Connecting to Village through Bhakti

Dear villagers and well-wishers,

This letter is all about improving your connections to our village. Manavuri Vikasam has been doing various summer programs since 2014, and all the programs are aimed at improving the lives of kids.Unlike other villages, Kattavaripalem kids are very busy learning something new every year during the summer months. An example of some previous activities and programs include English communication skills, Yoga and Takewondo in 2016-2019, Kolanna in 2014, and many other programs. You could clearly see how proud the kids were when they were performing skits recently as part of the 2019 summer program event celebrations. We, as Manavuri Vikasam volunteers, can confidently say that our village kids are well-disciplined and well-prepared for the future. We hope to continue this journey for many more years to come along with your support.

With the spirit of the success that these programs bring, we would like to introduce a new program called “Connecting to Village through Bhakti” which is aimed at bringing families and friends together at our beloved temple. The purpose of this program is connect people living away from their native village through Bhakti by celebrating birthdays, marriage days and other celebrations with their relatives and friends back in the native village.

We all celebrate our kid’s birthdays and marriage days with our friends and families where we live, and that is always a great thing but we often miss our parents/grandparents back at our village. How nice it would be if they can be part of these important days of celebrations? As we are all living in far places, it is not practically possible for all of us to be at one place but instead we could celebrate events following the steps listed below.

1. Inform the birthday or marriage day you would like to celebrate to ManavuriVikasam volunteers.
2. MV volunteers will make sure that your parents/in-laws/relatives get invited to the temple with the celebration date and time (You instruct MV volunteer on whom to invite).
3. Our temple Pujari will perform Puja in our temple in a traditional way with your loved ones’ involvement (You could choose just your parents or anybody you wish).
4. MV volunteers will take a video of the celebration and send it to you (All the information is kept confidential).

Connecting to Village through Bhakti.The benefits of this program is multifold.

1. Connect younger kids to their grandparents/relatives through birthday celebrations andbridge the gap between older and younger generations.
2. Involve parents/in-laws/relatives in wedding celebrations to mark the start of a new journey and life.
3. Make the temple a unifying place where important relationships can strengthen and bond through connection to the deities.
4. Help the temple run successfully with a very nominal fee, making it affordable for all who wish to celebrate.

Cost (for each event):

• Families staying away from our village but still residing in India: Rs 1016/-
• Families staying abroad: $51
• Local Villagers: Rs 101/-

As always, there is no limit to whatever you can pay for the great cause and we appreciate any and all support. We all helped build a monumental temple, but now it is time to take action to help acknowledge the importance of significant human relationships and the role they play in our lives.

Note: In the future, we are planning on getting web cameras so that remote persons can participate virtually.

Yours Sincerely,

MANAVURIVIKASAM

..walk together.! ..drive together.!