James' visit to village area

Some of the gentle people of Rajasthan, from the SHG group in Derki.

Me with the SHG group members in Derki

Rohitash and Gopal leading the discussion at the SHG group in Derki.

Dal, Batti, Churma! A delicious Rajasthani treat that I was treated to at Gopal's house.

Gopal sitting outside of his house. The straw huts are where many members of his family sleeps, though Gopal has a small brick house, and his brother is currently building a brick house.

Gopal and Rohitash on top of the office, getting ready for a day's work.

Hello everyone,

I’m a friend of Derek’s from high school who recently was privileged to pay a visit to LSS headquarters in beautiful rural Rajasthan. My visit came near the end of an extraordinary 6 week trip to Nepal and India, but in all sincerity, my brief encounter with LSS turned out to be one of the most meaningful and rewarding parts of my trip.

All told my visit was only less than 24 hours, but within this short time, Rohitash and Gopal made me feel at home and provided a thorough overview of their current work and ambitious agenda for the future. In these conversations, I was struck by the wealth of experience Rohitash and Gopal possess in microfinance and rural development. They’ve been actively working on-the-ground for 18 years, long before the concept of microcredit was widely implemented in India or popular in the West. My bottom line impression is that Rohitash and Gopal are authentic social entrepreneurs—taking personal risk to pursue innovative strategies to improve their community in lieu of more comfortable, stable (but less impactful) careers with government or business.

A special treat at the end of my visit was a motorcycle trip deep into the heart of Rajasthan to visit a recently formed self-help group. Although the women were shy at first, they did open up in a dialogue facilitated and translated by Rohitash and Gopal. They are eager to reap the benefits that they anticipate from their group. It will open doors to attaining health care, education, and investments in seed and livestock that were otherwise financially out of reach.

My hat goes off to Derek for his commitment to LSS and the beautiful and gentle people of Rajasthan. While the development challenges facing Rajasthan are reflected across much of the developing world, Derek and his able helpers Rohitash and Gopal, are effectively tackling issues in one small area with tangible results. I urge anyone looking for a worthy and impactful cause to seriously consider supporting LSS.