Charity

ABOUT OUR CHARITY

The Heart of Living Yoga Foundation is a
UK registered charity that supports children in
Sri Lanka, India, Brazil & the UK. 

Charity News: March 2024

Sri Lanka

In the north of Sri Lanka at Padma Lokah, our village project, we are currently running a scholarship programme for 26 children in grades 5 & 6. The children receive nutritious snacks, milk and vitamins and extra tuition to help them pass exams which will enable them to go to a higher school and potentially to university when the time comes. The higher school is nearby and the government pays the parents a small monthly amount to cover extra expenses like uniforms, books, etc. so it is a real possibility for these village children. This project has been running successfully in the same school for 2 years now and is proposed to continue each year. The headmaster of the school is working with us to introduce a small farm at the school where the children can learn how to grow food.

During the Covid emergency we needed to support 98 children’s families with food as they lost all sources of income, and that food aid project has been needed to continue until now. Since the beginning of 2024 the numbers of people in need have fallen and we are now supporting 28 elders and 10 women-led families who have children with special needs. Those children now attend a special needs unit within the local school which requires the mothers to attend school with their children. This means the mothers are unable to work and earn an income. The elders have no surviving children to support them as they were killed during the end of the civil war.

We are planning to ask for sponsors to support each special child and each elder. Stay tuned for more information about this beautiful opportunity to help directly. At our land at Padma Loka the farming food security project is going well. Harvests of coconuts, lentils, beans and other vegetables continue to be shared amongst the gardeners and the whole community. The village is enthusiastic about the project and working well together, which is a consequence of how much healing of trauma has happened since Padma’s first visit to this area in 2011, thanks to the generous support of you all and the children’s nutrition has been improved.

We have recently begun a new 6 month pilot project in the Trincomalee district for 22 young children who are suffering malnutrition. This project is headed by Sri Kaliyuga, Dr. Arul and Mr. Sivapalan. Dr. Arul has secured government assistance for the project in the giving of vitamins for the children and we are providing improved nutrition. They are monitoring the progress of the children and after 6 months, if there has been improvement in the children’s condition they will begin an educational improvement plan for the children. As we know, it is impossible to learn with malnutrition, so the children are behind with their learning.

We support 10 university students with grants to enable them to buy text books, stationery etc. We have received requests for laptops for them as they are doing all their work on their phones at the moment. Imagine writing a university essay on your phone. If anyone would like to hold fund-raising events for this, we would be grateful as the total amount is £4,750.

Brasil

We support 4 educational projects in the Amazon area of Brasil, as well as Jhenifer’s Library in the Chapada and we have begun to work together with the ParaTi organisation in the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro.

We have just rebuilt the school at Parque dos Tribos near Manaus, and are currently building a new toilet block for them. We support 2 other educational & cultural projects in the Amazon where we built new Maloca’s (large communal tribal buildings). These educational projects are teaching the children about their own culture’s medicinal uses of the local plants and many different aspects of their own artistic and musical culture as well as the normal educational curriculum.

We are also proud to support the Mata Viva educational eco resource project in the Amazon where parties of school children go to learn about keeping the local rivers alive and flowing. The project has conserved the Agua Branca tributary to the River Amazon as the last living river in the area so this project is really important.

Jhenifer’s Library and educational support project continues to go well in the Chapada district. There was a special fun day held there for International Children’s Day and Jhenifer herself has begun her own further education towards her ambition to become a lawyer. She has been given an award by the governor for her public work and been invited to a junior internship at the city’s court, which is a big honour. A lovely teacher is Jhenifer’s assistant at the library in her absence, and Jhenifer’s mother continues to cook and feed all the children.

Our long-time heart ambassador, Ivan, is in the process of setting up a new children’s project in the Chapada where he will teach the local school children how to grow food in the permaculture system, in which he is an experienced expert. Helping to establish food security for the children’s futures is one of our priorities globally.

In the Amazon area of Brazil, the indigenous children at the tribal school we support are being decimated by Covid-19 and are also unable to access food and medication and basic supplies. We are working together with Fundacao do Amazonas Sustenetivel and our local team led by dear Luiz and Ana Carolina to get the much needed supplies delivered in to them. They are very grateful for all your kind support that makes this possible. Thank you all.

India

The work of the Freedom School in Rishikesh is going very well, and we are delighted to be working in partnership with the Freedom Group and the Atma Seva Foundation to support not only the school, but also the children and their families in the slum community, particularly when their homes were swept away in terrible floods. With the help of Freedom Group we were able to provide hot meals for hundreds of children and their families and to organise a medical day where a local doctor and his team of 5 gave their services free and we paid for all the medication that was needed.

As the children had no dry space in which to sleep, many of them were becoming sick. The director of the Foundation Group, Ajay, organised everyone in the community to register with him giving all their details and document numbers which he then took to the government and succeeded in getting extra financial aid for each of them. Quite a task.

The Freedom School has just finished building a new classroom as they had to leave the one they were renting. The new classroom is still within walking distance of the community and will give the school more security now as it is theirs. We are very happy to have supplied all the equipment and furniture on their wish list for the new school.

The school is hoping to acquire some nearby government land to create a small farm where the children who live in the poorest slum district can learn to grow food. Padma is planning to visit India & Sri Lanka in 2025 with a group and will spend some time with these projects in Rishikesh. There was sad news of the sudden passing of long-time friend, supporter and director of HOLY India, Prof. Haresh Pandya. He will be greatly missed.

U.K.

In the U.K. our teachers have been offering special Community Heart days for people and families suffering hard times and stress. Some very successful ones were offered directly to NHS workers and more have been asked for. If you have a community near you in need of some special Heart Days, please let us know and we will see what we can do.

We want to thank you for your unfailing support and love for all the work we are blessed to share and all the smiles we inspire around the world, and all the minds and hearts who find their own peace through the teachings and then share it in their own communities, places of work, in schools and in commerce and in the health profession. This is how we can light up the whole world – lighting one heart at a time, who then shares the light all around them. Thank You.