Global Service Projects

Overview

The Art of Living Foundation is a global service project that has made an extraordinary impact on local communities and the world family. Made up almost entirely of volunteers, the Foundation has brought service programs, trauma relief, and peace initiatives to thousands of people in places of raging conflict, inner cities, prisons, and to areas devastated by war and natural disaster. And the programs have had a dramatic effect. At a tsunami site a few weeks after the disaster, the BBC reported that the only people able to smile were those who had taken the Art of Living programs. Thousands were helped at this site alone.

Research done on the programs there indicated that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was relieved in as little as eight hours. Other research has indicated that Vietnam War veterans found relief from 30 years of PTSD after taking an 18-hour Art of Living Course.

Often working closely with its sister organization, the International Association for Human Values, volunteers from the Art of Living Foundation and IAHV have developed an effective and dynamic model for swift response to disasters. The two organizations were among the first relief groups to reach Hurricane Katrina-affected areas (including refugees in neighboring states), and they are still active with efforts to help people re-build their lives — physically, mentally, and emotionally. Youth Leadership Training Programs there and around the world have harnessed the energy and compassion of youth, with special leadership training programs held onsite in New Orleans. The relief training was put into action immediately.

Through knowledge, practical techniques, and an element of grace, the Foundation’s programs not only relieve stress and trauma, they have brought actual peace, and restore a personal sense of well-being, compassion, and enthusiasm for life.

Norwegian Service Projects:

• Et barn i ditt hjerte / Care for Children
• Breathe SMART
• Prison SMART
• Disaster & Trauma Relief for relatives
  

International Service Projects also include:

• Disaster & Trauma Relief
• 5H: Sustainable Community Development
• Youth Leadership Training Program
  
• Women Empowerment Programs (Barefoot Project, BWS, VISTA, the Yearly International Women´s Conference)

 

Disaster & Trauma Relief

We have to address the stress and loss of confidence people have experienced as result of disasters. Unless the trauma is released, attending to the material needs will not be sufficient.

- H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The International Association for Human Values (IAHV) provides programmatic and emergency relief assistance and support to the affected national societies in both the short-term effects of disaster as well as the post-trauma stresses that haunt survivors.

IAHV's Three-stages of Intervention:

 

• Relief: IAHV and its partners provide material relief to victims of disasters.
• Rehabilitation: IAHV helps the victims overcome trauma and stress through the Trauma Relief Program. IAHV aids sustainable development efforts of affected communities by providing training and know-how to local youth.
• Post-trauma counseling: IAHV’s staff and volunteers provide counseling to help the victims start their lives anew.

 

5H: Sustainable Community Development

If the surface of the ocean is disturbed, you cannot see the depth. When the surface is calm, you can see the depth and discover that you are much more than you thought.

- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The 5H Program strengthens communities through its 5 main areas of focus:

• Health - Proving basic health care for every member of our society
• Homes - Building a Roof over every Head
• Hygiene - Providing clean drinking water and sanitary conditions for all
• Human Values - Sustaining development through Human Values
• Harmony in Diversity - Bringing the World Together
  

Furthermore, 5H works to:

• Raise standard of living in impoverished areas around the world
• Enable the people in these areas to create their own solutions
• Educate on mental, emotional and spiritual levels
• Give every human being a chance for a disease free body and a stress free mind
• Foster harmony in diversity and cultural tolerance
  

Sri Sri established the 5H Program: Health, Homes, Hygiene, Human Values and Harmony in Diversity, in 1997, with the aim of strengthening under-privileged communities to become socially and economically self-reliant. The program has been implemented in over 25,300 villages in 25 states across India, as well as in countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Indonesia, Nepal, South Africa, Cameroon and Kenya.

More recently, volunteers have been working in the region of Vidarbha (Maharashtra, India) to address the alarming prevalence of farmer suicides. Of the 151 villages where 5H initiatives have been put into place, there has not been a single instance of suicide since Art of Living intervention.

Recognizing that only a transformation from within can bring about long-lasting change in a community, Sri Sri initiated the Youth Leadership Training Program (YLTP) in 1999. More than 40,000 young people have been trained to act as catalysts for sustainable social change in their communities, with 1,350 youth now working full-time in implementing the 5H program.

