114.783,65 €
Raised
35
Donations
114.000 €
Goal
Thanks to the sponsors, godmothers, friends and sympathizers of Shanti India, we offer hundreds of disadvantaged children in Bodhgaya a quality education in order to give them the means to break free from the cycle of misery.
Our school has grown since its creation and today welcomes more than 400 students. However, growth also poses challenges and we are facing one of the most important right now - building our own school building.
The building which currently houses the school is poorly designed and is becoming less and less suitable to serve as a teaching place (deleterious environment, rooms without insulation or windows, electrical installation and toilets to be repaired endlessly, lack of space etc.). Since the premises do not belong to Shanti India, we cannot invest more than we have done in restoration and improvement, with the exception of the current maintenance costs.
For several years now, we have been aware of the need to change locations, but our limited budget and our relatively affordable rent, although constantly increasing, left us no other solution. With the situation becoming increasingly unsustainable, the only reasonable solution for the school – both financially and educationally – is to have its own building.
In January 2017, during the initiation of Kalachakra given to Bodhgaya by the Dalai Lama, three of our guests - Gilles, Anne and Morgane – touched by our action, understood that it was essential for the sustainability of the school to have its own building and decided to support us in the project of acquiring land to build our school. Returning to France, they created an association, Akkhaya, and began to raise funds for the project. We immediately set out to find the land at the best price in relation to its size and location.
Property prices in Bodhgaya have skyrocketed in recent years, and the longer we wait, the more they keep going up. We ended up after 3 years finding the most advantageous land and then decided to wait no longer. The area of the land is 405 square meters, for a price of € 100,000, to which must be added € 10,000 notarial fees for registration, and € 4,000 for the surrounding wall and the architect's fees , which makes a total of € 114,000.
During the 3 years of our research, Akkhaya, and mainly Gilles and Anne – who, although not wealthy, contributed largely through their work and their own income – donated Shanti India € 66,000 for this project. The remaining amount to be collected therefore amounts to € 48,000. The promise to sell was signed just before COVID-19 containment.
We intended to launch the fundraising campaign as soon as possible, but from the first days of COVID-19 confinement, the fathers of the families of our students, who were no longer able to work, had nothing to feed their own families, so during the first 3 months of the confinement, the priority was to supply them with food support. Thanks to the generosity and solidarity of all, we were able to feed 450 families, or 2,250 people.
Now that the demand for food has decreased, it is urgent to finalize the acquisition of land because there are only 3 months left (till August 15) to collect the remaining 48,000 EUR.
It is with all our faith in your generosity that we address this request to you on behalf of all the children who will benefit from it.
The suffering of children is not tolerable. Help us to relieve it by supporting this project in this sacred place of Bodhgaya, putting into practice the first of the six paramitas ( the perfect virtues ) taught by the Buddha, generosity!
Nothing compares to the happiness of seeing children grow up and be happy!
Thank you with all our hearts and on behalf of all the children for your support!
There is nothing like witnessing children grow and be happy.
Thank you for your support!