JOB OPPORTUNITY: Recruiting Retired Computers for Volunteer Duty at Saraswati Middle School, near Ganeshpuri, India.

Is there a somewhat bored laptop computer sitting in a corner of your home office feeling very neglected and under-utilized? Maybe it was bumped from your favourite spot in your office and replaced by a fancy new high powered model.

We are looking for experienced, well travelled, emotionally mature laptops. Volunteers will be rewarded by delighting the hearts and minds of a group of teenagers who do not have a computer. What an amazingly wonderful opportunity of service for these born-again computers. They will be helping these youngsters to rise up out of an impoverished and neglected caste system. These youth will join other youngsters on the world wide web and expand into new opportunities beyond the limitations of rural village life. These kids are extremely eager to become e-citizens on the net, learn English and all manner of things with computer software. Thus, the new skills gained will qualify them for jobs beyond the typical menial labor jobs they are now offered.

The Saraswati Middle School in Kelthan, (across the river from Ganeshpuri and Vajreshwari , two hours north of Mumba), has a desk waiting for just the right set of volunteer computers to sign up for a lifetime of service. The computer volunteers will not be lonely - - they will immediately have 175 new excited friends. Upon arriving in India, they will be outfitted with the necessary minor equipment and repairs they need to be fully functioning in their new job as vehicles of great opportunity for these students.

Imagine 175 eager teenagers without a computer to their name. ‘Tis a horrifying thought, isn’t it! You can help. Flights from California and Melbourne have been arranged to transport the recruitants to their job site in India during the months of November and December of this year. If you or your family or friends know of likely candidates, please contact SNET (www.shreenityanandaeducationtrust.org) or TMA (www.tmaseva.org) or as soon as possible. Or, you can write an email to Jeanette@tmaseva.org.

The Saraswati School Adventure

Full of happiness and anticipation, we bumped along the rough dirt and gravel pathway on our way to the secondary school at Kelthan to give a check for 5750 rupies (about US $ 125) to a young man who couldn’t afford to go to college. His name and particulars: Prafull Chandrakant Tumbada, age 19, a slender, clean looking, keen minded person of good manners and respectful presence - - handsome and quiet, but attentive and quick to respond to queries about his life and intents. Yes, we liked him immediately and our appreciation of him only grew as we got to know him better.

Oh, yes, his intent! He intends to become a primary grades teacher, and we think a fine one at that.



We arrived, bones a bit shaken by the bumpy rickshaw ride, at the Saraswati Secondary School, and our first impressions were of a clean, well organized building and grounds - - a favourable start. We were met by Prafull, his champion Ragesh, the self appointed and very capable social worker of the village, and some of the staff of the school. Quickly we were ushered along the enclosed porch way to the Principal’s office where we met Mr. Vijay Patil, a trim, medium height, clean and organized man who spoke good English and began to give us information about his school and the 175 students in attendance. In the first picture above, from left to right, you see Ragesh, Prafull, The Principal Vijay, Dewa, and Jeanetta (from SNET).


The 175 students divided into three grades of 8, 9, and 10 mean that the classes each contained 55 to 65 students. In the photo to the side, you are viewing only the left half of the room full of students. Having been a school teacher myself for a number of years and having complained about 30 students per class being impossible to teach effectively, I immediately recognized the difficulty of their mission. The fact that Prafull had managed to score in the top percentile of Indian testing for his grade level under such conditions speaks highly of his determination and intelligence.

We queried the principal about whether the teachers were paid. He said, "yes since 2007", but for the 7 years previous to 2007, they received no pay. We marvelled at their devotion for teaching without remuneration for so long. Did they have text books? Yes, most student had text books provided by their parents, but the books are getting much more expensive and now cost almost $2 US so that some children could not afford books. Also we heard that there were no work books for question and response where the understanding of each student could be checked and corrected.



