Tattva

The South East region held its first Yuva Sangam (Youth Retreat) over the Memorial Day weekend, from May 22nd to May 25th 2009 with a total attendance of 28 people, 26 of which were students.  A total of 7 campuses were represented from the southern region, including the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, North Carolina State University (NCSU), and Duke from North Carolina, the University of Georgia and University of Athens from Georgia, and the University of Florida and University of Central Florida from Florida.

The weekend was packed with very creative and interactive sessions which encompassed both intellectual and physical sessions, allowing for a proper balance,  leaving the students with a clear sense of self-identity (what is my culture, my religion, my heritage) and new found, ever-lasting friendship. The intellectual sessions were delivered through workshops, discussions, power point presentations, and videos, while the physical sessions included a variety of games, canoeing, and hiking.
Two themes were chosen for the retreat – Challenges we face as Hindu Youth in America and Seva (service). The theme for Saturday was Seva, and one of the first activities done to convey this concept was canoeing. Students were divided up into teams, and various tasks/challenges had to be overcome while canoeing (i.e providing dry blankets to little children without it getting wet, narrating a bedtime story to children etc).  By using this creative avenue, the importance and works of different organizations that are involved in Seva was introduced, focusing particularly on an organization called Umang, which is working towards educating and improving the lives of poor children in Mumbai, India. Also, a video was shown which summarized and re-emphasized the variety of Seva projects that are going on in India, allowing students to see the challenges and changes that have come about as a result of the projects thus far. Similarly, a workshop session which addressed different societal problems (water bottles and its detrimental effect on the environment, domestic violence, Bhutanese refugees etc), were given as scenarios to the teams, and each team had to come up with a television commercial (skit), a t-shirt design with logo and punch-line, and some other creative method to raise awareness regarding the issue. The second day theme was the Challenges we face as Hindu Youth in America, and this theme was presented through another a workshop, where teams were given different scenarios to enact and possibly provide a solution on how to deal with those issues. Some of the scenarios used were, roommate mocking Hindu dharma, a professor teaching incorrect information about Hinduism/India, conversion on campus, etc.  Along with the workshop session, an informal discussion on the need to come together and the role of the Hindu Youth and such retreats was discussed. This session was more for the students to speak, ask questions/concerns, and offer their perspective on this concept. With the guidance of people like Saumitra Gokhale and Yashwant Belsare, this session was able to throw light on some of the of basic questions regarding our culture, our religion, our identity and the need to keep it alive. A presentation by Saumitra Gokhale on the “Hindu Compass: Where does it point,” elaborated the various challenges and opportunities we face as Hindus, where we can contribute as Hindus, our roles as the youth, the need for working together to overcome our challenges.  Again, this session was very informal, allowing students to discuss their practical challenges. Also, this session reminded the students of where their roots are really stemming from, what their heritage holds and can offer to the world, leaving the youth inspired, motivated, and confident in themselves and their abilities to make a difference.
An innovative approach was taken to bring in Hindu philosophy and religion to the retreat, without making it monotonous and boring.  In essence, the entire session was a discussion, however to make it more interesting and fun, small video clips on various controversial and complicated situations were shown from the Mahabharata and Ramayana.   The purpose of this was to look at these scenarios through the perspective of a youth (and not look at them as stories, as most of usually do), and analyze, criticize, argue, agree and question each other, eventually learning the deeper, symbolic meaning of those particular characters and situations.  Some of the characters discussed were Shabri, Ekalavya, Draupadi, Duryodhan, and Dronacharya.  This session allowed the youth to relate to the characters and situations, which created a better understanding and respect for the epics.   Another insightful session was the panel discussion in which current full time volunteers of HSS, along with those who have already served, were asked questions regarding their experiences, their role models, and their personal motivation for this kind of work.  This session became instrumental in portraying that the challenges and questions they faced are very similar to those that the youth are currently facing, and these can be overcome if we come together.  But, listening to inspirational experiences was not enough to get the youth going. Different activities in which the youth can make difference on campus and in their communities were also discussed.  Registering Hindu Yuva on campuses and doing activities such as speaker on campus, yoga marathon, and adventure camps are some of the ways to stay involved and continue to become more aware and proud of the culture we are descendents of.
Of course, the evenings were for Shakha, where time was dedicated for learning Niyuddh and playing different games such as Danda goal and “stacking the seven flat stones.”  The “Hiking for the divine trinity” was another activity which really brought out healthy competition and team spirit.  The hiking consisted of a treasure hunt, along with an obstacle course that had to be done by each team member.  The last obstacle, and most probably the hardest of all, was to sing “Hum yuva hai hum kare mushkilo se samana,”
– the camp song – by heart.
The nightly sessions, or ratri karyakrams, usually were followed after dinner. Saturday night, the students joined the family camp (which was going on simultaneously) in their cultural show and enjoyed a performance of a variety of folk dances from the different parts of India.  Similarly, on Sunday night, the students put up their own cultural show and showcased their own talents, through singing, dancing, and enacting small skits and playing various instruments.   The cultural show was then followed by a long night of campfire songs, solving riddles, munching on some midnights snacks, and then finally calling it a night.  Monday was the last day of the youth retreat, and thus, consisted of a concluding session, where testimonials were offered by the students, after which an inspirational and energizing speech was delivered by Saumitra Gokhale.
The purpose of the retreat was to re-connect to our Hindu roots, but in a creative manner, that which appealed to the youth, and without a doubt, the two and half days spent together in the Laure Walker State Park, allowed the students to better understand, find new interest in, and strengthen their pride for their rich, ancient religion – Santana Dharma.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 12:03 am and is filed under Hindu YUVA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.