LAFTI & Family

Seven bus and car hours after leaving my aunt’s house in Chengelpattu, I arrived to the LAFTI office headquarters in Kuthur. Although I had never spent time in this area before, I immediately felt at home. As we got out of the jeep, my grandma and I were welcomed most warmly by all the staff and workers. Sitting on the cement staircase just to the right of the large group of men drinking coffee, two women saying “Meera, Meera, Meera!” caught my eye and brought a smile to my face. These two women, Poongodai and Valayrmathi, happened to be the two women who braided my hair every morning and made me French fries every night when my family and I last traveled to India in 1998. I remembered them, they remembered me, and thus my time spent here in Kuthur no matter what the future held, was off to the best possible start.

As for being greeting with smiles and remembrance, the two women sitting on the staircase weren’t the only ones. On her way to walking into the office to begin organizing the week’s work, Amma introduced me to these “men drinking coffee” who had kindly greeted us when we stepped out of the Jeep, but who had almost immediately found their way back to the table and chairs in the front garden area to discuss the LAFTI tasks that were to be carried out over the next several days while “the boss” was in town. For all the people who were not able to stop by the office that day, Amma gave me a brief summary with their name and position and assured me I would be meeting them all at the staff meeting in just a few days. I will tell it just as she did, with a little help and clarification from my father after the fact. Trying to learn, remember, and pronounce so many Indian names all at once can get slightly confusing for someone who has one of the simplest Indian names known to man.

Although she introduced them individually, it is blatantly obvious how much of a pair these two are, in my grandmother’s eyes anyway. Vengopu and Veerachami are Amma’s two true trusted assistants. Krishnammal respects and trusts all members of the LAFTI community, but these two men are to be found by her side at every meeting, gathering, or prayer. A short and fairly stout man, Vengopu can appear cold and uninterested as has a relatively neutral expression on his face at all times and is not one to make small talk. After speaking with my father about his lack of expression and as I would later find out for myself, Vengopu smiles much more after you begin to smile at him. And as for his lack of casual conversation, he is the manager of all LAFTI projects and instead spends his energy coordinating and directing people to their respective jobs. As my father says, “he makes things happen!”, and that is no small thing. Despite their names both beginning with the letter V, Veerachami could not a more polar opposite from that of his close colleague. Smiling at all occasions, this man has one of the most engaging, humorous, and truly kind ways with people that is not comparable to anyone I have ever met. Despite the language barrier, when I met Veerachami for the first time I felt as though we spoke exactly the same language. In every word that flows out of his mouth, whether it is “hello” or some similar phrase in Tamil, he speaks in a very particular way. His speech is calm yet enthusiastic, strong but gentle, and there is a certain resilience in his voice that makes one want to know everything about his life from then until now. Although I knew my work with LAFTI would be serious for the most part, it was refreshing to know that Veerachami would be there to make me smile with is silly Indian face-making and Tamil joke-cracking all along the way.

As I was beginning to shake hands and say hello to more people than I can remember, Amma continued with introductions like each person was the first I met. Next was Gandhi, without the all-white cotton attire or a walking stick. Gandhi is a sort of the bridge between the people in the LAFTI community and for anyone who enters into it. Although his native language is Tamil like most all others I have met so far, he also speaks enough English to convey the basic environment in most any situation. Even though I was not aware of his relative importance to me and my travels just yet, Gandhi would serve as both a friend and tour guide, helping my navigate my way around South India linguistically and otherwise. After Gandhi came the cashier, Muniyan. As a former university student and accounting major, this man’s focus and continual hard work was easily admirable. Doing most everything by hand, Muniyan spends a good portion of his day recording and analyzing the different inflows and outflows of all the activities taking place at LAFTI. After Amma was awarded two different international prizes for her work totaling over $160,000, I can’t imagine that keeping track of it all can be an easy task. Muniyan’s pride in his work is a part of his personality I immediately understood after observing for only a few short hours. Although his office is inside another larger office filled with many people at all hours of the day, the way Muniyan conducts his work at his little brown desk makes one feel as though they are in a completely separate building. He is distracted by nothing. Although I met a few other people along the way, my final stop before settling into my room for some rest was the kitchen. Only fifteen feet away from the main building, I walked the sand path to where the real magic was taking place. There I sat with four women, unbeknown to me at the time, but who would soon become my four guardian angels. Karnegi and Mani-Mori were the other two women in the group in addition to Poongodai and Valayrmathi who I met on the steps just a few minutes before. Although all in the kitchen preparing food for Amma and I at the time, Karnegi and Mani-Mori dedicate most of their time and efforts to “the goat project”, one of LAFTI’s many successful efforts to empower women and give them the opportunity to provide for their family through the breeding and selling of domesticated animals. Anyways, although I was not completely sure of these numerous women’s exact job titles and descriptions, I was sure that I had four newly adopted family members. Valayrmathi was my newest sister, Poongodai my aunt, Karnegi my mother, and Mani-Mori all of the above.

While the introduction described above probably took place in approximately 15 minutes or less in real time, I felt as though all of the people I met today had taken the time to welcome me into their home and community, and thus I should do the same with regards to their introductions to you. But in reality, in a quarter of an hour I had met 8 people who together along with a few others, make the cotton wheel spin. In the most mutual and motivated effort I have ever come across, Amma, and her LAFTI family are slowly changing the world.