As for hygiene, the principal volunteered that they had a “bore well,” a drilled well of 40 feet depth, but which was now padlocked and unused because of water contamination from the monsoon waters infiltrating the system. Later, observing the well, we noticed that the concrete around the well pipe was cracked and would leak surface monsoon water down into the well. A staff member brought the long cylindrical well bucket and lowered it on a rope into the well. Cranking the bucket up again to the top, we saw water leaking from the bucket and at the top was brown dirty water with organic growth floating on the surface. The water was obviously unfit for consumption.The principal told that the students, if they wanted water, had to bring it from home, and that this water was often polluted so that students were then sick.  The principal requested that SNET give them several water filters to provide potable water for the school. We replied that we thought SNET could do that.

Our conversation was divinely interrupted by a beautiful chorus of young voices singing a morning prayer. We peaked out onto the porch and took the snap you see of the circle of girls singing the morning devotion.  Everything and everyone stopped for these quiet and blissful moments. It was truly gorgeous.

 Asked about bathrooms, they pointed to a small building nearby and

explained that there was a boy and a girl side to the bathrooms. Neither side had a door or a curtain for privacy, and the girls side appeared to be unused due to lack of privacy. The boys’ side had three urinal stalls and was obviously used. We have read reports that girls in India tend to quit school early because they don't have adequate bathrooms and have to walk far away from the school to relieve themselves in bushes. Thus lack of bathrooms is a deterrent to more girls finishing school


SNET's project of giving away food bearing trees to the local villagers came up and the principal quickly volunteered that each student could be given a tree to care for, and that the quite healthy trees which we saw at the property boundaries were cared for by the students. This concept could, we mused, quickly evolve into a process/dynamic where the students learn to husband food bearing trees, and take this knowledge home with them to grow trees at their homes. We also have a project in mind where children could learn to farm by creating small plots at school, by learning to save and share the seeds, and to treasure the traditional non-hybrid seeds now controlled by and exploited by the large international corporations. We believe it is clear that Indian villagers must take back the ownership of their own seed lines and organic fertilizers - - to be independent of international external controls. Starting with the children who bring it home to the families seems a sterling approach.

We did learn that a young girl who scored 3rd in her class last year, was unable to attend science school due to lack of money. Jeanetta, for one, cannot stand to see highly deserving young girls like this be disadvantaged and I am sure she will find others who want to help the girl go after her science degree.

Please notice the adjacent picture of the long computer desk in the computer lab. You don't see the computers? Well, neither did we and what a really great possibility for helping a lot of eager young minds lead by a well organized and obviously capable School Head Master, Mr. Patil. He's got the room, he's got the desk, he says he can keep it open 7 days a week - - he needs some computers, new or used. These computers will help these students leap into the 21 century and catch up with the rest of the world.  Let's figure out how to help him and his students! Ideas and resources please!



We visited this school with the intention of offering conversational English classes to the teachers and other adults. After living here for almost two years, it has become clear that for children to speak English well and with confidence, their teachers need to be able to model this. Even a teacher we know who speaks very good English was shy to speak English with us when we first met her. Although she had been studying English for almost 15 years, she had never spoken to an English speaking westerner. After she spent some time with us, she got over her reticence to use her very capable skills at speaking English. But if she feels this way, then what about all the other teachers in the area who have even less training than she has? The Principal and other teachers as well as students would like to learn English with correct pronunciation, and we are discussing how we can organize times to make this happen.

In summary, we are quite grateful to be lead by Prayful’s need to this village and school of even greater need where we as agents of SNET can most likely have a profoundly beneficial effect. We believe we can find computers for this school, and English teaching software as well as for Hindi/Marathi languages. We can help with English conversation for the teachers and students, and provide water filters for them, begin a farming-food-independence program with the children, seal their well from surface contamination, provide booklets for their writings and learning exercises, start a resource library of school books, and at a minimum get a curtain for the girls bathroom. We look forward to a very positive adventure in education with this school and their organized and effective staff.

Stay tuned for how we can all have fun helping these youngsters and staff. Ideas and resources Please!!

