Our second SERVAS guest was Vipul, a young man from Pune, India, a city we had visited in 2006 during our tour arond Maharashtra with Ven. Pannasila. Vipul's letter of introduction really appealed to us because it mentioned many of our own interests and activities, including meditation, nonviolence, the environment, curriculum development, creative education, and indigenous communities. His letter concludes, "Vipul dreams of a more beautiful, joyful, kinder and a greener world for all and enjoys contributing towards its ongoing unfolding." As soon as he confirmed the date, we invited Amila, Sylvia, and Ewen, telling them, "All good people should know each other." Sylvia brought Metisha and her two older sisters, whom we met for the first time. It was a lovely evening, and Vipul enjoyed it so much that he promised to stay longer after his trip to Ella. He did, indeed ,return and stay right up to his flight back to India. It was a very enjoyable three days, discussing all of our mutual interests, meditating together, and exchanging ideas. Vipul arranged with Jagath to visit the cave in Haloluwa, where Ven. Sumedho stayed for many years, and hired Jagath to take him to Dambulla and Sigiriya. (As it turned out, rather than Sigiriya, they opted to climb Pidurangala, which we also feel is more interesting. As you can see in the flyer above, he visited Methasevana Youth Rehabilitation Center and taught yoga to the young men. Vipul is a Jain, but he wants to learn more about Buddhism. He hopes to come back to Sri Lanka as a volunteer, and we hope he does. He told us that his parents were also SERVAS members, so he has been involved with the organzation from birth. That reminded us of Shona, the precocious four-year-old daughter of Hillary and Mahndra, our hosts in West Ham, London, who was well-known for frequently taking part in SERVAS meetings. Vipul was interested that we had stayed in Gujerat at the ashram of Harivalabh Parikh, a disciple of Gandhi and one of the original organizers of SERVAS in India. Vipul knew Haribvalabh when he was a child.

On August 29, our dear friend, Hiroshi Nakatuka passed away at his home in Osaka. Hiroshi and his wife Hiroko, were some of the first and staunchest members of Students of the Lotus, our meditation/study group in Japan, which began in 1983, It is impossible to enumerate the wonderful times we spent with them--exhibitions, concerts, weddings, dinners, refugee meetings, meditation retreats, and more. Hiroshi, Hiroko, and their daughter, Chie, even joined us for a week in Bangkok in 1987. It was such fun traveling with them and introducing them to temples, friends, and much that was important to us in Thailand. In 2007, having a few weeks of freedom between travel around India and the intensive English course at Bodhisukha, we flew to Bangkok. Realizing that we still had soon-to-expire Northwest Airline miles, we decided to make a short trip to South Korea to see Ven. Gong Pa Sunim. Being so close, we felt it imperative to take the ferry to Shimonoseki. As soon as Hiroshi heard that we were at the Burmese monastery in Moji with Ven. U Khe Min Da, he and Hiroko took the Shinkansen from Osaka to Fukuoka. Our last meeting was in 2014. At the end of our trip introducing Nancy and Bits to the family in Kofu, we had a day in Tokyo. Hiroshi and Hiroko again caught the Shinkansen, and we spent a few delightful hours together. We will always treasure their friendship. We knew that we would not be able to meet Hiroshi again, but we continued calling once in a while from Kandy. It was always a joy to hear his voice and to reminisce about our good times together. On August 31, we held a dana at our house and shared merit with Hiroshi. May he have an auspicious rebirth!

In previous reports, we have often mentioned Calvin Malone. He first wrote to us more than twenty-five years ago, after he found our Japanese address in a book which he had borrowed from the library of the prison where he was incarcerated. It had been placed there by one of the organizations to which we had donated Buddhist books. Until we began corresponding with Calvin, those donations had been our only involvement with the American prison system. Calvin's letters were so informative and engaging, however, that they made us want to learn more, to become directly involved, and to help our incarcerated brothers and sisters as much as we could. In September 2000, on our return from a short visit to Thailand, we stopped in Washington State to attend the annual Buddhist celebration which Calvin had organized in Airway Heights Prison in Spokane. Through Calvin, we established correspondence with several other prisoners, including our good friend Pedro, who visited us in Sri Lanka two years ago. It is reasonable to say that meeting Calvin profoundly changed our lives. His book, Razor-Wire Dharma, should be in every prison library. It should also be read by Western Buddhists to see how Buddhism can be practiced under extremely difficult conditions and to understand the need to become engaged, with wisdom, patience, loving-kindness and compassion! (Sadly, Razor-Wire Dharma, is out of print. We are trying to help get it reprinted by Wisdom Publications or republished elsewhere.) Our relationship with Calvin led us to volunteer to assist in the Michigan Department of Corrections while we were in Flint, taking care of Visakha’s mother and resettling Burmese refugees. We were invited to a conference of the chaplains of all the prisons in Michigan and to work with several of them in resolving issues and increasing Buddhist activities. The personal involvement, mainly by correspondence, we’ve had with prisoners, who have found the Dhamma, and with their families has taught us a great deal and has enriched our lives.

Since his release, Calvin has been very active in helping other released prisoners readjust to society. In these volatile and violent Trumpian times, such individuals are among the most vulnerable and urgently need protection. He has explained that, in addition to the difficulties of readjustment after their release from prison, immigrants and refugees are subject to arrest by ICE agents and deportation, even though they have never lived in the country from which their parents fled. If that country refuses to recognize them as citizens and to accept them, they could be sent to any country which has agreed to accept them, such as South Sudan or Rwanda There are even cases in which a naturalized citizen of the US had his passport impounded upon returning from travel abroad, leaving him with the threat of deportation.

We just received a letter from Calvin, outlining The Way Home Project, which has been his focus for many years. Buddhist Relief Mission whole-heartedly supports this well-thought-out and highly organized program, which is similar to, but much more inclusive than, other halfway-house programs. We invite you to read Calvin's outline of The Way Home Project, and to lend your support.