Kumar Vishwanathan is originally from southern India. He was leading a
quiet life as a teacher in a provincial Czech town when in 1997 disastrous
floods swept through the eastern part of the Czech Republic and changed his
life for ever. Quite spontaneously he decided to help Romany families who
had lost their homes in the industrial city of Ostrava near the Polish
border. He thought he would stay for a few weeks. Eight years later, along
with his wife and small son, he is still there, working untiringly to build
bridges between Roma and non-Roma