$125 Will Help Fulfill His Dream to be a Teacher

Shortly before lunch yesterday, three men showed up at the steps of SNET's Fire Mountain Retreat. The elder of the three, Ragesh, the assistant mayor from the neighboring village of  Naewapada/Kelthan, is someone whom we have met several times and we always enjoy his enthusiastic energy for helping his community. The purpose of their visit turned out to be to ask for financial assistance to help one of the young men of his village, Prafull Chandrakant Tumbada. Prafull had passed his exams and was now eligible  to attend college and become a teacher. He is pictured above.

For his first year at teacher's college, a local politican has already sponsored him with 15,000 rupees for his tuition and now Prafull needs 5750 more ($125) rupees for class fees.

We believe it is an outstanding feat that this young man, Prafull, has accomplished the highest level,  "Grade I with Distinction," in his coursework. He comes from an area where many children are discouraged from going to school so that they can work in the rice and brick fields to help earn money to buy food for the family.  Thus they are not able to escape the vicious cycle of poverty.

The village, Naewapada, where he comes from is no ordinary village. Their mayor is a woman. Several of the villagers speak English. They have an active women's association which has bought two pieces of farm equipment that they rent out to help pay for the mini-tractor and to earn money for their association. The town came to SNET's Plant Give Away as a group and collectively took 300 plants to grow in a communal field. This is the same village that is asking for SNET to spearhead the building and implementation of a residential facility for the children whose parents cannot afford to keep them in school. And here, one of their own, has a chance to break out of poverty and bring back more education to their village. Notice how intense and purposeful this  young man is.  We believe he will be the fine teacher they need.

They need help. Please give them a hand. 

Please donate by contacting www.tmaseva.org if you are in a western country or www.shreenityanandaeducationtrust.org if you are in India. 

Thousands of Fruit Trees Given Away

June 25, 2010. They came on foot with tubs on their heads, with bags in their hands, by bicycle, by ox cart, tuk-tuk, truck. The news of the plant give away had spread throught out the valley and the demand for our seedling plants exceeded our imagination. This is our first success.

We had hoped to save some of the plants for SNET to begin to create a source of income to cover manufacturing water filters, but how could we turn these people down? So more than 5000 plants went to the homes and farms of our neighbors in nearby villages.

The village of Kelthane has a very active woman’s organization and they alone took 300 plants. This is the same nearby village that asked us last year to help them build a community center which was estimated to cost about $3000 in materials. We have not been able to help. This year they asked us to help them build a residence for school children whose parents cannot afford to feed, house and send them to school but instead demand that they stay home and work in the brick making fields or farms to earn money for their own food and clothing. Obviously there is such a great need to help these people get out of poverty. How do we help them help themselves we ask?

And now here they are accepting our plants to begin to grow their own cash producing crops. This reminds me of the saying that I believe comes out of Africa. “Give a man a fish he eats for a day, Teach him how to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.” Here we are teaching our poverty level neighbors to “fish” but by growing a cash crop. This gets us of out of the loop as only a provider of cash but gives a means by which the villagers can begin to take care of themselves.





SNET is working to help our neighbors get on this ladder out of impoverishment. We need your help.
Please give.  http://www.shreenityanandaeducationtrust.org/.

The Plant Give Away Project Has Begun

Now what to do with all these seeds? Fortunately, SNET has MotiRam supervising the landscaping and gardening for Fire Mountain Retreat Center who has many years experience of agriculture and farming in the Tansa Valley.

Based on Dr. Bhore’s suggestions, we bought 5000+ plastic bags, soil, and organic matter which we had our staff fill all of these bags for seeds. For over four weeks, our staff filled and planted these precious seeds.

Ananda and Shuresh filling the 5000+ plastic bags.

Once the seedlings started popping up out of the soil, we started feeling protective of them. An occasional cow was still finding away into our compound through our plastic fence. Last year we had cows coming into the compound on an almost daily basis. We knew we had to do something to keep them out this year but we didn’t really have a budget for building a fence out of stone or brick. So we tried something new: we bought enough shade netting to cover the entire boundary. And it worked: only two or three cows figured out that they could break their way through the thin veil of plastic.

