North and Central America

In Haiti the work on the ground has expanded from health and food security to child-protection and sanitation.

Take a look at this new video covering the AMURT Haiti relief operation




The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, made a one-day trip to visit earthquake affected Haiti. Since the January 12 earthquake, the Petionville Country Club has been transformed into one of the largest camps for displaced people in Port-au-Prince, with estimates of up to 70,000 people living there. AMURT has opened three Child-Friendly Spaces in the camp, serving approximately 460 children so far, and projected to serve up to 1000 within two weeks. As Ban toured through the camp, he visited one of our Child-Friendly Spaces scheduled to open the following day. Sara Wolf (Sarita), the AMURT child-protection coordinator, explained the educational importance of providing safe opportunities for play and self-expression for young children. She described our program which offers story-telling, art, music, karate and yoga as well as meals and nutritional support to children 4-12 years old. Ban was very impressed to see how happy the children look. 

Report from Sarita:

We successfully completed our second week of the IHEC program for children at our base. Monitors are stepping into their own comfortable rhythm with the children and are providing a wide range of educational play activities. The monitors were assisted this week by eight student volunteers from Wesleyan College who offered a range of talents from playing guitar to
demonstrating gymnastics. The children are starting to feel the flow of the
daily activities while getting to know each other gradually in this safe space. At the end of each session, children implore to stay longer!

The IHEC central staff provides for various levels of coordination and support to the growing program. The central coordination consists of administrative, logistical, educational and community organizers. The administrative coordinators facilitate the organizational flow of the program. The logistical coordinator provides support for materials and supplies, transportation and accounting. At the heart of the program, the education coordinator oversees the staff of trainers, coaches and onsite monitors. The trainers are responsible for providing and modeling exemplary activity plans for the onsite monitors. They will be traveling to each site to make observations and support the monitors' growth. The trainers are also developing training modules which will be offered at the Center for Neohumanist Education (CENEOH) and at the various camp sites. Modules will include activity planning, positive discipline, self-care, safe touch,
active listening, group norms, and play therapy.

While the coaches continued to model student-centered activities at Delmas,
the IHEC trainers continued preparations for the opening of three more
sites. The engineer is overseeing the construction of several wooden
pavillions at Cineas Camp and the installation of large tents at Petionville
Club and Bureau de Min. Over 650 children were registered for the opening of programs at Petionville Club and Bureau de Min. The upcoming week will see a flurry of activity as we continue to expand our program and serve the
deserving Haitian youth.

Donate for the Haiti relief at these websites:

www.amurthaiti.org, www.amurtelhaiti.org
www.amurt.net, www.amurtel.org





Seven reasons why donating to AMURT is your best choice.


Didi Ananda Usa just returned from a visit in Haiti where she took an active part in AMURTEL's earthquake relief effort. AMURTEL distributed tarps and other relief supplies to several thousand families. The distribution was done systematically, and with kiirtan playing in the background, it had a calming effect on the post-earthquake chaos. Didi also reported that AMURTEL was working in partnership with World Vision, the Mexican consulate, ACTED and an Irish organization, HAVEN.

Dada Mokseshvarananda was working in Haiti before the earthquake struck and he and his co-workers (including Dada Gopalkrsnananda) went into action immediately. They fed 200 people daily for two weeks and distributed relief supplies. They also set up ten child-friendly spaces in relief camps (the UN Secretary General paid a recent visit to one of these centers). They are currently training community leaders and working on projects that will create jobs in the countryside and help to improve the basic economic problems facing Haiti.


Community organization in Haiti; Karate class at a Child-Friendly Space


Fundraising For Haiti Meets With Great Success

Here are a few of the recent AMURT Haiti fundraising success stories:

In West Plains, Missouri, Dada Ragatmananda and Sister Amrta performed Indian classical music at a special fundraising concert that raised more than $2,500 for the Haiti earthquake relief fund. More than 100 people attended the concert and Sudhiira spoke about the work of AMURT and AMURTEL in Haiti.
stories:

Dada Ragatmananda and Amrta perform in Missouri

In Denver, Colorado, students at the high school where Arun Glassman works gave a special performance for Haiti, with more than $7,000 raised for the relief work. Arun spoke at the concert and appeared in the local news media too.

