Harlem-based City Health Works is making community health workers an integral part of the health system.

Founder Manmeet Kaur’s theory is that patients with long-term chronic conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, are not getting the education they need to stay healthy—and keep costs down. For various reasons, doctors are failing to get the message across.

The company, which is paid by insurers, brings education to patients where they are: at home or at a coffee shop. It uses trained health coaches, not doctors or nurses, from the same communities as patients to conduct one-on-one sessions. A registered dietitian or nurse supervises the coaches.

“Most of these patients have had these conditions for years and it’s the first time they’re understanding what that blood pressure indicator really means,” Kaur said.

During a human rights fellowship in South Africa, Kaur was inspired by the nongovernmental organization Mamelani Projects, which trains community members to educate others on chronic conditions.

She worked on bringing that idea to New York City at Columbia Business School, which she treated as a sort of incubator, using class assignments to hone her plans. Supportive professors connected her to potential investors, and after graduating in 2012, she raised $200,000 while pregnant with her first child. But after five years, Kaur realized the nonprofit model was a hindrance to her plans to grow City Health Works to scale, so she began converting her company to a for-profit venture and pitching early-stage investors.

Since officially launching in 2013, City Health Works has raised more than $6 million from the Helmsley Charitable Trust; the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation; Robin Hood, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and Mount Sinai, and earned $2 million in revenue from health system partnerships. It now has 10 health coaches, in Harlem and Schenectady, and an average of 50 people per coach a year graduate from the coaching program.

“We’re doing a layer of primary care that should be done by medicine, but it’s not,” Kaur said. “Education takes time that insurers don’t reimburse for.”

– www.crainsnewyork.com

Guru Gobind Singh Ji was not only a great teacher but he was also the greatest of warriors. He taught his Sikhs to meditate on the One in everyone and he also taught them to train their bodies.

His Sikhs trained very hard. They were tested constantly. Guru Gobind Singh ji also trained himself intensely and, while doing so, he never forgot God. He was always in bliss. He was so expert at shooting a bow that his arrows could go much farther than anyone else’s arrows.

One time, emperor Aurangzeb sent an army to surround Anandpur Sahib where the Guru and his Sikhs were living. About two miles away the emperor’s army set up camp. Anandpur was cut off from all food and water coming in.

One day two generals, named Zabardast Khan and Wajir Khan, were playing a game of chess in their camp. They didn’t know that Guru ji was watching them from two miles away through his telescope. From the Anandpur fortress Guru Gobind Singh leaned back and shot an arrow high in to the sky. The arrow soared through the sky like it was happy to meet a new friend. It thwacked into leg of the bench on which the generals were sitting. “Huh?” “What was that?” Everyone got scared, “We are under attack!!” they yelled, “Run for shelter!”

After a little while, the whole camp became silent. Slowly, people came out of hiding. Wajir Khan pulled the arrow out of the leg of the bench and said, “Who would dare shoot an arrow at us!?! Whoever did it must be found and punished!”

A prince who lived near Anandpur said, “I recognize this arrow! It has a gold arrowhead on it, so it must be the arrow of Guru Gobind Singh.” The Guru always put gold on his arrows so that the families of men killed in battle will be cared for after their death. The generals didn’t believe him, “How could it be the Guru’s arrow!? If he was close enough to shoot at us, we would have seen him and captured him.”

Another prince who lived nearby spoke up, “Guru Gobind Singh is a very brave man. I have heard many stories of his heroism. He must have shot the arrow from the top of the Anandpur fortress.” The generals laughed, From the top of Anandpur fort?! That’s over two miles away. No one can shoot that far! The prince spoke again, “The Guru has special powers, two miles is not too much for him.” Everyone who had been watching the chess game became very impressed. Wajir Khan got angry and yelled, “Silence you fools! Wherever this arrow came from, let us thank Allah we didn’t get hit. Allah has protected us. Allah has made a miracle and saved our lives.”

