GLOBAL NEWS

NAIROBI SECTOR

GOOD NEWS FROM WEST AFRICA – Path of Joy Children Center – Central Region of Ghana:

Settled in a neglected area of Kasoa, where the community lacks basic services of sanitation and notions of hygiene, the Path of Joy library has been supporting the kids in diverse activities after school. Now we look forward to guiding the children to grow as ideal citizens of the future, with a broad vision and compassionate heart, by imparting Primary education.

Inspired by Neohumanist ideals and the urge to create a better planet, we joyfully keep challenging the challenges and moving forward with no pause. At the moment we are struggling to improve the facility so that we can start the Primary school.

This year we got more speed in completing the facility as we got the support of AMURTEL Italy as well as funds from a Brazilian raffle organized by Anirvana Holistic Center in Brazil. Thanks to them and the sympathizers who have donated, we have been able to complete walls, fix tiles, and beautify the front of the school. We also created a system to harvest rainwater to collect water for cooking.

Now Emanuele Antola Foundation and Sadhu Vaswani Center have supported painting the whole facility. Work is going on. Inspired to cooperate in this project, the Ghanaian youth from Ananda Marga have given some of their time as volunteers. AMURTEL Italy has again come forward to help build a space for volunteers to stay.

Still, a lot of work needs to be done before the end of the year. We have to acquire furniture and fix a playground. To complete the ground floor, we need to build a refectory. You can donate via our Paypal account but you have to confirm it with me by sending the receipt to the email . Thank you!

GOOD NEWS LOTUS CHILDREN CENTER – Accra, Ghana

Katherine (Kalyanika) a yoga teacher from Switzerland has volunteered in our Early Childhood center. She made full use of her short stay by organizing art activities and giving yoga classes. She noted that the children in our school were quite calm and cheerful compared with the ones she has given classes before. Hearing soothing music and doing deep breathing, some of our kids seemed to dive into an ocean of joy during the classes. They were always excited to have those yoga sections.

She also enjoyed visiting historical and sites of natural beauty of Ghana. You can also be a volunteer! Write to: https://lotuschildrencenter.org/volunteer-now/

MANILA SECTOR

Saigon, Vietnam

Training the Successor Team through Youth Camps

Taking advantage of the release of the Covid restrictions and good summer weather, Ananda Marga Saigon (AMSG) has organized some youth camps to give fun to the kids along with character education. Various activities have taken place at Bến Tre, Phan Rí, and MU Ananda Uma – Phước Tân, Biên Hòa covering festivities, charity services, teamwork, games, tree planting, asanas, classes on YamaNiyama etc. Thanks to these activities, young capable personalities are discovered with a view to train and develop them into future sadvipras. Now the kids are familiar with the Sanskrit labels of their teams in light of the core values such as Ahimsa, Satya, Shaoca, Santosa etc. with the adapted meanings according to their level of understanding. More festivities will be held regularly along with Yoga conferences for adults to strengthen the kids teams, such as Tiền Giang Regional Retreat, English clubs, Halloween, Christmas etc.

The Neohumanist Lily Center in Đà Nẳng also gave an enjoyable vacation time to the kids in July along with the usual classes. The Eco-village Ananda Sampurna in Lào Cai successfully held a three-week camp in June for kids.

Be together outdoors and love nature! No more virtual world!

Indonesia

Early Childhood Teacher Trainers

AMURT Indonesia has been awarded a new project aimed at developing a network of early childhood teacher trainers across Indonesia. The 2-year project, sponsored by German charity Kindernothilfe, is conducted in 11 regions – 3 in Java, 4 in Sumatra and 4 in Sulawesi, reaching 150 schools with an estimated 600 teachers and 6,000 students.

The overall project objective is to groom 70 early childhood teachers to become facilitators capable of helping to train their colleagues in the Independence in Learning Curriculum, the child-centered Indonesian national curriculum which aims to nurture in students the Pancasila Student Profile. The Pancasila Student Profile is derived from the Indonesian state ideology, the Pancasila, and aims to develop 6 characteristics: surrender to God & nobility in character, critical rationality, global diversity, collaborative cooperation, self-reliance, and creativity. Since these characteristics are completely aligned with Neohumanism, AMURT Indonesia regards our project as a way to promote Neohumanist values for a better world.

