love this work. Global Exchange has gifted these handmade Eco-Shopper bags to our members in exchange for their support of our organization and their commitment to Fair Trade.  

While Fair Trade can sometimes feel like an abstract concept, we want to bring to life the connection between the artisan and the conscious carrier of these Fair Trade bags!

Bags Across BordersDriving into small village paths in a massive bus with the words TOURIST across the windshield, and 22 Americans de-boarding, never failed to bring all the locals out of their homes for a laugh and a long stare.

Walking into the court yard of the workshop we are greeted by a large tree and Ranaml Ji. Ranaml, the founder of the workshop, is wearing all white except for a black cap and gold hoop earrings.  To my right I see a water filtration system, which allows water to be reused 15 times; it is next to the indigo fermentation  process and far to my left is a huge rectangle thatched roof where women stitch. Overhead are laundry lines of wet block printed fabric hanging to dry that act as an air conditioner, it feels wonderful when the breeze passes through the wet cloth and blows cold air on you. Inside, I see Global Exchange Eco-Shoppers being block printed and hand sewn.

Bags Across BoardersOnce settled, I get a chance to speak with Ranaml Ji. He was born and raised in Barmer, India, after his father immigrated from Pakistan. Ranaml’s father taught him how to block print when he was in grade 6. He fell in love with the art, and pursued block printing not by force but with passion. Ranaml has four children, two daughters and two sons. One of his sons works with him, making theirs a four generation block printing family.

The community employees 20 full time artisans. I asked how many days a week is typical for work; he replied, “artists work everyday because we love what we do”. Block printing is traditionally a mans art form although younger women are starting to learn the trade, including one woman who prints at Ranaml’s workshop. In general, women apply the finishing and details to the work together under the thatched roof.

Bags Across Boarders

I asked Ranaml what his favorite colors to use are: “Indigo and red, even though I have been wearing all white for the past 15 years”. I also asked Ranaml if he has any words that he would like me to bring back?

“I want people to understand the value of natural dye and block printing.”

Living in an area with no agriculture, block printing is the #1 job for this community; because demand is down and prices are up, the sustainability of their future is concerning for Ranaml.

After lunch, I am walked through the entire process of block printing, from holding a indigo rock in my hand, to seeing our Eco-Shoppers straps being sewn on.

After I meeting the artisans, it’s time to present the map. I invite all artisans to come together outside. Men gather on one side, women on the other. The woman who is featured on the map, Seeta Ji, is here today!

Bags Across Boarders

With Handmade Expressions’s Rashmi translating, I’m able to present to Ranaml Ji, Seeta Ji, and all the artisans who make our Eco-Shopper your messages and photos about what you love about your Eco-Shopper!

Rashmi takes the time to read all the messages to the artisans, and I can see their smiles and feel how proud they are. This map connected the artisans to their work, outside of India, and to their conscious customers. The artisans could see who is wearing their bags, how they wear them, and what they love about them. The connection was a success, the energy was very high and I did not want to get back on that TOURIST bus.

Bags Across Borders

Before I left, Ranaml Ji invited me to block print my very own Eco-Shopper! It came out beautifully, but what can I say, I had a great teacher! I was also able to spend time and connect with one of the women artisans. Her name is Kamala, and I will share more about our time together in my next blog. 

“We are all in this together, and we are all doing good work together” was the mantra that kept coming up for me.

Thank you for participating in this campaign and thank you for shopping Fair Trade.

YES, your purchase is the action that gives opportunity to communities like this one to thrive. This artisan community, Handmade Expressions, SETU, and the group of Fair Trade American retailers were all connected through this powerful action of acknowledgement.

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TAKE ACTION

As we start the final month of Summer, now is the time to plan your meaningful, socially responsible travel experiences for the rest of the year and beyond. Many of our travelers like to plan for their Reality Tours at least four to six months in advance, so, with that in mind, we’ve highlighted some of our staff picks to help you choose where to go next. Where will you be this Fall?

