About Us

The idea of founding a soup kitchen in Bodhgaya grew out of the intensive experiences and encounters during my two-year trip around the world.

Guided by my intuition, I ended my journey by visiting the poorest state in India - Bihar. When I arrived there, I was confronted with a level of poverty that dwarfed everything I had seen during my journey up to that point. During this time, my previous desire to help people in need grew into a strong determination. From this determination arose a vision that I no longer doubted from that point on.

My journey finally took me to the city of Bodhgaya, the holy place for Buddhists, where the historical Buddha once found enlightenment under a fig tree.

In this small town I met my future partner and friend Murari Singh. Murari owns a restaurant where I had breakfast every morning. He joined me and we started talking. And it was in this restaurant that the story of A Bowl of Compassion was sealed. Murari, who himself worked as a social worker, could understand my desire to do something for the local people. It didn't take long before we realized that fate had brought us together for a higher goal. This goal was realized 6 months later with the establishment of a soup kitchen.

I traveled back to Germany as quickly as I could to tell my family and friends about our vision. I soon received the first support and founded the association A Bowl of Compassion together with 6 friends.

Translated, this means: "A bowl full of compassion"! In the Buddhist context, compassion is an important virtue that must be developed over the course of a person's life through humility, asceticism and meditation. Therefore, the name harmonizes with the holy pilgrimage site of Bodh Gaya.

Michael Saatkamp
Founder “A Bowl of Compassion eV”