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Local couple strives to provide
firsthand support in India.

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Dan and Kate meet with the women of Cholapur village in Varanasi, India.

Dan Montingelli

Special to the Jewish News

Lucknow, India

W

Complete
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28 may 13 • 2010

1560250

ith my volunteer assign-
ment nearing completion,
the ever-present and
oppressive heat already underway in
India and the whirr-whirr of my fan
lending support, now seems like a
good time to reflect on the past few
months in Lucknow.
Last year, my wife Kate and I began
talking about leaving our lives in
Detroit, the wonderful friends, fam-
ily and community, great bar scene,
delicious delis and regular paychecks.
The idea was that this was one of
those few opportunities where we
could drop everything, have an
adventure, connect to people through
service, and return four months later
with lots of memories and only a few
stomach ailments.
Fast forward through the applica-
tion process and a nail-bitingly dif-
ficult waiting period. In October, we
were accepted into Volunteer Corps,
a program of American Jewish World
Service. We wanted to be part of an
organization where we could have

a lasting impact, rather than just as
volunteers passing through. Volunteer
Corps is a program that looks at a
volunteer's professional experience
and matches them with a non-gov-
ernmental organization (NGO, the
U.N. term for a nonprofit) in the
developing world that needs someone
with their skills set.
A successful experience depends
on both parties. For my part, I
quickly learned that because of the
massive, overriding need for aid work
in the developing world, qualifica-
tions that are important in first-world
countries like academic credentials
take a backseat to initiative, flexibility
and open-mindedness.
As for our NGO, they had the fore-
sight to connect us with people in
need through field visits, before we
even began our work. With the help
of our translator, we sat in circles on
the floors and inside the huts and
spoke with the women of these vil-
lages. The conversations were incred-
ibly moving and at times emotional.
Their words continue to drive our
work today.
My volunteer assignment was to
create a leadership-training program.
I spent a month interviewing the staff