The drumstick plants shot out of the ground quickly and strongly but the papaya were very slow to emerge. We were a little concerned that we might lose all those papaya seeds. We were aiming for a mid-June plant give-away and had begun to tell our neighbors to get their holes ready to receive the plants. We certainly wanted to have viable seedlings available for the give away.

Creating Enthusiasm for a New Future in Farming

Dr. Nitin Bhore's enthusiasm for creating a new future through agriculture and organic farming has inspired the staff and volunteers of SNET. He is somewhat of a pied-piper with everyone excitedly listening to his message of hope. He suggested that SNET grow saplings of fruit trees and create a give away program for our neighboring farmers and villagers who struggle so hard to create any kind of profit or value for themselves and their families. (Please read the previous blog entry, June 8, 2010). His advice included not only giving away plants, but also providing instruction on how to prepare the soil by digging big enough holes for the plants to grow into, utilizing organic fertilizers of local cow and sheep dung or manure, and providing water to the trees by recycling household water. The villagers with no land of their own were told to dig holes around their homes so that they could monitor the care and watering of their trees as well as protect the harvest from scavengers.

So on April 23, 2010 Sunil Anaokar, Pervez Kazi, MotiRam, Dewa and Jeanetta Haley traveled to Pune for the day to meet Dr. Bhore in his home town and "go shopping," but not for mere household items or clothes, but for seeds. Dr. Bhore offered to take them around Pune and find the best papaya and drumstick seeds.

He graciously took us into his home in Pune which vibrates with love from the hearts of entire family: himself, his wife, his mother, and two boys. The home reminds me of a Mexican country farmhouse, hand carved doors and furniture. In fact, Dr. Bhore is of Mexican descent but I don’t think he has ever visited Mexico. But it is obviously in his blood, for he is immensely creative with the construction materials available in India. His mother served us homemade “starters” which might be called “tapas” if we were in Mexico. Little pie shaped dumplings.

Before shopping he took us to a Blue Nile for lunch of “the best Briyani in Pune” and it was good. Because of the increased threat of terrorism in Pune there was a metal detector and security at the door like there is airport and cameras on the walls. The world is a different place even in Pune, where there was a bombing of a German Bakery in the past few months. In contrast, on the walls were these cute photos of animals, from a more innocent era. One had a quirky photo of a lamb with the caption, “Pleased to meet you, Meat to please you.” Guess I am kind of quirky to remember it.

Afterwards we bought our papaya seeds, drumstick seeds, marigold seeds and a few vegetable varieties we hadn’t seen before. Dr. Bhore recommended various other supplies he thought would help us in our agriculture venture. We were thrilled to have his expertise and connections for getting seeds. At one seed shop, he actually opened up the seed package to see if it contained good seeds. Now, we would not have thought to do that. And what he discovered was poor quality dried-up seeds. Needless to say, we did not buy those. Thanks Dr. Bhore.

At the Pune Agriculture Marketing Center seen to the left, we were approached by a man from northern India selling his last bags of Basmati rice out of the back of his little motorcycle type truck. Dr. Bhore asked to see the rice. He took it into his hand, examined it, and then smelled the rice, just like he might do if it was wine. He thought it was good. When we each took a little into our hands, we understood what he meant. What an education to be with someone who knows the field of agriculture. Four of us bought the man out of his last bags for a very good price.

After the shopping adventure, we made a short trip to visit Hazrat Babajan again for Kazi and MotiRam to experience. This evening was a special day at the shrine and it was not open for visitors as in the past visit. But we were allowed to take her darshan through the windows. Kazi put on his white little cap that is part of his Muslim culture, which proved to be his entry ticket. The person at the door could see his earnest and he was lucky enough to be allowed inside for the first time. You can see him peering into the window to the right. What bliss for all of us to visit her again.

Dr. Bhore had us return to his home where he entertained us in his garden patio in the front of his yard that is magically lit by twinkly lights and surrounded by tall bamboo and flowering hibiscus. He described to us how many people walking by his home will stop and ask if this is some kind of restaurant. He brought out a very good red wine for us to try which we rarely see living in Nimboli. One of his contacts, who has become a friend, like us, makes wine. It was a nice touch after a long day. Fortunately when you hire a car, you already have a designated driver and we were escorted home.