In Vermont there has been a massive public relations campaign for Haiti earthquake relief and margiis have raised more than $50,000 for the relief fund. One concert alone raised $10,000 and the rest has come from donations of around $50,000 that followed TV and radio interviews with Didi Cirasmita.

At the Progressive School of Long Island, a film on Haiti was shown and students and parents contributed generously to the Haiti relief fund.

In Asheville, NC Didi Ananda Amoha organized the placement of donation cans in local supermarkets and more than $10,000 was raised.


Tennessee flood Response

Nashville, Tennessee and the surrounding area has been devastated by severe flooding. Many homes have been lost, at least 20 persons are dead with more bodies expected to be uncovered as the floodwaters recede. The area has been declared a federal disaster zone by President Obama. AMURT & AMURTEL has a team in the area and is mobilizing a larger task force to respond to the recovery efforts. For this we request your donation.


Some more recent news:

Dada Pranakrsananda is conducting meditation classes in New York City, Washington, DC and New Haven, Connecticut on a regular basis. He also is guiding a psychology and meditation study group. He was recently invited to the Ananda Marga teachers training seminar in the Netherlands where he gave classes as well as additional seminars in the Netherlands and Italy.

Dada Vedaprajinananda spent a month in the San Francisco Bay area and gave musical performances in Berkeley, Mountain View and San Jose, along with classes and a seminar at the Ananda Marga center in Los Altos Hills. On his way back to his base in Urbana, Illinois, he stopped in Denver, Colorado where he gave a musical performance in a Denver restaurant and sang songs for the children of the Morning Star Pre-School. In Champaign-Urbana, Dada has recently performed for children and adults with disabilities, as well as giving his regular introductory meditation classes at the Ananda Liina Master Unit.

Earth Day participants recently attended a tour of Ananda Liina, a 30-acre ecovillage incorporating an Ananda Marga yoga center, an organic farm, a sprout factory and family residences. The facilities have innovative designs, making use of alternative energy and water-harvesting methods. The participants also enjoyed a nature walk, meditation session, vegetarian dinner and evening campfire.

Dada Muktatmananda continues to organize the AMURT relief activities in Los Angeles. Every Friday in the morning the "brown bag" food distribution takes place at the Ananda Marga center. It is a community event where around 10 AMURT volunteers help Dada to distribute around 100 big boxes of a variety of food items. The program benefits around 300 people a week, representing various ethnicities and immigrant communities such as Latinos, African-Americans and Koreans of low-income families in the LA central area. Every Sunday the food distribution is also held downtown in the Skid Rod area known for its homeless population. An average of 200 people receive a breakfast consisting of cereals with milk, juices, energy drinks, cookies, bakery products and fruits. In all, AMURT is feeding 500 people every week in LA.

Dada Nabhaniilananda is busy with classes and lectures in Northern California where he divides time between meditation groups in several cities. He recently gave a well-attended lecture at the East-West Bookstore in Mountain View and a musical performance in Berkeley. He is also a frequent musical performer and speaker at Unity, Unitarian and New Thought churches in the area.

Didi Ananda Vikirna is based in Mexico City and recently toured Ananda Marga units in Mexico. She started a cheap kitchen and is offering yoga and meditation classes as well.

Tattvika Pashupati teaches yoga in several North Carolina prisons and recently started new programs in the Davidson and North Piedmont prisons. He is a medical doctor and made a special visit to Haiti to offer his services in the clinics of AMURT and in the child-friendly spaces at the relief camps. In North Carolina he also offers a yoga teacher training course.

Acarya Vivek led a student retreat in November at Ananda Vrati and is getting ready for another one in April. In Albany he conducts a meditation class and recently hosed the visit of Dada Pramananda who presented a slide show on the Ananda Marga meditation technique (Iishvara Pranidhana).

Didi Devanistha teaches meditation in New England where she is based, and in January completed a tour of the Mid-West where she gave individual instruction in meditation to several people. She also recently gave an infant massage training session in Ghana.

