Garden of Peace: Tamil Crisis & the Dalai Lama

In the third week at the Garden of Peace, some Indian and French university students came to join us because the University of Madras was shut down due to fear of student revolts as the situation in Sri Lanka heated up. The government knows the students are the main power source of political activism here. One member of their movement set himself on fire in protest of Sri Lankans killing Tamils. Also, for one day, the entire state of Tamil Nadu was shut down in protest except for essential services like hospitals. In the rural village, we wouldn't have known about the outage had we not heard from some friends in Chennai. Ramu has been a leader of many amazing peaceful political actions for many years. He recounted some hilarious and breathtaking stories to us over dinner one night. Ramu also was granted a private 10 minute conversation with His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama and this was not the first time for him. He asked what Ramu would like, to which Ramu asked only for his blessings. In the last week, Ramu received a check for 250 000 rupees for Buddha Smiles projects. What a blessing. Now a real kitchen can be built for the beloved cooks who work with so much dedication and love to feed the hundred children good meals, as some kids otherwise would not eat more than one meal a day from home. The volunteers were also given personal invitations to go hear the Dalai Lama speak at the university in Madras. I will never forget that day and also His Holiness's big sense of humour and warmth.