Welcome to SBMA

   
 
   
                   


Swami Manmathan

The Begining

Major Growth Points

Peoples & Stories

  

Stories about the people who have blossomed with the ashram and the events that have occurred here are the best way to understand the history of SBMA and its interaction with the local communities. The folks who have lived and are living here come from all over Uttaranchal, all over India, and even from distant parts of the world. They have all contributed to creating the environment wrought with possibilities that is SBMA.

From the stories of the kids who have grown up here to those who run the place, and some of those little anecdotes one tells around the 'chula', cooking fire, at night, we've tried to give a small taste of life here at the ashram.

 
 
                         
   
Gyanu came to the ashram with his mother, Saunla Devi at the age of about 2 in 1976 from Chamiyadi village, District Tehri. After much hardships and dedicated work, he became the joint secretary of SBMA in Feb'04.
  
                           
 
Cyril ji is the mastermind of the madness here. Born & raised in India, a genuine product of the 60's, he's given up the fast lane to dedicate his life to the improvement of these mountains. A hard man to describe, here's a try.
   
 
                   
   
 

Shashi came to the ashram in 1980 when he was only six years old and has observed and participated in its evolution since then. Now, he lives nearby and works on various projects.

     
                           
                               
                   
 
Maushi ji has been part of the ashram since its very conception, and even hosted people in her own home before the present location was established. She still lives here in the Top Ashram and is President of SBMA.
    
                   
                               
                       
   
Mohan came from Ghat when he was only eight. He quickly stole the hearts of everyone here and has become an integral part of the campus and life at SBMA. He's now twenty-two and works on various projects and arranging accommodation space at the ashram.
 
                       
           

Manoj joined SBMA in 1995 to be a part of the efforts of the organisation for people's empowerment. Since then, he has been a part of many programs as coordinator, manager and leader but he mainly focused his energy on strengthening of community governance in Uttaranchal. He carried-forward the central value of the organisation that community empowerment is possible only when people have ownership on the process and government and NGOs focus their efforts on the strengths of the people rather than focusing on problems only. He believes that a sustainable development process requires partnership between community, government and NGOs.

 

   

Jayprakash joined a voluntary organization called Shri Bhuvneshwari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) and started development communication work by using different media technology to disseminate massage and building awareness among mountain communities of Himalaya. It was a great platform for me to work and get experience in different development media practices right from conceptualization, writing, designing, illustrating, sketching, and photography to production and dissemination.

JP is a communication anthropologist, an IEC and documentation specialist and a frequent mountain visitor. He has experience of more than 15 years in freelance journalism and social sector. JP is a professional writer and editor and contributed in around 2 dozen books, magazines and news letters, 1000 articles and photo features in national media. He has an experience of script conceptualization and directions in more than 60 documentaries, films, short films, advertise films, 50 Radio programs and visual documentation of many organizations including government as well as non-government. He is an alumnus (Master of New Media with specialization in Digital Film Production) of the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia and a recipient of Ford Foundation International Fellowship. He is also an alumnus of India Fellowship Program – India Alumni Network (IFPIAN), New Delhi. Currently he is a managing director of Channel Mountain Communication (CMC).