News & Update

Volunteers stayed up all night preparing thousands of roti wraps for refugees camped in Calais.

About 5,000 wraps along with clothes, toiletries and dry food, were then distributed by volunteers from Singh Sabha London East, High Road, Seven Kings.

The group also donated to a temporary kitchen at the camp after distributing essentials outside a temporary mosque and church.

Organiser Mandeep Singh, 30, said: “It was a really good experience, but there’s still a lot of help needed. “It was quite humbling to help people in need and at the same time see their conditions – it was quite difficult.”
The police officer from Seven Kings said it was all about sharing the principles of Guru Nanak – one being “kirat karo” which is all about sharing. “To have such an opportunity to be involved in such a seva [selfless service] is very special indeed,” he said.

“Being able to help and speak to those in need in Calais makes me appreciate how lucky we are.”

In charge of preparing the food was Mandeep Chahal, 40, from Seven Kings.“There’s always lots of volunteers that want to help,” she said.

“I haven’t done an all-nighter before but the younger members stayed up with us and there was a lovely spirit in the kitchen.

“We were like machines,” she said. “It’s lovely to know that it was going to a good cause.” Volunteer Makhan Singh said the group hoped to return to Calais in the near future.

He said: “Compassion is a big part of the Sikh philosophy, so when we know these people are suffering just around the corner from us, we have to do something to help.”

~ Source – Ilfordrecorder.co.uk

Father Joshua Lickter, who is Christian church in California, USA, regularly prays for the current tense situation in Punjab, India. He makes it a point to include it during the prayer service at church.

“Things are pretty heated up there right now in the state of Punjab,” he says before leading his congregation in prayers for peace, justice, and protection for peaceful protesters.

“We’ve been praying for India, and have been involved in human rights advocacy in India. Things are pretty heated up there right now in the state of Punjab right now. “There are some peaceful protests that are going on because some of the Sikh scriptures were desecrated by just Hindu nationalists or people that were trying to cause a ruckus. And as the Sikh community was protesting it, the police have come in and are blacking out certain areas. They’re taking down the internet and not letting people post on Facebook what’s happening. The government’s getting involved in censoring these peaceful protests about this so a lot of the details and information aren’t coming out, but a lot of people are getting beat up, and hurt, and a few have been killed already by it. “So we just want to pray for peace in that situation, and for justice, and also for protection for people that are speaking out against it.”

~ Source: Sikh24.com

Australia has now set up it’s own version of a Sikh Helpline for Sikhs in the country, as an avenue for seeking counseling and advice for numerous issues that commonly effect the community.

A statement released by the service providers has been published below:

“With the aim of providing much needed support platform for Sikhs in Australia, the Sikh Helpline service is launched by Red Khanda Inc. The Helpline sewa run by volunteers will provide Australia-wide sangat confidential counselling, information and help on various issues in Punjabi and English.

“Presence of Sikhs in Australia can be traced back to early settlement periods but the number of Sikhs in Australia since those periods had not grown much until the end of 20th century mainly due to white Australia policy and Sikhs from Punjab favouring Canada, UK and USA over Australia. This scene has changed in last 10 years when young Sikh students and skilled migrants shifted their focus to Australia and made down under their home. The Sikh Australians are positively contributing to growth and development of their adopted country.

“While Sikh Australians report their experience in Australia en masse as good, the challenges faced by Sikh Australians cannot be pushed aside. Living away in a foreign land and as minority immigrant in adopted country is never easy but for Sikh Australians the incidents like 9/11 and Martin Place siege bring alive realities of racism and hatred. Adults and children come face to face with bullying, harassment and discrimination on day to day basis. Some can deal with situations on their own, others need some system of support to gather a response to these problems.

“Then there are our in house issues which need to be attended. Although Sikhi propounds abstinence from intoxicants and mandates equality, but the harsh truth is that some Sikh households do suffer from domestic violence, addictions etc. Due to stigma attached with such issues the victims don’t want to discuss things openly and need community support. Growing up in high pace modern materialistic societies either gives one less exposure to Sikhi or sometimes causes confusion and conflicts within about ones faith and identity.

“Above are some examples of situations and circumstances when one needs to seek help and guidance. With a view to help fellow Sikhs in need to help in such situation Sikh Helpline Australia is being launched.”

The confidential service has now rolled out and is available as a community run service throughout Australia.

Sikh Helpline can be reached at inquiries@sikhhelpline.com.au

~ Source: sikh24.com

Taranjit Singh, a digital designer based in the UK has an impressive portfolio of Sikh related digital designs. His latest Endeavour, however is worth particular attention as he produces impressive figurines of the famous Bhai Garja Singh, companion of Bhai Bota Singh, hailing from the 18th century.

Taranjit Singh creates an inspirational hero from Sikh history, Bhai Garja Singh. Taranjit Singh creates an inspirational hero from Sikh history, Bhai Garja Singh

A successful Kickstarter campaign has seen the pledged goal of £11500 being surpassed in but a few days.

