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Establishing a Permanent School-Office-Training Center
in Haridwar
Our
free school in the forest and training center for poor girls
and widows in Haridwar now need a permanent home, as our volunteers
and staff are facing many hardships in teaching and caring
for the children in unprotected open spaces in the forest
or by borrowing people’s living rooms. In addition,
we still do not have a fixed office although the headquarters
of the Hariharananda Mission are officially located in Haridwar.
We therefore have plans to purchase a plot of land in the
Saptarishi district of Haridwar, and build a little school
in order to serve 200 poor students, as well as a head office,
and a workshop for the training of poor widows and girls.
Free Shelter and Training Center for Poor Nuns
Plans are underway to establish a small residential ashram
for poor female monastics in the hills of the Champawat district.
Supervised by a nun, this small ashram will offer shelter
and a basic spiritual and religious training to a few destitute
sannyasinis (female monastics) and brahmacharinis
(female novitiates) of the area.
Alcoholism/Drugs Prevention and Detoxification Program
Through extensive contacts with local villagers,
priests, and educators, we are putting together a program
to deal with the endemic problem of drug and alcohol abuse
in the remote villages of the Champawat district, with its
devastating chain of consequences: poverty, domestic violence,
failing health, and premature death.
This program will include:
- Education about the dangers and social ills caused by alcohol
and drug abuse through training of the children and through
village theater
- Detoxification programs
- Sacred fire ceremonies and pledges of sobriety (nasha
mukti pratijña yajña)
Adoption of Villages
We are currently designing a five-year adoption
plan to eradicate illiteracy and alcohol abuse in a few remote
and backward villages of the Champawat district. Our goal
is to secure 100% literacy, and 50% elimination of alcohol
abuse. If these goals are met, we will gradually expand to
other villages.
Hostel for Poor Students
and Orphans
We are planning to build a hostel (Hariharananda
Chhatravas) to offer residential facilities to orphans
and poor students coming from distant villages. |
