I do. And its the same thing my wife, two daughters and I have done for the past few years. We will be giving. Not food, clothes, or money. We will be giving something more precious. Something which we can never acquire or earn back. We will be giving a few special hours of time for good causes within our local community.
For those of you who have not heard of this initiative – its called SEWA Day a national, and now international, day of volunteering where tens of thousands of people across the UK and many other countries around the world take time out of their “I’m so busy” schedules to give a little back to the community we take so much from.
SEWA is a sanskrit word which means to serve. To serve without expectation. SEWA Day has 3 simple goals:
• To help relieve hardship or poverty
• To bring a little joy to others
• To help the environment
Last year my family and I, along with several other teams of volunteers participated in a number of special projects in West London. These included working with the superbly vibrant Afghan Sikh Community at the Gurdhwara in Southall where they ran a number of workshops targeted especially at young people, assisting in a conservation project for the National Trust in Osterley Park, and sprucing up a community centre in Hounslow.
I am proud and indeed privileged to be a founding Trustee of SEWA Day. But I am much more proud of the many people who give up time throughout the year to encourage and promote this day of volunteering. Receiving endorsements from the United Nations, Prince Charles, and Prime Minister Cameron continue to give inspiration to all of us who have made SEWA Day a special part of our year and lives.
This year, we are keen on, of course, seeing more and more people volunteer for more and more projects. But its not all about numbers. We also want to ensure that SEWA Day features prominently as a corporate social responsibility option for companies. We want to encourage people who can to convert their one day of giving, into a day a month, a day a week, and an hour a day through the creation of special legacy projects. Thereby ensuring a permanent and, above all, happy imprint in our communities.
Knowing that there are a growing number of people who are determined as Mahatma Gandhi so powerfully said “be the change you want to see in the world” makes me that much more excited each year to make SEWA Day a mission on the lips and minds of everyone I meet.
Please do visit www.sewaday.org and please start planning on giving the most precious thing we have – our time.
