To Friends Both Far and Near, October 29, 2026

Why is this report so hard to write? Perhaps, it's because we feel like we are on a precipice, with the end, the disaster to end all disasters, a step away--not our step, but the step of Trump, Miller, Hegseth, Putin, or Netanyahu, all sick, evil people with horrific power. In this volatile situation, our thoughts naturally go to dear friends far away, with the hope that they are safe and well. We fear for many and are grateful for Facebook and email on our computers and WhatsApp and Viber on Ken's mighty telephone, which allow us to stay connected. (Visakha still uses a "dumb phone"!) Our lives here in Kandy are remarkably peaceful and comfortable--which means that the stories of those facing war, genocide, starvation, plague, flood, fire, or ICE penetrate to our inner core by the contrast.

It's wonderful that we can be so easily in touch with monks we have known for so long--Ven. Kim Cang, Ven. Gong Pa Sunim, Ven. NandoBatha, and Ven. Pannasila, to name a few. With some friends, we know each other's daily schedules well enough that we can chat (with or without video) fairly frequently, even in faraway places, for example, Moon and Julie, Rajiv and his daughter Visakha, Dr. KTO, and Calvin. For many, however, the difference in time (and day) necessitates setting a schedule to get together. In that we know that our traveling days are over, this is the only way to stay in touch with friends, so let's try a little harder to set up scheduled chats (with or without video). We treasure holiday Kawasaki family ZOOM meetings and our monthly chat and sing-along with Madoka and her parents. More like that would be fun! Then there are those dear friends with whom we have completely lost touch. "How is Bruce?" we wonder every day.

We voted for Dr. Abdu El-Sayed in Michigan, but we didn't really understand how brutal US health care is until we learned how expensive Calvin's new cancer treatment is (explained below). We can't imagine living in the US under Trump, so we shouldn't have been surprised to learn that our friend Marsha, who lived next door to Visakha in childhood, and her son are hoping to move to Italy. Nor that Visakha's cousin Cam is trying to verify that their grandparents, who left Ireland during the potato famine, became Canadian citizens before migrating to the United States, so that he can claim Canadian citizenship. Of course, we are very excited that Tracy and Bonnie will be resettling here next year! If Sri Lanka tickles your fancy, be assured that we are inviting you--Kandy is the best destination ever.

Another almost unimaginable fiasco is the student loan crisis. We graduated virtually debt-free. Visakha had none, and Ken had only $750 to repay. We learned several years ago about a married couple, both medical doctors, who had had to take out so much in loans that their combined interest was $60 a day! All we can say is, "In November, vote Progressive! In the hope that a Democratic Congress will forgive student debt, provide Medicae for all, and grant teachers a decent salary." Vote for those who promise change!

Hard to believe it, but it was 2006, twenty years ago, that Al Gore launched "An Inconvenient Truth," sounding an alarm heard round the world that global warming could not be ignored. We used the documentary in one of our early intensive courses in India. Our reports from Sri Lanka, which began about the same time, have repeatedly dealt with this issue, which has become "climate catastrophe." We have presented it as one of the possible causes for the end of human civilization. The effects of this disaster have become increasingly apparent--rising sea levels, stronger storms, sweltering heatwaves, melting glaciers, and raging wildfires, just to name a few.

Putting an end to global warming and averting the doom of climate catastrophe is the responsibility of governments and big business--who profit from it, call it a hoax, and eliminate much of the science designed to study it. There is only so much any individual can do, for example, switching to EVs, installing solar panels, and divesting from fossil-fuel companies. These efforts are laudable, but, until they are adopted universally, more disasters are inevitable. We have, perhaps, passed the tipping point.

We are also pleased that we have received more than $1500 in donations for emergency relief for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Some of these funds have already been used in response to the most urgent requests for assistance. Thank you to all who respnded so generously to this shameful and atrocious genocide being perpetrated by the Rakhine "Buddhists" in Burma. (It is still difficutt for us to use the official name, "Myanmar" after all these years.)


