Could Sikhs Give Aid To Their Own Victims Like They Are Giving To Nepal?

[lsingh]

It is good to see Sikhs giving aid to the victims in Nepal. However there is great hesitation to give aid to fellow Sikhs that are in much need. There are the 1984 Genocide victims who living in dire poverty in many cities of India for the last 30 years , evidence of girls having to resort to prostitution to make ends meet. There are the drug victims, drugs that have caused devastation to the youth in Punjab. When a Sikh charity like Sewa 84 , Ensaaf or Khalsa aid request funds for these victims very little is given. On the contrary many will say the Charities and the victims are terrorists or will run off of the money etc. What is the difference between Sikh victims and non Sikhs? As far as I know no non Sikh charity or country has ever helped Sikh victims. I really find it hard to understand this reluctance to help Sikhs but not non Sikhs. Could Khalsa Aid and others ramp up aid to Sikh victims after Nepal?

[TheFancyBanana]

Help is only really given if it's asked for..! Doesn't seem like most drug users ask for help these days, same thing about prostitutes. It's a nice thought though.

Yeah, I don't think thats a Sikh viewpoint.

Perhaps they are silently calling out for help, but we are just ignoring them.

The crops in Punjab have failed this year, some farmers are just sitting in the market and no one is buying their produce, you have children from Sikh families not being able to go to school, they walk the streets doing drugs, you have families that were devastated by 1984 and the subsequent genocide. You have Sikh farmers killing themselves because they are in debt or their crops have failed. You have Sikhs being converting to Chrisitianity, because that House of Guru Nanak, that house that once empancipated the common people is now ignoring its own people.

Its easy for us Sikhs in the west or the rich ones in India to ignore their plight, to say "oh, they are drug users and prostitues, they aren't asking for help".

What do you think our Gurus would do? Would they have ignored the people's suffering? Did the sadhus and homeless people ask Guru Nanak Dev Ji to set up a langar? Or did Guru Ji see people who needed food and shared what he had with them?

We should sort our own people out first. Even our own charities don't help Sikhs. Who is helping the Sikhlighar Sikhs? They don't even have homes to live in, they want people to do Sikhi parchar, they are asking for it. Why is no one helping them?

We haven't even been able to do anything for those who survived the pogroms of 1984. Why have we ignored our own people?

Its good that we help other communities, thats what we should be doing. But shouldn't we be supporting Sikhs as well?

[kamc]

It is good to see Sikhs giving aid to the victims in Nepal. However there is great hesitation to give aid to fellow Sikhs that are in much need. There are the 1984 Genocide victims who living in dire poverty in many cities of India for the last 30 years , evidence of girls having to resort to prostitution to make ends meet. There are the drug victims, drugs that have caused devastation to the youth in Punjab. When a Sikh charity like Sewa 84 , Ensaaf or Khalsa aid request funds for these victims very little is given. On the contrary many will say the Charities and the victims are terrorists or will run off of the money etc. What is the difference between Sikh victims and non Sikhs? As far as I know no non Sikh charity or country has ever helped Sikh victims. I really find it hard to understand this reluctance to help Sikhs but not non Sikhs. Could Khalsa Aid and others ramp up aid to Sikh victims after Nepal?

I do see your point but these groups can only do so much, having spoken to Ravi (Khalsa Aid) a few times about things like this and he has a simple answer, we go where there is need, they have an ongoing program in India but as Sikhs it's our responsibility to help all those in need to the best of our abilities, they prove that time and time again, my question would be to the charities specifically set up to help those in India, more specifically in the Punjab, i see charity drives all the time on the Sikh channels, where's the money going, one of them did a big thing to help Sikligar Sikh's, they managed to raise a fair amount but no ones heard anything since, if they kept updated the donating public as to what was happening maybe people would be less inclined to think the money's going somewhere else.

Some of the video's i've seen of the widows from 84 are truly heartbreaking, you do what you can, it's a prime example of where a country has failed it's people so supporting causes like that is a long term thing and group's like Khalsa Aid are doing it but when there are humanitarian disasters (i.e.Nepal) then their focus shifts to that.

[gsingh9]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

It is good to see Sikhs giving aid to the victims in Nepal. However there is great hesitation to give aid to fellow Sikhs that are in much need. There are the 1984 Genocide victims who living in dire poverty in many cities of India for the last 30 years , evidence of girls having to resort to prostitution to make ends meet. There are the drug victims, drugs that have caused devastation to the youth in Punjab. When a Sikh charity like Sewa 84 , Ensaaf or Khalsa aid request funds for these victims very little is given. On the contrary many will say the Charities and the victims are terrorists or will run off of the money etc. What is the difference between Sikh victims and non Sikhs? As far as I know no non Sikh charity or country has ever helped Sikh victims. I really find it hard to understand this reluctance to help Sikhs but not non Sikhs. Could Khalsa Aid and others ramp up aid to Sikh victims after Nepal?

