TPRF - The Prem Rawat Foundation
The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) strives to address fundamental human needs so that people everywhere can live their lives with dignity, peace, and prosperity. Founded in 2001, TPRF works to extend the outreach of Prem Rawat’s message of peace throughout the world. TPRF also provides aid for people in urgent need of life-sustaining resources like food and water, especially in areas where funds from larger foundations may not be available. The Foundation has actively funded humanitarian initiatives in 27 countries.
An important part of the TPRF's mission is to help improve the quality of life for people most in need. The Foundation regularly holds free medical clinics in India, helps refugees in war-torn areas, and assists other organizations that support charitable, social, or philanthropic programs and services consistent with Prem Rawat's message of peace.
The Foundation has delivered aid rapidly and efficiently in many countries to people whose lives had been devastated by natural disasters. TPRF has relationships with the best humanitarian organizations with a strong presence in the field: Friends of the World Food Program, the Red Cross, the Houston Food Bank, Action Against Hunger, and Oxfam, among others.
The activities of TPRF are funded by the generosity of individuals who are appreciative of Prem Rawat’s message and the Foundation’s humanitarian initiatives and by the sale of related materials.
The promotion and dissemination of Prem Rawat's message is funded by the contributions of people who appreciate his message and wish to help make it available to others. Prem Rawat is a successful private investor and does not receive any compensation from the Foundation or any other organization furthering his message.
These partnerships are very successful. Foundation’s relationship with Friends of the World Food Program has enabled them to provide food for one month to 9,000 Indonesian tsunami victims; 2,000 famine victims in Niger; 4,500 school children in Guatemala; 6,000 earthquake victims in Pakistan; and thousands of earthquake victims in Peru.
Through the Red Cross, the Foundation provided food aid to mudslide victims in the Philippines, and through Oxfam, TPRF helped to provide drinking water to war victims in Lebanon and Israel. Through the Houston Food Bank, TPRF provided three meals a day for three months to 8,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina.
"Food for People" initiative was started by Maharaji which provides nutritious meals twice a day round the year to people in need in India, Nepal and few other countries. The Foundation also regularly holds free medical clinics. Volunteer eye-care professionals come at appointed times about once a year in each location. They examine people's eyes and dispense the most commonly needed prescriptions immediately. Special prescriptions are made up overnight as needed. At each clinic, about 2,000 people are examined, with 75% of them needing glasses. While blindness is widespread in India, most of it is preventable, and TPRF is educating people on how to take care of their eyes as well as treating their eyes with simple medications and corrective lenses.
TPRF) is a California not-for-profit public benefit corporation created in 2001. The IRS has granted TPRF public charity status as a 501(c)(3) organization for tax-exempt reporting (Form 990) and contributors’ tax deduction purposes in the U.S. Financial statements are audited annually by an outside accounting firm. Tax returns for all years have been filed with the Internal Revenue Service and the State of California and are available for viewing online at: GuideStar
Recent News & Activities of TPRF
Inmates, Jail Authorities and Academics Applaud Peace Education at San Antonio Jail
[Tue, 31 Jan 2012]
San Antonio, Texas: A Peace Education Program (PEP), based on Prem Rawat’s message of peace and sponsored by The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF), has been one of the most popular classes at the Fabian Dale Dominguez State Jail in San Antonio. Jail authorities have reported a significantly positive impact upon the over 1,000 inmates who have participated in the program since it began in 2007 and a marked reduction in recidivism.
The success of the program in San Antonio has recently attracted the attention of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA), where particular attention is being given to addressing the problem of repeated re-incarceration of released offenders.
Last week, Prem Rawat spent two days in San Antonio, first speaking to the PEP class at the jail on January 25 and the next day at an event called Peace on the Inside, hosted by the Criminal Justice Department at UTSA. Speaking to the inmates who had written to him of their appreciation of what they had discovered for themselves through the PEP classes, Mr. Rawat said, “Ultimately, you did not give up on yourself. And that’s the only thing that’s going to allow you to transform and rise above like the phoenix from the ashes. Not from crumpled or slightly burnt but from the ashes rises the phoenix. Be the phoenix.”
After his talk, Prem Rawat responded to questions and expressions from nine of the inmates.
Prem Rawat was the keynote speaker at the Peace on the Inside event at UTSA for professors, students and representatives of local groups with an interest in criminal justice. Panel member Dr. Michael Gilbert, an expert in the new field of restorative justice, said of the PEP program, “We think something very positive is happening here. Offenders seem to find clarity. They seem to find understanding of themselves and a personal sense of inner peace, all of which may be needed for them to break destructive cycles and behavior patterns that have led them time and time again to jail and prison.”
In his address, Prem Rawat spoke of how honored he felt to have been invited by the inmates at Dominguez Jail to speak to them and how moved he was by their comments. Asked by a UTSA student what advice he gave to the inmates, he responded, “Not to forget themselves, because while their liberty might be gone, their humanity nobody can take away from them. They need to make that humanity prosper in their lives, to make sure that it grows.”
At the end of the event, State Representative Joaquin Castro awarded Mr. Rawat with a state resolution and the title of Honorary Mayor of San Antonio in recognition of his work with the Dominguez Jail inmates and his continued work in helping all humanity.
TPRF-sponsored Peace Education Programs are taking place in 25 prisons in 10 countries with over 3,000 inmates participating each month, and there is a growing demand for the program internationally.