	Out-of -print, but available on Internet Archive

We first visited Burma in 1979 and immediately fell in love with the country. During the next few years, we flew into Rangoon six times with one-week tourist visas and twice with extended meditation visas. Our last official visit was in the summer of 1988. That was the beginning of the uprising (clearly recounted in Outrage, by Bertil Lintner), which led to the escape of hundreds of students to the Thai/Burma border and the mass exodus of Karen, Mon, Shan, et al, as refugees to Thailand. From that time until we left the USA for Sri Lanka, we were deeply involved in relief activities to support the refugees, ABSDF (All Burma Students Democratic Front), and ABYMU (All Burma Young Monks' Union). Burmese Relief Center--Japan, which we founded, is still going strong under the estute leadership of Keiko Nakao. A visual record with background music, but no narration, is available on our YouTube channel <brelief>


Click the photo to watch on YouTube. (41 minutes)

Our third piece of good news is that we, Riverpoint Books*, have published an Ebook and Print-on-demand paperback edition of Razor-Wire Dharma: A Buddhist Life in Prison, by Calvin Malone. This inspiring book was originally published by Wisdom Publications, but has been out-of-print for about a year. The Ebook edition (both Kindle and Epub) is only $2.99, and the paperback, $9.99, considerably cheaper than the original.

Calvin hopes that the book will be readily available to engaged Buddhists and prisoners throughout the United States. The Epub version can be read on any tablet, such as those used by some prisoners to play games. The paperback should be in every prison library, which is where you can help. For only $8, including shipping, we can ask Amazon to send a copy to an organization donating Buddhist books to prison libraries. Click below to indicate how many copies you would like to donate.

We just heard from Calvin that he needs to receive treatment for his prostate cancer--six monthly sessions of radiation, each costing $50,000. With insurance, his copay is $3000 each, but even that is much more than he can afford. If you would like to help Calvin, click one of these buttons.

We had met Dorothy Pedtke briefly in Phanat Nikhom, Thailand, but when we arrived at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center in Bataan, we joined the staff choir she was directing for the Christmas program. Thus began a close fnendship that lasted unbroken for 42 years. After the three of us had left the refugee camp, we suggested that she join us in Japan and apply for a job at Kobe Steel, where we had previously worked. She was immediately hired and stayed there for fifteen years. During that time, she was deeply involved with our activities in both BRC--J and BRM. She returned to South Bend, Indiana, to take care of her mother shortly before we returned to Flint, Michigan, to take care of Visakha's mother. We kept in touch with Dorothy. She visited Flint, and we went to South Bend to attend the wedding of her daughter, Robin, to another doctor, Jaret Beane. Before we left Michigan, we met Dorothy again at the home of Robin and Jaret in Grand Rapids, where we met Dorothy Anne Pedtke III. From Sri Lanka, we continued calling Dorothy regularly via SKYPE. We sang favorite songs and chatted at length about this and that. In 2019, for Dorothy's 80th birthday, Robin and Jaret gave her a trip to Sri Lanka. She and our friend, Jenny, from Michigan Citizens for Peace, spent two weeks in Kandy, and we enjoyed the Esala Perahera, saw the elephants in Minneriya, and visited Dambulla. A couple of years ago, it became apparent that Dorothy could no longer live alone in the old homestead, and she moved to stay with her family in Grand Rapids. It also became increasingly difficult for her to use the telephone. We greatly missed talking with Dorothy, but Robin and Jaret sent photos occasionally. For the last several months, however, we had heard nothing, and we were getting concerned. A few days ago, Jaret sent us a wonderful letter apologizinag that they had been very busy, and explaining that their lives had been a bit stressful. Here are a few excerpts and photos from that letter:

