IN GRATITUDE ... contd
Mother Gavrilia, member of the Orthodox Church of Greece, was born at Avrilia Papayanni in Constantinople. A disciple of Swami Sivananda of Hrishikesh, she worked in Anandwan for several years, dressing the wounds of leprosy patients. Affectionately known as Sister Leela by the Anandwan family, she was among the first foreigners to work at Anandwan.
Willie Randin, the Chairman of Nouvelle Planete, who had earlier worked in Albert Schweitzer’s Lambarine Hospital in South Africa,came to know about Anandwan through Greet and Guy Barthelemy. Since 1993, Nouvelle Planete has organised several trips of European students to Anandwan. These students spend 3 weeks of their summer holidays in Anandwan, working on various projects. They also help raise funds for Anandwan. Nouvelle Planete has helped in the rebuilding and upgradation of the community development project at Somnath, the farming improvement project, greenhouses, irrigation facilities, community biogas plants, youth villages, pasture development and the plastic re-use project.
In a unique children to children support programme, Kinder Postalzes (Netherlands Committee of Children) has organised children to raise funds through walks, sales of stamps and other events for Anandwan’s mentally and physically challenged children.
Over the last 15 years, this help has been invaluable in building residential facilities for these children.
Nilu Gawankar first came in touch with Baba when she came to attend the youth camp at Somnath. The first woman nuclear engineer to be working in the United States, Nilu was so struck by the work being done at Anandwan that she donated Rs 5 million for the development of Somnath through the Maharashtra Foundation in 1996.
Standing next to Baba and Nilu in the photograph (in spectacles) is S.K.Saxena, a member of the Socialist International, follower of Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan, and a close associate of Anandwan since 1953.