by Jessi Marlatt
Nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, Ramana’s Garden is a home for 60 destitute children from northern India and Nepal. Living as brothers and sisters, these children receive one of the best educations in India, take traditional dance classes, learn vocational work and take care of one another.
The children range from the age of four to eighteen and come from some of the grimmest backgrounds imaginable. Many were forced to beg for food in families that could not support them, others had no families at all, and a few were taken from homes where they were being prostituted out for liquor or money.
Such sadness and pain would never be expected to hide behind the smiling faces of these children. Most are healthy and happy. As new children come to Ramana’s the volunteers must work through issues from the children’s pasts with love and care.
Often the media of this country refers to children such as these as “India’s garbage kids,” but I have found talented, caring angels given a second chance in life.
Dr. Prabavati Dwabha, founder of Ramana’s Garden, travels around the world once a year, asking for donations to support the futures of these children. Private donations from around the world fund all of her projects. Dwabha is an American woman who has lived in India for thirty years. The last fifteen of those years have been devoted to bettering the lives of people in need.
Dwabha runs one orphanage and four schools in northern India, providing free education to over 800 children, and medical care for countless others in need. “We are constantly fighting to stay alive,” she told a customer in Ramana’s Garden Café, “but Shiva always protects us.”
“Lord Shiva is the deity of destruction. He finds all that is false and impure, destroys it, and replaces these things with purity and beauty,” Dwabha explained. The first brick of Ramana’s was placed in the ground 10 years ago on Shivarati, the 16th of February and birthday of Lord Shiva.
We celebrated this day by walking to the temple in the village of Tapovan. The temple houses the largest Lingum in Northern India. A Lingum is a statue, usually carved from black stone, symbolizing the power of Lord Shiva. It is a giant shaft with a snake wrapped around the top and slithering down the side, an abstract penis.
The temple was filled with Westerners and Indian’s alike, all chanting the name of Shiva. Dancing and music filled the great temple and flowers were draped upon the Lingum.
Across the waters of the Ganges River, or “Mother Ganga” as she is referred to here, was a giant festival in the town of Laxman Jhula. Drums, chanting and other music reverberated across the valleys of the Himalayan foothills deep into the night.
Ramana’s Garden first came to my attention four years ago. I attended a speech given by Dwabha in Boulder, Colorado with my mother. The power emanating from this fifty-year old woman with snow white hair inspired me to make a difference some day. At the age of 18, I did not see any possibilities for this at the time, but vowed that one day I would meet the smiling faces of Ramana’s children.
The time came, and I have put my life and education on hold. Eight volunteers from Italy, Spain, Germany, Canada and the United States are currently devoting their lives to these children. Each day we awake with the sun sing with Ramana’s angels.
Western State Writers Spring 2009 