Monica, the sister of Lisandro Martinez, a former inmate at the Dominguez State Jail (shown below) who attended the PEP, shakes hands with Prem Rawat as she thanks him on behalf of her brother. (expanded view of top photo)
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Television News Segment of Prem Rawat's Visit to San Antonio
[Sat, 28 Jan 2012]
The following clip (with English transcript) is a segment from Univision Channel 41 "News of the Day" in San Antonio Texas. It describes Prem Rawat's visit to speak at the University of Texas (UTSA) forum "Peace on the Inside" on Thursday, January 26th, 2012. The program focused on the work of TPRF's Peace Education Program which has been operating a model initiative at a regional correctional facility. Mr. Rawat also spoke at that facility - Dominguez State Jail - on the previous day. More information and video features about these events will be posted here soon.
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TPRF aids water purification program in drought-ravaged Ethiopia
[Tue, 13 Dec 2011]
Only a third of residents in the Borena Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia's largest province, have access to clean and safe drinking water. A $20,000 contribution from TPRF is helping to fund a water purification program in the region. This program directly reduces the incidence of waterborne diseases among the local population, giving about 10,000 people a better chance for a healthy, productive life.
Leading the effort on the ground is AmeriCares, a nonprofit global health and disaster international relief organization, that delivers aid to people in crisis around the world. TPRF also partnered with AmeriCares to alleviate human suffering in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Severe drought across the Horn of Africa continues to strain the resources of local and international relief organizations. In countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, the situation is aggravated by the influx of some 7.5 million Somali refugees, fleeing political turmoil with little more than the clothes on their backs.
The Borena Zone is still struggling to absorb the 50,000 Ethiopian farmers from overpopulated areas selected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2004 for voluntary resettlement. Persistent drought and famine have led to conflict between these new residents and the zone's native population.
According to Ethiopia's Central Statistical Agency, only 32% of the total population of Oromia, Ethiopia's largest province, has access to safe drinking water. Through its Africa Disaster Relief Fund's Clean Water Initiative, AmeriCares is mounting a large-scale emergency response.
"With TPRF funds, AmeriCares will provide 2,000 households, or about 10,000 people, with two sachets per day of PuR, a water purification agent, for a period of three months. PuR is a powder that, when mixed with contaminated water, removes many pollutants, viruses, and bacteria.
"Two sachets will purify 20 liters of water, which is more than the minimum of 15 liters recommended by humanitarian emergency guidelines," said Ella R. Gudwin, AmeriCare's vice president of emergency response.
She said PuR distribution will specifically target households relying on muddy pond water. AmeriCares' partners in the area will provide training and demonstrations to make sure that the recipients know how to use the sachets and will also contribute materials necessary to complete the purification process, such as pails and clean cloth to use as strainers. Monitoring is also in place to ensure that families are using the powder appropriately.
This is the fourth grant TPRF has made this year to underwrite humanitarian initiatives in the Horn of Africa.
"The Horn of Africa famine has not attracted the kind of donor engagement that such a catastrophic event might otherwise engender," Gudwin said. "I believe people see anything related to Somalia as a lost cause, and many innocent people both in Somalia and the surrounding drought-affected countries continue to suffer. For this reason, we are especially thankful for this grant from TPRF and the sense of hope that it inspires in desperate circumstances."
Photo credit: Sonya Sagan/Oxfam
See press release: TPRF to Aid Water Purification in Horn of Africa
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European Parliament Welcomes Back Ambassador of Peace Prem Rawat
[Thu, 01 Dec 2011]
European Parliament, Brussels, December 1, 2011—The 1st Vice President of the European Parliament, the Honorable Gianni Pittella, hosted an international conference titled: “Peace and Well-being, addressing the founding values of the European Union” on November 28.
Against a backdrop of international uncertainty, including riots in many European cities, government change and continued unrest in the Middle East, an audience of institutional representatives and MEPs joined academics and business people from more than 25 countries to explore the most pressing issues facing Europe and the world today: peace and well-being.
Gianni Pittella and keynote speaker Prem Rawat were introduced by Dr. Anthony Seldon, political historian, author, journalist, and current Headmaster of Wellington College (UK). Referring to Ambassador of Peace Prem Rawat, Dr. Seldon commented, “Peace—what a wonderful country to be Ambassador for.”
Dr. Seldon then set the scene for the event by inviting the whole audience to pause for a moment of silent reflection, describing the feeling of peace as an “ineffable and indescribable experience, which is here now.”
Ambassador of Peace Prem Rawat spoke from the heart and without notes, focusing on the personal need for peace, “one day at a time, one person at a time.” He touched on the issue of conflict, pointing out that “wars happen because people lose respect for each other.” Emphasizing the human connection people have with each other, he added, “Every single being on the face of this earth is your neighbor.”
Referring to the recent low General Election turnout in one European country, Mr. Rawat commented, “Democracy is a few serving the many. Today, democracy has become the many serving the few. I’m not a politician, but I am a human being who holds very close to his heart the fundamental possibility of peace on this earth.” He said that “peace is in the heart of human beings, not in the mind of human beings” and concluded, “Peace needs to be given the chance to happen. We have tried everything else.”
Mr. Pittella and Mr. Rawat took questions from students from the Red Cross Nordic United World College, and then the EU representatives present were invited to show public commitment to peace and well-being by signing the “Pledge to Peace.” Inspired by the lectures of Prem Rawat and his message of personal peace, the Pledge to Peace was created under the patronage of Gianni Pittella. It is a call to action to do something tangible for peace in 2012 and beyond.
Mr. Pittella explained, "The Pledge to Peace is based upon the founding principles of the European Union, the core principles of the Lisbon Treaty 2009, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It promotes the development of peace and peace education to enhance the well-being of its peoples.”