As they were about to sit down to start the chess game again, a second arrow soared through the sky. It hit the bench in exactly the same spot as the last one. Everyone freaked out, “Where is that coming from!?” “Save yourselves!” “I don’t want to die!”

After everyone settled down Zabardast Khan said, “Come out, com out. It’s safe.” He noticed that there was a letter attached to this arrow. He said, “What is this? a letter? It’s written in Persian. Ah, the language of kings! How superbly is this letter written!” Then he read the letter the Guru had written:

“This is not a miracle, I am not in favor of performing miracles. This skill comes only from practice. You think wrong; I was not trying to take the lives of Zabardast Khan or Wajir Khan. The first arrow was not meant to hit either one of you.”

The generals were shocked, “I can not believe this, how did he shoot that far? He could have taken our lives, so why didn’t he?” Guru ji’s message to them was clear, the Sikhs will never give up. The Sikhs will always be kind but will also never surrender.

Guru ji always taught the Sikhs to to be become excellent in all things and to live their lives purely and simply. It is through discipline and practice that we can accomplish anything in life. It is through discipline and practice that we can become strong and we can help others.

Guru Ji says, “I do not love my Sikhs. It is their discipline that I love.”

Storyteller: Ravi Kaur Khalsa
Topics: Adventure, Fun, Gurus, Guru Gobind Singh
-Sikhnet

Hola Mohalla is a Sikh festival which is celebrated with great zeal and zest by the Sikh nation. Hola Mohalla is celebrated at the birth place of Khalsa, Takht Shri Anandpur Sahib with religious ceremonies. It was a tradition started by the tenth master Sahib Shri Gobind Singh ji Maharaj to instill courage and strength in the common people who were in low spirits at that time. Guru Sahib gave new form to the old festival of Holi to boost the morale of Sikh nation to fight against the atrocious rulers of that time and in 1701 the tradition of Hola Mohalla was established.

It was started as a gathering of Sikhs for military exercises and mock battles on the day following the festival of Holi at Anandpur Sahib. Till this date this festival is celebrated with the same tradition and it reminds people of valour and defence preparedness of those times. In this festival mock battles, exhibitions, display of weapons, etc., are held followed by kirtan, music and poetry competitions. Participants perform daring feats, such as Gatka (mock encounters with real weapons), tent pegging, bareback horse-riding, standing erect on two speeding horses and various other feats of bravery. The atmosphere there is very vibrant and uplifting and everyone seems to enjoy the festival.

Holi Kini Sant Sev
Rang Laga Aat Laal Dev

In this verse Guru Arjan Dev ji is reciting that after keeping the company of God conscious people I have developed the realization and love for Divine Naam. As I am in love with Lord now my mind is playing Holi of permanent colors which never fade. All my doubts, anguish and adversities have disappeared and I am in total and eternal peace, bliss and gaiety. I am rejoicing and playing Holi in the eternal colors of the divine love.

Jaisa Rang Kusambh Ka Taisa Yeh Sansar
Mere Ramiya Rang Majith Ka Keh Ravidas Chamar

In another verse Bhagat Ravi Das ji also describes the divine love as a permanent color which brightens his life permanently unlike other loves of this world which are ephemeral.

The festival of Hola Mohalla gives us a great message that we should all try to fill our lives with Divine love which is permanent and never changes and always gives eternal peace, bliss and equipoise unlike other loves of this world which are mere entanglements and give pain.

-Ramneet Kaur

Image Credits: Priya Goswami/Roundglass

Love the universal language.
Love the comprehensible language.
Love the amicable language.
Love the divine language.

Love your source.
Love your spirit.
Love your essence.
Love your esteem.

Love your roots.
Love your wings.
Love your brethren.
Love your kith and kin.

Love your work.
Love your identity.
Love your passion.
Love your dreams.

Love should be boundaryless.
Love should be limitless.
Love should be ceaseless.
Love should be selfless.

Love is bliss.
Love is peace.
Love is serene.
Love is divine.

