Introduction to Bharatiya Jain Sanghtan and their work in Gujarat Earthquake

[Guest guest]

-Original Message-----

Premchand Gada [GADAPB9JAFNA]

Tuesday, February 06, 2001 10:42 AM

[JainList] Introduction to Bharatiya Jain Sanghtan and their

work in Gujarat Earthquake

 

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Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana, a non-profit, non- govt organization, has

for the last 13 years since its establishment, been deeply involved

in serving the society on a big scale. On September 30, 1993, the

areas of Latur and Osmanabad were devastated when the cruel hand of

nature took its toll. The earthquake had left many homeless and

helpless. The organization took upon itself to help the people

affected by the earthquake in these areas. The work put in by

BHARATIYA JAIN SANGHATANA is well known. The relief work carried out

by BHARATIYA JAIN SANGHATANA was the biggest in that area. Food,

clothing and other material were provided on a large scale to more

than 30,000 people. Besides this the Sanghatana also took upon itself

the responsibility of rehabilitating and educating more than a

thousand children and for the past seven years have been with us.

These destitute children were brought to Pune for this purpose and

are since then have been provided with not only free education and a

place to stay but also with food and clothing. We ensure that this

burden does not fall on their parents. For this noble cause, the

funds that were collected by “JAINA”, you had them to the Bharatiya

Jain Sanghatana. Along with Mr.Rasikbhai Shah, you had also visited

the organisation. You have always come forwarded with a helping hand

whenever required.

 

Fate once again dealt a severe blow on January 26.2001. This time the

victims were the people of Gujarat. The earthquake that hit Gujarat

was even more severe and devastating than the one that had hit Latur

and Osmanabad. For the last ten days, 250 members of the BHARATIYA

JAIN SANGHATANA have been dedicatedly working day and night in

service of the affected people. Centers have been opened in Bachau

and Sammalkhali. Food is provided to more than 30,000 people of the

neighboring 40 to 45 earthquake affected areas and aim to continue

doing so for the next month or two. The work put in by the BHARATIYA

JAIN SANGHATANA is immense and appreciated, but it has no intentions

of stopping there. We expect it to take years.

 

Having had the experience of working in such situations, we know that

reopening schools in such affected areas is one of the ways for these

affected children to cope with the psychological stress and trauma

that they are facing in the wake of such calamity.

 

Besides this the final examinations are round the corner. The loss of

time and resulting studies might mean failure for some students. Some

students might have to permanently forgo their schooling. If the

schools do not reopen at the earliest, the children will be exposed

to the horrifying sites of debris and dead bodies lying around. This

is bound to affect their young impressionable minds and may leave a

scar forever, which will affect their future life. To help these

children overcome the trauma and to ensure that their education is

not interrupted, we have decided to help reopen the schools in this

area within the 15 days.

 

We have considered this as a “Mission” and to achieve our goal, we

have already started a school, which has 12 rooms. The necessary

material was bought from Rajkot and Amhedabad and a school was

constructed within ten days. The school has been so constructed that

we expect it to last for the next ten years. This school happens to

be the first school to have been constructed and become operative in

such a short time period. This is a pilot project from our point of

view as we plan to open such schools in many more areas for which

preliminary surveys are already under way. We have promised ourselves

that we shall open 50 such schools in 50 villages affected by the

earthquake. The total expenditure in establishing a ten-room school

is Rs. Six Hundred Thousand (Rs. 600,000). The expenditure incurred

is on the material required in building the school, ACC sheets,

steel, education related material etc. Any individual or organization

donating Rs. Six Hundred Thousand (Rs. 600,000) will have the school

named either after the individual or the organization along with

Bharatiya Jain Sanghathana’s name.

 

Once we get a commitment, the school building will be ready within

the next 7 days. The Indian representative of the organization that

donates the money will be present guest during the school opening

ceremony. The keys of the school will be then handed over to the

villagers. The photographs of the opening ceremony of the school will

be sent to the organization. Besides, this information will be

published in the Jain digest, as a result of which all members of the

Jain community in America will know of the large heartedness of the

concerned person or organization.

 

There is a large Gujarati community living in America. Hence we do

not foresee any difficulty in being able to set up 50 schools to help

the earthquake-affected children of Gujarat through Jaina’s various

centers. The responsibility of running the school for the next 7

years rests with BHARATIYA JAIN SANGHATANA.

 

We therefore request you to give this information to all the JAINA

and YJA centers and support the cause to the fullest possible extent.

 

Waiting for your positive reply.

 

With Best Regards,

 

Shantilal Muttha