1999 NEWSLETTER
BODHGAYA REVISITED
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to return to
Bodhgaya in January this year after an absence of seven years.
The need to visit the Pragya Vihar School, its teachers, to make
direct personal contact with Sister Jessie for the first time,
and hand over our annual contributions to their selfless efforts,
seemed to legitimise the airfare and the act of sitting around
for three weeks (I also attended a Vipassana Meditation Retreat).
While some things never seem to change (the pollution, the filth,
the beggars, the chaos, the crowds of pilgrims from Tibet, Bhutan
and other far flung countries, the amazing fact that things actually
do get done - the Indian way), there have been marked changes
In the social, political and economic make-up of the area. Because
Bodhgaya is perhaps the foremost centre of pilgrimage for Buddhists
worldwide, the effects of tourism are widely felt, particularly
in view of the upturn in Asian economies in recent years. The
value of one-time rice paddles has escalated to prices comparable
to Australian suburban blocks. In the three month tourist season,
rents increase by 5 or 6 times the normal rate - all very well
for landowners. Little of this wealth seems to 'trickle down'
to the landless and uneducated and when it does, it has a damaging
effect on the cultural and moral life of the community.
The implementation of the "Bodhgaya Master Plan" has
meant that many of the local people have been 'relocated'. Some
shops have been forcibly closed and subsistence sharecroppers
have lost their land and meagre livelihood. Blocks of land have
been bought by foreign Buddhist organisations to cater for the
needs of pilgrims. Tourist class hotels are springing up everywhere,
tending to channel the tourist dollar into the hands of the elite,
and invariably, out of the local region, sowing the seeds for
the politics of envy in the fields of inequity. The most significant
of these large-scale developments is the Maitreya project. All
of this overlays the fact the Bihar state is India's poorest and
most backward state.
Corruption and banditry are rife, making the district a very dangerous
place to be after dark. Children leave the rudimentary schools
in the surrounding villages to try to beg for what is seen as
easy money in Bodhgaya, trading the humble dignity of village
life for self- abasement in the squalid lanes around the Mahabodhi
Stupa Complex in Bodhgaya. It is a common sight indeed to see
a tourist besieged by an aggressive gang of beggar children after
having stopped to give one child a piece of fruit. It soon becomes
apparent that the spontaneous act of giving that takes place when
one is confronted by abject misery and degradation actually has
the effect of increasing the long-term problems. What to do? How
does one look into the eyes of a practised child beggar and say
"No!" with the knowledge that, to give money in such
a way, is as Sister Jessie once put it, "you might just as
well take all your money and throw it into the Bay of Bengal".
If you are not familiar with the geography of the region, the
Bay of Bengal is a fairly big stretch of water nearby. It was
with this impulse that we started to raise money for worthwhile
aid projects in the area.
0ur two main projects, since 1992, have been the support of the
'Pragya Vihar School' and the 'Village Schools' program run by
Sr. Jessie. Since our fundraising efforts this year have been
so fruitful, we were looking for other projects of a similar nature,
which we could support. This is not an easy task to pursue with
wisdom, as there are some 69 registered charitable trusts in the
region, but most of them are fairly invisible outside the tourist
season - the implication being that they are simply money-making
businesses. Two additional organisations, which we felt to be
well worth our support, were "The People First Trust"
and Narl Jagran Manch - (Forum for Women's Awakening).
Keith O'Neill
PRAGYA VIHAR SCHOOL
0n my last visit In January 1992, the Pragya Vihar School was a mere handful of students in a hired tent, in the corner of a fallow field on loan. The only furniture was a sack on the bare ground; the curriculum was ad hoc. In mid- December 1998, I arrived at an impressive three- storey building, thronged with well- dressed smiling children, who were eager to practise their limited English on me. The only outstretched hands belonged to those who wanted to hold mine. This was in sharp contrast to the outstretched hands of children around the temple complex. They had come to attend the final assembly for the year, the great occasion where the highest achievers received an award. Being received as guest of honour, I was given the task of giving out the prizes - a report card and a bar of soap - a delightfully humbling experience. The feeling of having contributed, in a small way, to such a successful endeavour, overshadowed all but a few of my personal achievements, as a teacher of 20 years, here in Australia.
