Volunteers share experiences at Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh camp in Pune

By Bhagyashree Kulthe

Volunteers of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) shared their experiences on day two of the global camp of the HSS held at the Rani Laxmibai Kanya Sainik Shala in Kasaar Amboli.

The HSS is associated with the Vishwa Adhyayan Kendra that works for uniting Hindus across the world.

While the group is striving for the rehabilitation of Hindu widows in Sri Lanka, it is also working to preserve and promote Hindu ideals and values in countries such as Canada and Australia.

While interacting with the media on Thursday, Vijay Balan, an activist from Sri Lanka, said 95% of the widows in his country were Hindu.

“The number of widows in the country has increased due to the civil war between the LTTE and the government. The HSS, along with another organisation, Seva International, is working towards their rehabilitation,” said Balan.

The organisations have been working on a self-employment project for women in Vanni, besides planning to renovate 100 temples and arranging meals for 50 villages.

Swami Aksharanand, who works for the HSS in Guyana, said the organisation was also involved in social causes.

“The biggest problem in Guyana is the high rate of suicide among people of Indian origin. We are trying to find out the reason so that the problem can be tackled. Alcoholism is another major problem that faces Indians living there,” he said.

Most of the Indians in Guyana were brought there by Britishers for sugar cane cultivation.

Another member, Chandrakant Kulkarni, who works in Australia and is a native of Aurangabad, said there are 11 branches of the HSS in the country and they were concentrating on training children. “We need to preserve our culture through the young generation,” he opined.

Representatives from over 40 countries are attending the meet, which began on December 29 and will conclude on January 3.