Saturday outing at Sikh Youth Camp 2007

Some pictures from our trip to Bandelier national monument, where there are ruins of an ancient native American settlement.


Preetpaul Singh Ji hiking next to the remains of a kiva, where religious ceremonies were held.
The whole group hiking on the trail.
Harjot Singh Ji, posing at the entrance to one of the former dwellings built into the side of the cliff.
On our way to the hot springs.
Hiking in the forest.
Hanging out in one of the pools of the hot springs, with some other visitors.
Battleship rock, where the trail to the hot springs begins.

Sikh Youth Camp 2007

S.E.V.A. hosted a three day Sikh youth camp, after the Jaap Sahib course that was held in Española. Here is the group on the Saturday outing.

More pictures from the walk against drugs

serving trail mix and slices of orange, and water and gatorade as people walk by.



The walkers approaching the second stop, where we went to serve the rest of the food.
Gurujot with a tray of cups containing gatorade.
Akal, Gurujot, and Prabhu serving the walkers as they rest.

Walkers resting before the last few miles.


Akal giving apples to walkers.

Reconvening at the tables after making rounds with food and drink.
Getting the last of the gatorade out of the thermos.
Deva giving away more gatorade.
One of the bicycle officers showing the needles that were collected from just one side of the road from the starting point to the destination.
A reminder of how serious the problem is here and how much an event such as this walk brings positive awareness and results.

Youth walk against drugs 2007

Here are some pictures (more to come) from the annual "youth against drug walk," which SEVA participated in last year and this year as well.
Around 6:00 AM, Gurujot Singh and Prabhu Singh went to help with the registration and to greet the VIPs.
People organizing the t-shirts early in the morning before the walk.
It was cold and raining so people wore raincoats or panchos.
Efrain, the man who started the walk several years ago.
In the church for the opening prayer. Ek Ong Kar Kaur Ji represented the Sikh community and said an opening prayer as well.
Recognizing the VIPs/faith leaders of the community.
The walk approaching the first stop where the SEVA team set up tables with refreshments.
putting on some of the walk t-shirts and preparing to serve food and water/gatorade to the walkers.
Serving the walkers.
Mehtab Singh Ji who did the whole walk last year and this year.

Spaña Palooza 2006

View from the SEVA booth.
Setting up our tents. SEVA purchased one more tent and 3 tables for this event. We are still working on becoming non profit and we currently fund ourselves.

Deva Singh and Satgurprasad Kaur serving food.
Prabhu Singh Satgurprasad Kaur and Deva Singh serving food.

Diego, one of the main organizers of the Spaña Palooza event.
Speaking with a visitor to our booth. He's trying a jujube (known as ber in India).
Sita Kaur giving a free massage.
Prabhu Singh and Deva Singh, served food until every bit of what we brought had been distributed. Surprisingly there were several vegetarians at the event that were pleased to get food from us. The organizers brought hamburgers, we brought a local favorite (frito pies).
Serving food.
Gurudaya Kaur standing in the shade of our tent as she helps at the boys and girls club booth.
A nice young man that came to visit our booth who recently moved to Española and had learned about Sikhs on the internet. In the forground are the jujube (ber) fruit.
Patwinder Kaur giving a free massage in the background and Guruatma Kaur smiling in the foreground.
Sita Kaur and Patwinder Kaur giving free massages.
We handed out flyers with a picture of local Sikhs and a few sentences describing who Sikhs are. It was in English on one side and in Spanish on the other.
Some of the crowd enjoying the skate park and the concert.
Some performers doing a rap.
Spectators.
The skate park.
In addition to the people skating and standing there some bleachers in the background where more of the crowd hung out.
People watching performances.
More of the crowd.
People skating.
Hari Singh was the main liaison for SEVA while others attended to other duties.
Kartar Kaur giving a free massage while Prabhu Singh rests after serving the last of the food.
Sita Kaur giving a massage to another masseuse (Patwinder Kaur) towards the end of the day before our gatka performance.
The set up for the bands.
The above picture and following pictures are pictures of the crowds that watched a gatka performance given by local Sikhs.

Spaña Palooza 2006 - gatka performance

Towards the end of the event, we did a gatka performance. The performance was really well received they cheered so much and afterwards children and teenagers came up to us asking to learn something about gatka and to look at our swords.
Hari Bhajan Kaur and Guruatma Kaur sparring.

Gurujot Singh doing an approach to his shasters.
Deva Singh held the shasters as Gurujot Singh did his approach.
Demonstrating gatka.
Gurujot Singh and Prabhu Singh doing gatka.



Gurujot Singh and Prabhu Singh sparring.


Gurukirin Kaur demonstrating the chakar.

Gurujot Singh sparring with Gurukirin Kaur.



Also during the gatka performance Guruatma displayed her skills with fire sticks.

Siri Chand Singh demonstrating gatka.
Gurujot Singh and Siri Chand Singh sparring.


Several people demonstrating gatka at once.



Siri Chand Singh demonstrating the chakar.

Spaña Palooza 2006 - prep work

The preparation for the meal was relatively simple this time. We made something that is well liked by people from here, frito pies. We just had to cook the chile and the beans. The rest was just chopping. They were very popular at the event and we served every bit of food we prepared.
Chopping



Picking jujubes to share at the event. They were well liked last year and again this year.

Santo Niño Langar Pictures

It's been a little while since the blog's been updated. The langar prep pictures were posted, but the pictures from the langar weren't posted. This is from a few months back.
In the foreground are some Sikh volunteers, and in the background is a family enjoying a meal.
Serving food and putting up a sign so people who drive or walk by to stop and enjoy the food.
Gurujot Singh preparing a plate.
A view of our set up. We went to one of the more densely populated areas of Española in an area known as Santo Niño.
Deva Singh preparing a plate.
We gave him several plates to share with his family, we put the plates in a bag so they wouldn't spill.
Sharing the food.
We also went to another nearby trailer park since we made so much food. Here we are preparing plates to serve the people in this neighborhood.
We made so much food that at the end of the day we went to the parking lot of a very busy super market in town, just to serve the rest of the food.

Santo Niño Langar - prep pictures

In our continued efforts to reach out to the community and 'be known for our service,' we decided to serve another langar. There are not many areas in Española that are densely populated. We chose to serve a meal at the Santo Niño trailer park since it is one of the more densely populated areas, and since Prabhu Singh is a neighbor to the area. These are pictures from the Friday night and Saturday morning langar preparations. The langar was held on Saturday July 22nd.

Patwinder Kaur from Mexico putting ghee into the calabacitas with HariBhajan Kaur in the background stirring.
Gurujot Singh and Siri Chand Singh preparing one of the trays of enchiladas.
Daleep Kaur, Saibhang Kaur, and Gurujot Singh chopping.
The youngest member of the crew Patwinder Kaur's daughter, Saibhang Kaur.
Mukhande Kaur stirring mole with Hari Singh and his wife Sita Kaur chopping in the background.
Jagat Singh preparing ghee to be used in the calabacitas (in place of butter).
Patwinder Kaur stirring in the background, Mukhande Kaur stirring in the foreground, and Hari Singh and Gurujot Singh checking the consistency.
Guru Atma Kaur, Daleep Kaur, Gurujot Singh, and HariBhajan Kaur chopping vegetables for the calabacitas.
Early stages of the calabacitas.
Deva Singh cleaning dishes.
Sita Kaur diligently recording our efforts so that they can be repeated.
Mukhande Kaur stirring mole and Prabhu Singh stirring calabacitas.