The School Community
As of January this year the total number of students enrolled is 350 from nursery (age 5-7 years) to year 8. The current enrolment policy selects only one child from the poorest of families in which both parents (if two parents exist) are functionally illiterate. A teacher currently gives graduates from the last two years tuition, in their own self-study, in the evenings each day. There are currently 23 students in year 9 and 12 students in year 10. However, this is quite unsatisfactory as students do not get official qualifications for this study. There are 12 teachers and 2 non-teachers on staff. Teachers are paid about A$60.00 per month with the three sisters on staff being 'paid' by their order.
The Curriculum
Currently the subjects taught are Hindi, English, Maths, Science, Social Studies, Geography, Sanskrit, Moral Science (presumably some form of comparative religion), General Knowledge and Civics. The school is open from Monday to Saturday and runs from 8.55am - 5.00pm in the winter and 6.55am - 11.45am in the summer with a meal break of 45 minutes. There are a few extra curriculum activities, which include quizzes, singing, drawing, poetry and dance, etc. More formally, a music teacher is brought in who teaches tabla and harmonium to a group of about 23 students. 116 students from years 6 - 8 are involved with Toru Mkra (Friends of the Trees) and are engaged in planting trees, an environmental consciousness in the Bodhgaya region. Also, extra classes are organised in drawing, stitching and other handicrafts, for the poorest children. (How much poorer can they get?)
The Building
Over the last year, two new classrooms have been added to the top of the building and four toilet cubicles have been added behind the building. These were kept locked while I was there because 'the children had to be educated in how to use them'. Although the school is located a mere 10 minutes walk from the centre of Bodhgaya, it is surrounded by fields and presumably these were the only toilets to date. These building projects complete the possible development at the existing site.
A New School
Because of the needs of the continuing students and the ever
present pressure to increase the school's enrolment, a decision
was made at the schools AGM to buy cheaper land on the other side
of Bodhgaya, to start a new middle school to cater for years 7
- 10. This is the most significant development since we started
raising money for the project. The projected costs are somewhat
alarming - A$68,000.00 for the building alone, but as someone
at the AGM said, "we can do it the way we built this school
- the Indian way. We can start again with a mud hut, if we have
to." Suddenly, I am brought back, once again, to the realisation
that when you have the right people, the right intention, the
costs are not important. A way will be found, after all a school
is primarily a community, not simply a pile of bricks - so different
from our habitual way of thinking here. As I write this, the words
of Paul Kelly keep arising - "From little things, big things
grow".
Keith O'Neill
LETTER FROM THE SCHOOL (17/05/99)
Dear BDA Committee Members,
Greetings from the sisters, teachers and students of Bodhgaya.
Hope these few lines may find you fine. Since many months have
passed we have not given any news from here. Summer has begun
and we have to give early our summer vacation. Children have finished
their half-yearly examination. From 11th of May up to 20th of
June we have our summer vacation. We are planning to re-open our
school on 21st of June.
This year we have various activities in the school. This time
our students have attended various competitions. They got a medal
and certificate for each item. Among 87 schools and colleges,
our students stood first in group dance, second in group song
and light vocal too. It was very nice and a good experience for
the children.
Secondly, we had our parents meeting. Around 275 parents participated
in it. Students had beautiful cultural programs. Parents were
given snacks and tea. They were given time to speak about the
school, the activities, etc. They were very happy to see the progress
of their children.
Ex students are continuing their study in many private and Government
schools. Some of them are doing well. Some of them have left their
studies. They are supporting their family; working in small shops
and other ways. Some of them are trying their best to study in
good schools, but it is not possible to put them due to some reasons.
Especially our school is not registered. Yet they are finding
their own way for their higher education.
Burmese Bhante has given fans for the school and two more new
rooms also are now completed. For the students it is quite a relief
in this terrific heat.
