In April of 2008 Rajan Kaur Saini received the Unsung Heroes of Compassion award from His Holiness the Dalai Lama for her humanitarian service.
It was a blessing to meet Rajan and her family when they came to California that year. The four of them are extremely inspiring, loving and very dedicated human beings.
Rajan is the Founder of Buddha Smiles School (BSS) in Varanasi, India. BSS serves children from the local slums and villages in North India, providing them with love, primary education and an opportunity to believe in themselves and their futures.
Rajan is gently shaking our world awake. Deeply compassionate, the care she provides as mother to many children is awe-inspiring.
Last week I received a heart-jolting letter from Rajan about a 5 year old little girl named Durga. Rajan picked up Durga and 15 other children at a railway station back in 2012. Durga became a regular at BSS and absolutely loved going to school. She especially enjoyed writing and drawing on the blackboard.
Durga was raped last weekend and left for dead. Her tiny, fragile body was thrown over railroad tracks, the train passed over her body and she was cut into two pieces. Durga’s third father found her body in the early morning around 1:30am. A drunk – he never cared for her, and neither did her mother.
Rajan is challenged every day with motivating these children to come to school so that they may create a brighter future for themselves.
Durga had become very close to Rajan’s heart during her time at the school.
The letter ended with these words: “We all pray that her soul may rest in peace. She was a precious girl who always looked forward to the two chocolates that were waiting for her in my magic bag. I miss her so much.”
In February of 2012, I received another letter that provided me with but a small idea of what Rajan sees every day as she serves our children.
In this letter, Rajan was speaking of a 12 year old girl, I will call her Maya for reasons of privacy. Maya was living with her mother in a leper colony and had been raped by a 40 to 45 year old man. Thankfully, her mother came into the room and he fled.
Maya’s mother was distraught, not knowing to whom she could turn and Maya had begun acting out. Her mother was widowed and widows in their communities receive no respect, they have no power. No one was making any effort to help either of them. At the time, little Maya was saying that she wanted to marry a 40 year old man. He was married and his wife was with child. He was basically keeping tabs on this little girl whom he had somehow primed to marry him.
After speaking with her husband Sudkdev, Rajan invited Maya’s mother to the school so that she could speak with her. She also spoke with Maya, whom she had known since early childhood. She sought to educate her on the importance of her mother’s hard work and love – she was abusing her mother at the time. Rajan wanted Maya to know that she was there to support her. She told her that she wanted her to get an education – to see her gain her independence. Though well aware of the child’s confusion, she made every effort to reach her.
The next letter I received was about a boy named Sanuara. Sanuara lost his hand along with three fingers of his other hand in a train accident. Due to the help of kind souls, he was able to get treatment. His mother worked everyday as a trash collector. Newsflash - she was not sitting around, but rather working for wages that were not near enough to feed, clothe or to take care of their most basic of needs.
Buddha Smiles School seeks to build a dormitory for the children. A dormitory would provide a safe place for the children to go when times are tough, when they are hurt, hungry, alone, and/or have no place to go.
How can you help? Click here.
Whether you choose to give time, pray or send money, it all matters – it matters so very much. Think of it this way – if you can give up your morning coffee and bagel for one day, you can send $5. When many souls come together and do something as simple at this – sending $5, we can create massive change.
Let us come together and lend some support to the souls who daily put their own lives on the line in order to serve others in need. It is a great blessing to serve those in need and people like Rajan are doing it daily. It provides us, as members of the human race, many opportunities to come together in support of the silent saints and servants of humanity.
Be the change.
We Are One Blood, One Light, One Love. Don't get confused by the supposed boundary lines of state, country, religion and culture. Make a choice, don't let such ideas as separation serve in blinding you to what IS.
We are all in this together. Wherever we may live in this world, this is our world.
As long as any child in our world is suffering, it is our job as the human family to assure that child is cared for. We belong to one another. In each of these children is your child, your brother or sister. In each of these mothers is your mother. Behind all of these faces is the face of our Divine Mother, the love of God. Always remember, it could be YOU – in truth, it is you. We Are One.
Rajan of Buddha’s Smiles School is a living example of this love and truth in action. God Bless.
Be the love. Take action.
Matthew 7:12 King James Bible
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this
is the law and the prophets.”
