Thanksgiving Appeal Update
David Albert
Dear friends --
I want to thank all of you who have contributed so generously to my
Thanksgiving Appeal. We are about 2/3rds of our way toward the goal,
and with three more weeks until South India's Thanksgiving (Pongal), I
am confident we will reach it. (for those of you who wish to learn more
about Pongal, here's a link --
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/9542/pongal.html )
I have spoken with my family in South India, and they are excited! They
and the villagers are quite aware of the cyclone devastation to the
north of them which occurred this year, and know that it is only a
matter of time before the cyclones return to the South. To be able to
build their own houses now will be like providing emergency assistance
BEFORE it happens -- and with a bonus of a clean, dry home in addition.
Tax deductible contributions are still being accepted -- for this year,
date the check before the turn of the millenium; for next year, practice
your zeros. You are all welcome to copy the original appeal, which I've
attached below, and send it on to friends.
With all best wishes for peace, in this, the Season of Peace,
David H. Albert
---------
A THANKSGIVING APPEAL
November 25, 1999
Dear friends �
Most of you who know me from homeschooling circles, Quaker or
interreligious service work, or are just plain ol� friends, have heard
me wax eloquent about the work of my adopted Indian parents in far south
of India in the state of Tamil Nadu � S. and Krishnamal Jaganathan. I
apologize in advance for this appeal but, as I hope you will see, it is
heartfelt and much needed.
My father is now 89, mother 73 � they have worked uninterruptedly as
Gandhian land reform organizers, trying to bring land to the landless
poor, for some 50 years. And after about 30 years, their work began to
bear fruit. Through an inventive combination of loans, nonviolent action
(to get government land ceiling laws enforced), friendly persuasion, and
just plain hard work, through their organization Land for the Tillers
Freedom, they have helped 11,000 agricultural families come to own their
own land � most of whom had been landless for more than 40 generations.
The land is held either in cooperatives, or by women (the men have been
known to sell it to pay for drink), provides for the basic needs of the
family, with enough left over to support small cottage industries. I
have visited regularly since 1977 and, quite frankly, it is a miracle!
They have been nominated for the International Right Livelihood Award,
and Women�s World Summit Foundation in Switzerland just gave my mother
their prize for �Women�s Creativity in Rural Life�, calling her �a
Gandhian Joan of Arc�. Whenever I am there, I get introduced to all my
�relatives�, as she is considered mother by all.
In the last 3 years, they have had to fight another battle � against
multinational corporations who had set up prawn farms that were
destroying the coastal ecology, salinating and polluting the soil,
destroying the mangroves protecting against the cyclone winds. My
father�s case ended up in the Indian Supreme Court � he and his one
lawyer against 116 lawyers representing the multinationals. He won �
the Supreme Court ordered all the prawn farms in fragile coastal areas
closed -- but quite literally lost his eyes in the process. The
government threatened to pass a law overturning the Supreme Court order,
while he was having an eye operation. He signed himself out of
post-operative recovery 10 days early, traveled 2,000 miles via train in
110 degree summer heat, and set up a fast at the Gandhi Memorial in New
Delhi. The government backed down, but his eyes never recovered. And
this year, after a series of nonviolent actions and fasts involving
thousands of people, he got the order enforced, at least in the district
where their land reform activities have taken place. I have come to
learn that when my father acts as Don Quixote going up against the
windmill, I wouldn�t bet on the windmill!
In the middle of all of this, my mother also collects stray children.
Literally. She picks them off garbage heaps, roaming the streets,
begging in bus stations. (A boy I personally support was found hanging
from a tree by one foot, placed there by an abusive father.) She now has
120 of them, (46 at my �home�) who she feeds, clothes, houses, sends to
school, and finds what love she can for them. We�ve managed to find
families in Italy to �adopt� them and pay for their expenses. Last year
when I was in India, I raised money (my own and some friends) to deepen
the well next to the house, so the kids could plant 200 new coconut and
papaya trees � they help plant and harvest rice, care for six
milk-giving cows and water buffaloes, and grow vegetables (all in
addition to their school work), so they can help feed themselves. My
mother and father live simply (on around $70 a month) � since 1939, my
father has spun the cotton for every article of clothing he has worn
(luckily, he doesn�t need much clothing). So their own needs are
minimal.
