I LOVE BEING ABLE TO SEE

April 25, 2013

I had my first hospital experience while living at the ashram. I’ve been a bit concerned about my eyes lately due to a bruise like feeling I had on my left eyeball a fews days ago. It has now subsided; I think it was just tiredness. Anyhow that, coupled with my history of a retinal detachment, I didn’t want to take any chances so I popped over to a private hospital in Dehradun, The Himalyan. Being a private hospital I knew it would be a lot cleaner than the government hospital I had been to in Delhi. It was. Registration was quick and then I was told to head to the eye care wing of this large institution. I was first seen, after a short wait, by a young fellow whose English was great. He then passed me onto a nurse who further checked out my eyes and who was somewhat knowledgeable about retinal detachments and assured me that they had a retinal specialist on duty who would be treating me. I relaxed a little. Of course when this same nurse told me she’d have to put drops in my eyes to dilate my pupils and that I would experience “bluding” I freaked. I have been through this process dozens of times and there is no blooding involved. “No not blooding, blurrying,” reassured the nurse. Phew. I had been seconds away from running out of that hospital. It was a blessing the nurse could speak English, I shouldn’t judge her on her heavy Indian accent even though I nearly had a panic attack seconds earlier. So three rounds of dilation drops and blurry eyes I was ready to be seen by the Doc. The Doctor was a beautiful  woman whose English, of course, was better than anyone else I had encountered. I was impressed by her professionalism.  She was efficient, gentle and knowledgeable. After about ten minutes of a thorough examination I was told I had nothing to worry about. Exactly what I wanted to hear. However she did say that if I was in the area for the next six months to come back and see her again since there is a spot in the left eye that seems to be thinning but it’s not close to being thin enough to do laser on and it’s not anything I need to worry about. I also mentioned my paranoia of having glaucoma. She did a quick pressure test and once again I was in the clear! This hasn’t always been the case in most my eye appointments so I was thrilled. The prescription for the day: a few eye drops to keep my eyes from getting too dried out while wearing contacts. Easy peasy. I left happy. Squinting but happy and so, so incredibly grateful I can see. Something we take for granted in our busy day to day lives – the ability to see life. Thank you!

GROWING SOULS AT AUROVALLEY SCHOOL

Alejandra's beautiful creation

So the new session began at the beginning of this month. We have 4 teachers each of who are responsible for their class of no more than 10 children. We've begun to incorporate nature, music, physical education and more art in each class and I've already noticed a positive change in some of the children. There's still a lot of work to do and a lot of fundraising to be done so that we can have a 'proper' school building and playground for these beautiful children.

Minam (an old friend from grade 9 who came to visit me) adding details to the tree

Adding more leaves

With the help of many friends and visitors to Aurovalley, we have cleaned, organized, sewn, painted put in lots of hours and energy into creating a warm and fun space for the children and teachers of Raiwala.
A big thanks to all who have participated either through donations or physical labour. All help has been very much appreciated and it is always welcomed.  Here are some pictures of the last few weeks and the progress we have made.
If you would like to participate in the Aurovalley School Project you can click on the Paypal link below which will direct you to my account. All funds go towards building and sustaining the Aurovalley school which hopes to grow conscious souls for a conscious future!

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


Olivia helping to sort out the kids games
 

The teachers and the children with their art folders

Minam in the Himilayas;)





One of the teacher's birthday. The kids got cake and ballons!

Diana handing out treats (the kids get them every Saturday)

 

Antonia painting a ladybug in the play room

 

COMING ALONG...FUNDRAISING TO BUILD A SCHOOL

Okay so I've had my first 'official' teachers meeting letting the teachers know about all the changes I'm implementing. This school will be a free progress learning centre which allows children the time and space to grow from within using creativity to discover their own inner truth. We won't be implemeting any hard strict rules like in most government run Indian schools.

So we're painting, organizing and cleaning to make sure the 'new system' will be ready to go for April 1st. We're still using random rooms as classrooms since our old school building is no longer usable.
So if you want to help me build a sustainable future for the children of Raiwala please donate!

Thanks to some amazing people I have raised $1140 Canadian dollars. The new goal is $3000 so $1860 more to go!!! To donate is really easy. Just click on the donate button below and enter your credit card info. Easy peasy!




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


Here are just a couple of pictures of some of the work we've been doing:

Team work!



Olivia and Sarah painting the tailoring room - one of our makeshift classrooms





 

 

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