Some of us have been talking about the difficulties that can arise when trying to come up with a spare $50 per month to sponsor a child in Muzaffarpur, India.  This amount is too much for me (Wendy), and possibly too much for many others, especially for people who have other commitments and children to support.  Usually we recognize that and stay away.  My giant blunder recently announcing the  $15 per month sponsorship of a child was maybe not such a bad thing.  We've met lots of people who are very eager and would make excellent families for Jyoti's children; but who would not have $50 spare each month.

Angela came up with the idea that each child could be sponsored by several people.  This would have the advantage of giving the sponsored child an extended family of parents, aunties, uncles, cousins, grandmas, grandpas and so on. Remember that most of these children are almost alone in the world.  They do have each other now and that's an excellent start.  

Jyoti and Angela present a formidable team and together they have provided home, nurture and education for children whose lives would have been very different.  

So, if you would be interested in sharing the cost of sponsorship with others, then the sponsored child will have several people interested in, and contributing to, his or her welfare. 

From the 1924 Geneva Convention of the Rights of the Child and the 1959 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights:  

All children are entitled to grow up in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding,

Children should be fully educated to live an individual life in society, and should be brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity.

In sharing love and support as well as making financial contributions no matter how small, or how large,  we can ensure these things for our Indian children under the guidance of Jyoti and her team of teachers and others.

It's a privilege to be associated with this brilliant group of people who don't know each other and yet can come together and collectively make valuable contributions to the overall project, even if it's not with money.  On behalf of Angela, Jyoti, Monalisa, Pinki, Anupa, Gunjan, Chandini, Ragini, Shivani, Babo, and Vishay, I say thankyou for your contributions, your suggestions, your great ideas and your interest in the Monalisa Project.

DONATIONS:  Thanks to Angela May for tirelessly working to achieve so much in such a short time.

Thanks to John and Annalisa Cook.  John has given many art lessons to the children and they have been proud to follow his guidance and improve their art.  After all, art is important across the cultures.  If you see Angela, ask to see the children's  art with John's helpful hints and ideas.  In fact, that's something that we should put here.  

Thanks to Sue MacAulay, a generous donor who has no conditions attached to her gifts.  The children had been very afraid at night without windows or doors. Sue heard of this and made her gift available for what Jyoti considers the highest priority.  Thankyou Sue.  Now they feel safe and warmer too.

Thanks to Peter Clark, Wyn Dane, Elsa Marshall, Diana Mund, Fil Adams, Bernadette Seebacher who have provided financial assistance for the overall project.  Your donations have enabled the housing, feeding and educating of children to continue in excellent conditions.  A couple more rooms have are being plastered and painted.

SPONSORS:

We've talked about how hard it can be to come up with $50/child every month.  Perhaps each child could be sponsored by 5 people at $10 each.  This gives the child a sense of extended family - parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters and on and on.  It's also really hard for Jyoti to make ends meet each month, but incredibly she does.  And she keeps detailed records about everything.  All ideas on this are welcome.

John and Annalisa Cook are sponsoring Monalisa and Jyoti.

With the sponsorships it's so good for the Indian children to feel a part of your lives and they are all very grateful to have you in their lives.  But more than that, as Lani said, "If we help the children with their education, then they will be able to pass that on when they grow up". 

Thanks to everyone involved in this project.  It's especially nice to know that we are working as a group here for the group there.  It's somehow more personal this way.

And me - what's my contribution?  Well, I'm now a blogger!  And in this I can offer a forum for everyone to put in ideas, or just say hello to everyone else.  So come in and don't be shy.  Please.

Thanks to Sue MacAulay, Jyoti, Monalisa and the children now have secure windows and doors.  The children were very frightened and it became the highest priority.  Thankyou Sue.  It is hoped that some of the inner walls can be plastered also.  And after these essential things for safety and a little warmth indoors, we can work towards the beds and bedding for the children living upstairs.

Maa, last mail (Sub-questions and answers) I send the details for schooling requirements uniforms, some disposal items 500 not including food and medicine . Including all it is 1500 Fifteen hundred. Just you check the last mail again. 500 means Rs17(seventeen) per day each child, how I can manage maa. Please dont mistake me. Many many thanks to Sue McCaulay for her great contribution. I shall use for door and windows first , If surplus amount I shall go for bedding. We are getting fear at night because of no doors and windows. Maa your glass business is good, is not it?