As a four-year-old in 1947, Amir Singh Virk held on to a tender memory — that of his older cousin bandaging his toe after he’d slipped and fallen. What Amir didn’t realise was that the cousin, Dalbir Singh, would slip away from his life for the next seven decades.

The extended family lived in a haveli in village Ghadiya Kalan in Pakistan’s Gujranwala province. One day, Amir was dragged out of the house by his mother and found himself in a caravan that was making its way to India. Fires were blazing and mobs were on the rampage.

Dalbir Singh had been visiting his maternal grandparents and he was separately making his journey to a new homeland. Dalbir remembers wearing four shirts and four trousers, one on top of another. He was older, nine at the time the family was torn apart.

Both have vivid memories of the riots that erupted after Independence and Partition. And the brothers had to deal with the pain of living without each other. Hundreds of families were divided across the India-Pakistan border. Neither Amir nor Dalbir knew that both had made their way safely to India.

For the first few years after Partition, Amir was in Haryana’s Panipat and Dalbir in adjoining Karnal.

Dalbir, who went on to join the Indian Army, gave up on hopes of ever seeing his younger cousin, but the emotional, tenacious and persistent Amir kept up the search. He leaned on other members of the family, including an aunt, and found out that his cousin used to live in Sangrur.

Before he could get any more concrete information on Dalbir, who was by then a Major in the Indian Army, he had moved on.

Years melted into decades. There were no mobile phones or an internet connection in those days for an instant Google search that might throw up a clue. All his aunt’s family could tell him was that Dalbir went to Delhi.

Amir moved to Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand and became an agriculturist while Dalbir Singh served out his time in the army and opened a mind, soul and body clinic in Noida. One stayed emotional; the other “grew beyond emotions’’, as he put it.

In 2014, Amir managed to get a visa to Pakistan and he travelled back in time and memory to the village in Gujranwala. He had an overwhelming experience in Pakistan: he was showered with rose petals, the neighbours fought over who he’d stay with and their hospitality was generous. “The haveli was still there but had many more occupants. I pulled out all the land records and held on to those pieces of paper. They were a reminder that I had a [cousin] brother somewhere. I knew he was alive and I had to find him,” Amir said.

The 1947 Partition Archive, a website dedicated to reuniting families and recording personal histories, caught up with Amir and he gave a video interview in the hope that his cousin would chance upon it. Finally, the aunt’s grandson, Amandeep Sandhu, got a number for Dalbir through the larger family network.

Amir dialled the number with trepidation. The voice at the other end confirmed that he was Dalbir Singh. The search had taken 72 years. “I couldn’t believe it. Tears just rolled down my eyes,’’ said Amir, who had to wait for another month before he could make the journey to Delhi to see his “Dalu.”

When the two finally met on Tuesday, Amir was emotional as ever. His eyes kept welling up. Dalbir, who has stayed focused on a spiritual journey, was happy. The soldier in him masked his emotions. The two embraced each other at Delhi’s Raqab Ganj gurudwara.

-Hindustan Times

As a token of respect for the Sikh community, Kashmiri students and traders are offering their services either free or at heavy discounts after the Sikhs came forward following the multiple reports of reprisals on Kashmiris in the wake of the Pulwama attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.

To express gratitude, hundreds of Kashmiris took to the social media with an appraisal on the help extended by members of the Sikh community and many others went a step further by offering free services or discounts on products.

Some of the medical clinics, as well as coaching centres, offered free consultations and tuitions and even Kashmiri vegetable vendor offered free veggies to the customers belonging to the Sikh community as a token of respect.

“Free coaching for Sikh students in 11th and 12th medical and non-medical at Eternal Coaching Centre Anantnag,” the center Wrote on Facebook.

“We will never forget what you have done for us in this hour of distress,” wrote Dr Showkat Shaida.

Gulmarg Snow Bikers Association announced to charge 60 % less from Sikh tourists.