We are planning to have millennium celebrations in the month of
December. Hope you are able to join with us. Now let me wind up
here with lots of prayerful regards for your successful work.
Thanking you for your great support.
Yours sincerely,
Sr. M. Anjali SRA.
MASSIHI GYANODAYA ABHIYAN
The MGA was established five or so years ago by Ma Jayashree Upadhyay, or simply, Sr. Jessie. Five years ago she left her (Catholic) order of nuns, where she was a teacher in Patna, to give education to children of the largely musaha (rat-eater) caste, who would not otherwise have had any education. like many of the activists in the region she sees education as the way to help the people overcome injustice and exploitation, now and for future generations. She takes her inspiration from Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi and is quite uncompromising in her principles, going as far as to return donations from people or organisations whom she feels have an unwholesome hidden agenda.
The Organisation
She now runs 33 village schools with about 40 teachers who are paid between A$32.00 per month, for a barely educated teacher or teacher's assistant to grade 8 standard, to A$60.00 for a more highly educated/trained teacher. Jessie currently has 2,500 students enrolled in her schools, for whom she provides simple uniforms at the cost of A$2.00 each. I spent an afternoon visiting a few of her schools in the Dhobi area on the back of a donated Vespa, which took me back 30 years to a largely misspent youth. The school buildings ranged from a converted cattle shed to an abandoned government tourist project, which consisted of a lonely building with no water, electricity, windows or doors, where three classes seemed to be under way. The curriculum in most of these schools is quite rudimentary - reading, writing, arithmetic, fundamental hygiene and general studies. Perhaps the most important effect of these activities is to raise the self-esteem, of not only the children, but also the whole village and to increase a sense of personal and political empowerment, which is so sadly lacking.
A Christmas Party
Just before Christmas I was invited to the teacher's "Christmas
Party" at the HQ, which is currently in a pitiable rented
hovel in Dhobi Village about 20km from Bodhgaya on the Grand Trunk
Road. The building consists of two crude rooms of bare brick with
a dirt floor, no windows and no electricity. It is situated in
the corner of a waged courtyard, measuring about 10m by 5m and
open to the sky. In the corner was a traditional mud brick hearth
next to a cast iron hand pump. This space served as a kitchen.
About 25 teachers began to arrive by bicycle or on foot. As the
light began to fade and the cold night began to descend, the oven
was fired up with cowdung and a huge vat of rice was set on heat,
together with a lesser pot of mixed vegetables (subje). Only Jessie
spoke English, so I found myself surrounded by a hive of incomprehensible
activity. Class rolls were handed in for auditing, oil lamps were
lit and a rug of sorts was rolled out onto the bare-earth ground
in the courtyard.
With an air of respectful solemnity everyone sat on the rug and
Jessie led a moment's quiet meditation. This was followed by,
what I can only describe as, a sharing in song - someone would
chant a line which they would feel moved to utter and all would
repeat, then another line would follow and so on. Silence for
a moment or two and someone else would begin. As I sat, watching,
listening, trying to forget the cold creeping up from the earth
under my blanket, the poignancy of the moment was overwhelming.
A young teacher, no more than 15 years old, sitting in front of
me in ragged shorts and thin cotton shirt, showed no signs of
cold under his threadbare cotton shawl, but in one of the silent
interludes I noticed a tear squeeze out from under his closed
eyelids and run untended down his cheek
The 'sharing' came to a natural end and the courtyard was filled
with activity and chatter again. Disposable plates, made of pressed
leaves, were placed in front of each person - rice, dahl and subje
all round and as fingers got busy kneading the sticky mess, once
more silence fell over the gathering. Jessie turned to me and
with a grin, said "You know Keith, we Indians are funny people.
When we go out to shit in the fields, we never stop chattering
to each other, but when we sit down to eat, we can never think
of a thing to say. What is so different?"
With the eating finished, plates thrown into the surrounding field
and sticky fingers washed, we had a surprise visit from Santa,
who had a small gift for everyone. Before I knew what was happening,
the male teachers had disappeared into one of the rooms and the
women into the other and everyone had bedded down for the night.