BERLIN SECTOR

Italia

Dada Shambhushivananda was the chief guest at a workshop organised by Yogiis Academy in the outskirts of Torino, Italia. About 22 participants listened to talks by Dada on
GURUKULA: HISTORY AND LEGACY, MANTRA SHASTRA AND SHIVA’S WISDOM. Acarya Kamaleshvara gave some classes too on Tantra. Students of the Academy sang the Gurukula song in Italian in the original melody. Artist John Caviliere from New Haven was a special guest on the occasion. The Yogiis Academy is currently offering a three-year course and
details are available on www.yogiisacademy.org. Michela Urbani led the collective meditations.

Prabhat Samghiita 5018 (October 20, 1990) ITALIANO
QUANDO NOI FAREMO GURUKUL
DIPINGEREMO DI CONOSCENZA
OGNI FIORE ED OGNI CUOR
NOI FAREMO GURUKUL
QUANDO NOI FAREMO GURUKUL
NESSUNO RIMMARRA’ INDIETRO
SUONEREM LA NOSTRA LIRA
TESSEREMO CON IL NOSTRO AMORE
UNA BELLA GHIRLANDA DI FIOR
NOI FAREMO GURUKUL
QUANDO NOI FAREMO GURUKUL
NESSUNO DISCRIMINATO
TUTTO SARA’ UNA FAMIGLIA
CON LA MENTE COLMA DI AFFETTO
DI DOLCEZZA PER IL TUTTO
NOI FAREMO GURUKUL
QUANDO NOI FAREMO GURUKUL

Sweden

Dada Shambhushivananda sharing the gurukula network with Shri Bhupendra Yadav, the Minister of Environment , Govt. Of India at the Stockholm Environmental Conference.

GEORGETOWN SECTOR

Campo Divino, Argentina

Campo Divino celebrates its 8th year of existence this 2022!! As spring goes on, Mother Nature begins emanating sounds and vibrations of all sorts and frequencies on this side of the sphere; the sun heats, the birds sing louder, the many insects, the new leaves, the blossoms, the cold nights with warm daily breezes, the water current, some scattered storms and the animals and our hearts that keep on beating the clarion call to build a new world meant to be shared among one and all.

Learning, taking and applying guidance from Shrii P. R. Sarkar regarding an integrated farming approach to develop places as such enables the workers to know the path to create appropriate models focusing on various fields correlated among each other towards ecological and sustainable living harmonizing with the surrounding. Surprisingly to see the present of Campo Divino after all these years thanks to the input and efforts of locals from Argentina and worldwide supporters that today nine of the thirteen essential items given by Shrii P. R. Sarkar for projects as this are included in our efforts, our lives, and a daily interactive coexistence on site, a living inspiring play for the viewers at long distances, for the visitors and for the regular workers who beautifully dedicated themselves for this cause.

AGRICULTURE

These last months we have particularly worked on expanding gardens and opening new cultivable areas, knowing the soil better each season, the resources around, the nature turns, as well as improving on seedlings and establishing a seed bank with an enormous quantity of exemplars and creating our own compost with nature’s ingredients in a recently built structure only for this vital purpose that will produce 4 cubic meters of it!!

65 fruit trees are healthy growing in protected areas with new fencing and an automatic watering system. We have thirteen different varieties of trees… pear, apple, walnut, peach, apricot, plum, cherry, figs, almond, etc. Many of these varieties are recommended to grow by P. R. Sarkar.

One third of a hectare at the former horses’ area with strong protective fencing had been dedicated and prepared for this season with long beds, with abundant compost, mulching and water system for more production, seeking to provide to the kitchen of Campo Divino as well as selling to neighbors and other people. Experimenting with the mountainous soil in constant changes of weather and seasons is not a joke. Today more than 25 varieties of vegetables, greens, pulses and fruits such as strawberries are grown. Oil cakes made from alfalfa, local soil and water are applied as mounds on the field too.

More than 300 herbal medicine plants including 15 varieties are distributed in different gardens all over the southeast area supplying organic raw materials to the laboratory for natural medicine production, including regular distilling of the incredible essential oils from Práńáh, already in production for more than 5 years without pause.