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10th Anniversary Holiday Campaign
[Wed, 30 Nov 2011]10th Anniversary Holiday Campaign
In 10 short years, TPRF has become a respected, efficient, and effective charity doing work on 5 continents, addressing the fundamental human needs of food, water, and peace. (Watch video highlights.)
Help us continue:
The goal was simple: at least 100 new monthly donors contributing $10 or more in the month of December.
**UPDATE** Thanks to your enthusiastic response and generosity, the initial goal was reached soon after the campaign began and the number of new monthly donors has just about doubled from the original target as the campaign closed on December 31st, and new donor support has continued into the new year. Your continuing support through 2012 and beyond is welcome and most appreciated as TPRF extends its founder's mission to promote dignity, peace, and prosperity for all people in all countries.
Happy New Year!
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Because you and other TPRF supporters give what they can:
• Prem Rawat’s message of peace is being applauded internationally
Most recently: At an event called Peace and Well-being at the European Parliament
• Food for People is giving children born into hopeless poverty in India, Nepal, and soon Ghana a chance to grow up healthy and learn skills to live different lives.
• TPRF’s Peace Education Program is transforming lives in prisons.
• Essential aid grants to provide food, water, eye care to prevent blindness, and disaster relief have helped people in over 35 countries.
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A Fresh Start for Cape Town's Next Generation
[Tue, 22 Nov 2011]
TPRF Funds Food Security Program in Mfuleni Township
With food to ease their hunger and social and educational programs to lift them out of the cycle of poverty, schoolchildren in Cape Town's Mfuleni Township can look forward to a brighter future. That's the simple but effective philosophy of Afrika Tikkun (AT), a nonprofit that has been helping families secure their long-term nutritional needs since 1994. A $10,000 grant from TPRF is providing nutritional support for one year to 55 elementary and high-school students in AT's Food Security Program.
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Quest for Peace
[Thu, 17 Nov 2011]
The following is an excerpt from Prem Rawat’s address on peace in Italy at the Theatre Verdi of Padua’s town hall in October 2010.
Peace—either you feel it in your life or you don’t. If you feel, enjoy it. If you don’t feel it, find out how you can.
First: What is peace? What is this elusive thing that we are all trying to pursue? Is it an idea?
Why doesn’t peace seem to be a happening thing? Because the individual is missing from the equation. We talk about world peace, not individual peace. We see the final product.
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I’ll Never Come Back to Prison
[Tue, 08 Nov 2011]
by Lewis S.
This is a letter sent in June 2011 by an inmate at Dominguez State Jail in San Antonio, Texas. He has since been released.
Listening to Prem Rawat has changed me in many ways: The way I handle situations in my life. I think about it first before I even say anything. It has even helped me to be able to get along with others that are disrespectful, even mean.
Prem has helped me to look at different situations that happen here in prison. He helps me to open up and talk to people.
This peace is a good feeling in my heart and soul. I wake up in the morning a different person, in peace with myself and with others. Being helpful instead of getting in the way. Being positive instead of negative. Showing peace to others and to my loved ones at home.
Mr. Prem Rawat has been a real blessing in my life. He has helped me to find myself. I love myself, and I will show this to my baby girl, 8 months old, and to all my loved ones.
My release date is 8/11/2011. I will continue to listen to Prem Rawat when I get out and share his message with my loved ones and friends. I want so much to share his wisdom with others when I get home.
I believe in my heart this would really help people in need of peace. Out of the most respect. Even for younger people. I just know it would help others that really want inner peace. It has helped me. I feel inner strength just by listening to him.
I just know if I take Prem Rawat home with me and listen daily and share, I’ll never come back to prison. This is what I want to do. God Bless You. (L.S.)
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TPRF at WaterAid Anniversary Hosted by The Prince of Wales
[Fri, 28 Oct 2011]
Last month representatives of TPRF were invited to the home of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales at Clarence House, on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the founding of the International NGO, WaterAid. This invitation arose in recognition of the substantive support TPRF has provided to WaterAid over several years. Prince Charles, as President of WaterAid, hosted the reception for about 80 people, and met with TPRF representatives to discuss the plight of those without clean water or sanitation. He expressed his thanks for the support the Foundation provided.
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Prem Rawat Receives the Freedom of the City of London
[Wed, 26 Oct 2011]
During a special ceremony at Guildhall in London, Prem Rawat received the Freedom of the City of London in front of more than 100 distinguished guests. He was nominated for the Freedom of the City in recognition of his 40 years of relentless efforts toward peace, human dignity, and humanitarian work.
As the ceremony commenced, Prem Rawat was greeted by a guard of honour before taking the formal
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The Food for People Story
[Sat, 15 Oct 2011]The First Five Years
Opened in India, 2006
A little over five years ago, the doors opened to TPRF’s first Food for People facility, located in a tribal area of northeast India in the state of Jharkhand, near the village of Bantoli.
Children here grow up with firsthand understanding of the daily struggle to stay alive. Simple huts with dirt floors provide basic shelter, and food must be coaxed from rocky soil or purchased with the money from hard manual labor. Plumbing and electricity in the homes is unknown. For many children, going to school is a luxury they cannot afford, while others who attend classes when they can, often do so sporadically and on an empty stomach.
One may well ask, what could ever turn this situation around? What could bring even a glimmer of hope for a better life, allow children to experience childhood and learn the skills they could use in the future while making daily life in the present a little easier?
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TPRF Funds School Lunches for Johannesburg Teens
[Wed, 12 Oct 2011]
In the poorest sections of Johannesburg, balanced meals financed by a $30,000 grant from TPRF will give 500 high school students a better start in life. This is the second TPRF grant for the same program.
