Saturday, June 21, 2008

Meeting with the THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA

Khamaghani,

Dream of my dreams came true today, I met with the HE The President Of India.
We presented her with flowers, our Annual Report, "Sambhali Dreams" and the flyer. We have also gifted from the Sambhali Trust a beautiful bed sheet with camel and elephant block printing. Yes, Sambhali reached the President House. We explained our situation with the problems from the government by not giving us FCRA and 80GI permission, we have applied for the permissions a year back, HE The President asked us for an application with the concern, we presented it right away, hopefully we have the permission in our hands soon.
("HE" in this post stands for the word "honorable".)
Our application to meet the HE President of India:


I would like to thank very much our HE, The President of India, The President House, Divisonal Comissioner Saheba, Sambhali Participants, Ms. Casey, Ms. Chloe for all your help in getting us to this platform.

Entry Pass provided by the C.I.D Office Jodhpur to visit He The President

Report online soon!!!!
Soniya, myself, HE The President Saheba Of India and Monica, holding the bed sheet done by Jodhpur Project girls, we presented this block printed sheet to President Saheba. Picture from Dainik Bhaskar Newspaper.

Meeting list of visitors meeting up with HE The President in the local newspaper, names from the guests who got oppertunity to meet Honorable President Saheba. Underlined Govind Singh Rathore, Dainik Bhaskar newspaper.

List of people meeting the Honorable President of India in the newspaper, in brackets explination about the NGO Sambhali representatives and people from the other Non-Profits.
Newspaper Rajasthan Patrika.

Report to come online soon!!!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Sambhali in June 2008

Khamaghani readers,
I hope all are well.

It is raining, raining and raining, monsoon is way ahead, I don’t know what will monsoon bring if it comes our way, I don’t remember when last I saw soo much water coming from the sky, our guests, Sambhali girls, me - we all bath in rain and welcome the first rain of this pre-monsoon.
Couldn't resist first rain with others

Casey Ji, Lillian Ji and Smita Ji from FSD.

Everywhere the trees, plants are smiling and blossoming, there is much for animals to eat from nature in the countryside, still the water ponds are a little dry, farmers have left the villages to go and live on their farms to cultivate their fields, longer queue of people on the seed and fertilizer stores, farmers can be seen in their colorful attire and turbans around the city and agricultural departments. This year it was hot but not the Thar desert style hot in summer, it rained earlier and the sand storms became more quiet. 


Sambhali Trust:
Article in Village Edition about the "Art of Living"-Camp in Setrawa by Sambhali Trust
Participants of Setrawa project, welcoming guests for the closing ceremony of the "Art of living" 5 days camp.
We had a marvelous time in the Setrawa project, where we have arranged "Art of Living"-course for 5 days for the whole village, the people were taught all kinds of yoga, meditation etc., the teacher lived in the project building.
Mandala done by Usha and other participants of the Setrawa project for the closing ceremony of 5 days "Art of Living"-camp
The "Art of Living"-Camp was also having arrangments to sing traditional songs.
Gajananda Ji, -teacher of the "Art of Living"-Camp, preaching about everyday life issues
Lady with problems, sharing it with Gajananda Ji.
Gentleman from village singing an awareness song
Participant sharing her views on Sambhali Trust in Setrawa Village
We were helped very much by our project teachers and our land lord Mr. Chandarveer, he is a big help to us in the village. The people co-operated a lot in the program. The yoga teacher is a student of Shri Shri Ravi Shankara and was welcomed by the people with an open heart, he was invited for meals everyday, he was also invited to visit a cancer patient to bless the person leaving every one behind for this life.
Some guests (related to the "Art of Living"-program) came to bless a cancer patient in Setrawa village, the Doctors have sent her back home, beautiful mother of 3 little girls, 25 years of age. When we went to see her at her home on somebodys request and one of the teachers of "Art of Living" blessed her, her husband and all started to have tears when the blessing ceremony started. I don't know if I will be able to see her when I return in 5 days. May God bless her!
All the teachers and guests were welcomed with garlands.
Some guests, related to the "Art of Living"-program, Ms.Casey and me went to the program twice in 5 days, the day of beginning and the last day of ending. People had tears in their eyes when the yoga teacher, Mr. Gajanand Ji, was leaving. Our chief guest for the occasion was Mr. Umaid Singh Rathore, fighting this year for a member of parliament from Shergarh Tehsil. His name was suggested by Mr. Chandarveer Singh, the land lord from our project building.
Welcoming ceremony: we wash the guests' feet on their arrival at the main door, we also give them garlands, and pray them before they enter our premisis.
Participants paid respect to all the guests and also me.

Chief guest welcomed by wise men from the village
A different blissful experience for the village, it rained a lot while we had the camp in Setrawa village, so people were taking the camp as blessing.
Jodhpur program is very busy in making stuff for selling it to Sambhali India for the up-coming tourist season, cushions, table covers, bed spreads, skirts, toys, bags, tea coasters etc. On the 17th of June Ms. Chloe is coming for 8 weeks from UK to volunteer with us in Jodhpur program. Ms. Casey is busy in doing her final report on the research she has done on her time she has spent at Sambhali, this includes a visit to Neela Moti Crafts center, Khimsar village and Sadhna in Udaipur. These NGO’s are working with women empowerment for a long time.
On our last day to Setrawa, we were taken to see a lady tied to a tree, she has been tied to the tree for the last 4 years!! She is mentally disabled, young girl not more than 22 years old, her child died 4 years back, her husband left her, she got ill and was sent to her mother's home. There we saw her tied to the tree outside their home.
Local newspaper is helping us with awaring the local government about this case.
With help of friends and people I know I would like to support her, but it is very tough for me to keep the projects running at the moment. I am soo limited to resources, 3 projects, 3 teachers, 2 rented places, 16 to send to school, raw materials, convenience of the participants. The guest house is not running well, otherwise I would have put some money from the guest house into the programs. No fund raises, I have written to a few people to support the cause but haven’t heard anything back from a single person yet. I can understand that the world is becoming more expensive every day and people have lives to lead. I would like to appeal anybody who has any little gift they could spare to help support our work, we do not have permission from the FCRA (Foreign contribution regulation act), we filed for the PRIOR FCRA permission a year back, but I don’t understand why the last file out of 11 files is stuck with the Lady (Deputy Director) of "Women and child welfare", when her department people have already done the assessment and have positively given madam the report. I think from my previous conversation with madam that she is not cooperating with us because of our terms directly with higher officials, and we do not feel like complaining or making any fuss with her, because she is the head of the department in government in the same field (women and child welfare), where we are working and there may be more beaurocratic formalities in future running Sambhali Trust, therefore we will not be able to make any bank transfers yet. Any generous gift, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated and be put to good use.
Thanks for taking your time for reading the blog.

till next time
Govind S. Rathore