Projects
Supported by 1We - Bodhgaya
In the fight against poverty and child labour it is proven that education is an important factor. 1We - One World Experience has therefore launched the 1We - Education Projects which have already started in Brazil, Bangladesh, India and Mozambique and can be developed in any development country.
Mahatma Ghandi gave them the name of ‘Harijans’ meaning children of God. They call themselves ‘Dalits’: the suppressed and broken people. This population group of casteless people live in the village of Bodhgaya in Bihar: one of the poorest regions in the North of India. They are exploited, humiliated and have no rights. The children especially suffer from this system. Ine Buma-le Blanc is cooperating with 1We to offer them a future in her Child Village.
In the year 2002 Ine travelled to India and followed the footsteps of Boeddha ending her voyage in Bodhgaya. In this place of pilgrimage she meditated together with the monks and pilgrims under the bodhitrea. Outside the temple she was confronted by another reality. She witnessed the treatment of the casteless people in India. She saw children of unmarried mothers who were being posed as foundlings. Children with polio were being abandoned and also children were being sexually abused. At night these same children searched for a place to sleep: a hole they had been digging themselves or a piece of cardboard somewhere on the streets of Bodhgaya.
Child support
When she returned to The Netherlands Ine decided to follow her heart and founded the Foundation Childsupport Bodhgaya. The goal is the support of experts in the fields of education or business and trading for these children. In the meantime a child village has been founded. ‘Lord Buddha Home for Children’ gives shelter to fifty to one hundred children. In small houses they are actually raised by a ‘mother’. Beside this there is a health centre, a place to pray as well as a recreation room and rooms for the staff.
Together with 1We Ine is planning to build a learning and professional training centre. Outside the buildings there will be a playground, a sports field, a vegetable garden and a small farm for children to complete the village. This is a place where the casteless children of India have all the rights to a worthy existence.
For more information please contact 1We - One World Experience in The Netherlands, +31(0)33-2858914 or .
