Chocolate Box raised ₤150

Over the last 6 months my office chocolate box has raised ₤150 which will now gp off to Vajrasiddhi. I just bought chocloate and chips and resold it at work. Easy peasy.
And now we have almost raised 1 lakh!!!!! Brilliant. Thats $2800 and over ₤1000.

Krispy Kreme donut sale

A donut drive in my UK office has raised another 50 pounds. We have also had more donations come in from Sangha members Pia and Maree. Thanks guys!

Thanks so much to the people of the Sydney Sangha

Lots of donations have been coming in and the total is now over 80 000 rupees. This is so wonderful!
Once she has the transplant, Vajrasiddhi has an 80% chance of a complete recovery! She can live a full and active life. Without it her quality of life will degrade until she dies at about 10 or 15.
The cost of saving her life is the same as a cheap new car!

Fundraising Update

So far 66, 000 rupees have been raised for Vajrasiddhi's bone marrow transplant.
That equate to 821 pounds, or $AUS 1 880.
750, 000 rupees are still required but every little bit helps!
We are waiting to here if the family's application for a government grant has been successful. This will only be partial funding but should help enormously.

Don't forget to subscribe to this blog, and email it out to friends! Donations can be made via Paypal, cheque or cash (both in Australia and the UK). Make a comment on this article or email me for details.

In my office in the UK I have raised 90 pounds ($200 AUS). Brilliant! That's over 7 000 rupees.

Appeal letter for non sangha members

Copy and paste this text and photo and send to your friends!

Vajrasiddhi is a 5 year old ex-untouchable girl who suffers from a bone marrow disorder called Thalassemia (a bit like sickle cell anaemia). Every 25 days she requires a blood transfusion in order to stay alive. As she grows older this time frame will narrow until it is daily, although she may well die before this happens. Four specialists have been consulted and it is agreed her expected lifespan is only another five to ten years without a bone marrow transplant.

There is only a 6 month window of opportunity for Vajrasiddhi’s life saving bone marrow transplant. She currently has 80% chance of a complete cure; after this window her chances of surviving the procedure drop dramatically.

She is a bright, intelligent little girl attending an air force school in Pune and is excelling in her studies. When she watches the air force planes fly overhead she dreams of becoming a pilot when she grows up.

Her father, Vivekbhadra, is a warden for the Bahujan Hitay Boys Hostel. Over many years Vivekbhadra has helped thousands of impoverished boys into a new life through his hostel warden ship, and now hopes to be able to save his little daughters life.

There is no public health care system in India and as a Dalit, Vivekbhadra comes from an impoverished background. He cannot afford the life saving bone marrow transplant for his little Vajrasiddhi.

The local community has been working hard and have already raised a third of the money they need, but are still far from reaching their target. They need another $AU16 500. Her father is doing everything he can to raise the funds including approaching an Indian children’s charity, which may grant partial funding.

I have met with Vivekbhadra and his wife, Rakshita, and their distress is clear. They want so desperately to keep their daughter alive.

If you can help little Vajrasiddhi by donating, please let me know and I will provide bank account details or take cash donations.

You can follow the progress of the appeal, see photos and read messages from Vivekbhadra, little Vajrasiddhi and members of the Pune Indian sangha on the web at littlevajra.blogspot.com. You can also leave your own comments, and subscribe to the site for automatic updates via email.

Please feel free to let others know of this appeal.