8 March 2008: Chicago, Prosecutors say ancient Indian social classifications could be linked to the deaths of a Chicago-area family:
Chicago Tribune | Read the Full Story |
Twenty-Five percent of population sit below the poverty-line in India
Today, more than 25% of India’s population sits below the Indian Government’s own poverty line of 30 rupees a day. The World Health Organisation’s poverty line it set at US$1 a day.
| Link |
Dying of hunger in Uttar Pradesh
5 March 2008: Jatai, a resident of Ghoorpatti village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, lost five members of her family, one after another, over a period of about 18 months.
She says they all died from hunger.
BBC News | Link |
Dr. Al Haj
Dr. Al Haj, who is a friend of Vipin and Gita Kothari, recently made a very generous donation.
Dr. Haj kindly donated the funds to buy a new set of uniforms for all 220 BSS students. The kids were measured and the outfits were made specifically. The photo shows the oldest boy in the school being taught how to tie his tie.
To see more photos of the kids in their new uniforms click here.
Miriam Sicherman
Miriam Sicherman sent us some really nice pictures of the Buddha’s Smile School kids receiving their end of year reports.
She wrote:
“I still plan to write a Your Story entry one of these days but in the meantime here is some info about me and my visit:
“I’m an elementary school teacher from New York City. I was in India from Sept 2006-May 2007, mostly in Kerala, where my husband had a Fulbright grant to study music. We traveled in April and May and that’s when we stopped by BSS, which we had heard of from another Fulbrighter, Forrest Fleischman.
“We visited BSS on the last day of the school year, so the kids were receiving their progress reports and enjoying their last day. As a teacher, I loved seeing how happy and relaxed the kids were at school. We really enjoyed our visit and were so impressed with the school, and will definitely keep on checking the website for news and ways we can help from afar.”
Thanks Miriam — thanks for the photos and thanks for caring. You can see all of Miriam’s great photos here.
Note on Sarnath
Sarnath is a suburb of Varanasi and is located about 13 kilometres north-east of the centre. It’s not only the home of Buddha’s Smile School it is also where Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha first taught the Dharma.
There are four important Buddhist pilgrimage centres in India. Lumbini, where Siddhartha Gautama was born. Bodh Gaya (or Bodhgaya — don’t ask) where he attained enlightenment. Then Sarnath where he delivered his first sermon. And finally, the Buddhist pilgrimage centre of Kushinagar, where the Buddha died.
After attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, the Buddha travelled to Sarnath and started teaching the middle way, the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
The Buddha’s first discourse was in the deer park in Sarnath where the Dharmekh Stupa now stands. During the colonial period a guy called Colonel Cunningham drilled a shaft down the centre of the stupa and discovered a tablet with the word Dhamekha, which is believed to be a corrupted form of Dharmacakra, meaning “the wheel of the law.” This coincides with the records of Buddha’s first sermon.
Sarnath is about 800 kilometres SE of Delhi and an easy rickshaw or bus ride, outside of Varanasi. Sarnath is quieter and cleaner than Varanasi and one can easily visit all the Varanasi sites from there. Sarnath has a Buddhist feel about it with several modern Buddhist temples: Burmese, Chinese, Korean and Thai temples, plus three Tibetan Buddhist temples and a Japanese Zen temple.
Prosjekt Norge
En tur til India vart et sterkt møte med fattigdom og nød for meg, Geir Davidsen, Etne i Norge. Men oppe i alt det triste kom jeg i kontakt med Rajan og Sukhdev i Buddhas Smile School (BSS), Der fikk jeg se at hjelp når fram til de som trenger det mest. Der og da bestemte jeg meg for at jeg vil gjøre en innsats og prøve og hjelpe BSS etter jeg kommer hjem. Rajan lot seg intervjue på video, og den har jeg redigert, og laget en liten presentasjon av India og BSS. Jeg har vist den for 5., 6. og 7. kl og holdt et lite foredrag om mine inntrykk fra BSS og og planer jeg har for å hjelpe elevene der.