Reality Tour participant with women students in Afghanistan. - Photo by Zarah Patriana

Reality Tour participant with women students in Afghanistan.

October 1-10, 2013. Afghanistan: Women Making Change. Join us on this inspiring delegation to meet with Afghan women activists and grassroots organizations working for change. Visit with recently opened girls schools, vocational training centers, literacy programs, and more. Read former participants stories.

GX.DiaDeLosMuertos25thLogo_colorOct. 30-Nov. 7, 2013. Celebrate Day of the Dead in Oaxaca with Global Exchange! Help us celebrate Global Exchange’s 25th anniversary with our special Reality Tour celebrating Day of the Dead. Highlights of the trip will include meeting with indigenous leaders and community organizers, artists, healers, and participating in Day of the Dead ceremonies.

Dr. Vandana Shiva

Dr. Vandana Shiva

Nov. 1-Nov. 11, 2013. India: Rights of Nature with Dr. Vandana ShivaWe are proud to offer this one of a kind opportunity to learn from and visit with one of the world’s leading pioneers in the ecological sustainability movement, Dr. Vandana Shiva. Join Dr. Vandana Shiva and Global Exchange’s Shannon Biggs, Director of the Community Rights program, to explore India’s sacred seed saving work. Highlights will include spending four days on Dr. Vandana Shiva’s farm in Dehradun, cooking a meal of ancient “forgotten foods” together, participating in a sacred water ceremony on the banks of the Ganges, visiting seed banks, food co-ops, and more. Join us for this rare opportunity.

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Indigenous group in Ecuador

Dec. 27 -Jan. 4, 2013-2014. Ecuador: New Year’s on the Equator. Spend this coming New Year’s on the equator learning about and celebrating the work of indigenous leaders, healers and activists building ecologically and socially-sustainable alternatives to the corporate global economy. Visit with indigenous leaders and healers in the Amazon, rural communities working towards self-sustainability in the high Andes, and hike through protected lowland cloud forest to visit coffee cooperatives.

November 16-26, 2013 Venezuela Vive: Community Development and Popular MovementParticipants will have the opportunity to travel to Venezuela with Global Exchange to dig past the headlines and explore the changes occurring in Venezuela, Latin America and the hemisphere as a whole. On a Global Exchange tour to Venezuela the delegation will meet with human rights activists, rural agricultural workers, labor unions, community activists, journalists, and government officials and opposition figures, giving participants the opportunity to see for themselves the unprecedented social change that is occurring at this historic time in Venezuela and the region. There will be additional delegations to Venezuela in January, March, May and November of next year.

Take Action!

  • Browse other Reality Tours to plan your next adventure!
  • Learn about customizing a Reality Tour!

Indika bells at SF store

Bells at Global Exchange Store in San Francisco store.

 Global Exchange brings surprise treasures into my life. Most recently I had the privilege of being introduced to installation artist Tiffany Singh (Auckland, New Zealand).

About a year ago Tiffany contacted Global Exchange’s SF Store looking for 1000 Fair Trade Bells. We sell beautiful bells from India, in all sizes but she needed more bells than we have in stock; so I connected Tiffany with our bell source, Indika.

In June of this year Tiffany and her camera crew showed up at our SF store. I was fortunate to spend time with this wonderful artist, as she explained how she was going to incorporate the bells into her installation at the Montalvo Arts Centre in Saratoga CA.

Indika Bells

Bells of Mindfulness

The Bells of Mindfulness, proposes to deeply examine the idea of sacred spaces. Drawing on the Buddhist tradition of using temple bells as an aid for mindfulness, Tiffany suspended 1000 Indika bells and 1000 handmade paper cranes attached to brightly colored ribbons, color blocked, from a persimmon tree in Montalvo’s Italianate Garden, creating a tranquil space for rest and reflection. Sourcing the bells from rural artisans in western India, Singh hopes The Bells of Mindfulness will inspire conversations about the importance of better equity in international trade.

