Greetings,
As you all know, 2014 is Yogaswami’s 50th Anniversery Guru Puja. To honor this remarkable sage, we have initiated a few small service projects. One of them is helping needy students in Sri Lanka. The All Ceylon Hindu Congress has printed 50,000 Exercise books (notebook) to be freely distributed among these students. The Exercise book’s outer cover has a picture of Sage Yogaswami and the inside cover has a brief biography his life. By publishing these books we achieved three things at once (One stone throw that yields three mangoes – ஒரே கல்லில் மூன்று மாங்காய் )
1) we are honoring Yogaswami,
2) the needy students benefit from the Exercise booksand
3) the students learn a little about the life of Yogaswami
In April, we were able to travel to rural villages in the war-torn Vanni region and personally distributed the books to many school students. Additionally, we gave them math compasses and biscuits. Even this small project was a collaborative effort: All Ceylon Hindu Congress donated the Exercise books, Sri Subramuniya Kottam donated the Math compasses, Siva Poomi Trust donated the biscuits, and the Manitha Neyam Trust provided the transportation. All these organizations working together towards a common goal brought appreciative smiles to many needy students.
My thanks to ACHC Jaffna Coordinator, Mr. Jeyasingam, for accompanying us on these trips. And a special thank you to my mother for tirelessly traveling with me for hundreds of miles in Sri Lanka and her ever-ready-to-serve-others spirit. (She is my greatest inspiration!)
Below are some photos taken at the villages in Vanni during the exercise books distribution.