Buddhist global relief fund

Graduates are finding work that pays more than they could possibly hope to obtain without a degree. Working in their respective fields, graduates of the Initiative not only contribute to the well-being of their families and Afghan society, but also become beacons of hope for girls and women in a country where hope is hard to come by.

Even as Afghanistan is hit with waves of rising food insecurity, drought, and economic contraction, these young women are improving their lives and the lives of those around them. In recognition of this risk, in this blog post we are not sharing images of the women or the locations of their schools the image featured above is a stock photo.

It takes a tremendous amount of courage for these women simply to go about quietly attending classes, studying, and learning. For women who live under oppression, quiet strength is the most powerful strength of all. In fact, history has shown that quiet strength can move entire nations and can change millions of lives for the better. We at BGR feel honored to support these young women in their studies, and we look buddhist global relief fund to a long, fruitful relationship with them through CARE.

Posted in EducationWomen's livelihood. Tagged women's educationWomen's livelihoodwomen's rights. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the suffering we witness daily, especially the suffering of persons who already literally live hand-to-mouth. It is as if circumstances are conspiring to take away whatever semblance of hope they cling to, whatever shred of dignity they still maintain, indeed, whatever desperate ties to life they still claim.

The black flies swarmed incessantly among the raw sewage that flowed in shallow ditches crisscrossing the fields of windowless, cement huts. The children of parents who are little more than children themselves played on heaps of garbage, running between the crumbled buildings and the numerous shelters made from tarps that many called home.

I have been to other slums, like those surrounding Mumbai in India, where my experience was much the same. When we survey the desperation and squalor that constitutes the lives of so many people, it is difficult to imagine how any act of kindness on our buddhist global relief fund, any gift of money, time, or talent can make a difference.

Yet, it is often here, among the most abject living conditions and impoverishment, that the transformative power of the Dhamma is most evident. I reflect on the Lotus Outreach Garden of Peace Project, an oasis of progressive education in Tamil Nadu, India, where for the past four years BGR has provided two meals daily to school-age children whose parents are subsistence farmers or who work at the brick kilns or in construction as daily wage laborers.

According to staff reports, the children who take part in the Garden of Peace Project are healthier than their counterparts in the Tamil Nadu community and their families are better off because now they have more food for the rest of the household. How is it possible to supply two meals for so little? Then I realize that it is the power of the Dhamma—manifesting in the compassion of the people who run the school feeding program and their supporters—that makes such extraordinary feats possible.

When I think about how many people are infected by dysentery primarily for the lack of clean water, over million annually, and how many people die as a result, over a million each year, I am amazed at what this project is accomplishing. What is so remarkable about the transformative power of the Dhamma, manifested in compassion and generosity, is that it is not only the recipient who is blessed, but the giver, you and me, as well.

Certainly, through our gifts we gain merit. In one of my favorite suttas the Buddha is asked whether only gifts to his followers produce merit. As such, giving slowly erodes our attachment to self, to the roots of our own suffering, to lust and aversion, both fed by the delusion that somehow, someday, I will get enough, be enough, do enough to be truly happy and fulfilled!

Rather than seeing the world from the futile vantage point of self and self-interest, the activity of giving empowers us to embrace hope. It is easy to be overwhelmed by suffering and to despair that I can make a difference. That is, until we gain confidence in the power of the Dhamma to transform our generosity into two meals a day for an impoverished child living in Tamil Nadu or into clean water to drink and grow crops in Senegal.

Until we realize that there is a universal law, the Dhamma, supporting us and magnifying our meager efforts into what is truly good and life-changing. Others are able to give much more. By giving whatever you can give, not only will you cast a stone at despair, but you will also hasten your own journey toward true liberation, toward a happiness, peace, and fulfillment that truly lasts.

Supported by BGR grants sincethe Easton Urban Farm EUF is a remarkable success story, providing fresh produce to low-income urban residents who struggle to afford basic necessities. The EUF is a program of the Easton Area Neighborhood Centera non-profit organization serving area residents sincewhose mission is advancing social and economic justice and advocating for the rights of residents with limited resources.

