UPDATE ON FUNDRAISING FOR KIDS IN INDIA

I bought a blackboard, a whiteboard and some essentials today for our growing school!

Okay since I've surpassed the original goal of $400 due to wonderful people, I am doing the impossible, or what I once thought was close to impossible - I am going to try and rebuild the school here! We just need to refurbish it and reconstruct the first floor to have it up and functioning again.

Of course we'll have to hire a couple of more teachers and get some more supplies but the main thing is to get the building up and running again and slowly build from there. I'm estimating I'll need about $4000 or at least that much to get the main work done. For the time being we have been using the playroom and art room as makeshift classrooms. Would be really nice to give these children the feeling of having a proper school to go to and hopefully encouraging older children in the surrounding village to get a free education in a supportive atmosphere.  You can donate to my paypal account or by bank transfer to the ashram (details below).

Thanks.




For bank transfer:
All donations are exempt from income tax under section 80G of the Income Tax Act, and can be made by cash, money order, check, or deposited in favor of Aurovalley Ashram Society:

SWIFT No.: CNRBINBBKFD
Intermediary bank of NY: ABA 021000018
Corresponding Bank: Bank of New York, New
York (BONY)
Account Details: Aurovalley Ashram Society
SB A/C No. 2225101004969
Canara Bank (Hardwar Code 2225)
Railway Road, Hardwar - Uttrakhand - INDIA
Beneficiary Bank: Canara Bank of Kanpur

The old school building

This used to be the playground - needs fixing up as well



This is the old 'office' - and now you know why it needs a make-over

We brought over the little chairs and desks from the old school building to put inside the playroom so the kids can sit in chairs and do their work as oppose to the floor. Sarah helped me with the set-up.

 

FUNDRAISING FOR THE KIDS OF INDIA

As most of you know, I've been living at an ashram  (Aurovalley Ashram) in India for the past while and I've been volunteering here in many different ways. One of the ways is teaching and organizing at the ashram's school.

About 30 children, between the ages of 4-8, come to Aurovalley six days a week from the surrounding village of Raiwala to learn, grow and play. Our three young teachers, Rakhi, Ritu and Ujita, do their best to establish a loving and supportive environment for these children. Occasionally guests of the ashram will volunteer their time at the school and that's always a nice treat for the kids.

Recently I have established a routine of getting the teachers to teach the children three new English words each week followed by an art workshop incorporating the words so they don't forget them. This past week was our first try. One of the words was pig so I decided we would make pig snouts for the kids to paint and take home. So with the help of a fellow Canadian, we made pig snouts (she did most of the hard labour) and got the kids to paint them any colour they wished. It was a fun afternoon, although a little messy, but the kids seemed to enjoy getting their hands dirty and doing something different. [Pictures below]

I have also established a 'reward program' to get the kids motivated and excited about learning. Everday the teachers will give a checkmark to those students who were well behaved, tried hard with their school work and made improvements from the day before. At the end of the week, the top three students will get a prize from the 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place bag, respectively.

This past Saturday was our first prize giveaway and it worked well. We explained to all the students that everyone will eventually get a prize but that the three who got a prize this week did so because they tried really hard all week. I have already bought enough prizes for the next four weeks but to sustain this program for the next year I will need your help!

The list of things I still need to buy to improve the classrooms is growing. I need things like a blackboard, erasers and chalk, cardboard paper, markers, glue, sticky tack.....the list is endless.

I am also raising funds to rebuild the school building. At the moment, the kids are crammed into a small playroom which we've made into a makeshift classroom until the old school building is fixed up and functioning again. To do this I will need to raise at least $3000. Any additional funds will go towards paying a very modest salary to the teachers and petrol for the school bus which picks and drops off the children ever day (it aslo provides free trips to local men and women up and down the one main road in this village).

All you need to do to contribute is click on the button below which will take you directly to paypal.

Thank you to all in advance!  

Lily and teacher Rakhi help the kids paint their snouts

Rakhi helps one of the girls put on her snout

 



Little pigs



Group picture

THINKING OUT LOUD

What is it with expectations? Why do we hold ourselves up to this idea of a 'perfect' being? Can humans even be perfect? I don't think so. So long as we're in these bodies we'll continue to grow, evolve and change to be 'better' but perfection won't ever be reached until we literally become humanless. So why is it that we're so hard on ourselves yet so gentle and kind to others and sometimes to people we don't even know that well? Strange. But I guess that defines the human race. Strange. We're a strange bunch. We can build up a life we swear suits us perfectly only to be so unsatisfied by this life in a matter of a few months. I did this. I know people who did this and do this. But this is just us I guess. Humans. We're all just trying, I guess....What do I know;)

DECEMBER AT AUROVALLEY

In the center of the world!

It was a very busy month as I moved into the role of 'staff' here at the ashram. I was helping register people, book taxis, preparing rooms, serving meals, regulating the hot water and attending to visitors needs. All in all, it was a very good learning lesson in how to stay connected while still dealing with the pressures and stresses around you. Phew, a much harder lesson than I thought it would be. But I made it and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to  have taken part of the inauguration of the World Temple. You can read more about it here: http://www.aurovalley.com/index.php/aurovalley-ashram/world-temple

The two videos below are of the World Temple being decorated with flags and a Punjabi sibling quartet making music.



World Temple getting pretty for inauguration



Me and the little girl, Sonum, I tried to bribe into going to school - only worked for a few days. She prefers playing and running around the World Temple site.

