Osho Sannyasin fights the destitution of Street Children
(An amazing home for destitute children in India is under threat from unscrupulous developers. Across the river Ganga from the present site lie the ruins of the historic ashram where the Beatles learned to meditate. Could it be transformed into a new home for India’s destitute children?)
Dwabha, an old Poona one Osho sannyasin, reports from the home she has created for destitute children in Rishikesh, India, called, Ramana’s Garden.
” Ramana’s Garden is now a loving home to 67 kids, newest arrivals Vishal 18months and Rekha 5 yrs.
Our location situation however worsens by the day. Huge condos are going up nearby, up to 8 stories high, and worst still is that they have huge pipes to run all their sewage untreated direct into the River Ganga. This will make it impossible for our kids to bathe, or wash their clothes there any longer. It rules out any possibility of pumping up water for our urgent water shortage. Without pumping up from the Ganga we can’t continue to grow our own food in Ramana’s Garden. However there is an intact pumping and storage system down at the old Beatles Ashram.
We have to Move!!!! We can’t continue to provide clean drinking water to our kids, our animals, our visitors, or our vegetables.
(15 acres) is lying abandoned and in waste for over 18 years at the Beatle’s ashram that could with minor renovations provide a loving, safe, supportive environment for shelter, education, vocational training and rehabilitation to over 2500 children (the number of abandoned children living in the streets of Delhi alone is over 50,000) while at least 23 million still slave in child labour and the Indian Govt states they can’t afford to relocate or give them vocational training) and provide vocational training and jobs for 500 destitute women..(In Uttrakhand there is not a single shelter for destitute women and none of the jails in our district even have a separate holding cell for women)
It is a fact that the Govt. is planning to “round up all the beggers” in Delhi, and move them to restraining camps out in the desert outside Delhi for the 2010 games—good time to be doing this coverage as there will be 1000s of children in those camps.
The former Beatles ashram has over 500 accommodation rooms all with attached bathrooms that are recoverable, 3 large halls, Kitchens, classrooms, and plenty of open area for sports fields, organic vegetable gardens, etc. It was given on lease from the Forest Dept. The lease has since been canceled and the status now is that it cannot be given again on lease without permission from the Central Government. Chief Wildlife Warden Shrikant Chandola has taken the protection of this valuable forest asset strongly to heart and has kept a vigilant eye that this historic treasure does not fall into hands that would lead to it’s destruction. The are few sites in all of India that can guarentee such a safe, sheltered environment here on the Ganga’s banks.
The children that can benefit from our assistance programs here are not any different than the children throughout India today that face dire circumstances of starvation, abuse, sexual exploitation and bonded labour. They need help to turn misfortunes into stepping stones for their future.”
How to help? visit the Website of Ramana’s Garden: http://www.friendsramanasgarden.org
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