On Saturday 9 March 2019, Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara Bradford, held the annual Gurmat Camp. The theme this year was seva – selfless service. The aim was for the children to experience undertaking seva and hear first hand from people and organisations actively involved in seva. Hopefully, it has inspired them and broadened their thinking of what seva is and how it can be done at home and the wider community – acts, words of kindness aswell as material/physical ways.
One hundred children attended aged 5 – 17 years. We were fortunate enough to have forty volunteers to help coordinate the groups and activities. These were parents of children as well as teachers from the gurdwaras Panjabi School.
Five groups consisted of 20 children each in order to split into age appropriate sessions.
1. Seva, Simran and me – what does gurbani say to us about seva
2. Ekta – team building exercises to demonstrate the importance of teamwork in seva
3. Zero Hunger with Langar – representatives from this organisation informed the children about the work they do to raise money for opening more langar kitchens throughout the world. Children also made food packs for the team to distribute to needy people as part of their weekly drop
4. Archery, wall climbing and caving – this physical fun session is just as important as the others to keep children engaged and gives them a release
5.Sakhi and quiz – historical element of the camp where the story was told of Bhai Bachittar Singhs courage during his seva for Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Also a sikh general knowledge quiz
The event opened with guest speaker Amarjit Singh Bansal from Khalsa Aid speaking to all of the children together about his seva experiences across the world. On Saturday 9 March 2019 Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara Bradford held the annual Gurumat Camp. The theme this year was seva – selfless service. The aim was for the children to experience doing seva and hear first hand from people and organisations actively involved in seva. Hopefully it has inspired them and broadened their thinking of what seva is and how it can be done – acts, words of kindness aswell as material/physical ways.