Sister Didi Ananda Kalika is a yoga teacher from Australia lives in
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She is a nun with Ananda Marga,a worldwide
spiritual and humanitarian organization founded in 1955
by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar of India, also known as Shrii Shrii Anandamurti.
In 1993,Didi Kalika was sent to Ulaanbaatar by Ananda Marga to work as a
yoga and meditation teacher. While in the city,she saw first-hand the
troubles faced by children living in the streets,especially during the
winter when temperatures can fall to minus 40 degrees Celsius.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund or UNICEF, Mongolia has a population of 2.4 million and
in the city of Ulaanbaatar alone approximately 4,000 children live on the streets.
(Interview in English)
Didi(f): I remembered yeah,at that time,I was even a bit depressed. 『Oh,
the world has so many problems.』 I felt quite depressed. And in the
yoga group,one of the nuns, she asked,『Could you come and play with the
children in lunchtime because there’s nobody?』
She was running a small school. And some of those children, they came
from very difficult backgrounds. At the beginning I found it hard
because the children had some behavior problems,and they weren’t that
easy,but I found by going regularly and just playing,being involved with
them,somehow I felt, okay,this is the way to get out of my depression
also,but I felt like just by doing something simple you can contribute.