To: YMAD From: Steve

Nishtha has never seemed so quiet. No longer are there youth from america running up and down the stairs, boys and girls chatting on the roof, or blogging at the outdoor tables. The balcony is now locked shut and the lights in the rooms are turned out. Even those from Nishtha have commented about the silence. For most everyone here, life has returned to normal. Mimi and Manami are busy trying to catch up on work missed during their 3 month sojourn in America. Mina is busy with her daily activities, and there seems to be far fewer staff members helping out. I think many are out working with women in the field.

I see less of Manami now. She is visiting many of the groups she over sees, many of whom cannot understand how she could return 15 days ago and still not visited them. Mimi is working with me filming stories of the the women and girls.

I can imagine that back in america many of you are sound a sleep, trying to catch up before returning to school on Monday, probably unprepared for the unplanned jet-lag-induced wake up call at 4:00 am, that will inevitably occur.

I have already discovered how challenging doing video stories in a language I do not understand will be and day one was harder than I expected. I am unclear what we have or what we need to do differently as we film their stories.

Today should be much more positive as we will be visiting with young girls who have benefited from the programs of Nishtha.

Mimi and Manami are still laughing, joking and telling story after story of their adventures with everyone from YMAD. They were moved to tears by the letters you wrote and which they read as we returned to Nishtha from the airport.

I am always amazed at the love, generosity and change that we each experience as we participate in these, “grand YMAD adventures” to India. Thank you Robert, Jodee and everyone from YMAD for the grandest of adventures and as Mimi and Manami keeps telling me, “Let us never forget”

see you all soon,

love,

steve