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The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) organized its one-day Southeast camp in the Shree Ummiya Mataji Mandir of Macon, GA on the bright and sunny Saturday of June 26, 2004. More than 25 HSS youth and adult leaders from the states of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina converged for a whole day of motivational workshops, lectures and seminars. At least 35 local youth and temple members joined the proceedings later in the afternoon to conclude the event with a 4-hour youth get-together that consisted of cultural games, a presentation titled “Contributions of India in Science and Technology” and a group discussion.
The camp was intended to train and motivate HSS Swayamsevaks and Sevikas to effectively conduct youth (Shakha) and children (Balagokulam) activities in their respective cities and towns. The day started with the hoisting of the HSS flag, followed by a brief session of Yoga. The workshops commenced after breakfast with the first one providing tips on running a Shakha/Balagokulam efficiently. The next workshop focused on public relations and the last one explained how to balance the various activities in the Shakha/Balagokulam. The final session of the camp carried reports from all the regions where HSS activities are conducted, the many past and future projects undertaken and a very brief session on conducting Hindu Heritage Camps.
Lunch was sumptuous, followed by a get-together of local teenagers and youth associated with the temple. After an hour and a half of mental, physical and cultural games – a clear favorite with most participants – the get-together veered towards an engaging group discussion titled, “Challenges as growing Hindu youth in the US”. The discussion provided many different perspectives of Hindu youth on the challenges they face as students in school/college, mainly because of the many stereotypes and misinformation about India and Hindus that History and Social sciences textbooks carry. Strategies and ideas were discussed on the role of students to remedy the textbooks problem. Everyone unanimously agreed that the Hindu youth, as students, had a very important role to play, starting with bringing the mistakes in textbooks to the notice of prominent community and temple leaders to engaging class teachers in positive and correct informational campaigns.
Next to follow was a PowerPoint presentation on the contributions of Hindus and India to the world in the fields of Science and technology. The presentation was divided into the different categories of Math, Medicine, Metallurgy, Physics, etc. Many attendees expressed how they were simply unaware of the phenomenal achievements of ancient India such as the great Ayurvedic Sage Sushruta being the father of modern surgery or Bhaudayana having discovered the “Pythagoras theorem” hundreds of years before even Pythagoras was born or Hindus having invented not just the numeral zero but also the entire decimal system of numbers!
The day concluded with a closing ceremony in the presence of temple board members and Dinesh Patel, a Trustee at the temple, as the chief guest. Dinesh Prakash proposed the vote of thanks on behalf of HSS. Dinesh Patel reciprocated saying that the newly constructed temple was fortunate to hold this important event which exposed the youth to the important facets of life as a Hindu in America. He hoped that the camp would motivate them to take up some regular activity at the local level along with support from HSS. Shraddha Belsare, a Journalism undergrad who drove from Tampa specially for the camp was extremely pleased with the youth turnout for the get-together, “I enjoyed every bit of my time particularly with the number of people that turned up in the evening.It helped me make some new friends.”
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing together all offshoots of Hindu Dharma and building an active Hindu-American community. It was started in the United States in 1989 and has 75+ running chapters. HSS organizes several camps during the year and enriches the youth about their history, culture, tradition, and custom.
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