Emergency food deliveries are helping the families of Buddha’s Smile School students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amistad International donors, joining with generous Dutch and Norwegian friends Metta Child, Wilde Ganzen, Rotaryclub Zandzegge, and Etne, Norway, community and schools are providing funds to supply basic foods for over 1,000 Buddha’s Smile School students and their families in Varanasi, India, provisional shanty communities.
Rajan Kaur, founder and director of Buddha’s Smile School, reports that many parents are unable to earn money during the pandemic crisis sweeping India. Rajan hopes BSS will reopen in October, however that depends on government approval and the availability of COVID-19 vaccines. In the meantime, Rajan and her team are working valiantly to deliver food and to keep in contact with each of her students and their families.
Founder Rajan has worked with persistence over the years to convince slum parents to allow their children to attend school. Many parents believe the family has a better chance of survival if children work rather than attend school. These families haven’t had the luxury of long-term planning, instead earning money for daily food through begging, garbage collecting, and bead stringing.
Because of Rajan Kaur’s vision for the potential of these children many parents have been permitting their children to attend Buddha’s Smile School. We hope this long break in the children’s school routines due to COVID-19 closures won’t bring about the end of education for even a single Buddha’s Smile student.