 

 The Bells of Mindfulness is a participatory sculpture. To participate:

  • Go to the persimmon tree in the Italianate garden in Montalvo Arts Center
  • Listen to the bells on the tree.
  • With intention choose your bell.
  • Take the bell to your sacred place.
  • Attach your bell.
  • Send us an audio recording, film clip, or image along with the location of the bell to bellsofmindfulness@gmail.com
  • Follow the journey of the bells at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bells_of_mindfulness/map/
  • Keep your eye out for bells. If you find one, marking someone’s sacred place, you may remove the bell and go back to step 3.

I had never been to the Montalvo Arts Center. It is a large walking meditation of beautiful paths incorporated in nature with witty, simple and beautiful installations scattered throughout.

I had to look for Tiffany’s persimmon tree, and I was so excited when I finally found the tree with colored string, colored paper cranes and bells hanging from it’s branches.

 I spent a couple hours under the tree, watching, ringing and listening to the bells. I took two fallen bells from the ground and gave one to my friend and the other is hanging in my kitchen, for now.

Seeing my bell reminds me that I value and strive to incorporate art and mindfulness in my daily life.

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Me looking at the bells.

Bells of Mindfulness   will be up thru October, I encourage you to spend a day at the Montalvo Arts Centre and

enjoy the sights and sounds of nature and art!

Mindfulness is the root of all methods that tame the mind. First it focuses the mind. Then it eases the mind. Finally it is the luminous nature, beyond thoughts.

 – Paul Rinpoche

bell in my home

My mindful bell at home.

naturalhabitatNothing says spring like a new tablecloth! I love when the weather warms, the days become longer and I change my kitchen tablecloth from her winter wear of crimson floral, into something lighter…I have a bright, teal paisley or an intricate, indigo mandala pattern to choose from. Which one would you choose?

A simple changing of my tablecloth transforms my home and welcomes spring. My tablecloths are from Natural Habitat. Hand block printed (in Bajur, India), the intricate details are perfectly imperfect, reminding me of the human hands that made them. You can see and feel the layers of natural dye and individuality in each cloth. Do imperfections bother you?

Sitting at my table, looking down at the fabric, I can’t help but wonder…  Could I have made this? How difficult can block printing be? I just so happen to have some beautiful blocks, fabric paint, paintbrushes and canvas ….so here I go!

supplies

 

 

 

 

 


After organizing my supplies and visualizing my masterpiece, I’m ready to start!

Step 1

 

 

 

 

 


Step 1:
I apply a thin layer of paint evenly to the block.

* Something cool I learned about the wood blocks is that in India, families of the block printing tradition save the blocks carved by master carvers from generations past for future use.  Some blocks used to print cloth today are thousands of years old. 

step 2

 

 

 

 

 


Step 2:
  I place my block on the canvas and apply pressure, actually all my weight, and a slight rocking motion.
 

step 5

 

 

 

 

 


Step 3: 
I release my weight , lift carefully, and see what it looks like!

* You can tell if something is hand printed with blocks if the layers of color are imperfect, this imperfection is clearly demonstrated by me. 

Step 4:  Repeat, repeat, repeat. 

Step 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5:  I add a new block with a different color.

Finished!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6:  Finished.  Wow! I love it!!  I did not anticipate the circles but no  surprise it does not look like the ones from Natural Habitat.  This process is easy in theory, but challenging in application. Let me know if you have any block printing secrets….

For me, block print textiles bring the warmth of a long standing tradition and an artistic feel into the modern interior of my home. Each piece is a work of art. Natural Habitat uses traditional block printing techniques and ecologically responsible production. The artisans combine delicate design with bright, bold color stories.  The geometric patterns take on both masculine and feminine personalities and the cotton feels soft and has such a nice weight. Come into our Global Exchange stores and feel for yourself ! I have such an appreciation of  the time and artistic foresight the Natural Habitat artisans put into their table wear and bedding.  I am happy to know that this tradition is still alive.

Today was my first attempt at block printing, I found the art form meditative and rewarding. For me this was a small introduction to block printing, next time I want to make something more substantial. I like the elephant block and maybe I will print on pillow cases or curtains? What do you think? Come by the store and we can make something together!

