Two new grants for the Covid-19 pandemic

May 13, 2020 by Michael Barber

This past month SD USA was able to support two new projects that fulfill community needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. The money for these two projects came from the Melinda Wallis Memorial Fund. For those who never met Melinda, she was a remarkable human being who helped others within Subud and in the broader community throughout her life. In a way Melinda is still here helping out through these grants.

Facemasks

Cassidy modeling one of his fitted masks

Cassidy Sterling from the Boston group received a grant for materials to sew facemasks to protect against Covid-19. He has donated over 400 masks so far to hospitals, nursing homes and individuals. He makes two varieties, a fitted mask in two sizes and pleated “surgical” style masks. Cassidy has said that this emergency filled him with the “fight or flight” impulse and, since flight is not an option, making masks is a way to fight. The personal benefit to Cassidy has been huge.

Face Shields

Dainuri Rott and Merrill Snell of Santa Clara, CA are using their 3D printing business to make Face Shields to give away to support health care workers in their area as well as retail employees and others at high risk for getting Covid-19. They have already made 50 shields and are busy making more to give away for those in need. We were happy to provide $500 to help them fulfill their new mission: “Our mission has become to produce Face Shields. As a small company we will do our best to get Shields to you.”

Idul Fitri Greetings

Borneo Football hands out sanitizing kits to families without indoor plumbing

We pray that everyone observing the Ramadan fast receives God’s grace and blessings. For those wishing to give Zakat*, we are collecting donations for an emergency fund set up by SDIA (Susila Dharma International) to support projects affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Your donation will be distributed between five projects assisting with essential services in areas of dire need:

YUM: distributing hygiene kits, leaflets and food packages to families in Kalimantan and West Java

Anisha: distributing food kits to landless families in Karnataka, India

Susila Dharma Congo: distributing masks and protective equipment to staff at Health Centers operated by SD Congo

Enthum House (UK): supporting extra teaching costs associated with one-to-one tutoring for young unaccompanied asylum seekers

Mis Corazones Alegres (Colombia): purchasing an industrial freezer to store food for elderly residents with cognitive disorders

*Zakat is a charitable donation traditionally given at the end of Ramadan. Unlike regular donations to SD USA during the rest of the year (that are disbursed annually as grants to projects), zakat donations are sent immediately to the projects in need. All are welcome to send zakat contributions, whether observing the Ramadan fast or not!

Thank you for your support!

The Guru Krupa Foundation Award to Anisha

April 2, 2020 by Jake Sterling

In the rural area of southern India where Anisha is located, marginalized farmers and landless families, often headed by single women, struggle to meet their most basic needs. Approximately 70% of these people are members of the lowest social caste in India and their children often lack adequate nutrition and health care. Without extra support, many of these children drop out of school and become trapped in the child labor sector of the local mining industry. These families suffer from the results of the Green Revolution of the early 1960s in India. Farmers were encouraged to adopt the use of commercial fertilizers and pesticides, as well as non-native seeds. Soils were depleted across India and many farmers were forced to leave their homelands for slums in India’s major cities.

Four years ago, a partnership began between Anisha and a private foundation located in New York state, the Guru Krupa Foundation. The Foundation took the step to support year one of Anisha’s Kitchen Garden Project in 2016, a four-year program designed to teach over 1400 middle school students at 23 participating schools to grow organic kitchen gardens at their homes. They also expressed the intention to fund the project for three more years if the terms of the grant were satisfied. We are currently at the end of year four of the Kitchen Garden Project and feel very grateful to the Guru Krupa Foundation for its continuing support of the project. The Foundation has contributed a total of $40,000 over these four years to allow Anisha to operate its four-year educational project that has had a dramatic impact on the lives of its participating students and their families.

These students live in the Martalli Region of Karnataka State in Southern India. Their families struggle every day with extreme poverty and everything that results from it. They live in a drought-prone area that is also hard-hit by the effects of climate change. Learning to grow small-scale kitchen gardens producing organic vegetables grown from native seeds (initially supplied by Anisha’s own native seed bank) has made a significant difference in improving the standard of living of many families in this area.

The Guru Krupa Foundation is considering a proposal that would extend the KGP by at least one more year and expand its operation into 30 new schools with 1500 students new to its program. We so appreciate the support provided by the Guru Krupa Foundation to help Anisha do its vitally important work! Please visit their website to learn about their impressive work in both the United States and India – www.guru-krupa.org.

News from our 2020 Granting Meeting

February 27, 2020 by Michael Barber

On the last day of our annual granting meeting – which took place over the Presidents Day weekend in Sacramento CA – we sat quietly together and shared how remarkable the experience had been and how grateful we are to have been part of it.

Back row: Hamilton Chaffee, David Nicoletti, Rifka Several, Diego Salgado. Middle Row: Michael Barber, Loretta Covert, Aminah Herrman. Front row: Myriam Ramsey, Fauziyah Ishak, Jane Katz. Not present: Marilyn Schirk, Cassidy Sterling, Sonya Shooshan.