Fortunately for me Jessie had organised a floor in a nearby house,
so that I wouldn't have to face the ordeal of the morning conversations,
squatting in the local fields.
A New Centre
During the last year the landlord has quadrupled the rent,
which has forced Jessie to buy her own land and set about constructing
a purpose built centre. This will serve as a dwelling (for her),
storeroom, office, toilet and a room large enough to train her
teachers. Fortunately someone purchased 2.5 khattta of land (by
my reckoning about 180 sq. m.) for her and in addition to the
donation of A$3,000.00, we gave her a further A$7,000.00, which
hopefully will see most of the building work completed. It is
a testimony to Sr. Jessie's work that she is rather disdainful
of these sort of developments, as she would rather all of the
donated money go directly to the poor people whom she serves.
But her sense of realism dictates that expenditure on such infrastructure
(though minimal by western standards) is necessary for her to
continue with her work and hopefully enlist like- minded people
to help her.
If any of our friends or supporters could afford the airfare and
say A$ 35.00 per week and would like to spend a challenging, but
immeasurably rewarding few months in the Bodhgaya region, I'm
sure that Jessie would welcome their assistance.
NARL JAGRAN MANCH
Narl Jagran Manch is an autonomous women's organisation working
in Bodhgaya since 1993. Sister Mary Lobo - a diminutive feisty
woman, who defies the stereotypical image of a Catholic nun and
is openly and defiantly political, heads it.
Her main focus is in the area of gender issues, women's rights
and the education of the girl child, whom she sees as the gender
caste below the lowest caste. She works very effectively to network
with other socially active groups in the area and quite possibly
could provide the district with the vibrant political leadership
that it needs. She works with a team of highly educated, professional
and awesome women and is involved in a variety of projects aimed
at empowerment of the very poorest. These include standard education
programs for Harijan children and leading discussion groups amongst
village women on a range of issues from rape protection to how
to conduct savings schemes.
A Villlage Visit
I visited one village with her where I was first entertained
by three little girls who sang a hygiene song, which went along
the lines of "we must wash our hands before eating and preparing
food, otherwise we will get sick. We must keep our pots in a clean
place, otherwise we will get sick' and so on.
A discussion started about the progress of the village school
and the sincerity and level of engagement of the women present
impressed me. There were one or two men looking on but they had
the presence of mind, or was it simply fear, that kept them quiet!
I asked the group why they thought being able to read and write
was so important to them, having vague notions in my mind about
communication, culture, entertainment and so on. A strong faced
woman answered stridently (through Mary as interpreter) "we
must learn to read and write so that we can take our place in
the world and not get pushed around. It is our right, we must
work hard to claim our right".
Mary tells me that she is satisfactorily funded, but that the
budget is highly structured and accountability leaves very little
room for unforeseen situations. I was told that last year the
area suffered extreme drought and women in one particular village
had to walk two hours a day, in the heat, to fetch water. Someone
donated Rp5,000 (A$200) to install a bore. The effect, she said,
was to open the hearts of the village women to what her group
was trying to achieve, whereas before they were suspicious. It
effectively provided the foundation of trust on which she could
build.
This year we have donated A$1,000.00 to Sr. Mary, as a one-off
gesture of goodwill, to install water pumps or similar ventures,
in the knowledge that she will use the money wisely to improve
the lot of the oppressed women of the district.
Keith O'Neill
PEOPLE FIRST
"People First" was started in 1991 by Nick Hanson,
who stumbled into the area as a result of being dragged off a
train, sick and taken to the Gandhi Ashram close to Bodhgaya.
Two years later, as a result of the gratitude he felt, he found
himself motivated by the same forces that I presume we were in
starting the BDA. He teamed up with a very able young local man,
Deepak Kumar and together they formed a fairly formidable partnership,
which has lead to the establishment of a number of schools and
other self-help community projects in Bodhgaya and the surrounding
villages.