The ACFS Community Education and Feeding Scheme (ACFS) has been feeding Africa's indigent children since 1945, when Bishop Trevor Huddleston began distributing peanut butter sandwiches at schools. Today, the program goes much further, says Executive Director Phindile Hlalele. While school meals remains its core focus, she says, "we also work to promote healthy, contributing citizens who are economically viable and self-sufficient."
ACFS targets the neediest children. Some are orphans or heads of families; others are not only malnourished but also infected with the HIV/AIDS virus. For all of these children, the health benefits are only the beginning. The promise of a nutritious meal encourages them to attend school regularly and makes it easier for them to concentrate on their lessons. Improved school performance builds self-confidence as well as skills.
Starting this month, meals will be cooked and served on-site from Monday through Friday. The TPRF grant will cover the program for six months.
"ACFS plans to offer these children who come to school with empty stomachs something to eat for the day," Hlalele says. "For some of them, the meal we offer is the only meal until the next day."
The menu combines carbohydrates for bodybuilding, proteins, and vegetables to protect against disease. Community health workers, nursing sisters, and social workers help to measure the effectiveness of this diet through regular visits to the school as well as interviews with the beneficiaries and their teachers, some of whom are also ACFS volunteers.
School attendance will be monitored and compared against rates of absenteeism before the program.
"Through this grant," Hlalele says, "we will be able to feed children that come to school without even a slice of bread. Our assistance will make a change in school attendance, school performance and self-esteem, and also allow those who are on medication to take it on full stomachs."
Photo Credit – African Children’s Feeding Scheme (South Africa)
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Changing Lives in Cambodia's Poorest Province
[Fri, 30 Sep 2011]
Food, Water and Education Lift Standard of Living
In the villages of Cambodia's Kampong Speu province, west of Phnom Penh, a pilot program sponsored in part by TPRF is restoring self-sufficiency and dignity to the poorest of the poor.
The Cambodian Sao Sary Foundation (SSF), dedicated to building strong communities that will impact positively on the standard of living of poor and vulnerable people, is combating the demoralizing effects of poverty through an immediate infusion of nutritious food and clean water coupled with education in efficient farming methods, sanitation, and financial management.
"Our village is so green now. There are gardens in every home," said a villager in Kraing Rohong, the first village to benefit from SSF's comprehensive approach. TPRF has contributed $21,200 to help SSF spread this successful initiative to other villages.
After years of political turmoil, Kampong Speu province is now suffering from severe drought. This has led to chronic failure of crops and depletion of livestock, depriving farmers in the area of their traditional sources of income. More than half the households in the area live below Cambodia's established poverty line of US$1.25 a day. Rice and drinking water must be purchased in other, more fortunate villages, where merchants often charge exorbitant rates—and many families have nothing left to sell in order to buy food and water. Adults have tried to support their families through logging or domestic work in neighboring cities and countries, where they are often exploited and end up working without pay. Desperation has forced some to sell their young daughters into the sex trade in order to survive.
Under these conditions, development among the villages of Kampong Speu has been severely impeded. About 90% of households don't even have a sanitary toilet.
To these overwhelming conditions, SSF brings a simple, pragmatic solution. It begins with immediate food assistance and the building of wells in water-scarce communities. Local families are provided with training, tools and seeds to plant home gardens, which will give them long-term food security and a source of income. The training includes farming techniques such as intercropping that will increase yields and harvests, as well as basic financial literacy to guide families in the management of income generated by their gardens.
TPRF's grant allows SSF to extend this program to Thlok Downsok village, where it will benefit 85 families, or about 560 individuals.
In expressing his appreciation, SSF Executive Director Vichetr Uon said, "You truly did a wonderful thing." One year after SSF began working in Kraing Rohong, he said, "This village has gained significant improvement in terms of human trafficking reduction, women empowerment, increase in livelihood and a decrease in hunger as well as sending the children here to school ... additionally, SSF has managed to convert their financial habits of borrowing from loan sharks to self-sustaining loans from community-led rice banks and animal banks."
Photo credits: SSF team and Vichetr Uon (woman at water machine)
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Emergency Water Saving Lives in Ethiopia
[Fri, 16 Sep 2011]
Herders and agricultural workers in Ethiopia's Dollo Bay and Dollo Ado areas, near the epicenter of the worst drought to afflict the Horn of Africa in 60 years, are getting relief in the form of clean, safe water through a partnership between TPRF and International Relief and Development (IRD), an Arlington, VA-based nonprofit known for its rapid response to international humanitarian crises. TPRF approved a $25,000 grant to IRD to help provide emergency relief to about 24,000 people.
"This morning when we woke up, five different villages in Dollo Ado were completely out of water," Scott Webb, IRD's relief officer in Dollo Ado, reported recently. "By this afternoon, they will have water. IRD can hold its head high that we did the right thing today and acted quickly in an emergency to save lives."
The severe drought conditions in the area are aggravated by political factors. Dollo Bay and Dollo Ado are on Ethiopia's border with Somalia, where for the past year rebel forces have foiled most international relief efforts. As a result, refugees are pouring across the borders to already fragile host communities in Ethiopia and Kenya.
IRD is trucking water from the Ganale Dorya River, the only nearby perennial river, to 16 villages identified as most at risk. The water will be purified, treated and stored in 10,000-liter water distribution tanks that will be established in each village. IRD is working with or setting up community water management committees to oversee water distribution, use, and management. While the immediate aim is to increase access to safe water for drought-affected families, IRD is also disseminating information for improved health and sanitation to avert and mitigate waterborne diseases such as acute diarrhea, to which children are especially vulnerable.