It's been a very difficult year, and we can't wait for 2026 to leave. Mom is OK. Dot is now in a memory care facility, one of the best in the country, happens to be 7 minutes from our home. She was hospitalized with pneumonia in January, despite our best efforts. There were many caregivers involved, and, assuredly, a virus came in that way. Since then, her memory started declining faster. She wouldn't talk on the phone at all. Getting together with her sister for their birthdays was no better, she wouldn't talk with anyone. Sometimes, we'd get a glimmer, but rarely. We couldn't ever leave her unattended, even to just go to another room for a minute. She would try to leave the house, confident she wasn't where she was supposed to be. The professional caregivers had been expressing increasing concern for her for some time. In August, we had to make a change. A spot was astonishingly available in an amazing facility nearby. They put Dot to the top of the list, and it was hers. It's a beautiful place with gardens, pianos (She hasn't been able to play for a couple of years.), multiple fireplaces, and attentive staff. She has a studio room, a little sink/tea area, and a nice bathroom. Very nice furniture and a window with a view across a meadow. Rover, one of our cats, moved in with her to help. Caregivers take care of bathing and assist with dressing and all aspects. It's really quite amazing. And safe. There are 20 or so residents. They have an events coordinator that makes a calendar of 6-8 experiences a day. They have language lessons, geography, special lecturers, hymn singing, and a few field trips a week to restaurants, thrift shopping, the Gardens, Museums, etc. Every day is different. She doesn't always recognize us anymore. Once we state our names, we'll get a 'Yes, yes, I know.' But, it's clear we could walk right past as well, and she wouldn't know us. Most of the time, she thinks that Robin is her sister, Teresa.
		Jaret was pleased that he could get Dorothy to smile for us!

Looking at the newspaper this morning, we realized that there is one person, one miserable SOB, responsible for the mess, the horrors, the danger we are all in, even us here in beautiful Kandy, so far away. The incredible prices, the shortages of essentials, the bizarre weather patterns, the fearful families, the threat of old and new epidemics. the breakdowns in international law, and the uncertainty that there will be a tomorrow--all this and more, because of Donald Trump.

Right now, off the coast of Sri Lanka, there are 21 Iranian tankers, without adequate food, water, and medicine, stranded because of American sanctions and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Sri Lanka feels bound by international humanitarian law to offer relief assistance to the crew members, but Trump has threatened sanctions against anyone, private or official, who gives aid to Iran. It was announced that 40 seriously ill sailors were evacuated, treated, and repatriated to Iran by the Sri Lankan government. For that normal, humanitarian act, the whole country may be punished.

There are many Sri Lankans working in the Middle East. Trump and Netanyahu have turned that entire region into a war zone. Of the jobs, on which the Sri Lankan economy depends, are threatened. Some of the workers would like to escape the danger, but, with airports closed and flights restricted, they cannot come home.

The situation in the Middle East is absolute madness! In plain sight, on TV, in all the media, Israel is committing GENOCIDE of the Palestinians. Trump is threatening to bomb Iran, one of the world's richest and most ancient cultures, back to the stone age. Is it because he, as a genuine Neanderthal, wants the whole world at his own level? Where and how will Trump's madness end? If Trump resorts to the "nuclear option," as Girardi suggests he might, nowhere on the planet will be unaffected.

As Buddhists, we are aware that we must not allow ourselves to hate him, but that we must, instead, extend loving-kindness and compassion to him. That's difficult, to say the least. Actually, however, when we realize how miserable he is and consider the horrible future he is making for himself (Karma works, whether or not you believe it.), it isn't that hard.

We appreciate letters, messages, phone calls, and chats. Feedback on this report is also welcome. By all means, let's keep in touch.

To Contact Us
Email	kawasaki@brelief.org	Email	buddhist@brelief.org
Tel (Sri Lanka)	077-964-9292	Messenger	KenVisakha Kawasaki
WhatsApp	+94-77-964-9292	Facebook	KenVisakha Kawasaki
152/1 Riverdale Road, Anniwatte, 20000, Sri Lanka

Buddhist Relief Mission

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