SSA Awareness Packet Overview

The suggested activities for Sikh Awareness Day include the following:

Interactive PowerPoint Presentation
Conducting an interactive PowerPoint Presentation with detailed notes that can be held for both Sikh and non-Sikh audiences. The venue to hold this program could be something as informal as inviting people to a Sikh Students Association meeting or as formal as an event coordinated with the University's Chaplain's office. Brochures on the Sikh faith produced by the Coalition will also be available for attendees to pick up. The presentation should take approximately one hour to complete. [Download Presentation]

Langar Program Organizing a langar program in a campus hall or the quads . Several SSAs across the country have done this program in recent years to educate their university community about the institution of Langar. This can be traditional Punjabi food in areas where there is significant community support or just American food like Pizza. The point to get across is the institution of Langar -- which is intended to show that all are equal and provide food to all that comes to the Gurdwara (Literally the Guru's Door). A flyer on the significance of Langar will be provided to handout.

Dastaar Tying
Inviting non-Sikhs to wear a Dastaar. This program has also been done at various campuses by SSAs across the country. Non-Sikhs come to a dastaar tying station set up in a high traffic area of campus. A volunteer ties a dastaar on the non-Sikh, who can wear it for 2 hours. Flyers on the importance of the dastaar will be provided to hand out.

Movie: Keep the Faith
Screening "Keep the Faith," a movie on the significance of the dastaar. This movie was recently screened at the Toronto Sikh Movie Festival and received high marks. The video will be disseminated free of charge to Sikh Student Associations and will be instrumental in showing the importance of the Sikh identity.

One SSA representative shares his experience of using the Coalition’s Sikh Awareness packet:

Sat Sri Akal SIkh Coalition On Behalf of the United Sikh Association of Virginia Commonwealth University, we would like to thank you for of your help. We used your Brochure "The Sikhs" at our school's Intercultural Festival. This event, which is an all day 11am-6pm, has been going strong for the past 10 years and has around 3,500 visitors, which vary from Professors, Students, and their families. We had a booth, with a board about Sikhi and 100 brochures placed around the booth. For interactive activities, I wrote people's names in Punjabi. There were a lot of great questions and I really loved doing this event. It really was not that hard-- I just kept a smile on my face, and just answered people's questions.

If I could offer one piece of Advice to the SSAs and SSOs out there across America I would say just Try. As Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Sikhs we must do whatever we can to let people know who we are. Thank you Again! Gur Fateh

-Gurvinderpal Singh, Virginia Commonwealth University