Sikh Society of South Australia
	www.sikhssa.com.au
February 2005                      NEWSLETTER                       No. 2

Gurfateh {Khalsa Greeting} Audio

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CONTENTS

Fundraising Garage Sale Poster
Family BBQ Poster

 
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Swaran S. Khera

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Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa	{ click left on speaker for Gurfateh Audio }
Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh !

With the advent of this New Year, I hope the terrible events of 2004, both natural disasters, accidental mishaps and human inflicting atrocities on other humans will not be seen – but this is just a hope. Nevertheless, let me wish you all a Happy New Year and Waheguru bestows on everyone of you your wish and hopes.

Our community has responded very well during the recent Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s Birthday prayers and several thousand dollars have been raised towards tsunami disaster donation. The committee is grateful to all of you.

I have been involved with this our Society since it was first started and I have observed several certain individuals who have done immense “sewa” and I wish to mention a few of them this time, leaving others to be mentioned in subsequent newsletters.

Charan Singh Dhami ever since he came to Adelaide many years ago has steadfastly and without any expectation of reward or praise carried on performing “sewa” as our unofficial “Granthi”. He has never refused offering his services whenever needed even in events that are sudden and private. Very often he has given up his hours of work to help out. We all owe him our very special “thank you” – the least we can do.

Mohinder Rai had been our celebrant for many years until recently and had done her duties without expecting or accepting any reward. She also has been very active in reciting our Guru Granth Sahib at all sorts of functions and her beautiful and harmonious voice and pronunciations are a pleasure to listen to. She also always helps out actively in “sewa” in the kitchen etc. Thank you very much from all of us, Mohinder.

Balbir Kaur, (Mrs Bhagwant Singh) especially since making Adelaide a permanent home has relentlessly and in a very dedicated manner done the “sewa” of setting up the “Prakash at the Gurdwara and private functions, preparation of “Prasad” and making sure that preparations to make tea were started off with the help of others so that by the time many of you come to the Gurdwara we can enjoy the tea and other eatables. To you we owe special thanks too.

Another person I wish to mention is Daram Khera, who all of you know, to be one person whom you miss when you realize there are no “pakoras” in the morning with tea. He has given a lot of service in the kitchen as well as trying to keep the place clean. We give him our thanks too.

We have had some delays and hitches with the landlord (seems to be a fun) with regards to this new temporary Gurdwara at Oakden. However, these are being tackled and sorted out. Meanwhile, we are negotiating with the lessee at the Colonial Function Centre to see if he will move out earlier.

Regards to all

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WELFARE CLUB 

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The Welfare Club organised a function about the Early Arrivals of Sikh into South Australia. The function was held on 11^th December 2004 at the Gurdwara and was attended by about 40 people.

The first speaker was Pamela Rajkowcki, who has written books on the history of Afghans who came to Australia. It was while doing the research on Afghans, that she stumbled across a few Sikh names – “Singhs” – that attracted her attention.

Pamela had done a fair amount of research and a fair few Sikhs were known to have worked in Marree in the 1860’s. She had records of their names and what they did and in fact one of them named Kundan Singh, who did not know how to read and write was the first depositor of funds into Bank of South Australia.

After Pamela’s talk all present were invited to have a look at her research material. It was quite impressive. Her talk was very well accepted and Pamela was thanked for her time and effort in coming to the Welfare Club function.

The next speaker was Ajmer Singh Randhawa, who talked about his experiences when he arrived in Australia. He recalled that there were very few Sikh families in Adelaide and there was no family support as such. Loneliness was felt by the non-employed members of the family. Further a very limited amount of traditional Indian foods were available and even basic Asian groceries had to be imported.

As there was no Gurdwara established then, a few families used to meet on a monthly basis by rotation and Mr. Joginder Singh was responsible for initiating this move. He did the religious part of the ceremonies and the others brought a dish to share. Later as more families came it was decided to move to Tynte Street school hall in 1980. This arrangement was carried until the Hampstead Road Gurdwara was opened in April 1988. Ajmer recited a few amusing incidents about lots of families contacting him prior to moving to South Australia. In his family alone, a large number of his relations followed him to Adelaide.

