newsletter travel 2006/07 india: January 2007

On 1st of December we landed in New Delhi, arrived!

After a five days stay in Delhi we finally reach, by a 15 hours train trip, our destination: Bodhgaya. Two days later we meet the muslim family father Mohammed who rent his room to us for the next 4 months. We have to pay a monthly rate of 25 euros. The house, built of stone, is located in the village Pachati, close behind the tibetan refugee market. Here we discover the authentic India, experience, how the people of the poorest part of whole India live their daily life. The people are curious to meet us and although the impressive poverty they have not forgot how to smile and be happy. Most of the houses are built of mud, garbage disposal is an issue, that has to be settled without any organization structure; the inhabitants leave their garbage all over the place, children drop their excrements just where they walk on the paths.

We enjoy the daily visits at the main stupa with the legendary bodhitree, that’s the tree under that Buddha Siddharta Gautama was enlightened 2550 years ago.

Our journey takes us now further to Dharamsala, the place where H.H. 14th Dalai Lama settled in exile 1958 after his refuge from Tibet to India. Johannes goes to a tibetan school after the winter holidays. I join the teachings of the Dalai Lama starting at 3^th of march.

Here we are! Johannes with his class 4

After arriving at the Alice Project Johannes gets fever and so we immediately move in our guestroom that Valentino Giaocomin, director of the Alice Project, offered me for my volunteers work at his project at the beginning of our talk about my support for his project in october 2005. Two days later Johannes is fit again. He gets his new school uniform and from now is pupil of class 4 of Alice Project. I start teaching power basic computer knowledge one hour a day for all the 10 Project teachers until Mr. Giacomin stops my engagement with a short phone call from Varanasi. He talks about considaration for the teachers schedules but in fact he decides against the will of nearly all of the strongly interested teachers. He does not think that the curious and very interested teachers need to be educated in computer skills. Only two of his staff should be showered by this privilege. I have to stop my work because someone cancels my lessons without telling me, the teachers are sent home without my feedback. Two weeks later i start teaching again. From that day I teach the pupils of all eight classes, two lessons each per week, in conversation english, based on material of Mr. V. Giacomin. The pupils show me intensely how happy they are about my support. So am I. And the teachers get taught three lessons per week in conversation english. The two privileged teachers get in addition another three lessons computer basic knowlegde per week. All of my pupils are very motivated and interested. This comes to an very rude end one morning as Mr. Giacomin, after having to take mild critic from me for his heedless behaviour, sends his second secretary to kick us out of his project. We do not get any possibility to talk, to ask why he came to his solution to send us away. It is neither interesting for him that he takes away an engaged teacher for his pupils and teachers nor is he interested in the fact that we have planned our stay in India/Bodhgaya since one year especially for his project. Very astonished about this behaviour Johannes and I talk to find our decision in the tomato garden. After a meditation we decide to accept this strange decision without discussion because we realise that we are at the wrong place: the school is controlled based on fear. We had to find out this much earlier when we had to watch teachers beating pupils by hand or stick although this praxis is not allowed. But, like in the way of behaviour of Mr. Giacomin, theorie and praxis come not always together. Behind a wise fronthead there’s often acting a weak mind. That’s it. Even when Mr. Giacomin discovers his wrong decision made in the heat of emotions and starts to try to go back to zero we stay faithful to our decison. The trust break already had happened. What a pity. At least for the pupils and teachers. But these don’t have got a main role in the play ‘Alice Project’, more important, so it seems to me, is the management and use of monetary- and real values called donations...

Bodhgaya, our final destination...?

In Bodhgaya you can find the biggest contradictions that you can imagine: rich tourists and hundreds of beggars. It seems to be the perfect place to pick up donation willed tourists and get their money out of the pocket...what we explore here beggars description...the seemingly blatant case is that of a Buddhist monk, who collected the money for a fictive school project since more than 10 years, put upon the donators trust in his integrity。Now the indian court adjudged him for corruption. But he is, my foot, not the only one! Who wants and is able to control to where the donated money flows de facto….if the donation animator leaves such a good mark! The business with the spiritual helpfulness blooms…Bodhgaya and Varanasi are perfect places for this, as full of spiritual history they are they attract galore rich spiritual tourists. What to say…the only comfort facing these deceitfulness is, that people create their own karma…Johannes has been working as a waiter in two tibetan restaurants of friends and earns so his meals during these days. He meets two japan boys who teach him to serve. By the way, the one in the right photo is monk…without cowl, because he hits the roads for one year.