SUE

I met Angela at the market when I was looking for something. It wasnt anything material- it was just 'something'. After talking to Angela and seeing the photos I knew that I had found it.

I have four children, only one still at home  and three gorgeous grandchildren- Ruwan, Maleisha and Ben. We are a multicultural family. My husband is from Scotland, my eldest daughter's husband is from Sri Lanka and my second daughter is in Germany with her German-born husband. I am a homebody/student/artandcraftster/and am just starting my own business. I look forward to meeting up with you.

WENDY
Hi everyone.  I'm Wendy and although I knew about the Monalisa Project from August 2003, when I first met Angela, it never occurred to me that I would one day become involved myself.  After all, I usually don't have coffee money when I'm out and about.  That could be on account of the fact that I have to pay to get fit and work off the number of times Angela invited me into the Anvers Chocolate Factory - and I was a most willing participant - where we shared good times, conversations, laughter, coffee and delicious chocolate.  Three years and lots of Aqua Fitness later, the Good Times are still evident.

I'm a retired teacher, mother of two sons, granny of four girls, Codie born 1985, Meliesha (1994), Julie (2004) and Logan (2006).  And I'm granny to Tom (1996) and surrogate granny to Randall (1992).  I'm also a step grandmother to many.  I miss them all terribly but I do love Tasmania and intend to make this my home state.  

Now that I'm involved in this project, I realise that everyone can contribute.  I didn't give it a lot of thought before.  I was utterly impressed by Angela's generosity of time, money and especially spirit and good humour.  Apart from that I was detached.  It's not always about money, is it?  Sometimes it's about ideas.  I look forward to meeting everyone at some stage.

ANGELA

I went to India in DEC 2002 and spent Christmas visiting The Taj Mahal alone. A real orphan Christmas for me as I didn't see a soul I knew all day. I stopped somewhere and had a bite to eat for lunch while my driver waited for me( I hired a black taxi looking vehicle to take me to the Taj from NewDelhi.  He told me not to eat the hot meal I had ordered; that it would upset my stomach.  But me - being the type who likes to challenge those things - ignored his warning and ate it  anyway. By late afternoon I began to feel very sick in the stomach and when we arrived at my next destination I had to check in and go to bed and have no CHRISTMAS  dinner. I drank about 150mls of colloidal silver and passed out for the night. 

By the next morning I was feeling a whole lot  better thanks to the miracle work of the wonderful
colloidal silver. I would never travel anywhere without it. It kills off all the bacteria in your system; both good and bad, so I ate lots of natural yoghurt the next morning to replace the acidophillis etc. 

After this intro to India I went back to New Delhi and flew to Lucknow and another town, the name of which I don't remember.  I headed east to Muzaffarpur where I was greeted by friends of Didi Hitasanae.  I met Didi Hitasanae in my home town of Maleny, Queensland.  She is now living in the US.  I was taken to their home where I stayed 2 nights and met the entire family.  They were preparing to go to a big gathering in Pundag, in the state of Bihar.   I was to
travel with them on the train and meet up with my friend from Maleny who was to join up wth us in Pundag. She was arriving from the U.S. 

There was a lot of political unrest in Bihar at the time I was there.  It had something to do with  westerners not being allowed into Pundag on the train. So it was decided that we would hire a four wheel drive and I would travel with the family through the check point.  I was disguised in the back as an Indian woman. I was squashed into the back seat with about four others including 5 year old Prakash's elderlygrandmother, mother, uncle and auntie. The other uncle and Prakesh were in the front with Prakesh's father who was driving. They covered me up with a shawl next to grandmother with a shawl over her head too.  They told the police officer that we were asleep when he looked in the back seat. It was quite a hairy moment when we stopped to get through the check point. I will never forget the relief we all felt to get past this point and into the huge area of land where this Margie gathering was to be held. It would be a bit like driving through a communist area to get to the Dali Lama and a freedom for all Spirits to be without judgement etc.

More later, it's not really relevant is it? Well its interesting for me to reflect on all this lead up to meeting these two girls who now call me maa.

Love Angela

1.  FOR MEMBERS and others interested in the Monalisa Project.  

Go to the photos site to see the progress of Monalisa from a rather nervous young 10 y.o. in February, 2002 to the bright, confident young woman of 14 year old today.

