It is my final day at Pitchandikulam and I have had just enough time to squeeze in an ethno medicinal class with Parvathy and friends. Today we learnt about the medicinal properties of 3 Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest plants: Vishnukiranti, Marul and Tortasaningi. The forest here is full of plants with medicinal qualities, fruits, building materials... pretty much all the essentials for living. In the short space of 2 hours I have learnt how to cure an ear ache/infection, fever, reduce blood pressure and heal minor cuts and abbresions. Wish I could stay longer and learn more!!!

Our teacher Parvathy is a co-ordinator of Women's Self Help Groups and a trainer in ethno medicinal plants. We have worked with her on women's projects in the past and hope to do more of this on our return visit. The women who work and live at Pitchandikulam radiate such calmness and beauty; it is hard not to fall in love with each person's nature. Parvathy, Mardu, Anita and Kamaxshi send their love to the past CERES volunteers from 2006, 2007 and 2009 and hope to connect with you again.

So Noel has left us and headed up to Mumbai to rendezvous with the Pal group, whilst I am headed further north to Delhi to meet up with Sheena and Nazila. We are bound for the foothills of the Himalayas to visit small village Balwadis (kindergartens/social movements... yes they are quite radical) and then down to Rajasthan to look at water harvesting projects, renewable energies, women's development initiatives.

We will try and blog when and where we can, so stay tuned and please get in touch if you want to find out more.