Related to agriculture:

The irrigation system was improved considerably and expanded with automatic dripping in 2 big areas. Hundreds of meters of pipes are distributed underneath or camouflaged around Campo Divino, flowing constantly with pure water obtained from the year-round river, pumped with solar energy, reaching long distances for the cultivated areas and the fruit orchard, for example, located 350 meters from the main water tank. It is one of the main recommendations in Ideal Farming Part 2 to use surface water for agriculture and other uses, avoiding using underground water and keep it for reserve.

A new greenhouse with wood heat inside and a solid structure is planned to be built this year for growing mostly native trees such as algarrobo, espinillo, chañar, etc, as well medicinal plants and seedlings of fruits in the appropriate time. Seriously speaking, to begin one of today’s most important works that was in ‘future plans’ for this project is a must today. With the current situation it is time to begin thinking collectively about this. The first plan is to apply around the area of Ucacha, the city that gave birth to some of us, an afforestation program to a farm which hopefully can satisfy the needs and be applicable to other neighbors. These areas where mostly soybean and corn are grown with massive negative impact on ecological systems due to the conventional way of treating the soil, the government obliges farmers to apply afforestation on a certain % level of land owned (2% of the total). There is an urgent need to assist farmers and do something to help change the people’s way of living so the huge quantities of grains aren’t needed for their current purposes (animals’ feed for consumption!).

APICULTURE

A longtime friend came a few months ago seeking improvements and clarity in his life. After sharing and accompanying each other today, together we created many plans on the run such as foreseeing the afforestation of his family farm in the planes of Córdoba province. Since then there has been cooperation on many levels with materials, windows, etc. including the donation from Lucio and his brother Sergio of a complete apiculture set, within the thirteen essential items given by P. R. Sarkar.

Working on it right now, learning about Permapiculture, taking guides and a few courses, seeing the bees and seeing the way to apply a sustainable approach to it, habituation with bees, knowing the flora deeper and the flower cycles, preparation of all beehives (10) and organization of the area where the apiary had been already begun. At present 3 beehives are active and producing. It is well known across the world that bees are essential for pollination and for many other vital correlations with our living existence. Development continues!

VISITS FOR TRANSFORMATION

Couples and Families with kids apply for volunteering, community living, life style learning and sharing in an atmosphere of purity and fraternity. This year, couples from different parts of the world including from Argentina often approached Campo Divino to come and learn the way to make a place like it and and bring back to their home the teachings and experiences for their future projects. Mostly they are inclined to spirituality, bioconstruction, permaculture, agroecology and the growing of vegetables,
herbal medicine, Monte concept (untouched Nature), energy use and production, local culture and natives of the area (Comechingones), etc. A new chapter is being opened to keep on creating more family encounters and build cooperation between alike realities across the world.

SCHOOL VISIT

As the time was right the day came when the rural primary school located next to Campo Divino visited the project with a few kids, parents, and the teacher. It was an unforgettable day seeing the faces of those children finding in the middle of such an environment the hidden essences of the project for them… the earthly houses, the many kinds of vegetables, the gardens, the energy sources, so many herbal medicines everywhere, the animals, and even for their amazement the delicious sweets. Thanks a lot to teacher Carina for making a wonderful day that can represent the future collaboration between both institutions.

DELHI SECTOR

Dada Shambhushivananda was the discussant at an online webinar held on the theme: Are suicides among youth preventable? If so, how? The webinar was hosted by Vyanjana Anand of Betiah and attracted a large number of participants and received vast media coverage. The program was held on July 12, 2022. On November 2, 2022, Mr. Kishore Jain (from UK) interviewed Dada Shambhushivananda on his life and mission.

Dada Brahmabuddhyananda gave scores of talks in Madhya Pradesh schools and shared spiritual techniques with them. He was a most popular and enthusiastic teacher and shared spiritual wisdom with over 10,000 students.

The High School being constructed by Dada Svarupananda in Tarun Anandanagar, is well underway. The building has 18 classrooms, 6 labs, an -office complex, and a large meeting hall. It will meet the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) Standards as well as Neohumanist Education specialties.