But we have a need, and that�s why I am appealing for help. The 11,000
families now have land, but their houses are made of mud and straw, and
when the cyclones come (as they did north of them this year), the houses
are virtually all destroyed. They leak during the monsoon rains (which
happen twice year), and the kids end up sleeping on the wet ground. My
mother�s dream is to house them all decently, or more correctly, have
them house themselves. She has a well-developed plan whereby she can
start a cottage industry making cinder blocks, sell enough of the blocks
on the open market to cover raw material costs, and have the people
build their own homes with the bricks they make themselves. But she
(we!) need just under $5,500 for a brickmaking machine (and the people�s
ability to access loans is already too stretched by payments on the
land.)
I have received sponsorship from the Gandhian Foundation, a 501(c)(3)
charitable organization based in New Jersey to receive funds for the
project (which I desperately want to get started after this year�s rice
harvest festival � the South Indian equivalent of Thanksgiving, around
January 20 � after the harvest, people are free to pursue cottage
industries, and build homes. I plan to contribute significantly from
what income I make from my book (And the Skylark Sings with Me), and my
kids are counting their pennies, too. THERE ARE NO ADMINISTRATIVE
EXPENSES RELATED TO THIS PROJECT.
So, tax deductible donations (large and small) will be deeply, deeply
appreciated. They should be made out to the Gandhian Foundation, and
mailed to me:
David Albert
Skylark Sings
1717 18th Court NE
Olympia, WA 98506
I do hope you will seriously consider this appeal. Thanks very much
indeed, and have a joyful, prayerful, truly meaningful thanksgiving and
what it means to live in a land where there truly is enough for us all.
If you require more info., e-mail me at: shantinik@... Please
feel free to share this appeal with others as you think appropriate.
(P.S. If there are homeschoolers who want to know more about India,
etc. � we�d be happy to help � we might also be able to arrange for
Indian penpals -- though I can�t promise this for sure � you have to
remember, the kids we are supporting are just becoming literate in their
own languages, and most struggle with their English.)
--
Greg Bates says "And the Skylark Sings with Me is to homeschooling what
Tom Paine's Common Sense was to the American Revolution." To read a
sample chapter, reviewers' comments, or the foreword, and to order
(cheaper than Amazon, and I'll sign it for you too!), visit my website
at http://www.skylarksings.com
I want to thank all of you who have contributed so generously to my
Thanksgiving Appeal. We are about 2/3rds of our way toward the goal,
and with three more weeks until South India's Thanksgiving (Pongal), I
am confident we will reach it. (for those of you who wish to learn more
about Pongal, here's a link --
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/9542/pongal.html )
I have spoken with my family in South India, and they are excited! They
and the villagers are quite aware of the cyclone devastation to the
north of them which occurred this year, and know that it is only a
matter of time before the cyclones return to the South. To be able to
build their own houses now will be like providing emergency assistance
BEFORE it happens -- and with a bonus of a clean, dry home in addition.
Tax deductible contributions are still being accepted -- for this year,
date the check before the turn of the millenium; for next year, practice
your zeros. You are all welcome to copy the original appeal, which I've
attached below, and send it on to friends.
With all best wishes for peace, in this, the Season of Peace,
David H. Albert
---------
A THANKSGIVING APPEAL
November 25, 1999
Dear friends �
Most of you who know me from homeschooling circles, Quaker or
interreligious service work, or are just plain ol� friends, have heard
me wax eloquent about the work of my adopted Indian parents in far south
of India in the state of Tamil Nadu � S. and Krishnamal Jaganathan. I
apologize in advance for this appeal but, as I hope you will see, it is
heartfelt and much needed.
My father is now 89, mother 73 � they have worked uninterruptedly as
Gandhian land reform organizers, trying to bring land to the landless
poor, for some 50 years. And after about 30 years, their work began to
bear fruit. Through an inventive combination of loans, nonviolent action
(to get government land ceiling laws enforced), friendly persuasion, and
just plain hard work, through their organization Land for the Tillers
Freedom, they have helped 11,000 agricultural families come to own their
own land � most of whom had been landless for more than 40 generations.
The land is held either in cooperatives, or by women (the men have been
known to sell it to pay for drink), provides for the basic needs of the
family, with enough left over to support small cottage industries. I
have visited regularly since 1977 and, quite frankly, it is a miracle!
