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Summary of Question:	Reply Re "Ways To Run A Sikh Club In School Successfully"
Category:	Other
Date Posted:	Thursday, 10/17/2002 6:39 AM MDT

WaheguruJi Ka Khalsa, WaheguruJi Ki Fateh,

Dear Jay Singh Ji,

I've had had the experience of having a Sikh Society in college and would really love to share some ideas with you. As your main aim is to promote our glorious name of Khalsa, it would be a great idea for you guys to start looking at your local Gurudwara.

You can start a charity drive and this way, the members of your Society will get first hand experience in doing sewa (and i'm sure they would enjoy the whole experience), our college does paath once a month, and encourages not only the members of the society to join in, but others as well, be it if they are from other religions as GuruJi welcomes all with open arms.

You can also get the local kids involved, this way they get to make new friends and you can perhaps have a "Veerji/Paanji Program". This could include something like a "Mentor/Mentee Scheme". The kids can get in touch with whomever is assigned to them, and help the kids out with homework or just lend a shoulder to cry on. This will help your members become responsible and will also prompt them to read the Gurbani or Sakhis to be able to answer the kids' queries on Sikhism.

If any of your members can read-write Punjabi that would be a good start too. You could hold Punjabi lessons, and call on other elders to pitch in.

Another idea comes to mind. Focus on the festivals and celebrations in Sikhi.. eg. Vasakhi, Guru Nanak's Birthday.. so many more.. you could hold programs at your school hall (any problems would be alleviated if you would enlist the help of your local Gurudwara on this) and stalls could be set up outside the hall, selling various products, from Sikh arts and craft (i would really love to help you on this one, as i have a lot of Sikh A/C ideas, just ask!), food, clothing, musical instruments.. basically anything related to Sikhism. Try approaching the many Sikh owned business and they would gladly love the promotion.. eheheh..

Ask each member what they would like to see happen in their community, from this work out a way to fulfill this. That way each member feels they have made a difference even if it's not fulfilled, at least it was addressed. Keep notes of all this.

Ask also if they have any special skills, for example, read/write/speak Punjabi, playing the waja/tabla or any other instruments, artistic, or anything that can contribute to the running of the club and program undertakings.

The most successful programs we've had were "nite programs" it varied from Sikh Celebrations to "combined Celebrations" where we will combine celebrations from other religions and hold it in one single nite. You'll get a varied audience, greater number of turnouts and best of all, you get to see performances by many talented students ALL IN ONE NITE. This has helped us communicate peacefully with other societies in college (as you know, some are only set up for competition reasons!).

Or try this.. contact other educational institutions in your community/area and see if you can all hold a joint-program.. you'll get exposed to other ideas and if they are elder to y'all, they could offer some support. This could get some students visiting the higher institutions and will work hard to get in (thus, your aim to help students is addressed).

Remember not only are the societies for the students alone, the school staff, i'm sure, would love to make any contribution of any kind, just approach them and see.

By talking to your club administrator, maybe you could hold a week long, Sikh awareness week, this could be extended to all other religions (enlist the help of the International Society, if you have one). This will help Sikhs who were not taught the Sikh ways of life when they were young. This way the whole educational institution could learn about Sikhs and other religions too and help the ignorant from making rascist remarks.

You could even call on Gianijis to guide your undertakings. Remember don't be afraid to approach people. You could assign a shy member with one that is opposite to him/her, that way the former will come out of his/her shell.

Enjoy yourself but remember too that all this takes up a lot of your time. So good planning is needed, this is not a one-man/woman-show. Distribute duties and responsibilites to other members, make sure everyone has something to do. Encourage everyone to read up on Sikhism. Update them on current issues. The Net is a wonderful place to start. Don't forget your studies and your responsibilities at home, too.

An awful lot of other ideas are jumbled in my head rite now and my fingers are not fast enough to type them all.. hehehe.. i'll have them all typed neatly in a Word file, and if you need further help, please let me know (especially on the arts and crafts section).. my email add is [email protected]

May Waheguru bless all your members (incl. you), for you have fed the need for a Sikh Society to be put up in your community.

Nanak Naam Chardikala, Tere Bane Sarbat da Bhalla

WaheguruJi Ka Khalsa, WaheguruJi Ki Fateh