It would be great if we could help our brothers and sisters in India. But If I where to ask my parents to donate, they think the money will just go to some corrupt person. But if you look at charities like SOPW, they are slowly making a difference, they probably need more support though.

[lsingh]

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/time-for-foreign-rescue-workers-to-return-home-says-nepal/76063.html

Kathmandu/New Delhi, May 4

The Nepal government today asked hundreds of foreign rescue workers to leave the quake-hit country as immediate relief has already been provided and the remaining tasks will be carried out by its Army and police. It, however, clarified to India that its decision to ask foreign rescue personnel to leave was not directed at it but encompassed all other 33 countries present in the Himalayan nation which was now moving into next phase — rehabilitation.

The focus can go to Sikh issues now that Nepal has asked foreign rescue workers to leave. The 1984 victims ask for help everyday, the press have coverage every other day regarding protests from the victims. The Shaheed families also say hardly anybody comes to help them. The Sikh channels have covered interviews many times.

[Guest Jacfsing2]

I have yet to come across a 'Sikh' drug user/prostitute to be honest. No offense, but have you done any help..?

Even if they aren't righteous they are probably struggling.

[JSinghnz]

Help is only really given if it's asked for..! Doesn't seem like most drug users ask for help these days, same thing about prostitutes. It's a nice thought though.

What a stupid and insensitive comparison.

[S1ngh]

There is a real difference between genuine helping the needy and the photo/video marketing opportunity for some showing that they are present @ ground zero. To some it is fundraising time and to some its sewa time.

[proactive]

It is good to see Sikhs giving aid to the victims in Nepal. However there is great hesitation to give aid to fellow Sikhs that are in much need. There are the 1984 Genocide victims who living in dire poverty in many cities of India for the last 30 years , evidence of girls having to resort to prostitution to make ends meet. There are the drug victims, drugs that have caused devastation to the youth in Punjab. When a Sikh charity like Sewa 84 , Ensaaf or Khalsa aid request funds for these victims very little is given. On the contrary many will say the Charities and the victims are terrorists or will run off of the money etc. What is the difference between Sikh victims and non Sikhs? As far as I know no non Sikh charity or country has ever helped Sikh victims. I really find it hard to understand this reluctance to help Sikhs but not non Sikhs. Could Khalsa Aid and others ramp up aid to Sikh victims after Nepal?

I totally agree with you. Unfortunately Sikhs are probably the only people in the world who will purposely help non-Sikhs rather than fellow Sikhs. To some fools this would seem like a virtue but what the end result is that Sikhs are living in dire need whilst their fellow Sikhs are running around replicating the same so-called relief work that bigger charities have done. Khalsa Aid is the worst in this regard, they seem to come out of the woodwork every time there is a disaster. SOPW now known as Sikh relief were a much better charity then Khalsa Aid in that they helped the Sikh victims of 1984 as well as those imprisoned falsely. But now they appear to have become another version of Khalsa Aid running off to Nepal and getting photos plastered all over the net of their relief activities. These charities are becoming exactly like the bigger non-Sikh charities with their 'sewadars' becoming professional relief workers.

Even the Sikh channels have gone mental running two hour shows asking for donations for Nepal while they themselves can barely keep their head above water financially. All in all it shows the stupidity that is inherent in our people. They would rather help non-Sikhs than Sikhs. It's as simple as that.

[Ranjeet01]

I totally agree with you. Unfortunately Sikhs are probably the only people in the world who will purposely help non-Sikhs rather than fellow Sikhs. To some fools this would seem like a virtue but what the end result is that Sikhs are living in dire need whilst their fellow Sikhs are running around replicating the same so-called relief work that bigger charities have done. Khalsa Aid is the worst in this regard, they seem to come out of the woodwork every time there is a disaster. SOPW now known as Sikh relief were a much better charity then Khalsa Aid in that they helped the Sikh victims of 1984 as well as those imprisoned falsely. But now they appear to have become another version of Khalsa Aid running off to Nepal and getting photos plastered all over the net of their relief activities. These charities are becoming exactly like the bigger non-Sikh charities with their 'sewadars' becoming professional relief workers.

Even the Sikh channels have gone mental running two hour shows asking for donations for Nepal while they themselves can barely keep their head above water financially. All in all it shows the stupidity that is inherent in our people. They would rather help non-Sikhs than Sikhs. It's as simple as that.

Like I said on another post, Sikhs believe that "Human Race is one" but we forget that Sikhs are human too.

Does being self-less, removing the ego and being the lowest of the low mean that we must become doormats in the eyes of non-Sikhs?