Mala announces a fundraising event for Ramana’s Garden on 24th October 2015.
On Saturday 24th October my friend Kutira and I will be putting on a most exciting musical event – One Night in India – as a Fundraiser for Ramana’s Garden Children’s Home in Rishikesh, India. The home is run by our beloved friend Dwabha, (who many of you may know) who has dedicated 25 years to creating this amazing and inspiring home for presently 69 at risk children who have no other place to go, as well as providing a free school for an additional 100 local children.
The idea to do a Fundraising event came about when I visited Ramana’s Garden in February of this year, to make hula hoops with the children – which turned out to be a huge success! I already knew the joy that a simple hoop could bring to a child but I felt it was especially important for these children to have fun and play, after all they had been through in their young lives. We watched one by one as the finished hoops were swept up by the children and taken off to play with. Two days later on a rainy afternoon some of the children decorated their hoops with the shiny tapes I had brought and were totally engrossed in this for hours. You can read more about my visit on my blog.
A recent video by another volunteer – look out for the hula hoops!
I spoke to Dwabha before I left and told her I would like to raise some much needed funds for them and mentioned my concert idea. When I got back to the UK I spoke to my good friend (and housemate) Kutira who was immediately excited to help make this happen. And here we are a few months later with our dream unfolding!
Kutira invited some fabulous sannyasin musician friends to perform and all said “Yes!” We then found a beautiful venue that supported our vision and decided to go really big and livestream the whole event around the globe – Live Aid of the 21st century! – enabling us to vastly expand our whole potential for raising funds. Meanwhile we connected with a friend in Scotland who is setting up a UK registered charity for Ramana’s Garden so we can work with her to get charitable benefits. And last but certainly not least, we invited Dwabha to speak at our event and to appear on UK media to raise even more funds.
Dwabha just told us that funds are desperately needed to purchase the lease of the organic farm which they currently lease annually and provides 90% of the food for the children and the café they run. There is suddenly a very real danger that the lease won’t be renewed (and without it Ramana’s Garden can’t survive) so the only option is to pay $30,000 to buy the lease. So now we’re even more motivated and have a new fundraising target. A big one indeed!
And now to the event itself: The theme is India – with live Indian music and a bustling Indian style market selling food, drinks and other goodies. We have an international star cast of musicians including Praful (sax and flute) and Sika (didj and percussion), Sudha (vocals) and Tarisha (keyboard and vocals) playing exotic Jazz/Indian fusion, high energy dance music and blissful mantras. There will also be a special online surprise from Deva Premal and Miten. More to be announced closer to the time!
The event will be held at Elmgrove Community Church, Elmgrove Rd, Bristol, UK.
You can also join us live via the livestream (free, but donations welcome) from 6-11pm (UK time. i.e. GMT) on October 24th. We will also be inviting friends from around the world to have their own simultaneous fundraisers and tune in to the livestream.
For more information about the evening, to buy tickets, join us on livestream or sponsor the event please go to givekidsachance.co.uk
For more information about Ramana’s Garden Children’s Home and ways in which you can support them, including making a donation, sponsoring a child or volunteering, please see their website: sayyesnow.org
Article by Mala
Links:
Info for concert, how to donate, become a sponsor: givekidsachance.co.uk
Livestream: youtu.be (except Germany)
Sign up for Livestream and get further details: eepurl.com/by8PSb
Join the Livestream Facebook Event: facebook.com/events
Tickets: brownpapertickets.com
Funsraising Charity in the UK: givekidsachance.co.uk
Ramana’s Garden: sayyesnow.org
Ramana’s Garden (donations from USA): sayyesnow.org/donate
Musicians’ bios:
Praful: prafulmusic.com
Sika: sikamusic.com
Suda: sudhasong.com
Tarisha: tarisha.co.uk
Deva Premal and Miten: devapremalmiten.com
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