"We are so grateful to The Prem Rawat Foundation for its generous support of this critical effort," said IRD's Richard Wagner, who is in Ethiopia directing IRD's response. "Water and sanitation are essential to saving lives and readying communities for longer term relief and recovery. This grant allows IRD to help the international community fill critical gaps in the emergency response and make a difference."
The grant to IRD is one of several TPRF is making to organizations working to help East Africans survive this crisis and regain their fundamental human right to live with dignity, peace and prosperity.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Scott Webb, IRD
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Water Brings Hope to Kenya's Driest Regions
[Sat, 10 Sep 2011]
The families of nomadic herdsmen in Kenya's remote Wajir province, where in some areas it has not rained in three years, will have a better chance at a healthy future thanks to an immediate infusion of emergency supplies of clean drinking water.
TPRF has made an outright grant of $25,000 to Mercy Corps (MC) and up to $10,000 more in matching funds to help address the immediate life-threatening situation as well as to take steps to help avoid such devastation in the future. The matching funds will be at 50 cents per dollar for funds raised on a TPRF campaign on Facebook.
Thanks in part to this donation, MC will be able to improve the ability of 7,500 households—about 45,000 people—in Wajir to cope with and recover from these natural and man-made disasters. In addition to trucking in water, MC volunteers will ensure that target communities have rehabilitated and functioning water supply systems, appropriate sanitation facilities and increased access to information about health and hygiene. Overall, Mercy Corps is helping an estimated 195,750 people caught in what has been called Kenya’s worst drought in more than 60 years.
Wajir, bordered by Somalia to the east and Ethiopia to the north, is Kenya's second largest county, covering more than 35,000 square miles—about the size of the state of Maine. As many as 70% of its residents depend almost entirely on livestock for their livelihood.
For centuries, drought has been a fact of life across the Horn of Africa. Local herdsmen, who rely on rainfall to replenish water supplies and grow crops to feed their families and herds, have developed a nomadic lifestyle to cope with it. But this traditional response is insufficient in the face of a constellation of new factors.
Whereas major droughts used to occur perhaps once a decade, giving the land and its people time to recover, climate change has greatly accelerated the pace. Now drought descends on the region on average every two years. Abetting these climactic challenges are widespread political turmoil and corruption.
In Wajir, this has resulted in the collapse of the local economy, decimating purchasing power at a time when its people have little or no livestock left to sell. Concurrent inflation puts safe drinking water beyond the reach of many. Herdsmen are traveling farther and farther from home in desperate attempts to keep their remaining animals alive, leaving their women and children to fend for themselves.
This is the third Mercy Corp initiative that TPRF has helped to fund. Earlier this year, the two nonprofits teamed up to ameliorate the aftereffects of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan; at the end of 2010, TPRF helped fund MC's response to the cholera outbreak in Haiti.
photo credit: mother and child/Joy Portella/Mercy Corps
photo credit: girl with water cans/Erin Gray/Mercy Corps
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A New Life of Possibilities
[Fri, 26 Aug 2011]
The following is a personal note written by an ex-inmate who discovered personal freedom during the time of his incarceration at the Dominguez State Jail in San Antonio, Texas.
My name is Rene Chapa. In 2009 I was sentenced to the Dominguez State Jail for one year. Before then, my life had become chaotic and unmanageable. I wanted answers. I wanted to know why my life had been the way it was.
In prison, I attended classes, church, and AA. But I wanted more. Then I heard about the Inner Peace class [part of TPRF’s Peace Education Program in prisons]. I had no idea what it was. I just knew I wanted to be okay.
I started listening to Prem Rawat’s message. It connected me to what I had been reading—the Bible and other material—and to a feeling of peace.
I did not understand at first what Mr. Rawat was telling me. How could he help me? But I knew without a doubt that this was what I wanted. I wrote a letter about peace and read it in the class. I knew that this would work for me when I got out nine months later. I told Roberto and Chantal, the people who brought the videos of Prem Rawat’s message of peace to us, that they would be my friends when I got out.
With time, I understood that there was a place of peace within me. This was a message of Love. With the desire and thirst I had to go within, I found that place of clarity, understanding, patience, love, kindness, and gratitude. I was able to be conscious and appreciate the breath and the gift of life.
I am so grateful to Prem Rawat and all those who have helped me to live a new life of possibilities and gifts. I want to share this experience with everyone. I asked God to use me to help TPRF reach out and help others. Now I have been asked to be part of the Peace Education Program (PEP) in San Antonio and go to Dominguez Jail with the team to talk with inmates there.
I am so happy that I was able to take a bus from Texas to see Prem Rawat in Los Angeles when he spoke at the Shrine Auditorium in August. As part of the PEP team, I attended a meeting with people around the world who go to prisons with this message. I got to share my story with them and let them know how much this message means to people like me.
I am so grateful for that gift that only peace can bring.
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A Chance at Last
[Fri, 22 Jul 2011]
A letter from inmate William W.
For nine months, I was part of a workshop on Inner Peace at the Dominguez State Jail in San Antonio, Texas. Because of this group, my life has changed. I now see that I have a chance at last.
I am 56 years old and had it all to lose, and I did four times. I entered the Department of Criminal Justice and was given a bunk, once again to find myself just a number. As I put on my white clothes again, I felt the walls close in. I have prayed and not understood and blamed the wrong ones.
I look around. I see what is at hand: “Inner peace.” What, I ask, is that? What I found was a man on TV. What I heard on that TV was too simple to be true.
