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his first “Friendship” hostel, Paangkriang Friendship Hostel at Ijeirong village in Manipur.
This hostel which housed only 45 children in 2014 today has 240 from eight neighboring
villages. Things continued to grow from the development at Ijerong. In February of 2016,
upon his retirement from the Army, Chris took over as CEO of Sunbird Trust, a non-
religious and non-sectarian NGO he had conceptualized. Later that year he was awarded
with the prestigious international Ashoka Fellowship from South Asia by the Ashoka
Innovators for the public, based in Arlington.

With the Sunbird ethos of “Peace through Education,” Chris conceived of “Indians”
sponsoring the children from the very areas they were seen with suspicion by local
communities. This immediately led to ties of friendship being built. The Army, and
Assam Rifles also became partners in the venture conducting medical camps in the
project villages and taking the children to other parts of India on “National Integration”
tours. “Friendship” schools and hostels were raised – friendship meaning that these
were sanctuaries where children of all ethnicities and religions mingled freely without
discrimination. People from across the country noticed the work of Sunbird Trust, and
the venture grew exponentially over the next three years. Starting with a single volunteer
in 2016, today Sunbird Trust has 20 highly qualified and passionate young people from

across professions from all over India. They joined to serve at Sunbird schools in remote
parts of North East India and enriched the organization with a wealth of knowledge
and experience. Team members include a banker, an IIT post-graduate with a Ph.D,
eight Teach for India Fellows, a Gandhi Fellow, Masters in Education, MSW, civil and
mechanical engineers, a hotel management graduate and a dentist. Quite naturally,
our old classmates from St. Joseph’s joined Chris in a big way. Other generous donors
contributed to raising the institutions and today 14 hostels and small schools have been
built or being built.

Today, Sunbird Trust sponsors over 3,100 students and is currently building or has built

14 institutions (schools and colleges). 600 children benefit from a Nutrition Scheme. 50
undergraduates are privileged to be sponsored for degrees in Engineering, Law, Social
Work, Agriculture, Science and Humanities. Chris and Myrna are foster parents to 35 of
these, most of who study at our alma mater, St. Josephs College at Bangalore. It is Chris’s
dream to sponsor the education of 25,000 children and to build 50 institutions in remote
parts of the North East by the year 2025. He hopes that each of these 25,000 will be an
arrow for peace and amity in their communities.

After learning about the work Chris was doing with the Sunbird trust, my eldest
daughter, Ananya, decided she wanted to spend her summer in Manipur volunteering
and doing field research. Ananya, is an undergraduate in letters - Constitutional Studies,

and Public Health at the University of Oklahoma, Norman. And a life-changing experience
it was! She traveled across several Sunbird locations in insurgency-affected Manipur. In
the company of passionate Sunbird Team members, she was exposed to a reality far
removed from the United States. She stayed at a home for children with HIV, conducted
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