Help Us Bring Winter Relief to Varanasi Families

As you may recall I started my journey to the other side of the world around 50 days ago. Through a remarkable series of events, I found myself in an extremely impoverished part of Varanasi making an incredible connection with a group of 15 families in this area that were and are still living in absolute material destitution.

It is now my firm commitment during this holiday season to ensure that these families stay warm through the winter.

We cannot change the world overnight, but with a set goal of procuring jackets, blankets, shoes, bedding & food material for 3 months we can make an extraordinary difference to the lives of these seventy people in this specific area in Varanasi.

Here’s how this story unfolded

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My exploration of ancient cultures took an unexpected turn. An annoying and pervasive skin rash pushed me to change my travel plans, taking me to Varanasi.

I had decided that if my condition was going to worsen and I would have to cut my trip short, I wanted to be sure to see the incredible history and world famous ghats of Varanasi. What happened next was totally unexpected and unplanned.

Through a series of serendipitous connections I made a visit to one of India’s most impoverished areas. The poverty I saw there was unlike any poverty I had seen in any Western country.

While in this impoverished area, I was able to make a couple videos showing our efforts there which are the latest on my Instagram account.

Even in the most abject poverty, I saw these people pull together to compassionately support one another reflecting their commitment to their entire community. I have witnessed in them a strong sense of family, with respect, fairness, responsibility, trust, and deep caring for one another. I believe in these people.

I thought to myself “There must be a way to help these people” and so we asked these people what they needed and they told us that they needed blankets, jackets, shoes & food material to last through winter. This is truly a tangible and measurable impact that can be made to help this very specific group of people.  It will go a very long way.  

In bearing witness to their experience, and in recognition that winter is coming and these families in the destitute section of Varanasi have no shoes, no coats and no blankets, I am initiating a GoFundMe effort to raise funds to help purchase these Varanasi support items through vendors who have agreed to sell them to us at wholesale prices - as they believe helping others brings them good karma.

Anything at all is a great help and is appreciated deeply. Even $1, $5 or $10 goes a very long way out here and its impact is tenfold of what it would be back in the United States.

Your generosity will be very much appreciated by the recipients of the items we procure for them.

Thanks

-Ky