Fresh and nutritious food is grown with organic practices, without chemical inputs. The farm soil is prepared for planting, and seedlings are planted as early as weather permits. The day-to-day farming work is performed by volunteers, guided by a skilled master gardener. The master gardener not only guides the work of the farm but provides training in best practices for residents who want to create their own vegetable gardens to supplement their food supply at low cost.

In late fall, the master gardener plants cover crops to restore the nutrients in the soil and reduce the risk of disease. This past year, the farm assisted 1, residents through just its food pantry distribution alone, including children, adults years of age and senior citizens. The demographics of these beneficiaries reflected the wide racial and ethnic diversity of the community, including White, Hispanic, Asian, African-American, Pacific-Islander, and Indigenous People.

Beyond its direct food assistance, EUF is also a force for social good. It provides a place for community socializing and organizing. It has constructed wheelchair-accessible raised beds for the use of residents with limited mobility, and has received a County grant for a handicapped-accessible path to allow expanded access to farm programs.

Inthe farm started a youth internship program, providing opportunities for five high school students to work on the Farm for eight weeks, developing good work habits and learning about farming. In addition, the program introduces low-income youth to other career opportunities, with a goal of encouraging them to dream beyond the horizons they may have envisioned for themselves.

Sue, her partner, and newborn son were relatively new arrivals in Easton, who found themselves homeless.

Buddhist global relief fund

But soon thereafter, it emerged that the relationship between the couple was abusive and unsustainable. As a stay-at-home mother with an infant, the departure of her partner left Sue without any income. The Center arranged for food to be delivered to Sue from the food pantry to cover the gaps between SNAP monthly allotments. She was willing to work but was caught in the Catch of not qualifying for subsidized childcare without a job and not being able to work without subsidized childcare.

Fresh produce from EUF enabled Sue and her infant to thrive during this difficult period with nutritious fresh produce she could rely upon. Bob is a regular participant in the food pantry. He lives alone in a small apartment and receives a very modest monthly Social Security disability benefit. He is limited in his ability to work by significant intellectual impairments.

The BGR grants provided to EUF have helped to offer a lifeline to disadvantaged Easton-area residents, securing healthy food for children and elderly alike, and changing their lives for the better. Posted in AgricultureHunger in America. Tagged food insecurityHunger in AmericaUrban agriculture. As a result of the war in Ukraine, climate shocks, economic instability, political conflict, and global pandemic, nations around the world are facing what the U.

By contrast, in the U. Even our pets fare better than the poorest of the poor. Tragically, the number of hungry persons has increased in the past three years, and today, as a result of COVID, the war in Ukraine, climate shocks, and political unrest, the total may be closer to a billion people. To put things in perspective, the average moderately active adult male needs 2, calories a day and the average moderately active female 2, calories to maintain their weight.

The FAO reports that for persons who are chronically hungry, the daily caloric intake is closer to 1, to 2, calories, a shortfall of to calories. Compounding the problem is that most of these calories come in the form of starches, such as rice, wheat, corn, or other grains, leaving the poorest of the poor with not only a caloric deficit but a nutritional deficit as well.

If the goal is health rather than buddhist global relief fund survival, people require not mere calories but a balanced diet, that is, a diet including a combination of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. According to the FAO, in the high cost of nutritious food coupled with persistent high levels of income inequality put healthy diets out of reach for around 3 billion people, in every region of the world.

The figure for is expected to be still higher. Most of the persons living in abject poverty are not dying of starvation, however, and the presence of chronic hunger is not always obvious. This is because our bodies respond to an inadequate diet by slowing buddhist global relief fund physical activity and, in the case of children, by reducing growth.

