About our visit to Chennai

Mark wrote the following after our five days in Chennai:

I had the great opportunity to extend warm greetings from the City of Denver to their sister city, Chennai, during our visit to this coastal city located on the Sea of Bengal in Tamil Nadu.

Chennai is a large commercial and industrial centre, and is known for its cultural heritage and temple architecture. It is also a hub for south Indian classical music and dance performances. Our patron for this part of the Chennai visit was our good friend John Hickenlooper, Mayor of Denver. John helped us with the appropriate introductory letters and small gifts of thanks to the local representatives, and arranged for meetings with the municipal and State political leadership and as well as Denver's Human Service partner "Udavum Karangal" .

When we arrived, the by-elections were underway. Recounts were on throughout the region as there were some Mayor Daley-like voting irregularities that required a number of districts to redo the election. As is true in all Democratic lands, sometimes things go bump in the night for the current political leadership. Chennai's Mayor was already out of office as his term expired and he wasn't asked by his party to seek re-election. We did visit both the Mayor's office and the Chief Minister (Governor) of Tamil Nadu office which are both located in Chennai.

Our most important and meaningful visit was with the the nonprofit organization, Udavum Karangal “My Helping Hands" and its founder Pappa Vidyaakar. Helping Hands has a long history of helping orphans and poor villagers. Pappa Vidyaakar gave me a tour of their operations in the Chennai area and then I visited the new homes that were being constructed with funds provided by the great citizens of Denver in response to the tsunami that devastated many villages along the coastline in Tamil Nadu. Denver and Colorado citizens donated over $ 70,000 and sent it in support of "My Helping Hands" construction of new homes for one of the many small coastal village that had been destroyed in the tsunami. The construction was moving along quite nicely and there was excitement in the temporary thatched roof community adjoining the construction site.

Denver's Sister Cities International is an outstanding program run by Dan Sundaresan who oversees this impressive operation along with a dedicated Board and staff . Dan will be attending the opening of the new homes on the two year anniversary of the tsunami, December 26th. -Good work Denver.

My visit with Pappa Vidyaakar was inspiring - he is a truly great human being and has built an incredible network of support for orphans and the mentally handicapped. He is treating with care, compassion and kindness India's most needy. The scope and quality of his programs is world class, and if anyone is traveling in India, this is a person and organization that you must visit. To learn more about their Dream, Determination and Drive please take a look at their web site: http://www.udavumkarangal.org
Chennai was also an important visit as our good friend Ravi (Ganesan Ravishanker) arranged for us to meet with part of his family that live here in Chennai. Their friendship allowed us to better understand this fascinating community and they helped us plan a wonderful tour through Tamil Nadu where we learned so much about the people and culture. Thank you!

-Mark