Ajmer was thanked for his speech and then Sherry Randhawa gave some of her personal experiences as a new arrival to Adelaide from Singapore. She then invited 2 students from India to share their experience.

Amandeep Singh and Shilendra from the University of SA shared their experiences. Both are doing their Masters Degrees. They have made very welcome by the Sikh Community in Adelaide as the Gurdwara is operating nicely and all students are welcomed. Both of them commended the Society for having evolved the facilities and wished the Welfare Club success in improving further the various services for both young and old.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

The Welfare Club is delighted to organise Walk for Fitness on 19th February at 10:30am at Morialta Conservation Park. (Stradbroke Road carpark and picnic area). 

We invite everyone in the community to put on your walking shoes and come join us! And bring along a Picnic for lunch afterwards! 

Seniors are especially encouraged to join in this activity. Should any Seniors require transportation, please forward your name to any member of the Welfare Club. We are most happy to assist. 

We hope to make this walking activity a monthly event. So please look out for more information on the next venue for March.
 

As a fundraiser event, the Welfare Club is hosting a Garage Sale on the 12^th March from 10am to 3pm at the Gurdwara and needs your support to make it a success.

If you have household items you’ve been wishing to donate, there’s no better place to contribute them than the Welfare Club of the Sikh Society of SA.

If you have things you’d like to contribute, please contact either Lila Randhawa or Rani Turner, or bring your donations to the Gurdwara.

Thank you for your support!

 
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 HOUSEKEEPING RULES - A REMINDER

GURU-KA-LANGGAR

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GURDWARA – A place of Worship first before a ‘restaurant’. The Gurdwara is meant to be a place of worship and not a place to come and enjoy lunch!. For families’ donating/organising the Guru-ka-langgar, you are encouraged to keep the langgar as simple as possible. This means one Dhal/curry plus rice. You can include salad and/or yoghurt if necessary. This saves time of the Sewadars and also means all can attend the Gurdwara Kirtan and prayer session rather than being held-up in the kitchen. Bear in mind, we only attend Gurdwara once a week for a couple of hours, let’s not spend more time than necessary in the kitchen trying to cook up the best meal.  Remember it is not a competition as to how many dishes you can provide for the day. Also, it helps keep costs down for many families.

There is often leftover langgar. The Sangat is encouraged to take home leftover langgar but please refrain from packing up the food until ALL have eaten.  There are Sewadars who are involved in counting up the Golak monies or a meeting immediately after the prayers and have not had their langgar. Sewadars helping to serve the food are encouraged to look in the Darbar Hall to make sure everyone is out and have had their langgar before starting to pack-up. 

Thank you to those who bring in empty tupperware/containers to the Gurdwara. For those taking home leftover langgar, using these containers please ensure you return them the next time you come to Gurdwara. The Gurdwara does not supply containers and the ones donated by members of the Sangat are not in abundant supply. So we appeal to you to return any containers.

Guru-ka-langgar should not be wasted. Please only take the amount you require. There are also a number of children who are unable to finish what is on their plate and thus waste the food. Parents are encouraged to be with their children when taking langgar and also ensuring they are able to finish it where possible. 

Shoe racks have been placed against the wall at the entrance to the Darbar Sahib. Please place your shoes on these racks instead of leaving them on the floor. Leaving shoes on the floor becomes a safety hazard for others especially the children, the elderly and those with walking aids. For those considerate few who use the racks, they find themselves stepping over others shoes to reach the racks. Please consider others safety and ensure you place your shoes and especially your kids shoes neatly on the shoe racks supplied. 

The Gurdwara is a place of worship and prayers. Please try to observe and maintain silence whilst in the Darbar Sahib where possible. This is more so when there is a larger congregation. Lots of people sitting at the back tend to be involved in conversations whilst Kirtan and Prayers are going on. This interrupts the concentration of others who are trying to meditate, listen to, or participate in the Kirtan and prayers. So, as a sign of respect of being in the Darbar Sahib and giving consideration to other members of the Sangat, please adjourn to the dining hall if you need to have a conversation with somebody.