You are welcome to make contributions, suggestions and provide information and photos that have come to you.  Or you may have questions about where your gift has been spent.  I am hoping that this page will take on its own life as we interact with it, with each other, and with our children, teachers and the dedicated Jyoti overseer of the entire project in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India.  

Information that comes to the Monalisa Project via email will be uploaded here.  Any especially personal content will be edited out, retaining all content of interest to all of us.

GERMINATION of the seed which later gestated into the Monalisa Project is Angela's story.  You will find it on the personal introductions page.

EMAIL OF QUESTIONS TO JYOTI and JYOTI'S RESPONSE:

24th August, 2006

Answers have been put into the original text. 

 
The Monalisa Project <monalisa.project@aapt.net.au> wrote:

Hello Jyoti.  We have three new women sponsors and some who are interested and would like more information about your school. So, Jyoti, here are some of our questions:

1. How much money will it take to complete the home-school and garden, inside and outside?

Answer:  After completing of 1st floor roof work,we need to do flooring, plastering of the first floor and back side of the complete building,grills for doors and windows, electrification (Now temporarily arranged) Water connection,Toilet bathrooms sanitary fittings, And finally painting...

Total cost Rs 300,000(three hundred thousand only approx,)  
Rs 300,000 = AUD$8437


2. Can you tell us what you expect your monthly costs to be for running the school - including teachers salaries, disposable school materials like paper, pens, pencils, paints, books, chalk. And also for school equipment and permanent fittings like desks, tables,
chairs, blackboards/whiteboards - do you need these?

(I know that you've answered some of these questions previously but we need to let our sponsors know that their donations are going to a very worthy cause.)


Answer:  Teachers Salary-Rs7,500.Each 1500 of 5 teachers.  Disposable items Rs500/month.  Desks and tables for 4 class rooms Rs 80,000 (eighty thousand only aprox.) 2o,ooo/class room.

Rs7,500 = AUD$211 (Rs1500 each for 5 teachers); Rs500/month for disposables = AUD$14; Rs80,000 = AUD$2251 (Rs 20,000 per classroom)

3. Who is supplying the school uniforms? Why are some children wearing blue and white uniforms, while most are wearing red and black?


Answer:  Our uniform is black and red, those who are wearing blue and red they are new admited.they are allowed to come with civil dress for one week from the admission date,because most of our parents are poor. Parents are  providing  uniform to their children.


4. Are the children all members of Ananda Marga or do you accept children who are not members?


Answer..No all the children are not members of Ananda Marga. Most of them are from outside.  We teach without discriminating caste, creed, and religion,  Purpose of Education is to Liberation of self through yoga and meditation and service to humanity through practical volunteers training.


5. Is the cost of school lunches covered by school fees?


Answer:  No.  Children are getting their own lunch box.  As our school fees also very nominal like Rs 50/child/month. There are some free students too. School fees use for teacher salary.

Rs50/child/month = AUD$1.40

6. When the school is finished and you have 150 students, how many children will live there permanently?


Answer:  Nine children, including Mona are living permanently. So, many children like mona are there in the society and coming to us but due to lack of financial condition we are un able to keep them. Our planing to keep to accomodate up to 25 children (parentless) in future.

 
7. What facilities are available for you, Monalisa and the other children living upstairs? For example what bedding arrangements do you have? What cooking and bathroom facilities do you have?


Answer:  There is no bedding facility so far for mona and other chilren, Sleeping on ground.  Kitchen facility is available but no dining tables, dining space is available. Right now bath rooms of up stairs are not completed, only one is completed  for emergency and during night. children are using ground floor toilets.


8. Do you get financial assistance from Ananda Marga headquarters or any other western people, like us? Are we expected to fulfil all the needs here or do you have other assistance?


Answer:  No ,we are not getting any financial assistance from Ananda Marga Head quarters,because Ananda Marga world wide socio-Spiritual organisation Developed and managed by local Followers,and units.  Any very much emergency we can approach to centre. We dont have any other western people to assist except you. You are all and all for us. We are expecting Every thing from you periodically. suggest and advice me to develope and complete this Monalisa Project.  Please visit to this project physically. You all are most welcome.


9. What are the monthly costs for feeding, clothing and educating our permanent residents?


Answer:  Rs 1500/month/child is the monthly cost. Right now 9 children are living. Thank you very much .. Namaskar with deep regards.
Rs 1500 = AUD$47