According to last year's annual report, People First currently
run 15 schools, with a total average daily attendance of about
1,200 students, employing 36 teachers. Some of the schools are
dubbed 'formal', while others are regarded as 'non formal'. While
I was in Bodhgaya I visited three of the formal types, the largest
being the SPVV School, in a rented house in the heart of Bodhgaya.
This school was particularly impressive as I would pass by on
a daily basis and from early in the morning until 7.00pm I would
see the children at their studies, in the all too familiar crammed
conditions. After I had been introduced to the children I always
got waves and smiles as I walked past.
I also visited the rural project school at Kanjiar, situated on
five acres on the banks of a river. This project at present is
fully funded by BASAID based in Switzerland and is interesting
in a number of respects. The land was donated by the collective
agreement of a number of the village owners (no small achievement)
on the understanding that it will become fully self- sufficient
and will include a cloth loom, women's sewing centre, dairy and
crops, together with a simple health clinic and a new school building.
The project is viewed as somewhat of a flagship for future developments
of a similar nature.
As with Sr. Jessie, People First are always seemingly over reaching
their funding capabilities and almost lurch from one financial
crisis to the next. In the early days Nick would have to go back
to England to work in order to fund his projects. This year People
First have asked us if we could fund the School at the Gangi-Bigha
Harijan Colony. We have given (as a one off donation) A$2,000.00
towards the projected budget of just over A$3,000.00, which covers
the annual salaries for three teachers plus the cost of school
uniforms, books and other teaching materials for 100 attending
students. That is just over A$30.00 per child per year. I am constantly
amazed at how far a judiciously spent dollar can go in this part
of the world.
A PEOPLE FIRST G.S.T.
Nick Hanson, of People First, suggested that it would be a
useful exercise for us all if we were to make a 10% levy on our
entertainment. For example, if we go out to a restaurant, cafe
or pub, go to the cinema or theatre, the Ekka (Brisbane exhibition),
in fact, if we spend anything on what might be called the non
essential elements, then why not put 10% of the expenditure in
a jar and donate it to a good cause. Then at least we might feel
that our enjoyment is shared with others.
Sr Jessie relates a parable in her latest newsletter, which goes
something like this: A king is shown what will befall him at the
end of his life. First he is taken to Hell. There he finds people
are given bowls of delicious milk rice. However, the people could
not bend their elbows. They would lift up their arms and bits
of the ambrosia would drop to the ground, little reached their
mouths and there was much confusion, anger and frustration. All
were left hungry and suffering. The king was then taken to Heaven.
Here he finds the same food set before people with the same affliction
- they too could not bend their arms. This time however, there
was only peace and contentment. On looking closer, he could see
people feeding each other with outstretched arms; all were caring
and compassionate to each other. That is the difference between
Heaven and Hell.
EDUCATION IS THE KEY
From an article by James Ensor in the Community Aid Abroad
magazine, Horizons.
Fifty years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrined
basic education as a fundamental human right, almost 250 million
children around the world still never see the inside of a classroom.
The need for education is not confined to children; nearly one
billion of the world's people are still unable to read or write.
Women still have even less access to education: one in every three
women across the globe remains illiterate today.
Access to basic education is a key to escaping poverty. It equips
people with the skills necessary to participate in society, obtain
employment, improve their health and control their fertility.
Basic education does more than simply alleviate poverty; it builds
self confidence, expands horizons and improves the status of poor
and marginalised communities, better equipping them to stand up
for their rights and gain more control over their lives.
ST. AIDAN'S FUNDRAISING EFFORTS
Eoin and Kerstin Leibchen-Meades, BDA committee members, recently
visited St. Aidan's, an Anglican Girls' School in Brisbane, to
present a slide show and talk about the Pragya Vihar School and
Sister Jessie's education projects. The year 11 students listened
with interest to the report about the very different schooling
opportunities for Indian students in Bihar.
As part of their yearly fundraising commitments, the year 11 students
are eager to sell postcards, have already had a sweet stall and
are currently running a chocolate drive in order to raise funds.
A feeling of gratitude and empathy towards their own and the Indian
students' education needs respectively prevailed during the slide
presentation.
Kerstin Leibchen-Meades