SNET Explores the Challenges of Indian Farming

Jan. 2010. Shree Nityananda Education Trust (SNET) staff member, Sunil Anaokar suggested that SNET should consider attending an agriculture exposition in Pune, Maharashtra to see what could be learned about benefitting the local farmers in India in their plight of trying to make create a livelihood through farming. So we, Sunil, Dewa and Jeanetta Haley, traveled the three hours to Pune to immerse ourselves in learning about the most modern farming practices in Maharashtra State.

We arrived early enough to search out one of our favorite saint’s samadhi shrines, that of Hazrat Babajan. She was born into a royal Muslim family of Pakastan, but being a realized being, she had little use for material life, and spent most of her later years on the side of a busy street in Pune. People of all faiths would come visit her there for her darshan and blessings and continue to do so even now at her tomb. She was the one who first assisted Meher Baba in awakening to his life as an Avatar with a kiss on the forehead. (See this website for more information http://mehermelb.jimdo.com/perfect-masters/babajan). The three of us have a personal devotion to her and wished to have her darshan before we began our exploration of the world of agriculture. We hired a tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaw or motorcycle type taxi) to show our driver the way through the winding streets of Pune. Kudos to Sunil who thought of this successful tactic. It was a quiet day at her shrine and we were allowed to soak in her grace and blessings with little distraction. As two westerners and Dewa being over six feet tall as well, we always get many stares and many hands reaching out for a few rupees, but once those who revere Hazrat Babajan see that we are there in devotion and not just sight-seers, we are given room to bask in her love and bliss which is so present there at her shine.

Filled with this special blessing, we moved on to the exposition. We met many people and located many possibly valuable farming venders, but the one that literally jumped out in the aisles to greet us was Dr. Nitin Bhore. His 12’ X 12’ booth was lined with big green billboards and photos describing the various successful roles he plays in the world of agriculture, and peopled with many young students who were very inspired and devoted to his thoughts and ideas about agriculture and organic farming. He has a big presence! We told Dr. Bhore of the charity SNET and its desire to help improve the conditions for the local farmers and he agreed to help. We were so excited to enlist his help but little did we realize that our meeting was the beginning of a new and deep friendship as well as a very significant flow of grace and benefit to our neighborhood farmers and villagers.

Dr. Bhore thinks of farming as an investment and teaches farmers to begin thinking about the entire financial picture of what they are farming. Twice in the early spring, he visited SNET’s headquarters at the Fire Mountain Retreat Center (www.firemountainretreat.org) to begin his instruction to the staff and volunteers of SNET about “smart farming” practices. Dr. Bhore advises that a farmer would be wise to plant crops for cash profit in about six months, such as papaya or drumstick, marigolds, ayurvedic herbs, or other plants that there is a high demand for but little availability. With Mumbai only 2 ½ hours away, many big hotels are clamouring for organic vegetables. Most farmers grow the same things that their neighbors are growing, such as tomatoes, or cabbage and hence there is lots of competition for the same ten and twenty rupee note. But after the first successful crop helps put food on the table and some money in the farmer’s pocket, he should begin to think about growing fruit trees that will provide fruit in about five or six years. This is a photo of a four month old papaya tree. As you can see, they grow very fast, providing fruit by the sixth or eighth month.

At one of the early "smart farming" lectures, our neighbors listen with great earnest and enthusiasm to what Dr. Bhore advises.

We read of an Indian man in the state of Bihar who planted mango trees when his daughter was born. It has become a practice in his area to abort or kill female children due to extreme poverty. Why? Because young females grow into adult women who need a dowry and marriage. If the father has no idea of how he will feed his children now, and much less provide a dowry in the future, this seems like a plausible solution. But instead this man planted mango trees. When she reached the marriage age he had already been saving over $ 4000 US per year for three years and had the necessary money for the marriage. (see link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10204759).