Upcoming Events
22 October
Teacher Training: The Effective Educator
10:30am - 5:00pm PST
Seattle, WA, USA
29 October
The Environment: Recognizing Creator in Creation
10:00am - 1:00pm PST
Progressive Intercultural Community Service
Surrey, BC, Canada
29 October
Nurturing a Sikh Child
2:00 - 4:00pm PST
Progressive Intercultural Community Service
Surrey, BC, Canada
November 2011
2 November
November 1984: Sikh Pogroms in India
6.30pm - 7.30pm BST
Kings College
London, UK
3 November
Sikhs, Sovereignty and clashes with the Rulers of South Asia
6:00 - 8:00pm BST
Royal Asiatic Society
London, UK
5 November
The Guru: Connecting with the Divine Light
9.30am - 4:00pm BST
London, UK
5 November
Reviving the Gurduara
7.30pm - 8.30pm BST
Sri Guru Singh Sabha Park Avenue
Southall, UK
6 November
1984: An Attempted Suppression of a Nation
12:00 - 1:00pm BST
Gurdwara Guru Tegh Bahadur,
Leicester, UK
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Sikh Education Conference 2011
On 24 September, SikhRI hosted the fourth Sikh Education Conference in Stamford, Connecticut. About 50 educators from across North America came out for the event this year, which was themed, "Sikhi Education: What? When? How?"
Presenters from a variety of educational fields and backgrounds presented sessions throughout the day, on topics as diverse as the Montessori approach to teaching Punjabi, to the role of Sikh camps in the larger frame of educational institutions.
“If we want to make a lasting impact in Sikhi education, we must examine the challenges and successes in our schools and move forward as a unified team of educators who are inspired to do our jobs, and to do them really well,” said Jasmine Kaur, SikhRI’s Director of Education and SEC organizer.
You can read the entire PR, "Sikh Education Conference Re-energizes Educators," and there is a slideshow of pictures from the event available at SikhRI's SmugMug page.
Post SEC Events
The Sunday following the Sikh Education Conference, SikhRI also presented four sessions for the community at the Norwalk Gurdwara.
"Sach and Seva" is designed for elementary school students. About 50 children attended this talk, which was presented by Harliv Kaur. Participants learn a kavita which helps open a discussion exploring the principles of seva, simran, truth, and respect. Jasmine Kaur and Harliv Kaur reprised the presentation for preschoolers later that same day.
"Seva: Attitude and Accountability" is targeted toward older students and was presented by Jasmine Kaur. About 25 Middle and High School-aged teens attended this interactive workshop, where the discussion asks participants to consider questions like what is Seva, why is it important, who is a Sevadar, and how can I do my part?
Inderpreet Singh facilitated "Sohila: Preparation for the Divine Wedding" which was attended by about 100 people. Exploring themes in Bani which encourage a positive outlook on life and death, the talk eventually centers on the metaphor for a death as a sort of marriage with the Divine bridegroom, and how to prepare for this journey.
Finally, "Decision Making & Sikh Community" was attended by 45 people and facilitated by Harinder Singh. This session explored the definition of community, different styles of decision making, goals of compromise and reaching a consensus, and the inspirations of community building found in Gurbani.
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Sanehas
Over the past month, SikhRI has hosted a Saneha almost every weekend in a different city in the U.S. On 1 October, Harinder Singh and Mandhir Singh presented, "Sabad Asgah: Experiencing the Divine Wisdom" in Bedford, MA, to an audience of 25 people. The presentation moved through three sessions which covered the Guru Granth Sahib, Rags, and schools of scriptural interpretation.
On 8 October in San Jose, CA, Inderpreet Singh and Jasmine Kaur presented "The Guru: Connecting with the Divine Light" which explores the themes, "What is Guru," the "Prophet-Genius of the Ten Nanaks," and "Guru Granth & Guru Panth." Fifteen people attended. Also in California that weekend, Inderpreet Singh presented, "Guru Granth Sahib," a talk which delves into the linguistic structure of the writings contained in the GGS, and examines ways to make reading Gurbani enjoyable and enriching for anyone. You can watch video testimonial from Saneha attendees on SikhRI's Vimeo site.
Finally, on 15 October, Harinder Singh and Tripat Singh reprised "The Guru: Connecting with the Divine Light" in Richmond, VA to an audience of 45. He also gave a talk on Sunday to an audience of 250 on "Bhai Buddha ji" which traced his journey from "old" to "Brother Ancient," as well as themes of religious, social, and political activism, and community-building which transcends caste boundaries.
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Liv
On 8 October, Navkiran Kaur Khalra presented a Liv Webinar, "I Challenge the Darkness." Navkiran Kaur Khalra is the daughter of human-rights activist Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was murdered for his work in attempting to bring to light the mass murders in Panjab. Using the story of his life's work and disappearance, this webinar discussed the current legal and advocacy work being done to illuminate the reality of the state's crimes in the region.
If you were unable to attend "I Challenge the Darkness" the recording of the webiner, and tons more video content, are available on SikhRI's Vimeo page.