In conflict-hit areas such as Kashmir and Bihar, sustainable development projects work at the grassroots level to eliminate the root causes of conflict.

Health

• Community education and awareness about general health practices through Health Awareness Camps.
• Emphasis is on good health with hygiene, a positive outlook and healthy eating habits.
• Organizing free Medical Camps – General health, ENT, Dental, Polio Vaccinations camps & Surgery to the poor population.
• Mobile dispensaries to reach out to people in the tribal regions.
• Spreading awareness and dispensing viable alternative medicines like Ayurveda.

Hygiene

• Organizing cleanliness campaigns regularly through community participation to ensure an environment free of solid waste, by creating garbage disposal systems and biogas plants.
• Creating effective drainage systems to ensure hygienic conditions.
• Installing plumbing for sanitary systems.
• Providing villagers safe drinking water through bore wells and rainwater harvesting methods

Homes

Building homes for the homeless through community participation and with the help of local resources and government schemes.

Human Values

The Breath-Water-Sound Workshop, spread over five-days, is conducted for underprivileged communities.
Breath Water Sound Workshops, known as 'Nav Chetna Shivirs' in India are designed to relieve people of stress and instill a sense of belonging and togetherness. We believe that one of the main reasons why people do not identify themselves with service is that they feel a lot of pressure from their daily lives. Stress and lack of confidence make an individual ineffective and this in turn, affects society at large.

These workshops incorporate simple yet powerful techniques to relieve people of stress and improve clarity of thought. The workshop includes breathing exercises to help alleviate physical and emotional stress, simple meditation techniques which help one to be stress free and more effective in their work.

Breath Water Sound has been extremely effective at:

• Increasing overall health and mental well-being
• Combating stress
• Reducing alcohol and drug abuse
• Reducing domestic violence
• Bringing the community together through music and celebration

Harmony in Diversity

• Establishing Panch Parmeshwar Chaupal – a platform for the villagers to collectively work alongside the local governing bodies to resolve their disputes and plan for development.
• Establishing Panchavati’s – a garden for villagers’ recreation and cultural activities.
• Gram Devta – resurrecting the village deity & bringing people of all castes and religion, together, on a common platform.
• Organizing cultural programs that inculcates respect for social & spiritual values.
  

To learn more about the 5h program, please visit the 5h website.

Transforming Urban Slums
Dharavi, India

Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia, is housed in the heart of Mumbai. With a population of over one million, there is a huge untapped human resource base. Unfortunately, the area abounds in unhygienic infrastructural problems, violence and alcoholism.

On Sri Sri’s direction, Art of Living volunteers took the responsibility of transforming the lives of people in Dharavi. Starting November 2000, regular self development courses have been self development courses have been conducted to eliminate stress, improve health, bring about harmony in diversity and encourage responsibility towards the self, the family and the society. Regular follow-up sessions are conducted, advance meditation courses and Youth Leadership Training Programs to give local youth a direction. Many locals have given up alcohol and addiction to other toxic substances.

General health has improved with a stronger psyche. Many locals are unemployed or working in jobs which yield poor salaries and no job satisfaction. The AOL courses gave them the confidence to venture out and many are now placed in better jobs. Several AOL devotees have employed people from Dharavi, further boosting this trend. Health, social life and financial comfort have improved.

Social initiatives

AOL volunteers alongwith the locals cleaned a filthy patch of open ground and converted it into a play ground for children. Satsangs, meditation sessions and service projects are regularly held in the area.
Many trees have been planted to promote a healthier environment.

Medical camps

Regular free medical camps have been conducted every two months since July 2001. Free check ups and medicines have been given to around 250 locals in each camp. During the Mumbai floods in 2005, over 3,500 affected people were treated and given free medicines.Dharavi 1

After working in Dharavi for a while and with the enthusiastic response from the locals, AOL volunteers realized education was an important key. With the idea of facilitating cognitive, physical, emotional, and spiritual growth among the slum children in the area, the SSRVM (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Vidya Mandir) was started. This is the first English medium school in Dharavi and has received a heart-warming response from every corner of Dharavi. The students are given free books, stationary, uniforms and teaching material. As of January 2006, the school has 150 children (79 girls and 71 boys) studying in the nursery, kindergarten and standards I-IV.