In addition to increasing susceptibility to disease, chronic hunger has other negative consequences. It means that children may be listless and unable to concentrate in school, that mothers may give birth to underweight babies, and that adults may lack the energy to fulfill their potential. While in numerical terms more people are chronically hungry in Asia and the Pacific, the most serious situation is in sub-Saharan Africa, where in 46 percent of the countries, the undernourished have a daily deficit of more than calories a day.

So how do those in the poorest countries get by? What do they eat, if they are fortunate enough to eat at all? In Haiti, all a typical family will eat are rice and beans—but only if mother or father are able to work that day. If a parent is unable to work or sell homemade items, chances are the family will go hungry. Most families subsist on cassava or yukasupplemented by insects such as caterpillars, crickets, or grasshoppers, along with an occasional banana or local vegetable, but violence, disease, and a crumbling infrastructure have put even these meager offerings beyond the reach of many.

Over half of the population of South Sudan stands on the precipice of starvation, a result of war, poverty, and disease. Drought and insect infestations have decimated the maize and sorghum crops used to make kirsa flatbread and dura cooked maze and millettwo staples of the country. Without food assistance, many families cannot cope, yet due to funding shortages, the World Food Programme has recently had to suspend some of its aid, putting the future of over 1.

By way of comparison, the U. This means that the resources are there, if we have the political will to reorder our priorities. So what is stopping us? What is stopping us is the inability or outright refusal to recognize our common humanity: that the plight of others, no matter what they look like, where they live, what their religious beliefs, politics, or lifestyle may be, directly or indirectly affects us; that our survival as a species and the survival of the world depend upon a concern for and commitment to the welfare of all living beings, not just family, neighbors, or folks who agree with us or like us, or even our fellow human beings.

It is this that allows us to rationalize our enormous expenditure on our military or the monetization of food, enriching some while consigning nearly a billion children, women, and men to food insecurity. In contrast, an awareness of our common humanity compels us to advocate for buddhist global relief fund nutrition as a fundamental and inviolable human right that we are all responsible for ensuring.

It is this awareness that underlies the work of Buddhist Global Relief and guides our efforts to combat hunger. That is why we labor tirelessly to raise funds, which this year will support 54 projects, 18 of them focused on immediate food aid for hungry families in such diverse locations as Tanzania, Vietnam, Haiti, Uganda, Bangladesh, and Senegal.

That is also why we invest in teaching subsistence farmers improved, climate-resilient agricultural techniques in places like Malawi, Kenya, Cambodia, India, Brazil, and here in the U. If you share our vision, you can join us in reducing world hunger through your donations or by offering your time and talents as a volunteer. Please explore our website to find out more.

Posted in Global HungerUncategorized. Tagged Global hunger. Wawasonqo, a BGR partner based in Peru, has been working since to break the cycle of poverty that affects rural children and families in the rural Andean foothills near the city of Cusco. Considered as a whole, Peru is a success story of modern poverty reduction. Between andthe national poverty rate in Peru declined from Over the last ten years, chronic child malnutrition was lowered to However, even as economic growth in Peru has thrived, many rural people have been left behind.

In46 percent of the largely indigenous rural population were poor, compared to 26 percent in urban areas. In many rural areas, a devastating 33 percent of indigenous children suffer from malnutrition, and levels of stunting due to extreme malnutrition have not decreased among rural children in the last decade, according to the World Food Programme.

Peru has also been severely devastated by the Covid pandemic. For comparison, the U. As a result, many children and families consume food of low quality, mostly noodles, rice, and potatoes. The projects therefore generally proceed in two stages. Then, to support parents in putting this knowledge to work in nourishing their families, Wawasonqo provides hands-on education in the cultivation, preparation, processing, and preservation of fruits and vegetables.

Workshops are given on topics including organic agronomy, nutrition, preparation of dishes, and the making and sales of agricultural products such as jams, pickles, nectars, and preserves. Additionally, the projects support the construction of simple greenhouses. In these greenhouses, families use seeds provided by our partner to grow fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals.

