India/Nepal Projects Director

Sarah Smith began domestic humanitarian activity when she and James, her husband, moved from West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard, MA to Kingston, NY in August, 1977. In 1987, Sarah began international humanitarian activity primarily through support of education projects in Northeast India.

In May, 2008, James and Sarah and Paul Grimsland formalized and combined their humanitarian activity by the founding of Hope for Change International (H4CI). Since September, 2008 Sarah has travelled to Nagaland and various regions of India ten times. The duration of her visits have ranged from four weeks to three months. In September, 2016 Sarah visited Kathmandu, Nepal for the first time with a subsequent visit in May, 2017.

As H4CI’s India/Nepal Projects Director Sarah maintains bi-weekly communication with our Mokokchung, Nagaland partners, Moa and Sentila Jamir and with our Nepali partners, Shubhas and Kamala Sharma. Ongoing projects in both regions include student sponsorships, food & essential living distributions, literacy training, trauma counseling, and housing.

While visiting our H4CI partners in South Asia Sarah has lived in their homes rather than a tourist hotel. She likes to say that, “Someone gave up their bed for me.” Eating together, riding together, vision-sharing and touring together has solidified long-term friendships with both the Jamir’s and Sharma’s. Their personal passion for serving the marginalized segments of their national populations has inspired Sarah to promote their causes through presentations and speaking engagements. She delights in learning the nuances of both cultures, memorizes names, locations, and Indian and Nepali menu selections. Sarah hopes to return to both Mokokchung and Nepal in the autumn of 2026.