2,500 Feet Above Sea Level

High Range is a name given to a few districts in the State of Kerala which are literally atop mountain ranges, 2,500 feet above sea level. One these districts is Idukki where WV has a 15-year area development program covering Kattapana and Nedumkandum blocks. I was in Idukki from April 27 to May 2 as part of WV team to evaluate the program.

Kattapana, which is the capital town of Idukki was where we stayed during the evaluation. To get to Kattapana, I had to take a 45-minute flight from Chennai (where I spent a week for evaluation preparation) to another city of Tamil Nadu called Maduarai. From Madurai , another 3-hour drive coursing through a winding road scaling up the mountains was needed to reach Kattapana.

On the day of my trip to Kattapana, I was wakened at 4.00am by WV logistics officer, James, informing me that my flight was cancelled by Jet Airways. He personally came to the hotel to send me and another colleague from Philippines Regional Office, Remy Geraldes, to the airport and negotiate with Jet Airways to find a way to get us to another flight to Madurai. Jet Airways, true to its claim for unparallel service managed to get a seat on another airline called Paramount. To top it off, we were upgraded to business class!

Benjamin Benji, a WV staff from High Range ADP met us at the airport and brought us to a farm hotel resort. The hotel, called Carmelia Hotel and Resorts, is situated in a 55-acre farm where cardamom, tea, pepper and fruit bearing trees are cultivated. It is about 8 kilometers from downtown and considered by many as sanctuary, what with its large pool, tree houses and lakes. The rooms, although large, are not properly maintained nor cleaned. I found it ghastly. In the evening, the sound of crickets and other nocturnal animals served as lullaby that brought me to sleep while the chirping of the birds served as alarm clocks in the morning.

After three days, I had to move to downtown Kattapana to join other WV colleagues at the Edassery Hotel. Despite its modesty, the hotel is well-maintained and the staff very helpful. My room was huge with mini receiving and dining rooms. The drawback was, it had no air conditioning and it faced the road so that I could hear the honks and sound of motor engines all night long.

The evaluation was a learning experience. There were about 30 of us in the team including WV national office staff and volunteers. I was assigned to lead a five member- team to assess the sustainability of CBOs. CBOs are classified as District Family Forum (1), Regional Family Forums (5), Wards (45) and self-help groups (355). In my team were Shanti Hopper, KK Thomas, Sanal Mathai and KD Kuriakose. We visited five villages but I could only remember the names of three: Nirmalycity, Vazhavara and Nedumkandum. Using the assessment tool I have developed while I was still at ICOMP, we held dialogues with representatives of regional forums and wards. Between 10 -40 people participated in each meeting. We have talked to all 5 regional forums and 5 wards. Very typical of Indian gatherings, women were seated separately from men. However, women were most of the time more vocal in the discourse. In Nedumkandum, after the assessment, the women asked so many questions about my life and the Philippines. They showed keen interest to learn about other cultures. Although reports showed that the people are poor in the villages, the men and women came in their best bib and tucker. Women were even adorned with jewellerie, I wondered if they owned a pawnshop.

In the course of our stay, we had also the chance to meet with the ADP Fellowship Support Group composed of different churches and other stakeholders. During our evening, I had goosebumps seeing pastors and priests who were wearing cassocks and robes similar to those worn by Sadducees and Pharisees. I facilitated a two-hour session with them to discuss their vision for High Range, their contributions towards this vision and strategies to achieve this vision. The discussion went well although some of my Indian colleagues were shocked to see me engaging the representatives in small group discussions. They told me that these high ranking members of different churches are not accustomed to such kind of activity and might get offended. Contrary to their fears, the discussions went well and they even congratulated me for facilitating the session well.

The initial results of the evaluation was shared to several stakeholders on May 2. The event was participated by about 50 community leaders and members, some government officials and even a tribal king! I had a chance to present my team's finding for 30 minutes.