The trainings and workshops are freely offered to the entire community, and our partner estimates that a third of the households may participate. Construction of a greenhouse here involved the arduous leveling of a parcel of steep hillside. After the work was completed, the Wawasonqo trainers joined the family for a meal and, over a supper of chicken soup and boiled corn, together brainstormed ideas for marketing the organic produce they planned to grow.

He lives with his wife, Alicia Chata, and their children on a steep plot of land where harsh winds made building a greenhouse a difficult task. With persistence and ingenuity, the Wawasonqo trainers were able to work with the family to construct a weather-resistant and high-producing greenhouse. Eager students, the family were also teachers, sharing knowledge with neighbors and their Wawasonqo trainers about the cultivation of mushrooms, avocados, peaches, and other locally grown crops.

Crisologo and Eulalia Huaman are the parents of three young girls in the Huarocondo district. A local leader, Crisologo approached Wawasonqo to request that the greenhouse project be brought to his community and worked with neighbors to spread the education and resources provided by the trainings throughout the community. During the weekend of April 30 and May 1,the Buddhist Global Relief Board and staff reviewed and approved 54 project proposals from partners in 20 countries around the world for our fiscal year, which runs from July 1, through June 30, The approved projects will relieve hunger, educate children, provide vocational opportunities and training for vulnerable women, and support sustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers.

This year, the Board approved three new projects, all from existing BGR partners. In Sri Lanka, a project with our partner Shraddha Charity Organization will address an epidemic of chronic kidney disease among Sri Lankan paddy farmers. In the last two decades, more than 23, deaths have been reported from this virulent disease caused by water contaminated by agrochemicals.

This new project will construct sources of safe water, including deep wells and state-of-the-art water-purification systems, in areas affected by contaminated water in the communities of Kandaketiya and Dakunamahatennagama in Sri Lanka. The project will also raise community awareness of the dangers of water contamination and educate the public about the risks of agrochemical use in farming practices.

The project will directly benefit 2, people, half of them women and girls; an additional 1, people in these communities will benefit from access to new sources of clean drinking water. This new project will provide poor schoolchildren, half of them girls, with a nutritious breakfast daily for the duration of the —23 school year. The meals will give the children much-needed nutrients and energy to focus on their studies, offering them a path out of generational poverty.

In Cameroon, where Covid has amplified the ill effects of the ongoing civil war known as the Anglophone Crisis, it is estimated that more than a million people are living as IDPs internally displaced personsseparated from their home communities and without access to their land, livestock, and other means of livelihood production and survival.

In the villages of Bulu and Bokwaongo in southwest Cameroon, an influx of IDPs has led to food scarcity, increased food prices, and widespread hunger. These include widows, single mothers, and young people whose families cannot afford to send them to school. The project will provide training and materials for the cultivation of huckleberry, tomato, eggplant, okra, amaranth, and other small-scale crops.

The project will benefit people, including women. To meet the additional stress that inflation is causing for our partners who are initiating direct food assistance projects, the BGR Board decided to provide each of these partners an additional 10 percent supplement to the grant. We are deeply grateful to all our donors whose donations have contributed to our success, and to all the volunteers who devote time and energy to easing the burden of work on our Board and staff.

May the fruits of our work together be a light in the world, a source of ease, hope, and nourishment for those whom we serve. Email Address:. Buddhist Global Relief Worldwide relief funded by a Buddhist organization. Skip to content. Home About. Stock photograph by Musa Zanounvia Pexels. Like Loading Charles W. Elliott One would not expect the lowly seed to be the object of international controversy.

It will enter into force 30 days after 22 countries in the African Continental Free Trade Area ratify it. The Nation article also describes community complaints about the poor aesthetic and functional qualities of GMO crops. A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy. ISBN Buddhist Global Relief. Archived from the original on August 12, Retrieved August 28, Secular Buddhist Association.

Archived from the original on September 11, Lion's Roar. PR Newswire. August 23, May 5, April 27, The Christian Times. San Antonio Express-News. July 2, December 16, Retrieved 4 October External links [ edit ]. Topics in Buddhism.