The Angel of Varanasi

When Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of the Indian freedom movement, he often said that the discrimination within Indian society against lepers and untouchables was an even bigger hindrance to true freedom than British occupation. Gandhi demonstrated his philosophy on social equality by living together with untouchables in Ahmedabad in his home state of Gujarat. Given the deeply ingrained patterns of caste prejudice, this was a truly revolutionary act on Gandhi’s behalf. Even high – ranking politicians and dignitaries often had to meet him in the desolate living quarters of the untouchables. In his own ashram, Gandhi provided shelter and care for lepers, who are usually disowned by their own family and have to live like untouchables, completely shunned by society. Mahatma Gandhi, living up to his title of Mahatma or “great soul” often personally washed lepers and fed those who had lost their hands and couldn’t feed themselves anymore.

Lepers and untouchables are the two groups of people who are still denied a life of basic human dignity in India today. Great souls like Mahatma Gandhi or later Mother Theresa embraced these forgotten children on Mother India with all their heart. Today, the same spirit of compassion and the courage to take inspired action lives on in Stella Deetjen, a remarkable woman from Germany. As a 24year old backpacking tourist, she had a life – changing encounter with a leper in Varanasi, the holiest city of India. This man, who had been disowned by his own family and had lived as an outcast for fourteen years offered Stella help when she was sitting on the banks of the sacred river Ganges with stomach cramps. It dawned on her how she was the rich Western woman who could fly home to a comfortable life, yet this possessionless beggar offered her help. “This shook up my heart”, she would later say about this meeting. Over the next few year, Stella created a home for lepers which provided both medical care and an environment for these people to live like human beings. Leprosy is actually easy to heal with simple allopathic medication. New infections are decreasing worldwide but in India, leprosy is still on the rise, This is laregely due to the severe discrimination against lepers who are regarded as impure and are denied medical treatment, even by modern doctors who took the hippocratic oath. The treatment needed to heal leprosy costs two dollars per day. At a time when India is developing into an economic superpower, this life – saving treatment is still denied to lepers. The work of compassionate and courageous people like Gandhi, Mother Theresa and now Stella Deetjen is the only hope for these unfortunate people.

While developing her project for lepers, Stella came in touch with children who belong to the untouchables and live on garbage piles. These children can only survive through begging and stealing. They don’t know what it is like to be safe, to have food and shelter provided, let alone how to be children who play and enjoy life. Indian society offers no opportunities for untouchables to rise beyond their fate. These children are not allowed in schools, they are denied medical care and generally, untouchables are not even allowed in to enter a temple. Over the years, Stella created various projects to provide education and care for these street children, enabling some to enter a renowned boarding school and finally establishing two homes for street children. Here, food, shelter and education are provided, but most of all love. Children who grew up with abuse, not just from a single person but from the society they lived in finally experience what it is like to be cared for. For many years, Stella Deetjen worked mostly in obscurity but over time her achievements became known to the public. In 2006, she received the World Woman’s Award from Michail Gorbatchev for her unique humanitarian work.

There is a lot more that Stella Deetjen wants to accomplish in the future. There are countless street children who knock on the door of the facilities she established who want to live there and cannot be taken in for now. This is a tremendous opportunity for all of us to contribute to the most worthy cause I could imagine. If you receive this letter, chances are that you are a spiritual seeker or explorer of sorts. So many of us have been inspired and enriched by the timeless treasures of India, its great wisdom traditions and heritage. Now we can give something back to Mother India and what better way to give back than to help the disowned children of this amazing and paradoxical country. Over the millenia, India has brought forth such great wisdom about the universal Self of all beings, yet her own underprivileged children are still treated in complete contrast to this wisdom. We now that in order to evolve as human beings, we have to embrace and address the shadow side in ourselves, as much as it is tempting to dwell only on the light within. The same is true for our relationship to the world. While it is beautiful to embrace the wisdom of India, this rich and colorful country also possesses a large shadow and it might need help from the outside to perhaps one day grow beyond it.

You can obtain more information on the projects initiated by Stelle Deetjen through: [email protected]

The homepage www.back-to-life.com is largely in German, although some information in English can be downloaded.