Background
Our 3.5 hectare property was given to Ananda Marga in 1990, by Togo’s former president, Gnassingbe Eyadema. During the 90’s, there was much political, social and economic instability in Togo, which seemed to have slowed the development of Ananda Ratna. Between 2001 and 2003, Dada Gunamaya and Dada Jayakrishna were working together in Togo, and began Kindergarten classes in the meditation hall. After their departure, Dada Tanmaya arrived from Ghana and began to develop the school. By 2008, with help from a couple of private donors and AMURT (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team) – Italy, Dada constructed 8 classrooms and expanded the school to include Kindergarten through Class 6. Aside from his work with the school, Dada has planted beautiful gardens around the jagrti ( spiritual center).
Current
Our Neohumanist School is steadily growing. The new school committee has created a wonderful atmosphere for over 445 children to progress in all spheres of life.
We have now integrated the first secondary 3 classes in order to welcome those who finished the primary term. The new office and library building is almost over and cultivations are going on in the garden. Our priority is to complete the fence, build 2 more classrooms for the secondary school and provide the children with top quality education based on the principles of Neohumanism.
Our main challenge is the land encroachment. It is by no means common to have 3.5 hectares of land in the middle of a city (Lomé, is the capital of Togo) this size. Currently, the land has no fence. For this reason, neighbouring households and individuals are throwing their rubbish on the land. Some years ago, the late Dada Rudreshvarananda recognized this serious problem and gave some funds to construct concrete pillars on half of the border. Later, thanks to Gurukula’s fundraising efforts we could complete 60 meters of fence.
We are now urgently seeking funds for the 600 meters of fence remaining. The estimate is about 4.000 USD per 100 meters of fence. Thank you for your support!