Jeg har to mål: Først vil jeg prøve og finne 100 givere som gir NOK 100.- hver måned. Da har vi nok til å gi de 200 elevene og lærere et varmt måltid mat hver dag. Fram til februar 2008 betaler Amistad for maten, men etter den tid håper jeg at Prosjekt Norge kan overta.
Det andre målet er å skaffe engangsgaver til et fond som vi kan sende renteavkastning ned til BSS en gang i året:
- Jeg vil sitte på kjøpesenter og andre plasser og samle inn engangsgaver og verve faste givere.
- Jeg vil ta kontakt med næringslivet om støtte.
- Jeg har planer om forskjellige aktiviteter utover høsten.
Jeg har fått veldig god hjelp i oppstartfasen. Markedsføring og trykksaker fra lokalavisa, betaling av diverse småutgifter fra Etne Sparebank. Så langt har jeg ingen utgifter.
Oppstart av innsamling 31. mai. Med et lite loppemarked, 7. klasse steikte vafler og solgte kaffe og saft. Ei gruppe toradermusikanter spilte en times tid. Vi samlet inn den dagen NOK 3.600.-
Til kunder og forbipaserende delte jeg ut bankgiro til bruk for engangsbeløp og skjema med givertjeneste kontrakter. Noen har allerede meldt seg på.
8. juni 2007 arrangerte skolen en idrettsdag for kl 4, 5, 6 og 7. BSS fikk startkontigenten og det ble Nok 1.350.-. Elevene betalte fra minimum Nok 20.- til Nok 100.-
Jeg synes dette er en god start og det gir inspirasjon til å jobbe videre med prosjektet.
You can see more of Geir’s photos here.
Geir Davidsen
Geir Davidsen and friend visited Buddha’s Smile School a few months ago and was so impressed that on his return to Norway he started a program of fundraising.
This is an email he sent to Rajan a few weeks ago along with some photos that you can see here.
To Rajan and friends of BSS
“Today I started fundraising for BSS. I got good help from the pupils of class 7 and one teacher from our local school. They made and sold waffles, and we sold small things that I had received from people. A hobby music group played. We handed out a leaflet about BSS to many peoples, and I hope they will donate later on. We are hoping to contract 100 people who will donate 100 NOK each month – and then we’ll have enough for one hot meal for the BSS children every day in 2008.
“Time will tell – I will keep on working on this. The day made 3.700 NOK in 3 hours. It is a start. I have sent you 3 photos and a copy of the sheet we handed out.
“Have a nice weekend.
Geir”
About Varanasi
Varanasi is situated on the banks of the river Ganges in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and is considered to be the most sacred place of pilgrimage for Hindus, irrespective of denomination, with more than a million pilgrims visiting the city each year.
Along the water’s edge cremations are performed at the burning ghats and it is also here, beside the holy waters of the river Ganges, that thousands of residents and pilgrims bathe, offering prayers to the elements and to their dead ancestors.
Varanasi is considered to be one of the oldest living cities in the world and is referred to by quite a few different names including, Banaras or Benares and Kash, a name first used three thousand years ago to describe the kingdom and the city where Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha preached his first sermon.
lonelyplanet.com says:
The culture of Varanasi is deeply associated with the river Ganga and its religious importance. The city has been a cultural and religious center in northern India for thousands of years. Varanasi has its own style of classical Hindustani music, and has produced prominent musicians, philosophers, poets, and writers in Indian history, including Tulsidas, Kabir, Munshi Premchand, Jaishankar Prasad, Pandit Ravi Shankar, and Ustad Bismillah Khan. The city has its own dialect of Hindi. Varanasi is also the home of Banaras Hindu University. Link
The Ganges cleanses all sins and ensures a release from the Hindu cycle of rebirths: it’s an instant passport to heaven. Many elderly and ill people come to Varanasi to die, and old Sadhus (men who have given up their worldly possessions for a life of absolute religious devotion) congregate along the river banks.
The ancient city – it was ancient even when Buddha preached there in 530 BC – is home to over a million people. Mark Twain visited over a century ago and commented that Varanasi was ‘older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together’. Link