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Africa: Transcendental Meditation helps children thrive at EDAPO school in Uganda
by Global Good News staff writer

Global Good News    Translate This Article
21 April 2014

There are 600 children in the Economic Development and AIDS Prevention Organization (EDAPO) school in Uganda. Two videos about the organization and the children it serves were recently edited and released.

In Meet the Children, Mr Mark Mugabe, founder and director of EDAPO, introduces the organization that was started in 2006, and two teachers. The second video, Meet the children at EDAPO, introduces the children, explaining the special character of their education in that they practise Transcendental Meditation.

EDAPO, Mr Mugabe explained in the first video, supports children who fall into three categories:
∙ children who are HIV/AIDS positive
∙ children who are orphans, having lost both parents
∙ children whose parents are living in critical conditions and cannot support them

Ms Nankya Grace, Head Teacher at the school, said, 'When I knew of this organization helping children with HIV/AIDS orphans, I decided to join them because I am the kind of person who wants to help somebody who has a problem.'

Mr Godfrey Kato, Head Caretaker at EDAPO, said his main role at the school is to care for the children by guiding them to a bright future as adults. He wished he had learned Transcendental Meditation earlier in life, because it would have made him a more useful person. He feels that everything comes in its own time, and when the Transcendental Meditation technique came to EDAPO, they benefitted greatly. He went on to say, 'When you don't practise Transcendental Meditation there is something you are missing in your mind.'

Mr Mugabe emphasized that Transcendental Meditation has become an integral part of the community at EDAPO. The simple, natural technique is a very meaningful tool in educating the children, and is 'the key to many things', he said.

The second video shows clips of the children going about various aspects of their daily routine, which are similar to those at other schools. But 'there is something different' about these children—they practise Transcendental Meditation. Happiness is a powerful thing, said Mr Mugabe, and it shows on the faces of the children in the video.

EDAPO wanted more for the children it is helping. They found the Transcendental Meditation technique, tried it, and have embraced it. All the children meditate every day. As this is an orphanage, the children are there every day, even during holidays, practising the technique together twice a day. When children in other Consciousness-Based Education schools in the country are on holiday, this EDAPO school, of about 150 students, maintains the influence of coherence created in the environment by the group practice of Transcendental Meditation.

Previously at EDAPO the first six levels (years) were taught, but now they have added the seventh level. The significance of this is that the children will be able to complete their primary education in a Consciousness-Based Education school, rather than going somewhere else for the final year.

This year for the first time some of the children have gone on to a Consciousness-Based Education secondary school. The girls are in Maharishi Secondary School for Girls in Mbale; the boys are in another school where the students practise Transcendental Meditation. This means the children are able to practice the meditation technique as part of their education all the way through to the age of 18.

In the past year EDAPO has taken a big step towards financial self-sufficiency. They have planted crops on some of the land they own, and the income from the produce will support programmes for the children.

Copyright © 2014 Global Good News Service



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