They have been nominated for the International Right Livelihood Award,
and Women�s World Summit Foundation in Switzerland just gave my mother
their prize for �Women�s Creativity in Rural Life�, calling her �a
Gandhian Joan of Arc�. Whenever I am there, I get introduced to all my
�relatives�, as she is considered mother by all.
In the last 3 years, they have had to fight another battle � against
multinational corporations who had set up prawn farms that were
destroying the coastal ecology, salinating and polluting the soil,
destroying the mangroves protecting against the cyclone winds. My
father�s case ended up in the Indian Supreme Court � he and his one
lawyer against 116 lawyers representing the multinationals. He won �
the Supreme Court ordered all the prawn farms in fragile coastal areas
closed -- but quite literally lost his eyes in the process. The
government threatened to pass a law overturning the Supreme Court order,
while he was having an eye operation. He signed himself out of
post-operative recovery 10 days early, traveled 2,000 miles via train in
110 degree summer heat, and set up a fast at the Gandhi Memorial in New
Delhi. The government backed down, but his eyes never recovered. And
this year, after a series of nonviolent actions and fasts involving
thousands of people, he got the order enforced, at least in the district
where their land reform activities have taken place. I have come to
learn that when my father acts as Don Quixote going up against the
windmill, I wouldn�t bet on the windmill!
In the middle of all of this, my mother also collects stray children.
Literally. She picks them off garbage heaps, roaming the streets,
begging in bus stations. (A boy I personally support was found hanging
from a tree by one foot, placed there by an abusive father.) She now has
120 of them, (46 at my �home�) who she feeds, clothes, houses, sends to
school, and finds what love she can for them. We�ve managed to find
families in Italy to �adopt� them and pay for their expenses. Last year
when I was in India, I raised money (my own and some friends) to deepen
the well next to the house, so the kids could plant 200 new coconut and
papaya trees � they help plant and harvest rice, care for six
milk-giving cows and water buffaloes, and grow vegetables (all in
addition to their school work), so they can help feed themselves. My
mother and father live simply (on around $70 a month) � since 1939, my
father has spun the cotton for every article of clothing he has worn
(luckily, he doesn�t need much clothing). So their own needs are
minimal.
But we have a need, and that�s why I am appealing for help. The 11,000
families now have land, but their houses are made of mud and straw, and
when the cyclones come (as they did north of them this year), the houses
are virtually all destroyed. They leak during the monsoon rains (which
happen twice year), and the kids end up sleeping on the wet ground. My
mother�s dream is to house them all decently, or more correctly, have
them house themselves. She has a well-developed plan whereby she can
start a cottage industry making cinder blocks, sell enough of the blocks
on the open market to cover raw material costs, and have the people
build their own homes with the bricks they make themselves. But she
(we!) need just under $5,500 for a brickmaking machine (and the people�s
ability to access loans is already too stretched by payments on the
land.)
I have received sponsorship from the Gandhian Foundation, a 501(c)(3)
charitable organization based in New Jersey to receive funds for the
project (which I desperately want to get started after this year�s rice
harvest festival � the South Indian equivalent of Thanksgiving, around
January 20 � after the harvest, people are free to pursue cottage
industries, and build homes. I plan to contribute significantly from
what income I make from my book (And the Skylark Sings with Me), and my
kids are counting their pennies, too. THERE ARE NO ADMINISTRATIVE
EXPENSES RELATED TO THIS PROJECT.
So, tax deductible donations (large and small) will be deeply, deeply
appreciated. They should be made out to the Gandhian Foundation, and
mailed to me:
David Albert
Skylark Sings
1717 18th Court NE
Olympia, WA 98506
I do hope you will seriously consider this appeal. Thanks very much
indeed, and have a joyful, prayerful, truly meaningful thanksgiving and
what it means to live in a land where there truly is enough for us all.
If you require more info., e-mail me at: shantinik@... Please
feel free to share this appeal with others as you think appropriate.
(P.S. If there are homeschoolers who want to know more about India,
etc. � we�d be happy to help � we might also be able to arrange for
Indian penpals -- though I can�t promise this for sure � you have to
remember, the kids we are supporting are just becoming literate in their
own languages, and most struggle with their English.)
--
Greg Bates says "And the Skylark Sings with Me is to homeschooling what
Tom Paine's Common Sense was to the American Revolution." To read a
sample chapter, reviewers' comments, or the foreword, and to order
(cheaper than Amazon, and I'll sign it for you too!), visit my website
at http://www.skylarksings.com