TOS news from around the world

In 2013 the new TOS Correspondent in Peru, Patricia Moscoso Beiberach, started a campaign with fellow server Angie Ramos Garay to collect warm clothing for elderly needy people who suffer terribly in Peru’s chilly climate in winter.

To inspire people to donate items, they had the happy idea of creating an advertisement:

Giving a blanket you give a hand.

Don’t let the cold weather freeze your heart.

You can give a blanket to warm their heart.

The advertisement inspired many people to donate and all the items collected have recently been entrusted to a special programme run by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs called Vida Digna that looks after 250 individuals.

Bravo    to Patricia and Angie!

Giving a blanket you give a hand.

Don’t let the cold weather freeze your heart.

You can give a blanket to warm their heart.

Annual TOS Gathering in Spain

Under the title The Devic Kingdom and the TOS, 17 members of the TOS in Spain came together in mid-May for their annual three-day gathering. The subject was divided into six sub-themes:

·         Human and devic cooperation in service

·         Social assistance and the devic kingdom

·         Devas and healing

·         Devas and the protection of animals

·         Ecology as an expression of the devic task

·         The devic world and artistic expression.

Three of the sessions, two on Saturday and one on Sunday, began with a short meditation and each sub-theme was presented by one of the participants and was followed by discussion.  It was a particular pleasure to have the new General Secretary and the Treasurer of the TS in Spain in attendance.

Members were happy to have the opportunity to explore a connection between the work of the Devas and the TOS. They felt that the gathering was an uplifting and richly instructive one. This was the 16th consecutive annual gathering of the TOS in Spain.  Some participants said that it was the best seminar they had attended in all these years as it opened a window on a wider dimension in the TOS’s work. 

Above, we see TS General Secretary, Mrs Angeles Torra Buron, with TOS National Director, Fernando Pérez Martin. Angeles said that she was delighted to discover the high degree of participation in the way the three days were structured.  “There were a number of short individual presentations,” she commented, “and after each one, time was allowed for each participant to comment in an atmosphere of gentle and thoughtful attentiveness.”

Australian TOS groups raise funds for schools

Recently the Sunshine Coast TOS group gathered with friends to enjoy a Solstice Celebration lunch and poetry reading at the Spirit of Tibet restaurant. The event and raffle of a salt lamp and book raised funds for an impoverished village in Cambodia that the group is supporting through one of its members.

The TOS Groups in Brisbane and Perth have both been busy with fundraising events – a concert in Brisbane and lunches and cinema events in Perth. These events not only provided opportunities for TOS and TS members and friends to enjoy time together, but also raised sufficient funds to enable each TOS group to support a Qandeel home-school in Pakistan.

(above)Anne Bower, Gailene Wester, Renee Jonas, Viv Ward, Shirley Martin and George Wester from the Perth TOS Group

(right) Violinist performing at the Brisbane TOS concert

These schools are organised by the TOS in Pakistan and enable children, young girls and women who have no opportunity to pursue even a basic education, to attend classes. Reading, writing and arithmetic are taught by a teacher who holds classes at her own house which is in the same locality as the students. The TOS provides teaching materials, a fan, water cooler and sitting rugs as well as training, regular support and a small salary for the teacher.

In many cases, if not enrolled in the Qandeel schools, the boys would be playing in the streets or going to a religious school. The girls would be doomed to doing domestic chores and caring for their younger siblings. For these little girls there is no carefree childhood. The Qandeel schools are therefore a golden opportunity for these children and young women to start a new life.

TOS members in the USA send gifts to the Rosebud Indian Reservation

For many years, the Waziya Giveaway has taken place due to the hard work of TOS member, Karen McCormick, who has close ties with the residents of the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Every year Karen shops, sorts, boxes, and drives or ships clothes, toys, blankets and school supplies to the families of Rosebud to ensure a happy Christmas for some of the poorest people in the USA. Karen is supported by members of the Wheaton TOS Action Group. Money, jackets, hats, sweaters, gloves, and other items are generously donated by other volunteers as well.

At their Annual General Meeting, the TOS in the Assam and Arunachal Region of India have once again celebrated a very full year of service activities. Dr T. K. Nair, National Secretary of the TOS in India, delivered an inspiring lecture on the theme, The TOS, its place and work in the theosophical world. The group organised a camp to provide veterinary care to livestock. They also presented mobility aids to needy people and donated materials to an orphanage and a school for mentally handicapped children.

The photographs below show some of these activities. 

Dr Nair delivering a lecture at the livestock camp meeting. To the right is Mr J. N. Patowary, the Regional TOS President

The veterinary doctor talking about maintaining livestock

Dispensing free veterinary medicine

The livestock camp

The TOS group donated materials to an orphanage and a school for mentally handicapped children.

Presenting mobility aids to needy people

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