Doing so much when it seems like so little

As I write this in a revolutionary mindset (as usual) listening to the Flaming Lips on my Ipod, one of my small indulgences, I can literally watch the city of Chengelpattu changing around me. There are buildings sprouting up all through the Ranga Street Apartment neighborhood where workers make makeshift shacks and sleep on mats on top of trash littered streets. They cook here, brush their teeth here, and their toddlers yell at monkeys that attempt co-habitation. The economic stimulation is always mixing with the extreme poverty. How can one organization like Lead Forward have any hope when it is surrounded by an overwhelming despair? I can easily tell you how. From the first moment that a student of ours speaks to me in English and clearly understands my speech to the good marks and comparative conversations I have with priests at Christian schools these moments motivate and pulse with our LF students determination and motivation. I wish they could chant "We Will Overcome" in a rally down the streets of Chennai. From our one college student Tamilarsi calling herself black beauty to our new sixth standard student Nitiya Deeshika reading her own sponsors letter in English and seeing her clutch the 8.5x11 white paper with some indescribable compulsion. I am working with Phil to develop relationships between our students and the Lead Forward India leaders, the students don't yet understand which relationships are going to affect their future successes. Will it be those with their parents, sometimes inhibiting for guiding purposes, or those with their teachers who hopefully they will use as role models and keep in contact with them always, or is it the LF India leaders? It can be all three we can teach them through our LF India leader sand I am working to start that movement. The more motivation and support the better because though there is pressure from society there are students that slip through the cracks without motivation and given misguided support. Though there are always struggles and in India, corruption seems to rule over most of them like a monarchy, the memories and incidents that stick with me fortunately are the ones that will give Lead Forward the bright future we so desperately need and deserve. It is government exam time for our 10th and 12th Standard students, their test scores will directly determine their future. They will be eligible for scholarship and learning groups/levels based on their results. Wishing them the most focus and concentration and the least stress and distraction!