Food serving team (me, Sara and Saroj)



Taking a break

Water bottles and soil that was placed under the tree at the World Temple - here in the meditation hall to recieve the blessing from Sri Aurobindo and The Mother first

School children watch the ceremony

A NEW YEAR, ANOTHER MOMENT

2012 has gone by in a flash but isn’t that how we always describe each year as its nearing its end? There’s bound to be the usual discussion with friends and family how it’s been a good year and how you’re looking forward to 2013 and although you say you don’t make New Year’s resolutions you privately tell yourself you’ll workout more, eat healthier, be less negative and generally try to be better. But when you’re on your own and reflect on the year gone by you can’t help but think about all the things you didn’t accomplish. And you tell yourself and others you don’t believe in regret but for some reason you can’t help wishing you had taken that extra step, gave it another go, taken that risk, fallen through on that crazy idea, skipped tradition, chased your childhood dream but you tell yourself, ‘next year. I always have next year.’ But that’s just it, you may not.

As I sit here now in the bubble that is Aurovalley ashram (www.aurovalley.com) situated in an open valley surrounded by the Ganga and the Himalayan foothills, I’m not immune to the uproar that is going on all over India. A young female University student who had been brutally raped and tortured by 6 men on a moving bus in New Delhi succumbed to her horrific injuries and passed away Saturday.  That girl with all her hopes and dreams, who has left the Earth with the world outraged by this brutality, won’t get next year. She won’t get a chance to think about all that she accomplished and all she still hopes to accomplish. She won’t get another chance to contemplate following through on that difficult but so rewarding task, she won’t get to chase her dreams. It’s too late for her. But it’s not too late for you and me.

As the New Year rolls in and I look back to the year that was, I realize that for the first time ever I did exactly what I wanted.  I didn’t hold back, I followed my heart and lived a crazy adventure. Yet I too wonder, did I live to the maximum, did the fire in me burn for life at every moment, and did I push my ego out of the way and let the Universe play? The answer is no, not entirely. I let fear, doubt and negativity take hold every once in a while and it was at those times I lost balance and made decisions that weren’t in tune with what my soul yearned for - to find my true self : the deepest, purest, unchanging part of me that has all the answers.  I’m finally beginning to understand what living means. And for me it is not about waking up and thinking ‘another day of work, here I go,’ nor is it about thinking about the million other things I would prefer to be doing nor is it about thoughts of tomorrow and all the things I should get done. No that ain’t living, at least not for me. I’m done being me. I’m done being reduced to just thoughts, emotions and a body.  I always wondered as a kid, what else? This can’t be all. Who knew a 13 year old kid would be onto something when she thought to herself, ‘why do we wake up every day and take a breath? What for?’ 19 years later and the answers are being revealed to me.

So as the clock strikes 12 and you pause to reflect, remember that you’ve just been given another chance, another moment to seize, another opportunity to pull the drapes back and let your soul shine. And if you don’t understand anything of what I’ve said, close your eyes and know that somewhere deep within your soul knows exactly what I mean.  

INTUITION?

You could imagine how surprised I was when I read this yesterday:

Posted on my blog on Dec. 19, 2010

After a 31 hour journey, I made it to Delhi in one piece...Its been 4 years since I've been here and I've noticed a difference; it's cleaner....However some things remain the same; the severe poverty....I have no idea how I am going to help eliminate the severe poverty here but I know one day I will be back again for much different reasons.

RUNNING LIKE I'VE NEVER RUN BEFORE

So I'm running again. I thought I'd see if it was even feasible given that the paved road leading to the ashram is only about 200 meters long and I figured I'd get bored of the same scenery running up and down this short track. It wasn't too bad since there was always something new I was encountering such as a herd of sheep, cows, stray dogs and older women balancing massive loads of grass on their heads. However by the fourth time I was looking for a change and was contemplating running past the paved road over the sharp stones which leads to the main village.  Juan, a fellow ashramite from Colombia and runner, saw me out jogging one day and told me he goes for runs in the mornings and asked if I'd like to go along with him sometime. I wasn't too sure I'd have any energy for a run at 6:45am but I wanted to give it a try, at least once. Man am I ever glad I did. Not only did I surprise myself with the willpower to hit the pavement before the sun came up I was also suprised by the childlike joy I was getting out of exploring the village. These morning runs are so much more than just a workout. In fact these runs are like meditation. We're runnning on broken roads and narrow pathways around the village for up to an hour and I'm doing it without listening to any music - I've never ran without music and I didn't think I'd last five minutes. But at 7am just as we're getting warmed up around a dusty track we can see the sun peaking up behind the Himilayan foothills and then it's down to the Ganga where we run on the sand along side the flowing water just as the sun comes bursting out from the tops of the hills. There's usually a misty fog hovering over the water and geese flying by. The first time Juan and I witnessed this we had to stop and just take it in. And that's what this run is about - taking it in. My mind is no longer on the distance I'm covering or the pace I'm running at but I'm focused on my breath, my freedom and the life around me. Every step is a celebration of life. As we continue to explore the surrounding areas of the ashram my old belief of what running meant - an intense, high-calorie burning workout- is changing and I now look forward to the opportunity to run just because I can. I'm living in the now and taking in each moment to the fullest. My runs are a celebration of my health and the life I was given. Until the next run...

Here are the pictures of our gorgeous run:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9075465@N06/sets/72157632347569661/