Sikh youth summer camp to enlighten young minds

Sikh Youth NZ and Gurudwara Sri Dashmesh Darbar have organised Gurmat samelan 2017 (an annual summer camp) called ‘Forts of Anandpur Sahib’, from Thursday, January 19 to Sunday, January 22.

The four-day camp is being held every year for the past 17 years and is based on the life and teachings of the 10^th Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh.

The camp is structured around the key themes of spirituality (sant), bravery (sipahi), and resilience (himmat). A range of activities is drawn from the principal events of the life of Guru Gobind Singh such as the sacrifice of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the establishment of the Khalsa on Vaisakhi 1699, the siege on Anandpur Sahib, and the attacks at Chamkaur Sahib to highlight these themes. The key characters such as the four sahibzadey, the five pyare, Bhai Ghanaiya, and Mai Bhago will also be introduced during this samelan.

The purpose of the camp is to share the key messages of Guru Gobind Singh with the participants in a fun and interactive manner and highlight how these messages are relevant to the Sikh youth living in the 21^st century New Zealand.

Children at the camp in 2016 (File Photo)

The camp has more the 100 participants aged between eight and 18 and a few older ones are also a part of the camp.

The camp will host a number of indoor and outdoor activities such as kirtan sessions in Darbar Sahib (Papatoetoe Gurudwara) hosted by Raja Veer from Malaysia, jatha banner design competition ‘Inkquisitive Illustrations’ from world-renowned Sikh artist from UK Amandeep Singh, a presentation on Guru Gobind Singh titled ‘Guru Gobind Singh—The Saint, Soldier, and Scholar’ by Hari Singh from New Zealand and Gursev Singh from Canada, meditation sessions by Dr Kanwaljit Singh, parents’ sessions by Simran on helping the kids succeed, and a session against bullying.

There will also be debate sessions, discussions on bullying, Khalsa Battle (water balloon fight on the final day), outdoor open mic session, turban tying lessons, and sessions on an introduction to gatka.

For the first time, a separate session for the parents will be hosted on each day on topics that will help them gain a better understanding of their children.