Liane Fahr: My Story

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With brightly shining eyes the children say goodbye to Rajan and the other teachers at the end of the day. And with brightly shining eyes they wave back when leaving in the rikshaws Rajan has organized to bring them home. Home means those places where they had been picked up, the places where the poorest of the poor live – on the street! Their parents have no future other than going for alms; they think they need their children to beg in order for them to survive. What a gift it is for these children to find shelter in “Buddha’s Smile School.” It is a gift to them that they will not understand until they grow up. It is love from Rajan they feel and it is this love that shines forth brightly from their eyes. It is this love that enables them to realize their humanity; it makes them feel welcome in this world.

On the streets they would wander aimlessly, without any perspective; lost, too, are they in the tradition of accepting poverty. Here, in the school, they find a completely different world. Their teachers care for them and give them the knowledge they need in order to make better lives for themselves. What has made this path for them is the love they are shown. It is Rajan’s spirit and her courage and above all her love of God and these children that makes this school special.

Vipin Kothari

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My wife, Gita and I had the pleasure of meeting Sukhdev and Rajan during our recent visit to Varanasi. They were kind enough to guide us in the prayers that we had to perform for my son’s final rites before his ashes were immersed in the holy Ganges. In fact, they took time to be with us during the ceremony and we were touched by their kindness, care and concern.

We visited Buddha’s Smile School and have seen the fine effort Sukhdev and Rajan are playing on a daily basis to uplift the lives of the poor and underprivileged children. I can imagine the difficult times that they would have experienced in educating the parents to think of their young children. They are doing a great service and such selfless service deserves all the assistance one can offer.

When I left Varanasi, I promised to keep in touch and more importantly see what sort of role I could play from a distance in helping the couple fulfil their dreams and goals.

Vipin and Gita Kothari

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Thank you for donating two special meals for each of the 200 children, in the name of your beloved son. You can see their smiling faces as they enjoy the hot meal you have provided. Rajan wanted me to add that she is greatful to God for the giving of this beautiful gift and that she prays to God to make all in this universe happy.

To see more photos here.

Kimberly Dukes

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Dear John,

I’m writing to you as a friend of Rajan and Sukhdev. Rajan said you were helping them with the Buddha’s Smile School website and asked me to take some photos of the children and teachers and send them to you; she thought you’d like to use some of them on the site.

Kimberly

We sure would Kimberly and thanks for sending them through!

Click here, if you’d like to see some more of Kimberly’s great photos.

Sally-Ann Saunders and Tony Phillips

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Sally-Ann and Tony came to Sarnath recently for the Dalai Lama’s teachings. Now the younger kids at Buddha’s Smile School can enjoy two wonderful new indoor games thanks to their generosity. A new yellow car and a red and blue seesaw — what fun!!

Rajan says the kids are really enjoying playing on them. See more photos here.

Sandrine Buoro and Paul Bernier

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It takes money and a lot of organising to sort out the sizes and then buy 200 pair of shoes and socks for the kids at Buddha’s Smile School. This year two people with loving hearts — Sandrine who lives in Spain and Paul who lives in Canada — donated the money that insured all 200 children received new footwear.

Your great and good spirits went out to help Sangita recover. Your funds have ended up helping the children she loved.

See more photos here.

Photos of Sangita

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Dana Kornberg has just sent me some photos of Sangita from when she was at Buddha’s Smile School in 2005.

Here are some more pictures you might be able to use. They are from the days when all the teachers were teasing Sangita about getting married soon… my god…

I have always loved the one of her leaning over with the sun in the background…

Sangita means music, by the way…

If you don’t know her story you can read about Sangita here.

Write about your visit

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One of the ways you can help Buddha’s Smile School is to write about your visit — telling people about your experiences, impressions and thoughts. It doesn’t have to be mushie, or eloquent — you don’t even have to be able to spell or write English very well — we’ll take care of that.

Send articles, snippets, photos — anything that we can publish will help Buddha’s Smile School get exposure and a presence on the net. Our preferences are for posts be no more than 300 words and based around:

  • Your experiences visiting Buddha’s Smile School or Sarnath
  • Helpful snippets of information for other intrepid travellers

Email us your story (we are also looking for stories written in languages other than English) using the form below and if it’s relevant I’ll pass it to the wicked witch and her editing machine and then publish it — I’ll write to let you know. That’s the deal!

 

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