Seasons Greetings from Action Village India

Dear Friends and Supporters,

It has been another year of ongoing challenges both for many supporters and friends of Action Village India and for partners across rural India that we have the continuing privilege to collaborate with.

In response to these challenges, partners in India have worked to strengthen community, humanity and solidarity.

The communities where partners have been working in, often for decades, are some of the poorest in India. The sharpening and deepening of social and economic inequalities, injustices and prejudices, recently catalysed by Covid, have been felt dramatically and disproportionately by migrant labourers and marginalised women, men and children across rural India.

It has been a vibrant web of citizen’s organisations and movements, including Action Village India partners, who have been making vital community centred responses.

Action Village India’s vision is to contribute to improving access to rights and livelihoods for women, men and children in parts of rural India, so that they can live in fair and just communities. We have tried to share how partners are working to do this with you through our newsletters.

The responses of the community of Action Village India – Esther, Aneeta, our volunteers and interns, trustees, the Madras Café family and you, our supporters and friends – have been  both moving and inspiring.  In spite of the continuing challenges 2022 has been a year of many successes.

The collective energies of Action Village India staff, interns and volunteers joined with the vibrant and peerless community of Madras Café volunteers, were so very happy to be able to collaborate again, after two years, at WOMAD.   The Madras Café itself was filled with so many old and new friends and was a great, inspiring and tasty success.  This year saw the Action Village India shop transformed into an Indian street style stall with our fabulous range of hand crafted goods.  This attracted more sales than ever, including of our wonderful Madras Café cookbook 2.

Our ‘Walk for Women’ linked people in a number of communities and households in three countries, and we have had successful stalls at Diwali in Trafalgar Square and the Darbar Festival at the Barbican. Our community of interns, volunteers, friends and staff have made all these so positive and engaging.  Warm thanks to all!

Across the year our community of supporters has shown many examples of humanity and solidarity all linked to a discovering and rediscovering of the deep importance of sharing and caring.

Our commitment is ongoing and we welcome you to continue being part of it in 2023.

So please accept a sincere, deeply felt, thank you on behalf of all of us who are part of the Action Village India community and from partners across India.

We wish you peace and happiness and we sincerely hope that 2023 will be a happier and more just year for everybody.

Andy Rutherford
Chair of Trustees, Action Village India