For a week it worked on me. From the inside, something scared me. How can what is inside of me possibly help me? I wondered. I leave the room with Prem Rawat’s words running through my head. I am hearing something, not understanding how to comprehend it, accept the experiences of it.
I found peace in a place where there is none. I took in something new inside of myself. As real fulfillment came over me, it brought a new understanding of myself and showed me what was in my heart.
Now I have information that makes me more accountable, a perspective that has given my life significance and meaning and, most of all, inner peace—applied directly to the wounds of my life. I found the direction I longed for.
I learned from the message of Prem Rawat how the smallest thing overlooked has brought a real change in how I see life—opening up a hope, joy, and peace never found before. Life without purpose and fulfillment was like riding on a rocking horse, making much motion but no progress.
Thanks to the volunteers at this unit, a man on TV has changed the way I see life. I have found freedom because of their love for Prem Rawat’s message of peace.
Thank you, Mr. Rawat, for showing me real peace comes only as I seek it. The seed of fulfillment has grown into inward cleanness and peace. I am leaving this unit a changed man. You have showed me how to smell the perfume of life and how to enjoy being part of it. I can never thank you enough for helping me find purpose, fulfillment and peace.
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Relief for Libyans
[Wed, 20 Jul 2011]
Just four months ago, Libya exploded into violent civil war. Thousands became refugees overnight. Thousands more were no longer able to obtain medications for serious medical conditions. In an expedient response, TPRF donated funds to help that country’s most vulnerable victims. Shortly afterward, the UN launched a worldwide humanitarian aid appeal for Libya.
Today, despite Libya’s continued political uncertainty and widespread conflict, thousands of refugees and displaced persons have obtained the help they need, thanks to a-political humanitarian organizations such as TPRF.
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"Inside I Am A Good Man"
[Fri, 15 Jul 2011]
Until 1994, if you were a black man growing up under South Africa’s apartheid era (official government policy of racial segregation), you would not have the right to vote, to a decent education or health services. You could be living in a cramped room with your extended family, in a squatter camp, or out on the street—an easy prey to gangs, where guns, drugs, and alcohol are readily available. Chances are by 18 you’d have become a drug addict, have AIDS, or be in prison.
Three years ago, inspired by TPRF’s successful prison program, two women started workshops in Zonderwater (which means “without water”), a maximum-security prison, bringing Prem Rawat’s message of peace and hope.
Today there is a team of 10 volunteers, who use TPRF printed and video materials for the 12-week course.Read more ...
Zainabu's Story, Tanzania
[Thu, 07 Jul 2011]
Last year, TPRF made a grant to WaterAid to support their long-term Community Managed Water Supply program in remote rural areas of Tanzania that lack basic safe water. Not only does this program target neediest areas, but it is based on community participation, local skill development, and long-term sustainability.
For forty-three-year-old Zainabu Salum, the new access to clean water is changing her life and that of her fellow villagers in Tanzania. She explains, “Before, we used to have to ration water. We used to get lots of stomachaches. Now we have enough to wash our hands before dinner and after going to the toilet. My children have time to go to school and I have more time to farm. I take vegetables to town to sell. We are very happy.”
Zainabu lives in a rural village close to the town of Singida, in central Tanzania. The work of WaterAid has already had a transformational effect. Prior to WaterAid’s intervention, women and girls used to fetch water from “traditional wells” — muddy holes dug by women about a three-hour round trip from the village. The water they collected so laboriously was often contaminated by animal waste.
Through WaterAid, a borehole was constructed to supply three tap stands. The community paid about $37 towards the pump, which cost $967. The system is run by a community water committee, and users pay about 2 cents per bucket. The old and disabled are given rations. The money goes into a fund to pay for maintenance and for the pump attendants’ wages.
Living in one of the poorest countries in the world, 18.5 million of Tanzania’s people have no access to safe water and sanitation. Not surprisingly, over 21,000 children under age five die each year from diarrhea infections.
When clean water is made available to a village that has had none, life changes for everyone. Young girls, the usual water carriers, can go to school, better hygiene reduces disease, and more food can be grown. An essential need is met and appreciation abounds.
Photo credit: WaterAid/ Marco Betti (photo of Zainabu)
Photo Credit: WaterAid/Alex Blake
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What? Why? How Could It Be Possible?
[Tue, 14 Jun 2011]
Students of Mazara, Italy, ask Prem Rawat questions on the last day of the Week of Peace
Question: The people of the Maghreb have a dream: freedom, peace, tranquility, and serenity. In my opinion, only a wise person with a good heart like you can help these people. Do your future plans include a visit to Libya or in some way offering help for these people?
Prem Rawat: Your question is very heartfelt. I travel around the world wherever I am invited and feel that I can help. I would be very honored, some day, to be invited to Libya, and to talk to the citizens of Libya. That would be wonderful because, fundamentally, my message does not reach into the realms of religions or philosophies or cultures. It reaches for the heart of every human being. And that is the same everywhere.
Question: What do you think prevents the presidents of the nations of the world from stopping wars and deciding that the priority is to let the young people realize their dreams of peace?
Prem Rawat: You know, one thing that separates us from monkeys and squirrels and cockroaches is the ability to reason. But if we don’t use it, then we have nothing to be proud of, at that point.
I completely agree that war should not even be an option. Talk it out; settle your differences. To kill another person for your reason cannot be accepted—not in this day and age or ever. Who gets killed when wars happen? The innocent get killed, not the perpetrators.
It is the children who suffer—the little children who will never know their father. They will grow up with hatred in their heart. Where there should be peace, where there should be enjoyment, where there should be love, they will have hatred towards the country that killed their father. How sad is that?
