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2011 report - page 2
National and Local Projects
A notable feature of TOS work around the world is how greatly it varies in nature and extent from country to country.
Through more than 100 active groups spread over 20 regions, the TOS in India touches tens of thousands of lives each year. It runs schools, coaching classes, pre-primary learning centres, adult literacy classes, boarding establishments for the blind, for orphans and the aged, vocational training centres for women, free medical dispensaries and eye treatment as well as naturopathy, acupressure, ayurvedic treatment and yoga therapy centres. Supervising, supporting and stimulating this work is more or less a full-time job for National Director, Birendra L. Bhattacharyya, who spends many months a year on the road inaugurating projects, schools and groups, presiding at zonal conferences, presenting materials to the needy, meeting workers and so on. He reports that the TOS in India is in a healthy state and mentions a fine rural and animal welfare programme in Assam, the ‘Seeing Eyes for Everyone’ project in Chennai, Delhi Region’s free dental service and vocational training centres for rural women, Bihar’s work lodging the blind, the 500 educational sponsorships organised by Mumbai Region, the thalassemic children project of Bhubaneswar and village welfare initiatives in Karnataka and Gujarat. Interestingly, he says that TS branches sometimes spring up as a result of contacts made in the course of TOS work. This was the case in Sundarban (West Bengal) this year after emergency relief operations there.
| Each region of the TOS in India holds an annual gathering at which donations are made to the needy. Dr T.K. Nair, National Secretary of the TOS in India, sent these photos of the North Zone Conference held in Raipur in September. A report appeared in the local Telugu newspaper. |
Book shelves were donated to the public library. |
Five people received artificial limbs. |
Thirty students were provided with school uniforms. |
| At exactly the same time that the workers in the South Zone were busy at their Conference, the North Zone workers were holding theirs. Mahendra P. Singhal reported a very interesting programme during which the problems of working women in India were discussed with a qualified guest speaker and more than a dozen awards made to children for proficiency in their studies, essay writing and other skills. |
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The awards were given to the poorest of the poor. Over half the population of the state of Chhattisgarh is Adivasi. The awards are to encourage education among such tribal people. |
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Blood group tests were carried out on more than 200 college students and teachers. The line-up of TOS workers behind those engaged in the tests is an interesting one. In addition to the Secretary of the TOS in Raipur, Mr Janaswamy, and fellow local members, we see three ‘oak trees’ of the TOS in India: J.N. Patowary, P.S. Mittal and M.P. Singhal. The peripatetic, tireless National Director, Mr B.L. Bhattacharyya, is absent only because he is at the South Zone Conference. |
The TOS in Australia provides an example of a different range of projects. This year members contributed time and raised funds for activities in their local communities such as tutoring refugees in English, knitting knee rugs for nursing homes, supporting a refuge for homeless women, working in ‘soup kitchens’ for the homeless, putting together packs of clothes and toys for babies and children going into care, helping in animal shelters, collecting for relief appeals and volunteering in aged-care centres and cancer support groups. Through conducting seminars, talks and petitions they raised awareness about social and animal welfare issues.
 
The TOS in Australia also reaches out to support TOS groups and projects overseas. This year, for example, it set up a custodial account for international donations to the educational work of the TOS in Pakistan.
Fareeda and Aman Amir continue to do outstanding work in keeping the TOS’s work in Pakistan going at a time when, for security reasons, the TS has had to suspend almost all its activities. In fact the TOS’s extensive service in the community has helped protect the TS’s interests. The education sponsorship programme, the literacy home schools and the Jamshed Montessori School are functioning well, thanks to the courage of the teachers and administrative staff. No one will ever forget the murder, four years ago, of Fareeda’s brother Dara Mirza, the TS’s Presidential Agent, who was targeted because of his involvement in the work of the TS. This year, Iffat Jehan, one of the home school teachers, caught a stray bullet in the leg. She has completely recovered and continues her service to the children and women in her community. |
Dara Mirza – fourth generation Theosophist |
Ms Iffat Jehan with her pupils |
Our sisters and brothers of the TOS in Karachi need and deserve our interest, care and moral support. |
The international TOS thanks Aman (far left) and Fareeda (second from right) for their many years of skilled work in maintaining the TOS’s operations in Karachi. Their fortitude and quiet determination are admirable. We see them here with Renée Sell, the Coordinator of the TOS in New Zealand, and Graham Eden, the Treasurer of the TS in New Zealand, who volunteers his time in helping the TOS with financial matters. |
Formed last year in Hungary, the youngest TOS group in the world has already acquired official registration as a non-profit service organisation. This was necessary not to put distance between itself and the TS but in order to engage in certain forms of service permitted only to registered organisations in that country. The group’s first major undertaking has been to ‘adopt’ a flood-affected town in the north. While its first gesture has been to offer emergency relief, its long term goal is to help the villagers build their own active self-help community. An interesting facet of the TOS’s work is the self-training its members engage in to develop the skills needed for service work. For every four or five newcomers, a special orientation programme is planned in which the whole group participates. The members wish to ensure that their service work is thoroughly grounded in what they refer to as ‘theosophical spirituality’. A fresh report and photos will appear in our newsletter of Feb 2012.
The TOS International Secretary attended the Summer School of the TS in England in August and gave a PowerPoint presentation on the work of the TOS around the world. She was happy to see the TOS team in England operating in its own particular gentle and harmonious way. |
The Annual General Meeting of the English TOS takes place at the TS’s Summer School each year. Decisions are taken and plans made with lots of humour yet efficiently. |
Prices are not affixed to the items on the sale table at the Summer School. Members help themselves to whatever they want and give whatever sum they can afford. A surprisingly effective sign says, “Please take a gift from the TOS. Please make a gift to the TOS. Bowl on table.” This honesty system pays – members are reportedly more generous! |
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