The Koshy Family:

I am Rev. Zachariah Koshy. I am a priest by profession, I work as the chaplain for the Periyar Hospital in Kumily. I was working in the Bible Society of India for 25 years. I retired as the Secretary for the Bible Society. I got the privilege to travel around the world through Bible Society and build friends around the world. My wife Remani is with me. We’ve been married for 32 years and I have a daughter Ushus30), and a son Vishal(27). Ushus is with her husband Jubel in St. Louis, USA. They have a daughter, Angeline. My son Vishal is working in Kochi in an Adventure Tour Company. He is married to Rojeen and has a baby girl Shreya.

In 2002, I took a voluntary retirement and came to Periyar to spend a peaceful life here. I always had this bonding to Periyar, not only because I was born in the nearby Peerumedu Taluk, but also the pleasing weather and peaceful village life here. Whenever I got time, I used to leave the busy city, Kottayam, and drive up to this hill county with my family. It was a great dream for us to buy some land and settle in Periyar.

Through my interaction with the local community I got touched by the suffering and problems the village faced. The main problem area being lack of education, unemployment, shattered family life etc. People lost hope of their life resulting in a lot of suicides, sex trade etc. I decided to use all my experience and contacts to support the community, in what ever way I can.

I started the counseling to suicide victims, started events like Flower Shows to encourage the community, supported organizations for HIV awareness camps etc. I think the biggest support to the community is by teaching them to earn a living for themselves. Through the Flower Show society, we conduct free classes on developing home vegetable gardens, organic faming, etc.

The Koshys homestay is also part of the vision to support the community. We use only local labour, buy from small organic farms and employ villagers as helpers. The money generated from the homestay is used for the community transformation.