Didi Ananda Vibha toured in Mexico and Central America. She visited many Ananda Marga units and took part in a vegetarian dinner and TV program that have helped to make Ananda Marga known in the region.

In New York City Didi Ananda Shraddha and Didi Ananda Hariprana teach yoga and meditation at the Women's Welfare Department headquarters in Jamaica, Queens. Across the borough, Shantideva is leading classes in Corona.

Dada Shuddhatmananda visited Miami, FL and gave several programs for high school students and others.


Dada Shuddhatmananda with some of the students at the Young Men's
Preparatory School in Miami, Florida

Dada Ragatmananda and Dada Ardhendu together gave a number of programs in Mexico, including a university concert and fundraising activities for Haiti and the Casa Ananda in Mexico City. Dada Ragatmananda also gave an introduction to yoga and meditation program in Guatemala and traveled on to Eugene, Oregon and West Plains, Missouri where he participated in fund raising for Haitian earthquake relief.

Dada Gananathananda is the manager of the Peach Farm and this year developed some new peach products that have proven to be very popular. He completed a new green house and has applied for a grant with the USDA.


Dada Ganathananda and friend at the Peach Farm

Dada Gunamaya has been dividing his time between Albany, NY, Ananda Vrati in Pennslyvania, and Boston, Massachusetts. During the last few months Dada has given yoga and meditation classes at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Albany and delivered a lecture at the Freemason Lodge in Boston.

Dada Krpasundarananda led programs in Jamaica and Cuba. In Cuba a well-attended retreat was held at a Roman Caltholic convent.

Didi Prema is based in Nicaragua where she runs a school, Centro Educativo Ananda Marga, and supervises several social service projects in Managua. A recent teacher training program upgraded the skills of teachers at Didi’s school.

WWD (the Women’s Welfare Department) has established a multipurpose center in Sabana Grande, near Managua. The center offers a naturopathic clinic, health classes and yoga classes. In addition, gardening courses in cooperation with the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) were recently held. A program distributing healthy, ecological and fuel-efficient stoves is also based at this center, as is an HIV education program.

Didi Ananda Anuradha works in nearby Costa Rica, where she supervises a school with 30 children. WWD also offers other social service programs, including workshops for kids in a poor area of San Jose, a food cooperative serving needy families, and medical-health services for immigrant families.

In Mexico City, representatives from Proutist Universal and AMURT/EL participated in the 62nd Annual Conference for NGOs of the United Nations Department of Public Information. The theme for this year was For Peace and Development: Disarm Now! Around 1,500 delegates from all over the world came to Mexico City for the event, which was inaugurated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Among the delegates in the opening day photo there are a number of acaryas and margiis.



Various workshops, panels, exhibitions and meetings took place, including a youth meeting which presented the preparations for the World Youth Conference in Mexico in August of 2010, with 7,000 youth from 200 countries expected to attend. AMURT and PU were invited to contribute in the organizing committee of that event.

At a parallel event called Transformation of the Human Spirit, held at the Mexican Senate, Dada Pranesh presented the book Proutist Economics in Spanish to the President of the Senate of the Mexican Republic, Mr. Carlos Navarrete Ruiz.

A day after the UN event, Proutists participated in the 1st Congress of the World Alliance to Transform the United Nations (WATUN). During the congress, the Proutist delegates helped review and draft the final mission statement of WATUN. The reviewed mission statement now includes respect and freedom of spiritual practices and cultural diversity. One of the Proutist delegates was elected as member of the provisional Council of the World Alliance to Transform the United Nations.

Dada Pranesh spoke to over 400 leaders of the Haitian diaspora at the Haitian Diaspora Unity Conference in Miami, where former-president Bill Clinton and the prime minister of Haiti were the key speakers. Dada was invited to join the organization committee of the next conference. He also gave a lecture on Prout at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and established a Prout club at the campus. Dada also delivered a meditation talk at the Unitarian Church, with a vegetarian dinner and collective meditation for beginners. Laksman is conducting classes at the Yoga Club at UT Knoxville and also working on the Ananda Arpana master unit, which is being prepared to receive volunteers in the near future.


Visit Crimson Dawn for the latest North and Central America news.