Geeta Di: Roots That Grow Home

Meet Geeta Di. Ever smiling, super dedicated, confident, multi talented. She is one of the trainees in the community tourism project I have been honoured to facilitate. There is so much to learn from each one here.

Have a look at the homework assignment Geeta di whipped up over an evening.

She said she started working on it as soon as she reached home after an exhausting day of training, and continued to work till 11 in the night. And of course the next day morning would've been the usual village life routine of waking up early, lighting up the chulha, cleaning and feeding the cattle, making breakfast, lunch for the day. The training begins at 11 am and she is also usually one of the first ones to arrive, always before time.

She has been restoring an old traditional family house; the family is building it themselves, and plan to live and run a homestay from there.

This is to try and secure their children's future so they don't have to migrate to the cities and have an option to live a fuller life where they belong, where home is.

This Story of Impact is from 2023, where in collaboration with the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to support their corporate social responsibility, we partnered with the grassroots non-profit People's Science Institute to train local communities in developing a community-based tourism business model. This initiative integrated cultural assets and skills, expanding our efforts to create micro social entrepreneurs.

Read the full project report here.

Fast forward to 2025: Geeta Di joins her community team in Dehradun to launch Him Amrit, a brand celebrating farm produce grown by farmers like her across Kumaon, Uttarakhand.

You can purchase their products at the People's Science Institute office in Dehradun.

Geeta Di is also part of the community hosting From Soil to Soul: Life Lessons with Himalayan Farmers, a five-day immersive learning journey rooted in the land, nurturing both soil and soul through farming, art, and local wisdom. The program invites you to step into renewal, purpose, and connection.

If this calls to you, explore more here.