Ananda Marga provides relief to western Jamaica

Jamaica Gleaner | 2025-12-08 | Original Article

The Ananda Marga organisation in Jamaica, through their service arm, AMURT (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team), has shifted its focus from education to emergency response by providing relief, both in kind and emotional support to those affected by Hurricane Melissa in the western Jamaican parishes.

 

AMURT volunteers have been, as soon as an all clear was given after the passage of Hurricane Melissa, travelling to the affected parishes out west. Their teams were on the ground in some of the hardest-hit communities in St Elizabeth and Westmoreland.

 

Their key relief efforts include:

 

• The ‘Meals on Wheels’ initiative: utilising their vegetarian kitchen facilities to prepare hundreds of hot, nutritious meals daily. For families in shelters who had been surviving on dry crackers and tinned food, the arrival of warm, spiced vegetable stews and rice was a morale booster as much as a physical necessity.

 

• Psychosocial support for children: Leveraging their background in education, volunteers brought art supplies and yoga mats. In the chaos of displacement, they set up ‘safe zones’ in shelters where children could draw, play, and process the trauma of the storm a critical component of disaster relief that often goes overlooked.

 

• Distribution of essentials: A 10-member specialist team was deployed to coordinate the distribution of tarpaulins, water purification tablets, and hygiene kits to isolated rural pockets that larger convoys couldn’t yet reach.

 

“We are striving to do our best to provide relief and support to the people,” said a spokesperson for the local chapter.

 

Additionally, Ananda Marga’s relief work is encased in the spiritual grounding they are bringing to the people in need. It is not uncommon to see volunteers leading brief meditation sessions for stressed shelter managers or exhausted parents.

 

In a time when anxiety is running as high as the floodwaters once did, their presence offers a reminder: rebuilding isn’t just about zinc roofs and cleared roads. It is about restoring the “bliss” and balance to the human spirit.

 

“This holistic approach by Ananda Marga, we are sure, will have deep-rooted affects, as much as the people in hurricane-affected areas need supplies, they also need mental health support and positive assurances,” said Dr Lorenzo Gordon, who is one of the coordinators of the relief efforts. The organisation joined hands with St John’s Ambulance and the Cuban Medical Team for these efforts. Principals Ananda Marga Kinder – Prep School, and Ananda Marga Basic School also led their individual teams of volunteers.

 

“As Jamaica enters the long road of recovery, the orange clad members of Ananda Marga will be a part of that recovery process,” Gordon said.

 

Established in Jamaica since 1979, Ananda Marga (meaning ‘Path of Bliss’) operates on the philosophy of Neo-Humanism (which expands human love and understanding to encompass all beings – human, animal, and plant – as parts of one cosmic family. The idea that love and service should extend to all living beings). For decades, the organisation has been contributing to early Childhood education through the Ananda Marga Kinder-Prep school on Crieffe Road and the Ananda Marga Basic School, both off Mountain View Avenue in Kingston or its classes in meditation and yoga.

 

View the discussion thread.