The 3d prints of the small statues are described by Taran Singh as follows, “The sculpture will be 12 inches tall and will be cold cast in resin bronze. There will also be a real bronze version which will be limited to 10 casts only. I have researched and carefully crafted each and every component in 3D.

“Sikh history and art are my passion and I have always been inspired by stories about the brave Sikh warriors who rose to forge their own Sikh empire in Punjab during the 1700’s. I wanted to create something that would remind people of their bravery and celebrate their inspirational sacrifice. This is my way of sharing their story with the next generation.”

Bota Singh and Garja Singh are famed for their single-handed challenge to the oppressive ruling regime of the time. Keeping their swords in their sheaths and arming themselves with only staffs, they fought off the cavalry and infantry of a 100 man contingent.

They eventually succumbed to their injuries and laid down their lives, but not before propping their broken-boned bodies against each other, back to back, to spend their last few breaths dealing a few more deathly blows to the shocked soldiers who had come to ‘arrest’ them.

~ Source: sikh24

In era of Modern Age, where even a short power cut tends to disturb our entire day, there are so many villages in India that have never even experienced electricity. Rural electrification is a big issue in India and more than 18,000 Indian villages still await to be electrified.

Such was the fate of Naro ka Kheda a small village in Rajasthan with 76 households until Prabh Singh, a Sikh student who pursued his higher education in Durham University Business School in England, took it upon himself to bring electricity to the village. His ‘Project Kiran’ electrified around 76 households in that village.
Until then, the villagers had to walk 7 s just to charge their mobile phones.

This project costed around 7 Lakhs, which was crowd-funded by the villagers and contributed by North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR), an autonomous society in the Indian government.
Prabh decided to stay while implementing his project with the villagers to experience their lifestyle & get a sense of benefit his project could bring.

The ‘easy to install and service’ electricity kit created in this project comprises of the following things.

A solar panel
Three light bulbs
A strip light
A charging socket

This ensured that the initiative was accessible to residents in remote locations.

Prabh Singh wants to take this project to other villages too. “I am in talks with an Indian central government agency to replicate the same project in 50 remote Indian villages based on the similar kind of revenue and service mechanism,” he said.

“The happiness and the amazement which I saw in those villagers’ eyes after they used electricity in their house for the first time is unmatched to any professional accomplishment that I could ever imagine achieving.” Added prabh Singh after turning their Dream into reality!

~ Source – huffingtonpost.co.uk

Sikh Solider who survived a Japanese bullet through the jaw serving in the British Army during Second World War celebrates his century in Hitchin.

Pritam Singh, from Meadow bank, had his family around him to mark the milestone, including a number of his five children, 12 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Mr Singh, who came to England in 1962 after surviving a bullet through his jaw fighting the Japanese with the fearsome 16th Punjab Regiment during the war – worked at Bowmans in Hitchin and Ickleford.

His son Jas Phurgura said: “Dad feels blessed.”

Via: GT1588

The 2015 Parliament was officially opened with a parade of flags and Native American drumming as regional tribal chiefs welcomed us to their land, and prayed for world peace. It was attended by 10,000 people from 80 countries and 50 faith and non-faith groups.

This year, UNITED SIKHS volunteers at the Parliament spoke on service (seva) as a pathway to alleviate human suffering; that society will have to address fear in order to address hate crime and prejudice; how technology may help alleviate poverty in Panjab where a farmer is committing suicide every few hours; and how there can be no peace until truth is revealed for justice and reconciliation to take place.

Kamalla Kaur addressed attendees on her journey discovering Sikhi and said, “Having so many people from so many faith traditions talking, singing, praying and working for world peace is grand. The Parliament of World Religions gives me renewed hope for humanity, and faith in Creation/Creator.”

Prof Indira Prahst, from Vancouver, examined media representations of Sikhs and how the turban has been signified through a “violent” gaze by the public towards the turban against the back drop of the war on terrorism, secularism and Nation Building. She argued that the image of Sikhs is a politics of representation.

Langar was prepared and served by Sikhs to thousands of attendees every day of the Parliament. Langar is a Sikh tradition of a free community meal for anyone, regardless of race, religion, gender, colour or class. By the end of the conference, maybe a third of those serving Langar were non-Sikhs who were inspired to join in the great seva.

Rev. Marie Gasau, from Oak Creek, Colorado, who had not partaken Langar before, approached one of the Langar organisers, Balwant Singh, and requested his help to start Langar in her home town where there is no Gurdwara (Sikh place of worship).

Sikhs also made their presence felt, when volunteers of the American Sikh Council tied turbans for non-Sikh Parliament attendees. Hundreds of non-Sikhs were seen sporting colourful turbans at the Parliament and on the streets and shopping malls near the Parliament venue.

One non-Sikh attendee who wore his turban to the airport on his way home said, “I have not taken my turban off because I want to know what Sikhs go through at airports when their turbans are searched.”

~ Source: www.unitedsikhs.org

Issued By-
Mejindarpal Kaur
International Legal Director
International Civil and Human Rights Advocacy (ICHRA), UNITED SIKHS