Helping at the Source

I want this journey called, "Helping at the Source" to include the best of the pleasures of going on a pilgrimage to enjoy the beauty of Asia, particularly, Burma (I will tell you about that later). A pilgrimage, during which I will arrange that you have the most interesting journeys, guides, visits, to temples, pagodas and amazing sites of all sorts. But, also, every two days, one afternoon will be dedicated to a good action, to "helping at the source." We will have a list of three or four potential topics, or sites in need of help. Example: A rural village who does not have drinking water, and the people must carry the water from far, often not even clean water. So, we as a group will go to that village, guided by my friends (I have made all the contacts already during this first trip). We will meet the well digger, discuss with the villagers where the well should be dug, how much it will cost, whether this well digger is good and reliable, etc. And we will actually pay for the whole process. (About $300 in this case.) We pay cash in local money or in dollars. This is what helping at the source means. We receive the blessings of the people and a little feast takes place. They recite mantras for our good health, and we go on with our journey.

Next, I would take my group to an amazing place: the biggest old age people's home in Burma. It must be seen to be believed. One large room with 100 grandfathers, and in another building, one large room with 100 grandmothers. In this dorm, they each have a bed and a night table, they live communally. They are the people who don't have a family left to take care of them. And even so, they maintain, through it, an amazing dignity, almost a joyfulness. There is one dynamic nurse of 36 years old who has taken care of the place for the last 15 years and who gave me an earful about the corruption of the government, etc?

I donated 30 or 50 dollars there, in Kyats (the local currency). You should have seen them! This was enough to feed them for a month. They all joined around me and sang mantras for my blessing, and prayed and touched me. I could not help but cry, my heart melted, and I felt the benefit of being able to be directly with the people and see the results of what you contribute directly at the source, in their eyes and heart. What a beautiful uplifting experience.

I continued to do that throughout my trip, helping also a Nunnery, and different individuals. I heard of an orphanage, near Inle in Burma, and a leper's colony.

In any case. I think this is a beautiful project to start within SpiritWorks Church, don't you? The journey would probably last around 12 days. I already have the perfect company in Myanmar to organize it, Peace House Travel. They organized my journey, and it was first class all the way. Great hotels, great food, great cars and guides. I met with the director of Peace House in Yangon, and he is very excited to do this with me. I hope to be able to organize a group of you to go on this trip sometime soon.

In the next installment I will tell you more about two more remarkable temples at the Angkor region in Cambodia and show you amazing pictures. Then I will tell you about the perfect Robinson Crusoe trip, naked on a desert island in the middle of nowhere and nobody has ever lived there. Then about mystical Burma (Myanmar) and the city with the valley of the blue mists and the ten thousand pagodas, with pictures. And I will tell you about my extraordinary meeting with a powerful local shaman who sent my chakras spinning and my Kundalini streaming for a day, and supposedly passed on "powers to me" and how those "powers" have worked so far. He also gifted me with a magic potion called "Gold Ash Powder". A story in itself! Okay. Enough for now. I encourage you to travel and see this beautiful world while it is still standing. And maybe, just maybe, we can do something to help it survive. Much Love, Margot Anand