TOS news from around the world
Rewarding annual colloquium of the TOS. Mumbai Region in India
The big event in the year of the TOS Mumbai Region is the five-day TOS colloquium with 50 delegates that takes place in October or November, at hill stations near Mumbai. The group’s convenor, the indefatigable Brother Rusi M. Toddywalla, assisted by a solid team of helpers, always arranges a varied programme of activities, directed particularly at young people so that they gain confidence as workers and helpers of humanity. On the opening evening of the 2010 colloquium, all delegates attended the TOS healing ritual. Gracefully conducted by the president of TOS in Mumbai Region, Sister Parinaz Gandhi, the ritual impressed the Chief Guest, Sister Tehmina Baria, and everyone else present as it was performed with sincerity and awareness. Benevolent forces seemed to be generated. |
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The Governor of Maharashtra (Mumbai), Sri K. Sankaranarayanan, and other Indian and overseas dignitaries sent greetings and messages of appreciation for the excellent work being carried out faithfully by Mumbai Region. A rich variety of speakers active in the TOS and the larger community explored the theme ‘Be firm as a rock where right and wrong are concerned, yield to others in things which do not matter’. The young people had their own theme for the thirteen member Youth Discussion session: ‘Keep your face towards the sun and you will not see your shadow’. Sister Meherangiz Baria, the chairperson, recommended concentration on the positive side of life. Sister Berezida Gandhi said that people should consider themselves as diamonds in the sense that the more they are cut, the more they sparkle.
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To give practical expression to the ideals of brotherhood and service, delegates visited the Vikas Mandir School for the Handicapped where they learned how the physically and mentally challenged are taught to function independently and to develop their strengths. Gifts of sweets were distributed to the residents and bags of milk powder were donated to the Centre. Post-dinner sessions were devoted to the preparation of a programme of artistic expression for the handicapped children, delegates shedding their inhibitions and rehearsing devotional and patriotic songs, folk and Bollywood dances, short skits and action songs. Chief Guest Brother Arvind Rathod, Chairman of the All India Disabled Rehabilitation Educational Institute, was delighted with the creative efforts and sensitive communication of the TOS members. |
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To recharge the delegates’ batteries, there were prayers before meals, devotional songs before the talks, morning and evening walks, indoor and outdoor games and visits to holy shrines. The colloquium succeeded as usual in communicating the message of the TS and TOS, namely the importance of love, brotherhood, service and the search for truth. |
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In France – cooperation with the Liberal Catholic Church
Last year, the TOS in France joined the Liberal Catholic Church in an educational project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is lending support to the extension of a school for disadvantaged children in a war-torn suburb of Kinshasa. The school is being equipped to increase its roll from 80 students to 150. The TOS funded the purchase of school books, locally-made benches and an electricity generator at a cost of nearly US$7,000. The Liberal Catholic Church has reliable members in the city to oversee the project, which is essential in this sort of situation. The teachers are members of the Church and are paid a symbolic sum for their services. |
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TOS Sweden helps neighbouring Latvia
The TOS in Sweden supports four educational and residential establishments for children in difficulty in the neighbouring country of Latvia, under the steady and devoted leadership of TOS National Director, Birgitta Stålhammar: an orphanage for children from three to twenty years of age in Lauderi, a community home for teenagers and two day-care centres for young children in Riga.
The TOS provides not just money to keep these establishments going but substantial amounts of furniture, clothes, toys and Christmas gifts which Birgitta sometimes transports to Latvia herself with the aid of volunteers.
| To the right we see Birgitta (back centre) and her colleague Kickan Håkanson (front row, second from right) with some of the children of Stikli orphanage in the countryside of Latvia. Some of the orphan teenagers who live in a community home in Riga supported by the TOS, have their younger sisters or brothers living at Stikli. The TOS made it possible for them to meet. |  |
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| Birgitta with Julia, a parentless young person now living at the teenage community home in Riga. As a small child she was badly burnt on the face by boiling water. | Birgitta in the toy room of a new day-care centre in Riga. The TOS helped supply not only toys but also furniture, clothes and money. |
Supporting animal welfare in Wales
In Wales, the Bangor Lodge of the TS collected donations for PETA on behalf of the Theosophical Order of Service at their Christmas meeting. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a worldwide organisation with national groups in many countries. PETA raises awareness about animal issues, provides information to people wanting to live a cruelty-free life and conducts campaigns for the compassionate treatment of all animals |
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