Khalsa Aid, an NGO leading humanitarian efforts across the globe won special appreciation for not only provided the stranded Kashmiri students food, and shelter but also protection and helped them reach their homes. “There are so many Punjabis to make sure every Kashmiri is safe here,” said Amarpreet Singh, the director.

Source- www.siasat.com

I was standing at Jalandhar station when my attention went towards a Sikh youth standing near me wearing a Black turban having a long beard and wearing a kirpan over his shirt.

After a while, one local train arrived, which was totally packed. The Sikh youth tried to alight the train but failed to do so. Just then a voice was heard from the back coach ‘Sardarji Barah Baj gaye’

The Sikh youth looked over at that voice maker who was a young mischievous type of person and instead of showing any anger made a smile towards him.

The smile made was so enigmatic that it seemed as if some type of truth lies behind it. Not able to resist my temptation, I walked towards him and asked why did he smile at that person who teased him.

The Sikh youth replied, ‘He was not teasing me but was asking for my Help’. I was surprised with these words and he told me that there was a big history behind it. I was eager to know the History and the Sikh youth narrated:

During the 17th Century, when Hindustan was ruled by Mughals, all Hindus were humiliated and forcibly told to accept Islam and tortured them inhumanly when they refused it.

That time, our ninth Guru, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji came forward, in response to a request of some Kashmir Pandits to fight against all these cruel activities.

Guruji told the Mughal emperor that if he could succeed in converting him to Islam, all the Hindus would accept the same. But, if he failed, he should stop all those activities. The Mughal emperor happily agreed to that but even after lots of torture to Guruji and his fellow members he failed to convert him to Islam and Guruji along with his other four fellow members, were tortured and sacrificed their lives in Chandni Chowk. Since the Mughals were unable to convert them to Islam they were assassinated.

Thus Guruji sacrificed his life for the protection of Hindu religion.

Can anybody lay down his life and that too for the protection of another religion?

This is the reason he is still remembered as “Hind Ki Chaddar”, shield of India. For the sake of whom he had sacrificed his life, none of them came forward to lift his body, fearing that they would also be assassinated.

Seeing this incident Sri Guru Gobind Singhji made a resolution that he would turn his Sikhs into such human beings those could be easily identified in thousands. They would be the ones who would stand against oppression injustice and bigotry that too irrespective of caste or religion.

If the legend is to be believed, the story dates back to the 18th Century when India was invaded by Nader Shah, the Shah of Persia. Nader Shah’s army reached Delhi in March 1739 and a massacre followed.

Countless Hindus and Muslims were killed and the women were held captives. When his armies were crossing through Punjab, the Sikhs devised a plan to attack them and free the women. But since Nader Shah’s army was huge as compared to them, they decided to visit his camps only at night and free as many women as they could as stealthily as possible.

They even helped those rescued women return home safely because they knew how important a woman’s dignity was. But over time, the Hindus started referring to this kind gesture in the form of the 12 o’clock joke without even realizing that had it not been for those Sikhs, their women wouldn’t have survived.

They went out of their way to help their brothers.

After that time when there occurred a similar incidence, people started to contact the Sikh army for their help and Sikhs used to attack the raider’s at Midnight, 12 O’clock.

This historic fact was the reason which made me smile over that person as I thought that his Mother or Sister would be in trouble and he would remind me of this incident.

हंस कर सिखों पे तुमने सोचा, काम बहुत महान किया

शुक्रगुज़ार ना हो सके उनके, जिन्होंने हिंदुस्तान तुम्हारे नाम किया

शुक्र करो की १२ बज गए थे सिखों के!

Next Time you come across a Sardar Joke, make sure you SHARE this with them!

Amid mob attacks in Jammu recently, scores of Sikh saviours had come riding on Bullet bikes to the rescue of many Kashmiris in Gujjar Nagar.

