Namaste! There will be a benefit at Mugshots Coffeehouse (21st and Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia). We are hoping to raise money to help fund the building of a Ayurvedic training center in India that will offer a unique opportunity to children of the Chakma tribe, a group of people who have suffered tremendously from displacement and poverty for many years. On a recent trip to India I met both the project coordinator and doctors in person, and I feel confident in their abilities and inspired by their efforts. Here is a link with more detailed information about the program: http://www.bodytree.org


Sunday, December 5 2004, 7PM
BODHICARIYA: a BODYTREE benefit (Bodhi = knowledge, Cariya = mindful way of learning)


$15.00 donation (Limited tickets sold at Mugshots)


**VEGETARIAN INDIAN FOOD & MUSIC
**BYOB


PERFORMERS:
BURIED BEDS http://www.buriedbeds.com
JOE JACK TALCUM of the Dead Milkmen and Low Budgets http://www.deadmilkmen.com http://www.lowbudgets.com
BEN SMITH of Wise and Foolish Builders http://www.wiseandfoolishbuilders.com
TOBY LEAMAN of Dr. Dog http://homepage.mac.com/sonofsheepdog


PLUS: more music... video... door prizes


ABOUT THE BENEFIT:
Funding is sought to establish a training centre in traditional herbal medicine for post 16 students at Shishu Koruna Sangha (SKS) - a school in Calcutta, India, for tribal children and young people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and North East India. Shishu Koruna Sangha is a registered charity under the Foreign Currency Regulation Act, 1976, registration # 147120325. This project is supported by The Daneford Trust (UK Registered Charity. No. 283962).


The purpose of the project is to establish a traditional herbal medicine clinic and training institute in Calcutta. The clinic and institute will be income generating. This will offer vocational training to young people from Shishu Koruna Sangha (SKS).


The young people who participate in this programme will be trained in:



• Traditional medicine
• The cultivation of medicinal plants
• Organic farming
• The practice, preparation and production of herbal medicines in an Ayurvedic pharmacy using both traditional methods and a newly devised solar cooking system.
• They will work in a self-sustained Ayurvedic ethno-botanical clinic with massage, physiotherapy and yoga facilities.


The project aims to generate an interest in the preservation and practice of traditional aspects of indigenous culture that are disappearing in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) as a result of internal and external displacement.


A health education programme will be organised at SKS, introducing a medicinal plant curriculum, yoga and preventive medicine. It will be an alternative health educational tool that will be offered to children and teachers from schools around India.


Local villagers and farmers will be involved in the programme, trained in the propagation of medicinal plants, primary health care and some basic pharmacy for the management of common health complaints.


More info can be found at: http://www.bodytree.org
Or phone us at: 215-236-6324


Hope to see you all there!
Jon + Amy