The roots of this project can be traced to Ellis Tingstad’s trip to India in 1999, when he happened upon the village of Bakrour and the Tathagat School and fell in love with the children and the village community. Ellis has been fascinated by India and Buddhism since childhood, and through decades of reading on these subjects has become something of a self educated scholar. He loves children and photography and has used both of these to share the experience of village life in India with many others.
Orna Locker decided to take on this project as her Capstone Change Project for her graduate studies in the Environment and Community program at Antioch University Seattle’s Center for Creative Change. As an aspiring social change agent interested in rural community development, she hopes to collaborate with many interested groups and individuals to facilitate the realization of Sanjay’s dream of building and funding a school, thus paving a path to a better future for the children of Bakrour and Ganga Bigha villages.
Rebecca and Tom Masters, with Pushkin
Rebecca comes from a long line of educators. She believes strongly in the importance of every child having a chance to learn. Rebecca knows that if everyone in the world can be educated, the world will be a better place for us all.
Tom has always been a passionate lifelong learner, and likes to use technology to help others discover the joy of learning. Sanjay’s dream resonates with Tom and Rebecca because of its promise to pull the children of the village out of the cycle of poverty through education.
“Ellis’ discovery of the school and Orna’s adoption of it as her graduate project has given us the gift of contributing in a way that enriches our lives. The joy of being part of educating the children of these villages is something we otherwise would never have found.”