All members of the Sangat are reminded to inform and obtain approval of the Management Committee to use the Gurdwara premises for any private functions. This is in accordance with the Standing Rules and Guidelines number 1 and 7 in the SIKH SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA INC. Constitution, which state:

1.         GURDWARA PREMISES

[a]        The control and running of the Gurdwara premises and all other buildings at the site shall be under the absolute control of the Management Committee elected at the time. This includes the conduction of any ceremonies at the premises.

[b]        Use of Gurdwara premises for any occasion requires the approval of the Management committee.

7.         PRIVATE FUNCTIONS

[a]        All private functions held in the Gurdwara must be approved by the Management committee. These include weddings or other occasions marking a special family event.
 

THE FUTURE OF THE SIKH SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

A new sub-committee has been formed to look into the future of the SSSA. The objective of this fact-finding body is to survey the opinions and concerns of members. The aim is to gather information from members via seminars, forums and other modes, to collate the data into a report and present it with some recommendations to the Management Committee. The three main areas of concern are social/cultural, financial and educational. Nominations are sort for anyone who is interested to be part of this sub-committee. Please forward your name to Bahal S. Gill, the chair of the sub-body. To get the ball rolling, we are hosting a general discussion/seminar entitled “The Future of the Sikh Society of South Australia” on the 27^th February 2005 at 12pm in the Gurdwara. The convenors are Bahal S. Gill and Sharmil Randhawa. We would like to encourage everyone to take part in this and forthcoming events. Your participation in them will ensure that your views, opinions and concerns are noted for reference.

VAISAKHI DINNER 2005 

Vaisakhi is a time for harvesting, fun and get-together; a time when people share their good-fortunes, merry-making and laughter. The Management Committee is organising a Vaisakhi Dinner on the 30^th April at the Norwood Hall. We would like to encourage everyone to join in the fun and merry-making on that day. So please put this date in your diary. We are also seeking for volunteers to help with this event. Please forward your name to any committee member.

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OTHER NEWS 

The Migration Museum has begun research for the redevelopment of the galleries that present the history of the 20^th and 21^st century. They are keen to involve as many different cultural communities as possible in the research. If any members have any contributions, please forward them to the Management Committee, who will in turn pass them onto the Migration Museum.

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EMAIL CONTACT DETAILS

As a contemporary way to keep in touch with current members of the Sikh Society of South Australia, we ask for your kind assistance in filling in the slip below and returning it to any committee member, or alternatively posting to GPO Box 3, North Adelaide, South Australia 5006.

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CONTENTS

Fundraising Garage Sale Poster
Family BBQ Poster

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	Donations wanted for  fundraising GARAGE SALE
	12th March 2005 10 am – 3 pm Gurdwara
	As a fundraiser event, the Welfare Club is hosting a Garage Sale, and needs your support to make it a success. If you have things you’d like to contribute, please contact either Lila Randhawa or Rani Turner, or bring your donations to the Gurdwara. Thank you for your support!
	WALK FOR FITNESS
	Saturday, 19th February,  10:30am. Morialta Conservation Park
	Walking is one of the most effective ways to get fit - and it's also one of the most environmentally friendly means of transport. Walking is low-impact so there's little stress on your joints. And it's also good for your emotional health: walking for 45 minutes or more triggers the production of the body's own feel-good hormones, endorphins, which in turn create feelings of well-being and relieve anxiety and stress.   The Welfare Club is delighted to organise this walking event. We invite everyone in the community to put on your walking shoes and come join us! And bring along a Picnic for lunch afterwards!   Seniors are especially encouraged to join in this activity. Should any seniors require transportation, please forward your name to any member of the Welfare Club. We are most happy to assist.

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Fundraising Garage Sale Poster
Family BBQ Poster

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Last updated : 12th July  2005

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