In the end, we decided, our first task in Bihar. Dwarko took us through some economics that made a lot of sense. We can provide the seeds and plants to build a small farm of 1 hectare that will make 25 families self supporting within 4-years and support a local school for their children. The farm will be planted with Vegetables, Papaya, Mango, Bamboo and Teak. The vegetables will produce edible product beginning in year 1 and will provide the vitamin A needed to eliminate the night blindness most of the people in this region have because of a poor diet. The Mango and Papaya will give the children a sweet fruit to stimulate their interest; the Bamboo will be ready in 3 years. It will be used by the 25 families to build homes and facilities for their village and some will be sold or exchanged for other needs. The Teak will provide fire wood and in 20 years will produce a crop worth $20,000.

The cost for each hectare plus the cost of supporting the school for the 1st three years (while the bamboo is maturing) is between $1,000 and $1,500. WOW what a small effort for such a big payoff. We plan to start with 10 villages of 25 families each. The distribution will include both Muslim and Hindu communities, the poor and the agitators, perhaps even a more affluent community. The objective is to have a fair cross section of the people in the area. We will use the development to gain and grow the trust of each of the villages and then move from that trust to develop peaceful ways to solve local problems. We are really looking for a tipping point and this may be a good one.

Our credibility will be established both through Dwarko's existing credibility and the unconditional effort to help these people. Once we develop a more carefully defined business plan we will know if these numbers really work.

Sri and I are each prepared to put up the initial $5,000 bringing the fund to $10,000 to prime the pump. When the program is going we will begin to solicit money to build more self sustaining communities. First we need to test the thesis and see if it is scaleable.