Wisodms Winds Bridge-social welfare budhist organisation part-2

How was the school formed?In 1989, Venerable Anuruddha, an Indian monk, was working in the Thai Monastery in Bodhgaya with poor children from the local village, during the annual Insight Meditation retreat at the Monastery. He taught simple chanting, alphabet and basic Dhamma. He found these children dressed in rags even in the cold January winter in Bodhgaya.It was a very heart rendering moment for Ven Anuruddha and other people attending the retreat. And, they decided to provide food and clothes to these children.

 Ven Anuruddha wished to hire two teachers who could teach some basic subjects, like Hindi, Math and English,for a couple hours in a day. People on the retreat, including Rick Peterson, raised USD100 to hire the teachers to pay them USD 4 per month.

 How ever, when Rick returned the following January, in 1990, he found the money had not been spent. Instead, Ven Anuruddha had formed a committee, with Kabir Saxena from

the Root Institute and others, to start a school in another local village. People from Mastipur had requested Ven Anuruddha to start a school there as the place did not have any school and people were mostly illiterate in the village. The committee, therefore, rented a room in local Sakya Tibetan Temple and hired two local teachers – Preyag Prajapati and Sumitra Devi.

Although, 25 underprivileged children from the village were enrolled in the class, as the school began 40 children showed up and none were turned away. The school had to leave the Sakya Templewhen the pilgrimage season started in the autumn and was moved into a house in the village. In March 1991, a second class was added and the school moved again, this time to two dormitory rooms in the Root Institute. The school stayed there until funds were raised to buy a small piece of land where the present school is being built. Two tents were erected and thesebecame the classrooms

.

An appeal for funds was made at the end of the Bodhgaya Insight Meditation retreats.Christopher Titmuss, based in the UK started raising funds, as did Felix Helg in Switzerland. A small group of friends in Australia started a group called the Bodhgaya Development Association, with the primary aim of raising funds for the school and other programs in Bodhgaya. These two individuals and one small group of six people were tobecome the main fundraisers for twenty years.

In 1993, it was decided to invite a local order of Catholic nuns, called the Queen of the Apostles,to run the school, and make it a multi-religious school

Who attends this school?

Admission priority is given to the children of widows and the ones abandoned. Many of the wage-arners of the families are rickshaw pullers, poor farmers, or very small businessmen. The School management,believes that having a ratio of poor students to middle-class students of 4 to 1 is useful.The middle-class students set an example to the poorer students for hygiene, the importance of education and daily discipline. Students come from Hindu Muslim, Christian as well as Buddhist families.

Who runs the school on a regular basis?

The Sisters of Queen of the Apostles run the school by filling in the positions of the principal and deputy principal. Their contract is renewed every two years. There is a school management committee, which includes Ven U Nyaneinda (the Abbott of the Burmese monastery), Kiran Lama (the Head of the Daijokyo

Temple) and PR (Princy) Dwyer (Director of the YMCA in Gaya). Further, the Prajna Vihar Inter-religious Education Society (PVIES) holds the school property and buildings, and engages the principal and deputy. There is also an annual meeting with donors.


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