Registration and attendance for any Liv webinar is offered free of charge, but donations to assist SikhRI in offsetting the costs of hosting these sessions is always gratefully appreciated.
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Family Workshops in North Texas
Over the weekend of 16-18 September, Jasmine Kaur travelled to North Texas, to facilitate four workshops for kids and one for parents.
"Nurturing a Sikh Child" was held at the Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Richardson. Fifteen parents attended the workshop which aims to demonstrate a variety of ways to keep Gurbani vital and relevant in the daily home life of a Sikh family. Also at the Sing Sabha Gurdwara, were two presentations for kids which drew about 65 attendees, "Getting to Know Vahiguru" and "Love and Sikhi."
There were also two events for kids which were presented at the Gurdwara Singh Sangat in Euless. "The Environment: Recognizing Creator in Creation," and "Getting to Know Vahiguru." About 45 young people attended these events.
For full descriptions of our K-12 workshops, please visit: http://www.sikhri.org/parents-k12-workshop.html. We encourage you to contact our main office at info@SikhRI.org to inquire into bringing any SikhRI presentation to your community.
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Presentations in Boston
On 2 October, Jasmine Kaur presented two sessions at the Medford Gurdwara in Medford, MA. About 25 kids and teens attended "Getting to Know Vahiguru," an interactive workshop which uses hands-on activities and draws examples from nature to illustrate the divine attributes of Vahiguru in the world around us.
That same day, Jasmine Kaur gave a talk to an audience of about 150 adults on "Sikh Education" which explored the current status of educational efforts and innovations in the community today, and steps SikhRI is developing to help educators take their lesson planning and classroom activities to the next level.
Harinder Singh also presented for an audience of about 40 people at the New England Sikh Studies Circle that day. The topic was "Sikh Rahit Maryada" and different sessions of the presentations explored the concept of Guru Centeredness, the relation of discipline to reality and the concepts of Sakhsi and Panthak Living.
Also on 2 October, Harinder Singh spoke at the Somerville Gurdwara to an audience of 200 people on the topic "Guru Granth Sahib." The talk explores the origin and message of the Guru Granth and strategies for internalizing the messages of Gurbani.
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Ohio Events
Over the weekend of 8 & 9 October, Harinder Singh was at the Guru Nanak Foundation in Richfield, OH, where he gave two presentations. The first, "Guru Granth Sahib: Origin and Message" was attended by 90 people, and explored techniques to interact with the GGS to enrich life and learning as a Sikh. The second, "Inspiring Gurmat in You and Your Family" is a talk designed especially for young families who are looking to make incorporating Gurmat into their daily routine something enjoyable and rewarding. Three hundred fifty people attended the talk.
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Seeking Volunteers
SikhRI seeks web savvy volunteers who would be willing to assist us once a month with moderating and hosting Liv webinars. Training would be provided by our IT Coordinator. Webinars are offered on Saturday mornings (in the US) and generally last 1.5 hours, but time on the front and back-end would be needed from the volunteer as well. "Real-time" availability would be required. If interested, please write info@sikhri.org and we will send you a more complete description of the tasks involved.
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Help SikhRI Plan for 2012
This marks the ninth year of Sikh Research Institute’s work, and we wouldn’t be here without YOU!
On our nonprofit budget, built almost entirely on donations from individual supporters, we have developed workshops, retreats, curriculum, and educational resources for Sikhs at all ages and stages of life, and have taken them to communities around the world.
We did it with YOUR support. Simply put, our passion is Sikhi education.
With contributions of those who have attended our events or enjoyed our products, we will be able to plan for another year of new Saneha community building sessions, Sidak leadership retreat, Liv webinars, K-12 lesson plans, educational conferences, parents workshops and a page of electronic resources, including podcasts, video, and recordings of television and radio show interviews.
We're asking our supporters to donate $20.12 anytime in the month of October. Every week we'll pick a name from the donations that came in, and send out an awesome SikhRI prize. We hope you will give today, if you are able.
We’re excited to bring newer and better resources, but we need your help! $20.12 would go far in helping SikhRI plan for 2012!
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Thank Yous
Sikh Research Institute exists to serve the community's education needs. As we strive to fulfill our mission of empowerment through education, we cannot be successful without the endless support of volunteers. Thank you to all of our volunteers this month who continue to inspire us with their strength, dedication, and passion!
Achint Kaur, Amarpreet Sawhney, Arpinder Kaur, Bhai Kuljit Singh, Deepika Sawhney, Narvin Anand, Giani Darshan Singh, Gurinder Singh, Gurpal Singh Bhuller, Gurpreet Singh Dipak, Guru Gobind Singh Ji Academy Faculty, Gurvinder Singh, Harpreet Singh Gill, Inderpal Singh, Inderpreet Singh, Inni Kaur, Jaspal Kaur, Jessi Kaur, Kavi Raj Singh, Mandeep Kaur, Manjot Singh, Pritpal Singh, Ranjit Singh Samra, Sandeep Singh, the Sikh Student Association of San Jose State, and Tripat Singh.
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