For eight hours straight, Azhar, Mansoor and Nadeem had locked themselves inside a public toilet, from where they witnessed their four-wheelers being shattered into pieces by angry mobs chanting: “Bharat maata ki jai”, “Kashmiriyo ko zinda jalaao”, “Gaddaaro wapas jaao.”

It was the night of February 15, just a day after Jaish-e-Mohammad’s local recruit Aadil Ahmad Dar alias Waqas Commando carried out a deadly suicide attack claiming as many as 49 CRPF personnel in south Kashmir’s Pulwama.

As entire India collectively burnt in rage, Kashmiris outside the valley became soft-targets for what the country called Revenge.

While “genocide of Kashmiris, war with Pakistan” became one of the most-spoken narratives, there was no hope for the trio – Azhar, Mansoor and Nadeem – other than running for their lives.

“Allah ke karam se bach gaye ham buss (God saved us),” Azhar said, and looked at Mansoor, who added: “Allah, aur hamaare Sikh bhai (Allah, and our Sikh brethren).”

These Sikhs who came riding on 20 Bullet bikes on the spot, to rescue the trio from the angry mob that was more than 200 in number, according to Azhar.

Although targeted harassment of Kashmiris outside the valley was one of the most-reported subjects that day, yet, hundreds of incidents still remain unreported – the story of Azhar, Mansoor and Nadeem, is one such case.

Locked inside the washroom for about 8 hours, the trio had witnessed every bit of the attack on their parked four-wheelers – from the first hit on the front mirror to the attempts of torching.

“But anyway, money isn’t more important than life. Had our Sikh brothers not come to our rescue, who knows what would have happened to us?” Azhar says. “We’re alive today because of our Sikh brothers in Jammu.”

Touched by the gesture of “unknown” Sikh men, Asif loudly declared: “I swear to Allah if someone ever attacks them in Kashmir, and even if that person happens to be my real brother, I will chop his head off!”

– freepresskashmir.com

In 1904, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya thought of establishing a University and started working whole time for it leaving his lucrative law practice. During the same period, Annie Besant and other leaders were also working for a similar cause and established Central Hindu College at Banaras. In 1911, all joined hands and formed The Hindu University Society under the leadership of Pandit Ji with its headquarters at Allahabad. Kashi Naresh, Dr Vibhuti Narain Singh donated 1300 acres of land at Banaras for this noble cause.

In the second quarter of 1914, a meeting of the society was held. On the agenda was just one item ‘Whom should we invite to lay the foundation-stone?’

One of the members suggested that there was one in Punjab but he is a Sikh. Pandit Ji retorted, “Then what? We shall get the foundation-stone laid by him.”
In May 1914, caring little for the searing summer heat, Pandit Ji, with some of his followers, left for Sant Attar Singh’s Ashram at Mastuana, situated at the borders of the then Nabha and Patiala States. He traveled by train up to Sangrur, the capital of Jind.

State. The Ashram was at a distance of approximately 8 Km. Pandit Ji removed his shoes at Sangrur Railway Station and started walking barefoot on the sandy road. When somebody asked him why he was doing so, Pandit Ji replied that he was going to meet a saintly person for a holy cause and hence, he should be humble and respectful.
The news that Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya was coming to Mastuana, spread like a wildfire. One of Sant Attar Singh’s followers, because of the summer heat and poor road condition, sent for a few mares, which Pandit Ji politely refused.
On his arrival at the Ashram, Pandit Ji found Sant Ji reciting Kabir’s hymn:
Aval(i) Allah noor(u) upaaiaa Kudrat(i) k-ai sabh band-ai Ai-k noor t-ai sabh jagg upjiaa Kao(u)n bhal-ai ko mand-ai. (From the One and the same Light, the entire universe came into existence. How can there be good or bad among them?)
On listening to the above hymn, Pandit Ji felt that he had come to the right place.
On listening to the above hymn, Pandit Ji felt that he had come to the right place.

It was decided to lay the Foundation-Stone of the university on 24 December 1914.

It was decided to lay the Foundation-Stone of the university on 24 December 1914.