This is one of the villages from where the classmates of Johannes come

Many of the children come from very poor families. They have to weather through the half hour morning meditation in severe cold with short arm shirts and shorts. Who believes, that this form of meditation is helpful? The Alice Project School has money for buying new properties, but none for dressing the children in a fair way…surely the school management will have plausible statements…the photos marked with a red p are taken by Piero Sirianni, a devotional supporter of Alice Project. He is such a wonderful, warm-hearted and helpful person!

author: Johannes Schinkel --- Treatment of the 4th class of Alice Project School Bodhgaya

29.12.2006
Issue: When the pupils of Sarnath go I feel…(60 pupils of the second Alice School in Sarnath were guest in our school for two days)

All has an end. Therewith I mean: when the pupils of the other Alice School go, it is as normal as when they came. Like I mentioned before, all has an end, when there is a beginning. Or viewed from the other side, all has a beginning, when there is an end. This is as clear as birth = beginning, then life and then there is the death = the end. But it can also be that there is no end and no beginning, i.g. you will never find a beginning or an end in a ring.

In the last sentence I used the word never. Do never or ever exist? Never exists in one case like there is never ever. Understood?

I believe, that all is an illusion, like a dream! Because, the truth are the feelings and one should listen more to the feelings.

Here a story: Before I was born my mother and father already where together. My mother once told me this story I nearly forgot, they went to the seaside. My mother already waited to see the sea for a long time and she could hardly await going to the shore. My father had a strange feeling. Arrived there there were men standing around in the dunes. They had parked their rented car at the street.
Daddy said: “Let's go to visit another beach, i have a scary feeling.”
“Don’t be a pessimist”, said Mummy “Nothing will happen.”
But Daddy succeeded. Back to the car, ready to go to another beach, they found the car already broken up. And would Daddy have listened to his feeling, better, would have mummy had listened to my father, nothing would have happened.

The most important feelings, which are positive, are: Happiness, Joy, Trust and Love.
The negatives: fear, enviousness, anger, mischief, prejudges (this is no feeling), jealousy, distrust, hatred and to feel bad with oneself. Unfortunately there seem to exist more negative than positive feelings.

My father had distrust, which I counted to the bad feelings. Would my father had have trust, it would not have helped very much. (what would have happened, if my father would have had trust?)

All goes together somehow, I also believe.
If you fight with someone, you fight with yourself.

Like the famous Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, who wrote a lot of books, mentioned in one of his talks:
Look to your hand and watch; you find your mother and father in there. If you have an argument with your parent, you are arguing with yourself.

Here a wise word of someone whose name I forgot:
Thoughts are going to be words,
Words are going to be deeds,
Deeds are going to be habits,
Habits are going to be your character,
Character is going to be your destiny.

So, be careful with what you think, because this will turn out to be your destiny.

If you treat others in hatred, they will treat you in hatred.
If you treat others in love, it will return to you.

When the bus leaves, we watched it out of our classroom. I feel compassion for the children who have to sit for 6 hours in the small and hot bus now. I only knew one of them and in a way I am happy, that it will be more calm again and in case of power cut we use the batteries instead of starting the noisy generator beside our kitchen (not very nice during the meals, if you like to define it as a problem).

Johannes Schinkel

schinkel-company meets Karmapa

Christmas Eve we spend together with Giuseppe, the italian kitchenmaster of the Root Institute. Santa Claus comes and puts presents for Johannes under our little green folden paper christmas tree: 2 intelligence card games, a lunchbox with spoon, marzipan and a cuddly woolen shawl from Tibet. What a joy! The Christmas- and New Year's teachings of the Karmapa (photos of Piero Sirianni) are a great alternative to the christian devine services... New Year's Eve we celebrate with Gyamtso, have a nice danceparty in a tibetan hotel and a New Year's fire at the japanese temple. On New Year's morning Johannes and me meet the just new goat with cut throat, the first thing we see when coming out of our room...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

newsletter travel 2006/07 india

SCHINKEL COMPANY in INDIA

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Here we are! Johannes with his class 4

online version of the newspaper article in the "Berliner Morgenpost" of 30.09.2006

Layout made by Johannes Schinkel

Bodhgaya, our final destination...?

This is one of the villages from where the classmates of Johannes come

author: Johannes Schinkel --- Treatment of the 4th class of Alice Project School Bodhgaya

Our room in Pachati Village

Our neighbourhood in Pachati Village

schinkel-company meets Karmapa