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The founder of the NY/Anantapur Project is José Carlos Casado, a Spanish artist who resides in New York. Casado explains below how the project came to be and how he became inspired to build a Vicente Ferrer school in Anantapur, Andra Pradesh, India.

The NY/Anantapur project began in the ocean surrounding Sri Lanka during a frustrating voyage on a sailboat. It was January 2008, and I had started a six-month trip with some friends around Southeast Asia. My sailing trip ended early only two months after I departed. In the trajectory between Malaysia and Sri Lanka, I became very sick and I had to end the sailing trip. I sadly asked my friends to leave me in Sri Lanka, where once I recuperated; I decided to go explore India.

A trip to India is something I had put off many times in my lifetime. The country’s mythic poverty scared me, even though my relationship with India began ten years before.

Ten years ago my brother persuaded me to sponsor a child in India through the Vicente Ferrer Foundation. This organization, founded by a former Jesuit priest, has been working for over 50 years to better the condition of the "untouchable" class and other disenfranchised people in India. The foundation is based in Anantapur, a remote region in the Andra Pradesh region, devastated by constant drought. In that region, the most marginalized in Indian society live in the midst of a dry and rocky landscape.

Forty years ago in that rural, abandoned region, Vicente Ferrer dedicated himself to planning the "miracle seed," as he termed it, giving the farmers their first rupees through microloans. Through these means, the first wells were built, crops were planted and the first businesses started.

In 1969, before he received international awards such as the Prince Asturias prize, Ferrer wrote, "I’ve declared war on pain and suffering." Those words help start a peaceful war that motivated millions of people.

While in India, I decided to visit the child I sponsored ten years ago and see first hand the work of the foundation. What I saw during my weeklong visit impacted me profoundly and was the catalyst for starting the NY/Anantapur project.

For decades after starting work in Anantapur, and thanks in large part to small donations from common people, the foundation has developed a colossal organization that today supports 2,278 villages and benefits 2.5 million people. Today, Anantapur has three hospitals, an HIV/AIDS center, and 11 rural clinics, more than 1,180 schools where 100% of the local children are enrolled, 21,000 homes for the poor and 1,000 homes for the disabled.

Among Ferrer’s "miracles" is the young boy I sponsored. Today he is 18 years old. With the foundation’s help, he went to school. Today he is considering going to the university. A huge accomplishment in a region where half of the inhabitants over the age of 15 do not know how to read or write.

Another one of his "miracles" is Sasi, a 33 year old "untouchable" that today speaks seven languages, studied Art History and works as a translator. The untouchables occupy the lowest place in Indian society. They are at the bottom of the caste system. For centuries they were condemned to the most base and humble jobs. Even today, many of them continue to be marginalized despite the fact that the caste system and the "untouchable" term was abolished in 1950.

One of the foundation’s projects that moved me was a new HIV/AIDS center where patients can receive anti-retroviral treatment. An orphaned seven year old girl that I decided to sponsor after my visit receives treatment there.

After seeing the impact of the foundation on the land, I felt the need to do something more to help this incredible organization. I felt I had to give more. But how much more? I thought I could build a school but it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars that I would never be able to raise. When I asked the foundation how much it would cost to build a school, I was shocked by the answer. Just a $15,000 donation could build a school for 500 children - that is just $30 per child.

The day I left, Vicente Ferrer came to me personally to say goodbye. Perhaps it was the culmination of all of the feelings of that week or maybe it was the indescribable gaze of my new sponsored child or even that of Vicente but before I left I promised to do everything I could to build a school.

When I returned to New York, I spoke of the project with various friends. All of them responded with enthusiasm. We spontaneously became a team of diverse people: Claudia Herasme and Pablo Zamorano, both architects; Ioana Alfonso, actress and dancer; Amelia Alonso, publicist; Marta Sánchez, film curator; Eva Sanchis, journalist; Stacey Elms, web developer; Laura Turégano, cultural manager; Isabel Cantallaos; Xavi Marrades; and others. We all have something in common: we are convinced we can make this world a better place.

During my trip I took thousands of photos of Indian life. From these photos, I chose 108 that we are selling through an exhibition and this Web site to raise funds for this project.

Now back in New York my trip is over and I hope it ends with the construction of a new school in Anantapur. My last day in India I took this photo of a porter. For me, these hands represent the empty suitcase I took to India, which returned filled. I invite you to take part in this incredible voyage.

Shimla, Himachal Pradesh