The teacher student ratio is 1:15 and field trips, computer facilities enhance the learning experience. The curriculum is guided by eminent educationists and the Mumbai University and emphasizes on English as well as Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit. Good health and hygiene are emphasized in the school with regular health checkups and health awareness programs for students and parents. The teaching methodology, which combines a fun-filled way of learning, has been a success with children and their parents.

Youth Leadership Training

A key component of 5H is the Youth Leadership Training Program (YLTP) that gives young people the tools and knowledge to serve their community by creating a grassroots model for progressive social change. YLTP empowers young people to take responsibility and to encourage their community to work together for their common progress.

The pillars of the 5H Program are the youth leaders. They are physically strong, mentally alert and morally responsible individuals. They are role models committed to channeling their energy and talents into mobilizing and strengthening people to work towards fulfilling their own community's needs. These youth leaders drive projects such as the building of homes for the homeless, health awareness and disease prevention camps and setting up of basic healthcare facilities in rural areas. The program also offers scope for long term employment to unemployed youth and gives them a chance to interact with diverse people and gain confidence in themselves.

In the United States, YLTP volunteers are serving post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana. And in the rest of the world, they have:

• Aligned villagers with developmental projects
• Provided clean drinking water in the villages
• Created information centers where villagers can get information on chemical-free agriculture, government schemes for development, etc.
• Encouraged people to be rooted in their tradition and culture.
  

For more information on the 5H activities, please visit: www.5H.org

Women's Empowerment

When you train a woman, you help the entire family, the village and the nation.
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The Art of Living and IAHV 's programs to nurture the compassionate power of the individual have applied special emphasis on empowering women, especially in areas of the world where women have traditionally lacked opportunities.

Women Empowerment programs have succeeded in inspiring women take leadership roles in their communities. They now contribute equally to household finances, stand up for their rights, campaign against social ills and even contest and win local elections.

June 2005 IAHV International Women's Conference

The International Association for Human Values organized a three-day International Women's Conference in Bangalore at the Art of Living Foundation's international headquarters in June 2005. Women leaders from more than 20 countries were present, and they charted a time-bound action plan to improve the lives of women everywhere.

The proposed plan includes extending credit facilities and moral support to women entrepreneurs, providing training to rural women, reaching out to young girls and women through positive role models, and fighting all types of discrimination against women.More than 500 delegates attended the conference, which is now an annual affair. The conference's aim is to create a network of effective women leaders. An informal system is being set up to monitor the progress of various actions the delegates have vowed to pursue in their home countries.

Ohlange Bead Project, Kwazulu Natal, Africa

A group of women were trained in the intricate art of African bead crafting. The project took off instantly and has since expanded to include between twenty and thirty women who assemble weekly to sing, dance, socialize and in between it all, produce beautifully crafted items for sale. Many participants credit the BWS workshops with giving them a greater sense of community, improved health and a more positive attitude.

The project has done a lot to help our people help themselves. We no longer need to beg and this has done wonders for our self-esteem." - Muzi Maphumulo, Coordinator of the Ohlange Bead Project

VISTA India

 

VISTA (Value Integrated Services to All) was started in 1985 with the mission of transforming the lives of women and girls who were illiterate, emotionally abused and often afflicted with serious health problems. The VISTA center provides vocational training in sewing and embroidery, teaches basic literacy skills and aspects of health and hygiene. Over the last 18 years, more than 2,000 women have been trained. Linkages to the local garment industry have been established, which provide employment to some of the trained women, while others work from their homes. After the completion of training, women are provided with a sewing machine, which enables them to start their own business. Free medical services are also available and a Total Literacy Program is in operation. This project is now seen as a role model for other similar organizations.

The Campaign against Female Foeticide

Sri Sri, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund, initiated a mass awareness campaign in 2005 to address the heinous practice of female foeticide in various parts of India including Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Tamil Nadu. Under his leadership, spiritual and religious heads from various faiths have taken to the streets in the worst-affected districts and persuaded thousands of families and members of the medical profession to refrain from engaging in this social evil.

Workshop for Afghan Women Refugees

The Breath, Water, Sound workshop was conducted for the highly stressed Afghan women refugees, in conjunction with Afghan Coalition, a nonprofit organization working to resettle Afghan refugees in USA. The participants reported feeling a sense of great joy and peace. They were able to sleep soundly after a long time and feel much more relaxed.