| |
Selfless Seva
Saturday January
28 2006 17:56 IST
Hiramalini Seshadri
Free healthcare in
globally acclaimed hospitals
Time was when the name Sri Sathya
Sai Baba conjured up the image of a slight orange-clad figure
with an Afro hairdo who performed miracles. Today most Indians
view him as a spiritual leader who inspires harmony between
people of all faiths; as an ideal educationist who runs totally
free educational institutions; as a social worker par excellence
who has brought drinking water to the poorest of the poor in
Andhra and Karnataka and even to the metropolis of Chennai; as a
healthcare provider who has set up globally acclaimed hospitals
where everything is free; and as one whose devotees have a
passion for “selfless seva”. However, what is amazing is the
stupendous global impact he has had, though he has never stepped
out of India except once in 1968 when he visited Africa.
Broadly, the global activities carried out in the name of Sri
Sathya Sai Baba can be divided into Educare, Medicare and
Sociocare.
EDUCARE: Education enables one make a living; while educare
enables one attain the highest in life. Educare helps one
realise that one is not separate, but part of creation, which is
in turn part of the Creator; and what is more, so is one’s
neighbour. Baba’s educare programme which began in the sixties
in India through the Bal Vikas project has now reached 180
countries. Three time Thai parliamentarian and ex-NASA
scientist, Dr. ART-ong Jumsai, is a pioneer who has dedicated
his life to educare; and thanks to Dr Jumsai and likeminded
devotees, today there are Institutes of Sathya Sai Education
(ISSE) in all continents. The Institutes train teachers in
Educare and carry out research on the impact of Sathya Sai
Education in the world. There are 52 Sathya Sai schools
globally.
MEDICARE: Sai Centres abroad have been running many free clinics
and medical camps for over two decades. A coordinated medicare
programme has been launched recently under the auspices of the
Sai International Medical Committee to reach Sai Ideal Health
Care everywhere. The activities include Ongoing Healthcare
Delivery, Disaster Relief, Medical Camps and Health Care
Services, Disease Prevention and Health Education. In the Far
East, Africa, Latin America and South Asia, in partnership with
private hospitals, which offer free theatre and ward services,
regular medical and surgical services have been available for
the needy. An ideal hospice for the terminally ill is
functioning in Sri Lanka.
In a major step forward, Sai Organisations are also tying up
with governments in the implementation of National Health
Programmes; for example, in Kenya the Sai Organisation
distributes insecticide-treated mosquito nets to populations at
risk of malaria no matter how remote and inaccessible the
terrain; and this unique Sai Net programme has generated global
interest. In the USA and other developed nations, Sai Medicare
targets those who are not insured and have no access to
healthcare. In appreciation, the Mayor of St Louis, proclaimed
the 11th of September as ‘Sri Sathya Sai Baba Day’, last year.
SOCIOCARE: Sociocare programmes done by Sai Organisations in
various nations are just too many to enumerate. However the
water management project being implemented by the African
Institute of Sathya Sai Education (TAISSE) merits mention. The
Experts Group Meeting of water experts convened in 2001 by the
UN-Habitat, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and
the Sweden International Water Institute at Johannesburg was
taken up by the Human Values approach to water management
suggested by Victor Kanu of TAISSE. In fact, TAISSE was
contracted by UN-Habitat to implement Value Based Water
Education in six African countries. Water education is a
combination of water literacy — knowledge about water sources,
and, Value Based Perception — where water is viewed as a
precious resource to be used responsibly for the the greater
common good. Waterbodies are viewed as gifts given in trust to
us to be safeguarded and passed down to future generations who
are to inherit the earth after our time.
By 2004, the project was completed so successfully that
UN-Habitat has now requested TAISSE to implement a Value Based
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Education in 12 African countries.
Taking a leaf out of Baba’s Anantapur Water Project, devotees at
Ndola, Zambia, have also started a small water project. Thanks
to it, five poor townships and water-starved for centuries, have
potable water today.
Latin America is another region where powerful Sai sociocare
projects are on. The Director of a prison at Sensuntepeque, El
Salvador, was so touched by the Sai Study Circle meetings in the
prison, that he volunteered to do the Sathya Sai Human Values
Diploma Course. In Beunos Aires, an ideal home for street
children exists with a typical Sai twist to the tale. They used
to live in a makeshift cramped place. While gardening one day,
the kids found 12 kilos of pure gold in a flowerpot. Their
street instincts told them to go for the gold and run away; but
after all the EHV they had been taught, they simply could not.
They notified the elders who notified the police and finally the
courts declared that the gold belonged to the boys. With that
money, a lovely home was built.
What is absolutely amazing is this: most volunteers
participating in the Sai educare, medicare or sociocare projects
abroad have not even seen Baba; but they are all full of love
for this gentle eighty-year-old who lives in India, whom they
refer to as the Avatar of the age. What is more, they are able
to sense and feel his love for them across oceans and
continents; and they are transmuted as it were. Of all the
wondrous things Sri Sathya Sai Baba has created over the years,
this transformation of hearts the world over remains his
greatest miracle.
Copyright
Express Network
Private Ltd.
Source: Newindpress on
Sunday - India
http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SE120060128083027&eTitle=Development&rLink=0
|
