Jain Digest 2002 01

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 18

(WCS)..
Wheels of Hope (Asha Chakra)
JAINA Youth Completes Ist 'Shrama Yatra'
"You are NOT here to SAVE the WORLD, But to TOUCH the HANDS that are in YOUR REACH."
"You may not be able to do great things, but you can do small
things with GREAT LOVE."-Mother Teresa
any living
Could you imagine yourself living in extreme cold and heat •Geeta 22 years, lost one hand in earthquake; now with arti
of Kutch outside under the sky in a demolished hut for one whole ficial hand she can do all major activities for daily living.
year since devastating earthquake of January 2001? Virbai 90 years •Amin 26 years lost her leg in earthquake; she is married and
and Sonbai 60 years, mother and daughter had to endure extreme has a child of 3 years old. With artificial leg, wheel chair and
heat, cold and rain until their home got finished after one year. It crutches she can move around and do most of things by herself. was heart breaking experience for Jain youths from USA to sit
• Three young boys from Ahmedabad, lost their legs in earth- with them, touch their loving, kind and caring hands and receive quake. Bidada performed the surgeries, provided artificial limbs their blessings. and are providing rehabilitation exercises. To our surprise, they did Our vouth mixed the cement, sand and water in prescribed garba and Raas Dandia. They also can jump and play basketball.
proportions to make mortar and plaster the walls of the home of Under this program we have shipped 300 Wheel Chairs, these women. What a joy, honor and an opportunity to finish this Crutches and Walkers to help earthquake victims. Also, we have house and get them sheltered in their permanent home! We also shipped 10 boxes of Prosthetics and Orthotics. This month again helped with several houses under construction by Vivekanand 100 more chairs will be shipped.
Research and Training Institute (VRTI). We also did lift heavy Under this program we have established relationship with stones and helped in the foundation of another house. 10 non-profit organizations in Greater Cleveland area to get all The houses in this village are two room cement 300 square kinds of medical equipment and supplies for operation rooms, feet houses with steel bar reinforcement around windows, doors laboratories and small clinics.
and corners to withstand worst of the earthquake. VRTI in Mota We have shipped items like bandages and surgical needles in Bhadia is building 54 houses and United Way of Baroda is fundhuge quantity and also big expensive items such as mammogram ing the project. Most of the houses are built on the owners' own and X-ray machines. All in all we have shipped more than 2500 land. VRTI buys the material in the bulk, delivers to the site and different items. We also have shipped hospital furniture Beds, provides technical and engineering supervision; villagers are proMattresses, Cribs, Chairs, Stretchers, Wheel carts etc. In Decem- viding construction labor to build the houses (similar to Habitat ber 2001, we received truck full of prosthetics and orthotics. for Humanity concept). Manish and Hetal also helped with chilWhere did the supplies have gone so far?
dren at Veerayatan school in Bhuj set up by Sadhvi Shilapiji. 1). Bidada Sarvodaya Trust, Mandavi 2) Atmavallabh Hospi- In the beginning, NOBODY, NOBODY-VRTI, Bidada Trust tal, Idar 3) Ujjain Charitable Trust, Ujjain 4) Rajkot Blood and local village people - believed that our Jain Youth have come bank, Rajkot 5) Bhagawan Mahavir Jain Hospital, Bangalore here to work with their hands, that we have taken time out of our Beauty of this program is:
busy and comfortable life and travel on our own to help the people
10,000 miles away. In India, this kind of work is still looked down •All items are donated; most of them are New.
as a "Veth"and professional people do nor do these kind of volun•For every $ we are able to ship $50-$70 worth of supplies
tary services. Our youth did make a lasting impression. •For FEW Man-hours of our work in USA, we are helping
JAINA World Community Services with the help of Bidada LOTS of needy, sick people in INDIA.
Sarvodaya Trust and Pilgrimage Committee designed this unique JAINA has set up a system for exporting under US aid agency
program "Panchadham Shrama Yatra" (Pilgrimage with Labor license and importing in India with license from Indian Govern
of Love) to assist with rehabilitation efforts in Kutch. This proment without any custom duties and then warehousing until medi
gram united the "Bhakti" aspect of pilgrimage with "Karma Yoga" cal supplies are picked up by recipient hospital.
aspect of labor of love as evidenced in the world renowned HabiWould you like to join in this exciting opportunity to: tat for Humanity. Here was a chance to put Lord Mahavir's mes• HELP and MAKE a DIFFERENCE?
sage, “Service to the poor is Service to Me." in action. We also • BRING SUNSHINE in SOMEBODY'S LIFE? did visit few temples, especially Bhadreshwar and 72 Jinalaya. • TO BRING HOPE to HOPELESS?
We were eight in this Shrama Yatra: Hetal Mehta, Manish Call Wheels of Hope: Jaya and Ramesh Shah 440-442-4596
4596 Kenia, Nishali Mehta, Ronak Vora, Dr. Mahesh Varia, Dr. Nitin (jshah6138@aol.com)
Mehta, Ramesh Shah and myself.
Shilpa Shah
16/JAIN DIGEST. SPRING 2002 Jain Education Intemational