Like you, people everywhere want peace. Everywhere! Peace is not an idea or a dream that started yesterday. The idea of peace has been there as long as there have been human beings. I truly believe that there was an idea of peace even before documented history. This was important to people.
Unfortunately, as a young person in this world, you will carry the burden of this huge river that is starting to flow around the world, for making peace a reality. I really hope that your efforts perpetuate it and that, one day, the people of this world be able to experience peace in their lives.
Question: You have said: "It is easy to let the heart shine—as simple as water that can turn the desert into a garden, that can raise mountains, that can destroy and create." In that regard, I wanted to ask you the meaning of simplicity and dignity and what kind of relationship exists between them.
Prem Rawat: To me, when something is, and is allowed to be, it shines for what it is worth. In our lives, in our complex behavior, we forget to be human beings. When was the last time we just felt like a human being?
How many of you are wondering, “Is that, a bad feeling? A good feeling? Is that underrated? Overrated?” So, wait a minute. What does that feel like to just be a human being? Manufactured, not by Taiwan, China, the U.S., but by Divinity itself. A human being is the place where the miracle of miracles takes place. A breath comes into you and fills you with the gift of life. It goes, comes again. Goes, comes again. Goes, comes again.
Feeling like a human being, is to feel blessed beyond belief. This happens when you become simple, because this is who you are. And this is when you fully understand your dignity.
Question: In your opinion, how it could be possible to turn on the light of peace and dignity in the heart of humanity?
Prem Rawat: So, again an incredibly good question. How do we light this up? Where is the switch? Well, that’s the problem. It’s not one switch. It’s six billion switches, and each one needs to be turned on. There’s no other way.
Six billion switches, one at a time. Can it be done? Yes. When people like you get interested in turning on switches, that is the best news for this world. I don’t stand here full of despair. I know the problems. I stand here full of hope. I stand here full of tremendous excitement! More and more people in this world are genuinely getting interested in peace.
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Boosting Productivity of Subsistence Farmers
[Thu, 02 Jun 2011]
Just over a week ago, TPRF’s recent partner, The Adventure Project (TAP), initiated a unique approach to solving the problem of hunger in East Africa by helping farmers to become not only self-sufficient but also profitable. Impossible? Only if you don’t know about the power of ordinary people joining together with imagination and passion and whatever contributions they can make.
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I Used to Live in Loneliness
[Fri, 20 May 2011]
by Benita, an inmate in Unit 31, Ezeiza, Argentina
I fell in love with Prem Rawat’s message in prison. The message is about the right a human being has to life, to dignity, to the knowledge of oneself.
Before hearing this message, my life was so cruel, so hard. There was no reason to feel thankful, happy, or good. The years went by like this until I ended up in prison with a life sentence. I went through many things in prison. I was against everything and everyone—against life, against myself—feeling so guilty, carrying a heavy burden.
One day an inmate gave me printed material from the workshop on peace. Then I started attending it myself. From the first day, Prem Rawat’s message reached my tough heart, and that was not easy! I continued listening. Then I started inviting inmates to this wonderful workshop and talking about Prem Rawat to everybody, including the staff. Week after week I attended, and I was feeling better every week.It seems almost impossible to be transformed in prison, especially with a life sentence, but I was transformed by Prem Rawat’s words of peace and hope. Since I started listening to him, my life changed completely. Now I have a new life. I have received this beautiful experience that he gives, and I am in peace.
Prem Rawat visited us here last year. When I saw him, I felt an immense happiness. He spoke to us with so much love. Then I spoke to him, and he told me beautiful words that I keep deep in my heart. That gave me a lot of strength to continue with my life.
I am a much better person now. Last week the authorities informed me that, due to my very good conduct, my life sentence will be reduced. Probably next year I will be sent to my hometown prison. There I will tell everybody about the message. I want to help other people feel what I do.
Before I used to live in loneliness, like an abandoned flower in the desert that needed water. My life changed completely when Prem Rawat came to my life. His message has reached so deep in my heart and made me feel more human than ever before. I’m still in prison and will be for a long, long time. My body is imprisoned here, but my heart is so far away.
I wrote a song for Prem Rawat: “This gift of life I have learnt because of you. I hear your voice so precious in my heart. I carry in my soul words of peace filling my being. Thank you for bringing peace, hope, and joy to my life.”
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TPRF Awarded 4 Stars by Charity Navigator for Third Time
[Fri, 13 May 2011]
Charity Navigator, considered America’s premier evaluator for US non-profit organizations, has once again awarded TPRF their highest rating of 4 stars. The Charity Navigator rating system includes an analysis of how efficiently the organization uses its support and how well it is growing its services over time. This is the third consecutive award of Four Stars for TPRF.
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Tanzania
[Thu, 12 May 2011]In 2010 TPRF made a grant to WaterAid to support the long-term Community Managed Water Supply program in remote rural areas of Tanzania to ensure equitable and sustainable access to water, sanitation and hygiene services for the poorest and most vulnerable communities. See the article below about the positive impact this specific assistance has made in the life of one rural village in the central part of the country.
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Expressions from Inmates
[Sun, 08 May 2011]
Expressions from Inmates
Inmates in correctional facilities around the world are listening to Prem Rawat’s message of peace. Most attend weekly workshops where they watch videos brought to them by TPRF volunteers and have interactive discussions. Some have access to audiotapes or watch videos on a computer. Some only have a few reading materials they might borrow from the prison library.
However they receive the message, whatever language they speak or culture they are from, they have expressed profound appreciation for the way their life has changed as a result.