Fair Trade Asha ScarvesHope is made-by-hand in Calcutta, India where the two hundred women of Asha Imports transform vintage cotton saris into one-of-a-kind  scarves and blankets.  “Asha” means “hope” in Hindi.

The Global Exchange Stores are thrilled to partner with Asha Imports to bring you this beautiful line, of which each piece holds the  hope (or “asha”) that we can make change in faraway economies and lives.

Working at the Fair Trade Store in Berkeley, I get to see beautiful crafts arriving a few times a week. My favorite part of my job is learning about the wonderful projects and producer groups we work with. Here’s what I learned this week:

How to Hand-Stitch Hope?

  • Asha’s 100% cotton scarves and blankets are made in Calcutta, India at a center where young women from the local slums are provided training in sewing and business skills.  This steady employment provides income and positive alternatives for the deeply impoverished community.
  • The one-of-a-kind scrap fabrics from vintage saris are sourced in the local marketplace, paired, and hand-stiched in the distinctive Kantha style which runs the full length of the fabric.

A Word from the Experts:

According to Asha Imports:  “In Southeast Asia, there are many people who are suffering through poverty-stricken lives. Many times, poverty and cultural demands force people to live in slums. It is estimated that 30% of people in Calcutta are living in the slums. Many people cannot find jobs because of the numerous cultural and economic hindrances. People that reside in the slums may have skills, but they are unable to market their abilities. [Our organizations teach] tailoring skills as well as various other skills that can be used to support their families.”

photo credit: Asha Imports

Where is Calcutta, anyway?

Although I’ve lived and traveled abroad, there is always more to learn when it comes to building a global awareness.

Calcutta was once the capital of India under British colonial rule, until political unrest caused it to be moved to New Delhi. Calcutta was a center of education and culture and the independence movement that led to India’s freedom from Britain in 1947.

The city sits near the border with Bangladesh and the Indian Ocean, and is now the state capital of West Bengal. Today, it is the third largest metropolitan area in India boasting a population of more than 14 million people, including the two hundred women who are employed by Asha Imports.

Upcycled Fair Trade Sari BlanketsCome See for Yourself:

Stop by a Global Exchange Store today to check out the bright spring colors and soft texture of these one-of-a-kind scarves and blankets.

 

 

Gandhi and the Spinning Wheel

Back in 1997 Reality Tours wanted to offer a tour of a lifetime to India that would inspire our members.

When we met Dr. Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and learned about the important work he was doing in the US and India we knew we had a wonderful partner.  We developed a plan; Arun would educate our participants about the philosophy and teachings of Gandhi as we journey to historic and cultural sites important in Gandhi’s life, while also witnessing his living legacy in the work of cooperatives, ashrams, schools and NGO’s throughout India.

Exploring Gandhi's Legacy

We’ve been partnering with Arun ever since. Together our Reality Tours have brought to life the importance of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence and self sufficiency.  For 15 years we’ve worked together on what Gandhi referred to as trusteeship.

Arun taught participants and Reality Tours trip leaders that each one of us has a talent that we have acquired or inherited, and that we can use this gift to achieve our goals, for personal gains or in service to others.

Last month, Arun let us know that moving forward the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute (GWEI) will be organizing The Gandhi Legacy Tour on its own, apart from Reality Tours. Though a bittersweet moment it was to hear this news and it will be quite a change for us, we recognize that GWEI has grown and built the capacity to support all the administrative details and logisitcs it takes to organize a tour.

Arun and Gandhian Legacy Tour Delegates Bringing in the New Year

Arun and the GWEI have the expertise and the experience to handle the tour.  Reality Tours thus congratulates the GWEI! May the next 15 years of the Gandhian Legacy continue to educate and inspire all who participate to truly “be the change we want to see in the world”!

With almost 100 departures a year, it is easy for you to Meet the People, Learn the Facts, and Make a Difference on a Reality Tour this year!