Rural Leaders

Below is a convo I had with Savoeurn just a couple months after he got back from ARI.  I loved how happy and sincere he was about using local resources – a principal we strongly teach and practice at ARI, and one he has definitely taken to heart! Way to go, Savoeurn! Savoeurn: This is my chicken pen. I started with 12 layers and 15 ducks and 50 chicks.  I just made the pens after I came back from Japan. I collect the left-over rice from the kitchen and from … Read more

…because while I learned many new things, I also had to look back at what I had learned in the past, question its relevance, and restructure that acquired knowledge, so it could truly apply to the present world.”  – Sushme “Sush” Marak, 2024 ARI Graduate, Meghalaya, India quote from article, My Days of Learning at the Asian Rural Institute published in Hill Myrna Magazine, January 2026

– Koshi Ito, 2006 ARI Graduate, Japan Morning Gathering, December 2025

India – Surender Singh, 1989 Graduate, 1996 Training Assistant If you travel to the state of Uttarakhand in northern India to meet Surender Singh, he will definitely invite you to go trekking.  If you accept his offer, you will find that the experience is far more than a mountain walk with stunning views of the snow-capped Himalayas.  It is a journey through his life and a lesson on rural leadership. Singh san, as he was called at ARI, has been spreading his footprints across these steep mountain paths for 42 … Read more

Malawi – Enet Nkasikwa, 2013 ARI Graduate Graduates introduce their ARI learning to their communities in a different ways. One approach I have seen often is just to work their own farm using the organic techniques they learned at ARI.  It sounds almost too simple, but let me tell you what happens.  Day after day, when the neighbors pass by, they notice that that person who went to Japan is doing something different, and keep a wary, but curious eye out.  In time, they see that the crops are looking … Read more

One evening during a recent visit to the Philippines, I found myself sitting at a table having supper with two ARI graduates, both Episcopal priests, and a former ARI staff member.  As expected, the conversation was packed with memories of ARI. Sentence after sentence began with the words, “When I was at ARI….”  I never get tired of these stories.  Each one holds its individuality, but when you put them together, a pattern emerges that depicts the whole of ARI through the eyes of its Participants.  They also show how … Read more

Final night
After three packed weeks, it’s time to go home, but my flight isn’t until late tonight, so this day will be for decompression, reflection, and typing up some of the vast pages of notes I have accumula...

Mayetri Farm
Breakfast this morning was sandwiches, which we ate together in the cool garden.  The university student had stayed the night and so joined us, but soon headed off to classes.  He cycles to ...

Shop of colors
After breakfast we went to meet the cooperative, passing on the way, a group of locals cutting and cleaning tree branches on the wayside.  The road was full of Mahindras and on one sharp curve st...

Another road trip!
At breakfast, Reeta and Surender gave me a book, signed by both of them, as a memory of my visit.  It was a history of MGVS called Water for Pabolee.  This history of MGVS, I found as I read...