Existence takes care – with a bit of help from sannyasins and an MP

Pankaja has been through a bit of a whirlwind recently. In this article for Osho in UK she tells us of how she was able to help save 15 Indian orphan dancers from the heart breaking disappointment of having their dance tour to the UK cancelled. Pankaja writes:

Ramana’s Garden is an orphanage run by a sannyasin called Dwabha, (also known as Prabhavati) in Rishikesh, North India. It started almost by chance 16 years ago, but there are now more than 60 destitute children living there. Several of the girls were rescued from prostitution, as young as 8 or 9; some are refugees from Nepal who escaped over the mountains on foot after Maoist guerrillas barricaded the whole family into their house and torched it -- burning the parents alive. Their stories are unbelievably horrifying, but so is their capacity for healing and joy.

As well as a regular education the children learn art, theatre and dance. In 2007 their dance troupe won the ‘All India Talent Search’ hosted by directors and producers from Bollywood. This led to performances every week at the Ananda Spa Resort, said to be the leading spa resort in Asia, just an hour’s drive away from the children’s home in Rishikesh. The CEO of the UK Butlins, Jo Seaton, saw the kids dancing there and invited them to come to England to perform at various Butlins resorts.

As you can imagine this was incredibly exciting, but it also had a deeper significance. The purpose of the tour is to show how these kids, coming from unimaginably horrific backgrounds, have used all their difficulties as stepping stones to reach where they are now. In this trip to England, the first time that any of them have left their tiny patch of India, they would love to give back the blessings they have received.

Everything was in place – kind friends had donated airline tickets, all food and accommodation had been organized by Butlins, special performances for underprivileged children and old people in the UK were organized, the kids were packed and ready to go...

But no one had taken into account the vagaries of the British Immigration Service! For 11 days Dwabha and the kids camped out at the British Embassy in Delhi. Passports were hard enough to organize, as most of the children have no idea when they were born, but that was finally arranged. Visas? NO! The children were shut into a non-AC room for 7 hrs one day while they waited -- and waited. All the charities in the UK where the children were booked to perform faxed invitations, many sponsors were there with financial backing, yet for one reason or another the visas were refused. Dwabha, not a woman to give up easily, was pleading desperately, it was June 5th, the Embassy was closed for the night -- the children were due to fly out at 8 the following morning...

I was in communicating with her hourly by SMS & emailing everyone I could think of – and one friend put me in touch with the Rt Hon. Keith Vaz who is the MP for Leicester East, almost like a little India, and is himself of Indian origin. Dwabha faxed the relevant documents to him, my friend rang him at the office and even had him taken out of the Chamber for a few moments during an urgent debate about knife crime!

With his intervention, miracle of miracles, at 11.30 am June 6th the visas were all granted! As Mr Vaz said, ’the guys in Delhi did the biz’. The kids did miss their flight, but they rebooked a few days later and are now touring all over the UK. Thank you, Mr Vaz!

One of the people I contacted was Devopama who, as most of you know, lives at the Dunkirk Memorial Home. He was determined to help and spoke to the Home’s Social Secretary, suggesting that the children perform there. The idea was met with great enthusiasm and a performance at the Home is scheduled after the children’s performances at Minehead Butlins. Local sannyasins are going to go to meet Dwabha and the children and enjoy a taste of India in Somerset.

Read Devopama’s story of their visit to his nursing home.

text by Pankaja – June 2008