The Hindu : National : United Sikhs' assistance to hurricane Katrina victims

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 07, 2005

National

National

United Sikhs' assistance to hurricane Katrina victims

Sarabjit Pandher

A U.S.-based organisation has set up a community kitchen to serve hot meals

CHANDIGARH: Americans have been introduced to the glorious tradition of "langar" (community kitchen) in the wake of the misery caused by the Katrina hurricane. The "langar" was started in Punjab by Sikh Gurus about 500 years ago to provide cooked food through a community kitchen, regardless of status, nationality, caste, colour or creed.

A U.S.-based organisation, the `United Sikhs', set up "langar" from Monday onwards, to serve hot meals to those displaced in the hurricane in New Orleans.

It was also a unique opportunity for the Sikhs to help the Americans, especially after they became targets of hate crimes following the September 11, 2001, terrorist strike at the World Trade Center in New York.

The director of `United Sikhs', Gurvinder Singh, and president of the body managing the New Orleans Gurdwara, Sumir Kaur, said in a statement from their base camp in Baton Rouge that while food had arrived over the weekend, the organisation's team had found a demand for hot meals. A truck full of supplies from Houston had been arranged for this purpose.

Volunteers from Texas, New Jersey, New York and Kansas joined other members at the base camp, while more "sewadars" (volunteers) from California and Malaysia were expected to arrive in a few days.

The Unification Church had provided access to their kitchen facilities, where sewadars from United Sikhs and the local community would prepare and serve the langar, Ms. Kaur was quoted as saying.

"We also hope to distribute langar at the refugee centres in Houston from next week. We have been informed that it will be some time before the refugees in the centres can be moved to proper homes where they could cook their own meals. Therefore, we will supply daily langar for at least two weeks and, if necessary, longer," the statement added.

While visiting refugee centres in New Orleans, the volunteers were requested to supply blankets, sheets, pillows and towels for 6,000 refugees. Sikhs who owned trucks had offered to transport the supplies.

The organisation has projected a requirement of at least $ 100,000 to meet expenses. "We call upon the public, especially the Sikh sangat congregating at Gurdwaras, to launch donation drives and send us funds so that we may buy and transport the supplies from Houston," it said. Details related to making donations were available on the internet at www.unitedsikhs.org/donate.

The Sikh community's gesture is appreciated all the more since its shrine along with the holy Guru Granth Sahib in New Orleans is still submerged. Ms. Sumir Kaur said, "We have appealed to President Bush and our local Congressman, Bobby Jindal, to help us remove the Sikh scriptures from the Gurdwara."

Sikh organisations had organised similar "langar" services when a cyclone lashed coastal Orissa, an earthquake rocked the Bhuj region in Gujarat, during a drought in Rajasthan and when the tsunami deluged the Andaman and Nicobar islands and the coasts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National