Inspiring Students to Think Creatively

Vijay Patil thinks out of the box. He saw an opportunity and took it. He, the principal of Saraswati Secondary School, asked SNET if he could bring his students, all 150 of them, to visit the Fire Mountain Retreat facilities and show his high school students the environmental projects that are being initiated on the premises, particularly the farming experiments. He said he would even provide lunch!

Some of the vegetables Dewa Haley has growing at Fire Mountain Retreat are from seeds he brought back from China, such as the meter long green and red beans or the tall green brocolli family member. Others are from friends'  contribution from the states, such as the heirloom seeds of Arugula and Basil. Some of the varieties he has tried are favorites for the local insects and actually never reach the mouths of humans. Others have some kind of natural inhibitants, such as Aswhaghanda, an ayurvedic plant. He also has some Brahmi growing which is known for helping the mind.  Many of the herbs are a surprise to visitors, such as the super sweet Stevia, or the hot and spicy Mustard greens, or regular parsley.

India is Indeed Big Love: Mumbaikars Give Big Time

Three of our men friends from Mumbai have heard the needs of their neighbors here in the outskirts of the metropolis and responded. Two friends were touched by the story of 535 children suffering through cold winter nights and together bought 300 blankets for the children at Kolumbai. But hearing about the story of the chldren was not enough. One of them, Sattish, had to drive out and meet the trustees of Shree Nityananda Education Trust to see for himself that it was a legitimate NGO.  Then afterwards, he drove out into the jungle to meet the children who supposedly needed blankets. He was convinced and not only paid for 200 blankets but he and Bodhan,son of the other donor, Babul, visited Crawford Market, haggled for the best price and the best blankets and then hand delivered them to the school.  Wow, that is amazing seva!!!

Vivek heard about the social work of Shree Nityananda Education Trust and was inspired to help the  Saraswati Secondary School that SNET is assisting to make a better place of education for the village students of Kelthane.  He told us of Kitab Korner, the NGO of his cousin sister, Poorvi, provides libraries in settings where there are none. To date, they have installed 11 libraries. He arranged for cousin to come out to Kelthane and inspect the Saraswati School. They agreed to place one of their smalller libraries at the school.

Here are the notes from Kitab Korner's newsletter about the library installation at Saraswati Secondary School:

"Kitab Korner Library Center at Ganeshpuri



Location: Saraswati School, Kelthane, Ganeshpuri, Maharashtra (located outside of Mumbai)

Students: Approximately 175 students from 8th, 9th and 10th grade


Books: 317 new books donated for the initial set-up


Total Cost: Indian Rupees 38,000 or approximately US $840


Key individuals who will help sustain the library & host workshops:


Mr. Patil: the incredibly caring, conscientious, and hard working principal


Mr. Nitin Orian: President of Learning Space Foundation; another non-profit organization present in the community which holds classes for children outside of school


Sponsor: Mr. Vivek Jhaveri


Believe it or not - the library was set-up in the short span of four working days. On the day of the inauguration - January 10, 2011 - the school hosted a program for Kitab Korner to introduce the library. Members of the Kitab Korner team spoke to the students about the value of the books, the workshops that are in store for them, and how to best make use of this new opportunity they have been given."

SNET looks forward to more collaboration with other Indian donors and local NGO's. Together we can make a difference.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

 (attributed to Margaret Mead)

OUR GIVE-AWAY TREES REACHING FOR THE SKY

A really fun and rewarding project is the recent giving away of food-bearing trees to local villagers of the Ganeshpuri-Nimboli  Nearby Villages.  Sri Nityananda Education Trust (SNET) raised and then gave free of charge, 5000+ food bearing trees to our village neighbors. Here's a picture of trees leaving the property on the way to be planted at the homes of these villagers, and what a happy and exciting day that was to see so many people delighted to come and receive tree saplings that will give them food for years and decades to come.  Imagine how much food 5000 trees can produce!  And as we teach seed harvesting and replanting, we and the villagers gain food independence - - future food wealth.






BUT NOW IT'S BEEN 2 MONTHS SINCE THEN - - WHAT BECAME OF THE TREES?  Were the villagers successful in planting them?  Did they live through the heavy monsoon this year?  Full of curiosity, we have begun to visit village location to check on the progress on these saplings and the promise of lots of food for lots of people for lots of years.  

 What have we found? 

 Posted here are some pictures of the trees (papaya and drumstick) that were planted.  Some of them are surrounded by jungle vegetation as monsoon is just ending and people have not had a chance to get out and tend to them due to the heavy rains.  We, ourselves are just now whacking back the jungle weeds and recovering our gardens.  But what we found is that the trees were planted in good locations around the villagers homes and are doing quite well after only a few months in the ground. 

 This program is a bit like the wisom of "give a man a fish and he eats for a day. 
teach him how to fish and he eats for a life time."   In this case it's, "give a family a few papayas and drumsticks pods and they eat for a few days - - give them a few papaya and drumstick trees and their family their relatives, and their friends eat for decades." Wow -- what a payoff!!

We love this program.  It is a joy to see the trees growing in the villages.  These  particular trees bear mature fruit in only 6 months after planting!  They are very quick producers and were chosed largely for this reason.  Next we plan to give away tree saplings that may take longer to mature, but give food for many decades, for generations. 


We will take this program to the schools and teach the children about planting trees that give food for years with very little care on their part. FUTURE FOOD WEALTH we call it, and a wonderful gift to give another human. 
 It only costs a couple of dollars to seed and feed and care for a sapling to the give-away stage.  You might consider donating to supply food future wealth for some impoverished village people. 

 One tree can feed a lot of people - - a great investment - - a few trees can feed many families - - twenty trees can feed a village.  What a deal! and you could be the loving human who provides for them. Love matters - - a heart that feeds many people is a happy heart.  Here's how you could give from one to many trees to village people.  They are mostly wonderful people, living close to the Earth and very worthy of our assistance.  Click here to begin your happy heart gift to your new villagers or village. We will keep you posted on our blog site, and if you give for a whole village, we will keep you posted with pics about how your gift is giving.

Click here now to view the list of villages and choose your own village or click here to give as many as you like.  Future food for many is a great opportunity for us to be human.