The Hope of Audacity
As the horrors of unchecked financial hi-jinx and hi-jacking continue to rise above the high tide mark, I want to share the tidbits of sunshine and joy that also washed in this week. It's a comfort, I think, to know shoots of compassion can sprout in a sea of selfish greed. So here you go:
An Irish woman, retired from nursing and a master organic gardener, wrote that she is getting a visa to go at her own expense to Kathmandu, Nepal to work at a nunnery teaching vegetable gardening skills, nutrition and emergency medical response. A young American man trained as a pastry chef is going at his own expense to work in the kitchen and vegetable gardens at Namo Buddha monastery in Nepal where there is currently a serious shortage of water and not always ample supply of food.
A bamboo flutist in Philadelphia did two extra-curricular concerts and sent all the proceeds to feed children in Nepal.
A mother of two in Switzerland wrote that somehow between family and friends, she would find some money to help a literally penniless young woman from the high Himalayas who is finishing scholarship-funded high school studies in Europe. A mother of three in Halifax then wrote that she would take the young woman in and immediately got her accepted at a university there with a minimum wage job that should pay for her books. "All you have to do," she wrote, "is find about $6,000 for the non scholarship funded tuition--and airfare to Halifax."
I immediately emailed Vancouver and Portland, Maine and got responses back almost as fast. People would do what they could. Maybe they'd organize a fund-raising dinner or sell something precious. None of these people even know Karma Dolma who comes from a mud hut in Manang where almost everyone is illiterate. She now speaks five languages: Nepali, English, Tibetan, Manangi, Hindi--and a bit of Swiss German because she's been living in Zurich for two years, on the kindness of strangers. Here's what she wrote to say she was trying to go to a university:
I made a website to fund raise for myself: www.journeyofkarma.weebly.com
Here's an excerpt: I had to graze the cattle, collect the firewood and help my parents with the farming. I used to collect firewood with my friends and sometimes with the neighbors. To collect firewood, we had to walk for two hours on narrow and steep paths in the mountain forest. Life in the village was very hard. We had to walk to the forest in the morning around 8am and go back home wit our firewood during lunch time, around 2pm but sometimes due to strong wind blowing, we reached home very late, covered with dust. Seeing the hardship of the village life, my uncle (disciple of our founder, Rinpoche) brought me and my sister to Shree Mangal Dvip school (SMD). Thanks to his help and Rinpoche's kindness, today I am able to share my life experience with everyone very proudly though I am from a poor family.
It's already awesome that she's graduating from high school in Switzerland, so add her hope to go to a university so she can go back to Manang to help her people. And think how little it would take to help her do so much.
Out of the blue three weeks ago, I got an email from an unknown person in Croatia, and I immediately set out to spam slap it as a new take on the old Nigerian scam. But somehow I noticed that the writer was a Buddhist looking for the lyric to the haunting Calling the Lama from Afar prayer. Finding this on my teacher's website, I sent the link with all good wishes. This person immediately sent back not only gracious thanks but a copy of another Buddhist prayer I might find meaningful. And now, it seems, I am linked to Croatia because once a week news of a website that could be of interest pops up in my email.
Right here at home in San Francisco, last week, members of my Mahamudra dharma group that meets once a month spontaneously volunteered to offer me money to help pay for the visit of a lama I personally funded. One individual, who didn't even get personal time to talk to the lama, flipped four $20 from his wallet and wouldn't take rejection for any of them. "It isn't right you bear the whole burden and we got to enjoy him too," he said.
And finally, last week, a notary public upon hearing the charitable reason I was asking for the seal of approval, refused to take the required fee for service. "My contribution," she said, with a gesture of pshaw.
It's enough to keep your spirit above water.
~Sandy Garson"Wordsmithing to attest how the Dharma saved me from myself!"
http://www.sandygarson.com
http://yoursinthedharma.blogspot.com/
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posted by Sandy Garson @ 4:16 PM
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