January 13: Ajmer and Barefoot College India

Upon arrival at the Ajmer railway station, the group will be transferred to the Paradizzo Resort, Ajmer. Buffet breakfast at the hotel, and then a full day visit to the Barefoot College India.

Dr. Bunker Roy at Barefoot College in Ajmer, India addressing the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India Delegation.  

Established in 1972, Barefoot College India is a non-government organization that has been providing basic services and solutions to problems in rural communities, with the objective of making them self-sufficient and sustainable. These ‘Barefoot College India solutions’ can be broadly categorized into solar energy, water, education, health care, rural handicrafts, people’s action, communication, women’s empowerment and wasteland development.

Barefoot College India believes that for any rural development activity to be successful and sustainable, it must be based in the village as well as managed and owned by those whom it serves. Therefore, all Barefoot initiatives whether social, political or economic, are planned and implemented by a network of rural men and women who are known as ‘Barefoot Professionals’.

Rural men and women irrespective of age, who are barely literate or not at all, and have no hope of getting even the lowest government job, are being trained to work as day and night school teachers, doctors, midwives, dentists, health workers, balsevikas, solar engineers, solar cooker engineers, water drillers, hand pump mechanics, architects, artisans, designers, masons, communicators, water testers, phone operators, blacksmiths, carpenters, computer instructors, accountants and kabaad-se-jugaad professionals.

With little guidance, encouragement and space to grow and exhibit their talent and abilities, people who have been considered ‘very ordinary’ and written off by society, are doing extraordinary things that defy description.

Late afternoon, visit the Ajmer Sharif Dargha of Kwaja Moin-ud-din Chishti, a Sufi saint revered by people affiliated to various religions.

Meals Included: Buffet breakfast at The Paradizzo Resort  Ajmer, lunch, buffet dinner at the hotel.

Accommodation: The Paradizzo Resort

Weather: Ajmer has a desert type climate.  January temperature varies from 5°C or 41 F to 22°C or 71.6 F.