By Dada Gunatmananda
Ánanda Jayanti Master Unit, a 13-acre campus located in a disadvantaged township located 40km South of Johannesburg, is a multi-faceted service project. This area suffers from some of the world’s highest rates of unemployment (officially a staggering 80%), single parenthood, crime, homicide, HIV, illiteracy, etc.
AMSAI Primary School
The primary school is the core project on the master unit. Established 36 years ago, it used to have 1500 children and was widely regarded as the best school in the area; but the entire project was almost destroyed by a long attempt by criminals to steal the school and its assets. Due to the heroic efforts of many ácáryas and margiis, we survived this dangerous period and are now rebuilding the project to its former glory. Although the student body is small, it is growing as we regain community trust.
The school has 48 large classrooms and students from grades K through 7. We are renovating neglected classrooms as the student body expands. Now we have 7 classrooms in use for the school (one for each grade), plus one for use as a conference room, one for martial arts, one for yoga, and two for the afterschool program.
Although many of the AMGK ideals and standards can only be addressed after we have solved more fundamental issues (financial stability, epidemic lack of basic academic skills, etc.), we are taking steps to implement what we can now. We changed the traditional Christian prayers to silent breathing followed by a universal “prayer” that takes the form of a dedication to God and to live according to moral principles, and teach the children Neohumanist songs and kiirtan. Two ácáryas working here are taking the NHE Teacher Training Program online. For the most part, the teachers do not mind if we introduce these things and do them with the kids ourselves, but they are not open to conducting such activities with the students themselves.
After School Program
We have an afterschool program that opened a few months ago. It caters to all grades and is not limited to AMSAI students. We started it to address two issues that are common in schools in poor neighborhoods in South Africa: (1) there is limited cultural education within the standard curriculum and (2) most students are not performing up to the appropriate standard according to their grade level and need focused help, especially in reading and basic mathematics.
Student Camps
We run student camps on our campus for children from the community between academic terms. From March 30th till April 3rd we had a camp with 150 children from age 5 to 12. The children were divided into groups according to age. They had guided play time and classes in creative arts, English, math, music, and physical exercise. They were fed breakfast and lunch every day.
Medical Clinics
On April 19th, we will reopen the medical clinic. We had to completely renovate the old clinic and with the help of a partnership with the Regenesys School of Health, we are building a functional free clinic to serve students and their families as well as the local community. We will have nurses on staff and a daily visit by one of the volunteer doctors who will give some of their time to help the clinic. The clinic will have a separate entrance and parking area, 8 examination rooms, a medicine dispensary, and a large waiting room.
Agricultural Cooperative
We had hired a number of temporary workers for renovations. When we no longer needed their help, we decided to use some of our master unit land to start an agricultural cooperative because we knew they would struggle to find work in this area. Now they are cultivating a few acres of land and working together. Just as the land is being transformed, their outlook, cooperative spirit and moral character are also being cultivated by virtue of building a project which requires them to trust each other and to make sacrifices to build something that will sustain their future.
Community Outreach
Feeding
Dada Krsnarjunananda has been working here for many decades, even when things were very dangerous. Due to donations of a local member of Ananda Marga and support from a number of organizations, he was able to maintain a community feeding program that gives lunch to the children every day and also delivers food to a number of children’s homes, communities of the elderly, and the general community.
Ánanda Marga Champion League
Dada Krsnarjunananda also runs a football league for this area together with a number of community leaders who want to give the youth a positive outlet. The league has 12 clubs. Each club has 120 children divided into 4 teams according to age bracket (1440 children total). The league runs practices. Daily our school football ground is used by a number of coaches to train their teams, as well as for individual matches and periodic tournaments with prizes for the top teams in each age bracket. The tournaments involve teams from other areas for a total of 32 clubs.
Martial Arts
Dada Mantrasiddhananda works in nearby Mozambique but spends some time here. While he was here he established a martial arts club for children and teenagers. The members meet 6 times a week to train under the guidance of one of Dada’s students from Mozambique who came here to run the martial arts club. About 20 children train here every day. Dada returns to South Africa to take the members to tournaments a few times per year.
Starting Soon
Job Training
We are starting a program to train ladies to be professional tailors and seamstresses. It involves 4 semester long courses taught over 2 years. The first term is about design and theoretical understanding. Terms 2-4 involve working a sewing machine and making various types of clothes.
Adult Education
We are planning to start adult education in English literacy and reading comprehension, basic math and basic skills; plus, a free weekly yoga and meditation class.