He tirelessly visits school classes in his town and talks to the students and teachers about India, Sarnath and BSS. Obviously, he does so with a lot of heart and conviction, because it has resulted in amazing funds being raised in Etne.

Last year, they raised enough money to buy BSS a school bus and this year they will contribute half the cost of the daily meals BSS provides to its 220 students.

Geir makes sure the school children in Etne understand the huge impact their support is having on the Indian students’ lives. He will visit BSS again in March to report back on the progress being made and how his community can continue to help.

BSS sends the teachers, school children and other supporters in Etne a very big and heartfelt Thank You.

To our angel Donna Peter, our most heartfelt thank you for your recent extra support that provided blankets to our students and their families. This winter has been especially cold, and your blankets helped to keep the children warm. Thank you for your ongoing support from the bottom of our hearts!

Dear Debbie, thank you for your kind contribution that allowed us to buy warm clothes for Munna, a boy we love dearly, and who desperately needed them. You can see he is so happy to have his warm clothes! Your donation will also allow us to fix Munna’s family’s water pump, bringing water back to their house.

The new shoes and socks were distributed before 26th of January (REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRATIONS). Some of the small children were not able to walk because they have never worn shoes and since this was their first time, they were feeling uncomfortable — but now they are habituated.

My hearty thanks with endless love to our Dear Friend Prof. Jim Duerlinger. (Last year Jim sponsored warm woollen sweaters for all the children.)

Again, thank you so much for all your kindness!!

With much love always!! Rajan

Here are a few of them, fitted.

Thanks again Marie-Jeanne.

Thank you so much. With much love Always!!

Rajan

Thank you so much. With much love Always!!

Rajan

After experiencing such poverty in both Bodhgaya and Sarnath, Buddha’s Smile School was a completely enriching and perfect experience. Meeting Rajan, we spoke of love and in her I saw a heart too big to fit in her chest. Sure enough her generosity of spirit and deep love for all the children (including her desire to develop a hostel for these desperate little ones and perhaps begin a sister school in Kolkata) was in full swing at 2007′s Independence Day Celebration. Rajan and her teachers work tirelessly to give these children a better chance in life, beginning with respect, love and an education. This experience changed my travel plans (I leave tomorrow for Kolkata to visit other schools and hostels Rajan has told me about) and she and her family’s hearts are an inspiration to all. The work here deserves huge support and many prayers.

Thank you Buddha’s Smile School for being such an incredible part of my journey.

Angela-Claire Cole

You can see more of Angela-Claire’s photos here | Link

I met Rajan and Sukhdev 2 year ago after a small crisis in my own life. Through my dear friend Mattia I was introduced to the family, and hardly knew them, yet, I was instantly treated like one of them, they took me into their home into their life and into their hearts. I remember Sukhdev telling me never to say thank you as it was an insult, thank you is for strangers….family needs no thank you. I recall endless stories of struggle and that the couple endured in order to be together, in order to live their dreams, and in order to help others. There’s is a marvellous tale of the potential to be generous and the ability to change the lives of others.

Sometimes when I tell the story of their lives I feel like I’m exaggerating because there is such inherent beauty in it that it sounds to good to be true and yet it is all fact.

Risking a love marriage in a part of India that still extols arranged marriage Rajan was disowned by her family and friends. Alone in the world left only only with her precious Sukhdev she never looked back and stood in the shadows of her own sorrow, but rather rejoiced in her great love and dedicated her time and energy to helping others, rather than worrying for herself. A teacher by training Rajan once a resident of the booming Calcutta upper middle class came to one of the poorest regions in the country known as Uttar Pradesh in a town called Sarnath. There she began teaching the poorest of the local children for free. What started as a simple act of generosity soon burgeoned into a life long project. Through word of mouth…something that moves faster then the speed of light in the beggar towns of India, Rajan teachings became heralded throughout the village. Shortly thereafter she was teaching children on her front lawn……and letter moved into a small flat where she began an official free school for untouchable children, while Sukhdev opened a small local restaurant to support the family.

As time has passed the school became more then a place of simple education for a few children and transformed into a house of learning for over 100 hundred needy students. A place were paucity turned into opportunity and starvation satisfied by the school’s healthy meals metamorphosed into a thirst for knowledge that Rajan continued to nurture. In living amongst Rajan and her school for over two months, I can honestly say she is the closest thing I know to a living saint. She is humble, kind, and full of life. She gives as though she has an endless receptacle of energy and yet accepts hardly anything in return. I remember how completely she would insist I buy her nothing not even simple commodities like shampoo and soup if I used them, the only thing she would readily receive would be joy. She simply gives and gives and loves.

I am sure the Buddha is smiling at her and upon her hundreds of children. I am honoured to know Rajan and her family.

Heather Mason