Many send letters directly to Prem Rawat or addressed to him at TPRF. Below are just a few of the many expression letters that have been received:
Dear Prem Rawat, My life has changed with your message. It makes me feel more human than ever before. I used to be lonely, like an abandoned flower in the desert. (Ezeiza Women’s Prison, Argentina)
I can change my way of living. I’ve become aware that to be in peace with oneself is the most marvelous thing. (Cancun Public Municipal Jail, Mexico)
In my life I was always worried. I had fears of waking up every day in prison. I started to listen to Prem Rawat, and he taught me to enjoy this life. Today the peace is in me, something I didn’t know. Knowing peace makes me feel good. (Zonderwater Prison, S. Africa)
Dear Prem Rawat, Before, I couldn’t feel the meaning and the value of my existence until two months ago when they brought your message. Now I no longer face my life with confusion but with gratitude. What you bring is the value that is full of hope and a bright future.” (Taoyuan Women’s Jail, Taiwan)
I used to be angry all the time before I started coming to these classes. My family and my wife told me they see a big difference in the way I’m acting and carry myself now. Thank you so much for helping us to find that inner peace. (Dominguez State Jail, Texas)
Thank you for providing a perspective that has given my life significance, meaning, and most of all, peace—applied directly to the wounds of my life—that personally, privately, and powerfully give me the direction I longed for. (Dominguez State Jail, Texas)
| If you would like to help support TPRF’s Peace Education Program in prisons so that more inmates can have the opportunity to hear Prem Rawat’s message, you are welcome to make a donation online or send a check to TPRF. |
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TPRF Joins Global Attack Against Hunger
[Mon, 02 May 2011]
Over 925 million people—more than the populations of the US, Canada, and the European Union combined—will not get enough to eat this year. World Food Program USA, nonprofit that generates support in the US for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), is launching a major fund-raising campaign via mail to help underwrite its priority programs—with a pledge from TPRF to match the first $30,000 raised. Letters to the organization's donors will include information about TPRF's grant.
The objectives of the World Food Program (WFP), the food-assistance arm of the United Nations, are very much in line with TPRF's goals.
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Prison Official Speaks About TPRF's Peace Education Program
[Sat, 16 Apr 2011]
(VIDEO) Millions of inmates are crammed into overcrowded correctional facilities around the world with no educational programs addressing self-esteem or positive life skills. The rate of recidivism in some U.S. states is 75% or higher. In contrast, Captain Lorenzo Carter, of the Dominguez State Prison in San Antonio, Texas, recently reported that for inmates there who had attended the TPRF’s Inner Peace Workshop, less than 1% have returned to this prison.
For almost four years, TPRF volunteers Roberto and Chantal Piriz, Sherilyn Strickland, and Jim Clink have been presenting workshops for inmates based on Prem Rawat’s message of peace. In organizing the workshops, they have worked closely with Captain Carter, head of Correctional Officers and Volunteer Services at the Dominguez Prison. In a recent interview with Chantal and Roberto, the Captain spoke about the workshops: “The offenders who attend the program, their disciplinary record has gone down. They stay out of trouble. It has a positive impact on everyone who attends the class. It is one of my best classes because of the attendance rate and the turnout. Of the seven that I have, this is by far the best.”
Captain Carter started listening to the videos himself almost four years ago. In his words, “I wanted to listen to this. I wanted to find out more and more. So I listened coming to work, going home, at home. It has shown a lot within me … to make my life easier by understanding that you don’t have to be angry. You can have a peace within yourself.
“It seemed like he was speaking to me directly by his words,” he continued. “Everything I was going through, he was pinpointing it … and gave me ways to approach problems, to face it with peace. It changed me; it changed the way I deal with my kids and my relationships with other people. It’s been a great, positive impact on me totally. On a professional level, it has changed how I deal with offenders and management. It has been a very positive impact on my life by listening to him, and I continue to do it on a daily basis.”
After his own experience and seeing the enthusiasm of inmates, many of whom have written to Prem Rawat expressing their gratitude, Captain Carter sent TPRF a letter praising the program and inviting Prem Rawat to speak at the prison. “The Administration here would love to have him,” he said. “Whenever he’s ready, we’d welcome him here and put the word out for him to give his speech to our whole population—which is 2,200 offenders at this time. All we’re waiting for is a date.”
Watch a video interview with Captain Carter here.
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Contest for Peace in Sicily
[Sun, 03 Apr 2011]
Mazara del Vallo sponsors contest under high patronage of President of Italy
Under the high patronage of President Giorgio Napolitano, of the Italian Republic and with the leadership of Mayor Nicolò Cristaldi, the town of Mazara del Vallo is sponsoring a writing contest on the theme of “Peace: A Human Heritage and a Human Right.” (See Mazara del Vallo website here.)
One of the stated aims of the competition is to “honor our fellow citizen Prem Rawat for his dual commitment as a witness for peace and promoter of humanitarian initiatives.” In 2009, Mr. Rawat was made an honorary citizen of Mazara del Vallo in a special ceremony at the town hall.Read more ...
TPRF Supporters Extend a Hand of Help for Japan
[Sun, 03 Apr 2011]
Early response targets hardest hit cities
The severe earthquake that struck without warning along Japan's northeast coast on March 11 and the subsequent tsunami stripped hundreds of thousands of survivors of the most fundamental necessities. While the island nation of Japan continued to endure aftershocks, the results of the tsunami, and the threat of damaged nuclear plants, people from all over the world began to respond with donations to help. TPRF supporters responded promptly and generously, raising over $130,000 in the first two weeks.
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(Last check for latest updates: very little time ago)courtesy: TPRF
