We hope everyone has had time to rest and recover after a wonderful week together at #syana2017! We wanted to thank you all – campers, teachers, sevadaars, and parents – for working together to ensure we have another amazing year at Gurmat Camp. This year, we had over 115 enthusiastic, dedicated youth, who immersed themselves in sangat for the week and inspired each other to follow the path our Guru’s laid out for us.
Our theme shabad this year:
helped us reflect on how important it is to use the “ਤੇਲ†of Guru’s knowledge/wisdom to light up our souls. We hope each child walked away with more knowledge of the Guru and the Sikh way of life, but more importantly with a renewed desire to continue this
amazing path laid before us.
This year, we spent time learning about the concept of “Kurbaani†and how the essence of sacrifice is rooted in love. We explored examples of this through learning about the lives of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and Guru Gobind Singh Ji. In Sikh History, we discussed Maharaja Ranjit Singh, his struggles and his companions such as Hari Singh Nalwa and Akali Phula Singh. We learned how these powerful leaders helped to establish a strong Raj, however, discussed some of their Sikhi values and importance of keeping good sangat and following the Guru’s teachings in order to live a life accordance with Gurmat. In Gatka class, campers learned skills for defense to carry forth the essential Sikh practice of tyaar bar tyaar (always at the ready). Lastly, in keertan class, the youth enthusiastically learned and sang shabads. Each camper had the opportunity to share a shabad they had learned in the setting of Sangat with the hope of encouraging
a desire to continue to learn and share.
Gurmat Camp provides a great opportunity to immerse yourselves in Sangat and meet kids just like you from all across the US and Canada – spending this time can really allow for great friendships to begin, grow, and last beyond the week of camp. As we discussed during our week together, we are all part of the SYANA family. The time we spend together really does give purpose to the mission of SYANA and all of your energy and enthusiasm inspires all the sevaadars to continue to do more.
We want to thank you for making the commitment to send your children to camp. The investment you are making for the future of our Sikh Panth is commendable and without your support, the camp would not be possible. This is also a great time to use the energy and momentum your kids have to institute some changes or improvements to their daily lives. You, as a family, can encourage activities like learning the translation of a Shabad each day, doing Paath together, or reading a Sikh related book. There are many simple ways in getting your children involved with the Sikh way of life. Your encouragement can really help keep the spirit alive throughout the year!
Lastly, we’d like to thank all the sevaadars for taking a week out of their lives and devoting their time and effort into this camp.
As Kuldeep Singh Uncle Jee said on the last day program, this (camp) is not the work of any one person but the work of a larger team. Because of your help and love for our Sikh youth, this year’s #syana2017 Gurmat Camp was incredible!
Again, we all are a part of the SYANA family and if any of you have any suggestions or comments for how we can improve the camp for future years, we would love to hear them. Please email us at info@sikhyouthalliance.org. We will do our best to accommodate changes that would better the camp experience. We had so much fun with all of you and hope to see you again next year!
Pictures are posted on our Facebook page and videos are being uploaded to our YouTube page. Also check out our camp video this year! Please tag yourself and comment – it’s a great way to stay in touch until the next SYANA program.
In Chardi Kala,
SYANA Gurmat Camp
We hope that you can continue to participate in activities sponsored by SYANA, and like us on Facebook often to get details for upcoming events.
Please join us August 3rd – 6th, 2017 in Dunan, South Carolina for the International Sikh Youth Symposium.
It will be a great opportunity to connect with friends from camp. Information is available at the SYANA website.
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