18 December 2015

Dear Friends,

Since 2008 Clear View Project has been providing education and basic support to the most needy in Burma, India, and elsewhere. Over the years we have raised more than $125,000 in donations supporting projects that we have personally visited and where friendships flourish. With your support so far this year, Clear View has been able to gather $25,000 for education and meditation resources going to Ambedkarite Buddhists in south and central India. These activities make a critical difference to young people determined to lift themselves from lives of caste and gender-based discrimination.

Today is a good day to ask for your donations.

I’ve had an eventful year, with travel and ordinations in Europe, teaching in Upaya Zen Center’s unique chaplaincy training program, a visit to the White House, and an opportunity to meet Pope Francis in Rome as part of a intimate Buddhist-Catholic dialogue on the subject of “Suffering, Liberation, and Fraternity.” A month from now, in early January, I’ll return to India—accompanied by my 21-year-old son Alexander—and continue on to Sri Lanka for the biennial conference of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. For twenty-five years INEB has been the source of some of my closest engaged Buddhist friends, a community of inspiration. All the international work I’ve done has emerged from INEB circles. I always go there with an open mind, ready for what comes next.

Clear View Project is intentionally personal and modest in scale. My effort is to build friendship, to encourage, and connect friends to other friends (some of whom have deeper pockets than I). This has always been my networking strategy. For 2016 I am highlighting three Buddhist-based projects in Asia.

• Nagaloka/Nagarjuna Training Institute in Nagpur, India: Clear View has been supporting Nagaloka for the last seven years. Nagaloka/NTI is a second home for me. It is joyful to practice with, learn from, and teach the young NTI students, Dalit Buddhists from poor rural areas across India, carrying forward the radical social vision of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Please see their website: http://www.nagaloka.org. In the last year Nagaloka has expanded its program to include more than 100 students, and they have almost completed construction of new dormitory and guest program housing.
  
• Sakya Hostels in Chennai, India: These hostels, or residences, were organized for displaced or orphaned Dalit children after 2004’s devastating Indian Ocean Tsunami. They are going strong, with separate comfortable facilities for young boys and girls—offering room, board, and love as students attend local schools. Last year Clear View helped with substantial donations toward the purchase of land and construction of a new girl’s dormitory.
  
• Bodhi Hill School & Retreat Center, Burma: INEB friend Harn Sai Leng Wan (just to my left in the photo from the Rome Climate March) is a young visionary educator and trainer. Combining educational approaches from the Buddha, from Rudolf Steiner, and other pedagogical pioneers, Bodhi Hill will provide a home for 300 students and teachers. This vision is just beginning to unfold, but I know that Harn and his team can make this happen and we are committed to offer our full support.

To be concrete about how your donation can be put to work:

• One student’s room and food for a year at Nagaloka or the Sakya Hostels costs $300.
• As Bodhi Hill’s funding begins, an acre of land in Shan State, Myanmar costs roughly $350.

Particular capitol needs are much more extensive and, of course, daily expenses are more modest. Your donation of any amount is gratefully received.

There is always more to say and share. I’ll write again when I return from India and Sri Lanka…

But for now, please donate.

We deeply appreciate your friendship and support.
Warmly, in peace,
Alan Senauke

Clear View Project is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. EIN 45-2251087. Your donation to Clear View Project is tax deductible to the full extent of the law.