Dear City Aikido, I hope everyone at the dojo is having a warm holiday season. I have been in Togo, West Africa for over a year now.   I feel I have grown because of the opportunities I have been given and the people I have gotten to know.  There is so much to say and I am looking forward to coming back to City Aikido to train and touch base.  In the meantime, I would like to tell you about a project I am working on. Any day now you might be getting a letter from the Office of Private Sector Initiatives (OPSI) outlining my Peace Corps Partnership Program project.  This project has as its overarching goal to improve health and sanitation in my village of Hiheatro.  I intend to construct 31 latrines and build the human capacity necessary for lasting change in our community's health.  The total funding is $16,820, of which the community is committed to contributing 27%.  I am writing family and friends in hopes that I can find funding for the rest. The impact of this project will be great in terms of the number of beneficiaries.  1700 will directly benefit and 320 people will be involved in its implementation and design.  A summery of the project is included with the aforementioned letter, but I can send you much more information if you are interested. I will briefly describe our closest upcoming activity: celebrating World AIDS Day on December 1st.  For $300—used to make 100 t-shirts—we are raising awareness of HIV/AIDS (currently affecting 6-8% of the village).  In the past two months we have put together six sketch groups from local middle and high schools to perform for the event.  The day also includes testimony from an HIV-positive woman and man, a question and answer session, games, debates, music, dancing, and a lot more.  We will easily have an audience of over 800 people, and the festivities start after a 10 kilometer awareness-raising bike tour with 30 participants.  We have similar plans for International Woman's Day and for World Heath Day.  Public events to raise awareness are one of five objectives of this project; I can go into them all in as much detail as you like. The community of Hiheatro with a population of 5,468 does face some serious health problems.  80% of the population does not have access to latrines.  31% does not have access to clean drinking water.  Parasitic infection is endemic to Hiheatro, affecting 41% of children between the ages of 6 and 15.  Of this population 69.8% suffer from hookworm, 61.5% from amoebas, and 39% from roundworm.  I am trying my best to work with the community to help resolve some of these issues.  If this project gets funded we will introduce a new cost effective latrine into our village, targeting a key area that suffers most from poor sanitation.  By concentrating construction (of 30 latrines) in this one relatively small location, we should maximize the reduction of parasitic infection caused by fecal-oral disease transmission and improve the quality of drinking water (which gets contaminated from sewage runoff).  These construction efforts will work in conjunction with intensive week-long health seminars, confidence building programs to motivate community health agents, and numerous other health activities. The Aikido component of this project fits in well for its principals of non-violence and confidence building.  So far I have trained with about 30 people.  Some students have trained for over 120 hours.  Through the physical practice, I am amazed how my self-development is intertwined with the development of others.  The students live in poverty, disease, and several have HIV.  Considering this context, Aikido has helped me create a bridge to connect with them in a meaningful way.  The community leaders are also very impressed by its principles of non-violence.  It is a theme that is widely discussed in the context of Togo's political climate.  The idea that we can work with (rather than against) each other has far reaching political ramifications I believe.  I would say that Aikido training is the most meaningful aspect of this project, especially considering that among the students is a group of peer educators that serve an important health function in the community. To help me with all five objectives of this project we have elected committee of eight community leaders and health specialists.  We are also getting the support of a number of NGOs in the process.  I have complete confidence in the ethics and ability of these people and have a strong working relationship with these NGOs. I have seen some people change significantly, and it is intrinsically rewarding to be a part of.  If you feel in some way connected to this cause, I simply want to give you the opportunity to engage in it with me.  Although I would be touched to receive a donation, what is most important is that this information be put out in a pressure-free environment.  My greater intention behind corresponding is to stay connected to you and our aikido community. Sincerely, Vikram Shankar To donate from the web: 1) Please go to the Peace Corps Web site: http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors. 2) Click "Donate to Volunteer Projects" 3) Choose "Africa" as the region 4) Go all the way down to "Togo".  My project is called Health Hygiene and Sanitation Education.  All donations are tax deductible