Because of your support;

19 projects in the USA, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, South Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Indonesia were awarded grants. Three are brand new projects just starting up: Sequoia Community Center in Badger, CA; FUEGOS Hospitality School & Restaurant in Ecuador; and the Community Learning Center for Women and Girls in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This year, when we met to finalize grant amounts for 2020, we faced the challenge that requests from projects totaled far more than the balance in our bank account. But, with God’s grace (and a large withdrawal from our endowment fund which had increased by over $50,000 ) we were able to support all the programs, wonderful programs, that had requested grants.

Testing confirmed for us the truly profound effect that each project has in the world, and also that the small grants we give really do make a difference. We left the meeting feeling energized and inspired, with a deep sense of gratitude for the opportunity to do this work together. Thank you, Subud USA membership, for your ongoing support of Susila Dharma!

Changes in the Board

We say goodbye and a very big THANK YOU to departing board members Aminah Herrman (Chair), Hamilton Chaffee (Treasurer), and Cassidy Sterling (Director and Webmaster). We are most grateful for everything you’ve given to Susila Dharma and will miss you all.

New officers tested in are: Fauziyah Ishak as Chair, Myriam Ramsey as Vice Chair, and Sonya Shooshan as Treasurer. In the coming months, we will be seeking up to three new board members to join Susila Dharma USA. More details soon.

Myriam Ramsey’s Visit to Kalimantan

January 29, 2020 by Michael Barber

Earlier this month, Susila Dharma USA board member Myriam Ramsey visited three of the projects we support in Kalimantan. Here are some of her impressions from the visit.

January 9 – 14, 2020

*Borneo Football player w her family, Myriam, Daniela Bustillo and Ostrud Steiner from Germany*

We have all heard the expression “A Picture is worth 1,000 words.” I’d like to expand on that phrase to “A live visit is worth a billion pictures.” That phrase explains my experience visiting three of the projects Susila Dharma USA supports in Kalimantan. These projects are:

Borneo Football: BFIA uses football to create social change
BCU School: the first bilingual, multicultural school in the province of Central Kalimantan
Permakultur Kalimantan Foundation: works with farmers to rebuild the depleted topsoil through a permaculture approach

Borneo Football

Before
After

I had seen many photos of this project but my understanding of its importance wasn’t born until I saw with my own eyes the impact this project was having on individual lives. Many of the children come from extreme poverty with no path out of the life they see around them. No jobs, very little education, no way to move from this world to a more positive future. For these children Borneo Football is like throwing a life preserver to a drowning person in a huge sea with no land in site. They grab onto the life preserver and thus begin a path out of poverty. They are provided nutrition, teamwork with children of other religions, some English education and as they get older can join in computer classes. When I see the children, I see strong beautiful healthy young people grabbing onto this unexpected gift for their lives.

BCU School

For teachers and students, this school is a dream come true. It provides a hands on integrated curriculum where life skills are combined with education. Parents who were unhappy with the local schools started the school. The parents were not trained educators but had an understanding of children and the atmosphere needed to create a positive learning environment. The school has been blessed with teachers from the Australian volunteer program who are experienced and up to date on the best practices in building a strong school. They have helped with teacher training and together with the staff develop the curriculum to guide this school on a path to be one of the best in Central Kalimantan. Through hands on experiences like the student garden, children become aware of the importance of topsoil, how to create topsoil and the impact on the environment of sustainable land use. Classes are taught in English making BCU the first bilingual, multicultural school in Central Kalimantan.

Permakultur Kalimantan Foundation

*Moreen, Subud youth volunteer from Germany, Frederika Paembonan, myself, Frederika’s new baby and her husband Jayadi in front of their new curbside store.*

I think this quote from Bapak sums up my experience in Kalimantan:

“Perhaps this is the difference between the Subud and non-Subud involvement in Kalimantan, because although many people are talking about Kalimantan and want to go there and do things, for a lot of them, their motive is just profit. But, for us, because we are guided by the latihan, what we do in Kalimantan will be not only for ourselves, but also for the whole of society. It will be good for those who have nothing. It will be good for those who are destitute. It will be to help those who are really short of everything, to give them new hope, to give them new life. It will be for those who are without work, to give them a chance to work.“
(Bapak’s Farewell Talk
Cilandak, March 6, 1981)

This is what I saw happening in Kalimantan. Subud members, guided by the latihan, filled with courage, praising God, helping those short of everything, giving hope for a new life.

Thanks to Daniela and Muhammad Bachrun Bustillo from Borneo Football, Setiawati Soesetyi and Wuryantiand from the BCU School and Frederkia and Jayadi Paembona from Permakultur Kalimantan for the time and the work you are doing to improve the lives of others. And thanks to all of you, members of Subud USA, for your generous donations to Susila Dharma that make these projects possible.

Susila Dharma USA

A Humanitarian Organization

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