Passports with Purpose

India 2010

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2010: Help Us Build a Village in India!

Posted on | June 25, 2010 | 9 Comments

The gals at PwP central (Seattle, that is) are excited to announce our 2010 fundraiser.

With your help, we are building a village in Southern India with Land for Tillers’ Freedom (LAFTI) and their non-profit branch based in the U.S., Friends of LAFTI Foundation!

After successfully raising nearly $30,000 in 2009 for AAfC, this year we are aiming for $50,000 to benefit LAFTI, based in Tamil Nadu, India.

LAFTI’s Mission
For more than 50 years, LAFTI’s founders – Krishnammal Jagannathan and S. Jagannathan – have been committed to helping Dalits (India’s untouchables), especially women, with projects that include land distribution, cultivation, adult training, youth housing and housing construction. For less than $2,000, LAFTI can build a home, for which the land title is given to the woman of the household. Passports with Purpose aims to raise enough money to build approximately 25 homes to create the Passports Village in Karunganni, located in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Krishnammal Jagannathan and S. Jagannathan have been awarded two major humanitarian awards for their efforts. The first was the Opus Prize, presented on November 18, 2008 in a ceremony at Seattle University in Seattle. The second was the Right Livelihood Award presented a month later in Sweden as part of a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament. Since Jagannathan is no longer able to travel, Krishnammal accepted both of these awards on behalf of LAFTI.

According to Krishnammal, “Orathur villagers are firmly determined to build new houses. They are very eager to contribute their labor towards house building.”

And so, with the help of Passports with Purpose and you, we can help these determined villagers create a better life for themselves and their families.

Namaste!

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