WE have a society called Lawrence International Centre for Human Development, the society aims to provide education and supports for eco friendly employment opportunities. Eco friendly Tourism is one way.

People can come for  a long stay in our area as volunteers or just curious visitors. Since it is a registered society, we can send invitation letters which can be procesed at the Indian embassy. We will assume responsibility of the visitors which means we will be reporting the police periodically of the wherabouts and activities of our visitors. And the police need not worry of providing security to foriegners. They have other problems on hands to attend to.

People who come as volunteer teachers can come for very long periods. They shud get stamped long term volunteer teacher visa on their passport.

I can take the risk because our area is not socially, economically or militarily sensitive area.

And we can provide decent food and accomodation. We can teach people language or help in some way and  can always take a very small fee for our services, only we shudnt think of profit.

Does this explain it all?

The idea is best for people who want to learn the culture of the area by immersion. It isnt rosy But u will definitely learn a lot.

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This is something to look forward to...Thank you Sam for posting this information

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Could you please give us the cost of this adventure Samson?

Thank you

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Cost of food and accomodation shouldnt be too much, if u want to stay independent. It shud be less than INR 2000 or US$ 50 a month. But if u are willing to be part of our language training wing, it wont cost anything.

If u want to learn Yoga or Kalaripayatt (Martial art of Kerala) the fees will be what the relevant organisations who conduct those classes charge. We dont have facilities for that. We can help u find the reliable people who conduct the classes. U may have personal preferences, can always ask for the details u may want. I will b glad to help u.

How to get there - Nearest Airports Trivandrum or Cochin. Nearest railway station - Kollam. Both these places are in Kerala, South-West India. You can contact me

on skype - samson.lawrence

or on Yahoo - santosamso@yahoo.com.

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Dear Samson, one of my friends likes to come to india with her husband and her son and they like continue their education there and perhaps stay there. she wants some information. would you please guide me. and I like to know more about Universities in India would you please send me some links about them.

Best Regards

Mehr

P.S Are you an Indian? If you are an Indian why your name is Samson ( a jewish name) or perhaps you use it as a nickname.

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Hi, Samson or is its lawrence? anyway, i am glad for the information that you posted here...

you mean $50 dollars a day? that is P2,500 pesos here in the Philippines and if stay here for 7 days i will be spending P10,750 pesos...how much is the air fare from the Philippines to India?

are there any packages that could lessened the cost?

More from you, Samson...

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Hello people,

Thanks Ivy for the invite, don't know if I will be around much but I will try

Julian

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Hi Everyone,

Denise M has a new group, she said she is new to this but you could have fulled me, for those of you who know Denise, she has done wonders for my group Private Club, please check her group out, it's only just started so there are not many threads yet, I think it will be ok to start some threads, don't forget to tell her who invited you, to check it out then she know's who to pick on later when you start keeping her too busy.

Cheers

Julian

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Great information Sam, I shall pass it on to some of my friends in the US (Seattle, Washington State).

Thanks.

Meenakshi

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its too dangerous.

But very lovely place no doubt and very good culture. I wud one day love to go there. hoping there is peace there soon

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i being born in a christaian family. names ae refered from the bible. I cahose Daniel for my son. coincidentally the old testament is jewish

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Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production.  We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.  We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India
is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, the airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

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YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore .. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity...

In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?

YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.

YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'

YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son.  Take your two bucks and get lost.'

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand ..
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU.

YOU, who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements.

What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job.
Same in Japan Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff that is known not to pass on the service to the public.

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A good place for those who need to know where to go...

Sofia, you asked for something like this ? It wont be a 5 star treatment but it worth a try.

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Hi Samson,

I would like to go to India on a visit, but I would need help doing so.  I was also wondering on your package would this allow us to visit someone? 

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Brandy you have to email Samson to santosamso@yahoo.com Hope you will manage to connect with him and have a great time. I intend to do it one day too. Sorry I missed this post, but better late than never.

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One of the universitities i know well that takes foriegners is the Pune university.

Heres the link http://www.unipuneintcent.in/ 

Admission is on the basis of merit, the competition may be stiff. You could stay close the university, there are many vacant flats in Pune, so renting one shouldnt be a problem. I am about 1500 kms away from there. But I have lived there for some time and can say it is a nice place.

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i have now got  a person willing to let his house for visitors.

The monthly rent would be INR 1000 that is around us$ 25 and food about INR 1500, US$38. So the package will be US$ 63 for  a month.

You may need extra money for cruising on the lake or travelling. Travel is not very costly. To see the lake i am mentioning you can look in my profile I have some pictures of the lake.

You dont need any invitation for this, you can come on a tourist visa if you like. just inform us in advance. we will help if you need some letter or something.

The home can accomodate 4. So if you come as a group your rent would be US$25 for accomodation and US$38 per person for food.

You can call me 0091 9388275311 if you like.

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Namaste,

I just found this group! I am headed to India with my wife this month, we are interested in volunteering, Where is your center located? we are looking at being in the north, though anything is possible in India, we were in the north, Rishikesh, Varinasi, Vrindavan in 2007 and loved it! We are knoweldgable and talented in many fields of natural living as it is what we desire. We build bread ovens and bake artisan bread in the US, also building composting toilets and other simple tech eco-friendly accomidations for a low impact life. Hope to hear from you it would be great to have a contact to get involved in a positive project. Peace, Simha

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Dear Simha, you have all the details above to contact Samson who deals with exactly whwat you want to do. He has even given his email at yahoo and his telephone contact too...

Do keep in touch with us and tell us how you get along. On the other hand there are two other members Sarvo and Shubandra who have also moved from the USA to India. Here’s an easy access to them…Good luck

http://www.care2.com/c2c/people/profile.html?pid=815538081 Sarvo

http://www.care2.com/c2c/people/profile.html?pid=879931804 Subhandra

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