Sikh Student Camp Should be Stopped Enough is enough!!

Sikh Student Camp has a history of distorting Gurmat and teaching the campers manmat in the guise of Sikhi. 2 years ago after some appalling incidents there was a nationwide call for the stoppage of this camp. However after talk and deep consideration it was decided, that a new Sevadaar team take over and improve the camp and take it back to a camp with Sikhi principles.

However this year again it has been exposed for anti-Gurmat activities. When doing camps the sevadars have a sense of responsibility. Each activity, talker and visitor must be given guidelines of what they can and can’t do. We try and be too liberal and compromise Gurmat. Guru Ji is our dictator and issues us commands; there is nothing liberal about Gurmat. You either listen to Guru Ji or you don’t.

When camps have twisted views and teach these twists views of Gurmat, they do more harm then good.

The main reason that most people go to camps in the first place is to check out the opposite sex. If w really wanted to learn about Sikhi we would have Same Sex camps.

A Sikhi camp should be brining people closer to maharaj, but these days’ people use them for their own agendas. Every camp sevadaar team is like a gang and all camps envy each other. No camp takes on the views of the Sangat. There seems to be a lot of ego “ours is the best”. Until the youth doesn’t come under the Nishan sahib together and help each other sort issues out, we will get these splinter cell problems. Anyways the Sikh Student Camp has been given so many chances by the mainstream sangat, however it keeps breaking Sikh ethics and principles.

Activities at the 2008 Sikh Student Camp.

Letter to Editor, by HS Bhatia
Sat Sri Akal.

I came across an old article on the Internet called ‘Disappointing Sikh Student Camp’. I wish to share this information with you. This year my friend sent his son to the Sikh Student Camp held in Chigwell at Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College. His father sent him with good faith that he would learn about Sikhism and become a better Sikh. His friend recommended this camp to him and showed me the poster for the camp. They are a religious family with God’s blessings and their son is religious as well. He came back from this camp with a deranged view of Sikhism. It took a while to make him understand the real way of a Sikh. It took the whole of the family a while to convince him to the Guru’s way. His grandfather has great knowledge of Sikhism and Gurbani and spent a lot of time with him to unteach what he was taught at that camp. I wish to share this so that other parents are aware of this in future when considering sending their children to camps.

I was shocked by what my friend told me about this Sikh Student Camp 2008 and I am utterly disappointed.

The information given by my friend’s son about this Sikh Student Camp:

1) There was yoga in the Darbar Hall in the mornings whilst the Guru Granth Sahib’s parkash. For girls and boys to do funny postures together in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib is not right. Such activities should be conducted in a separate classroom or hall. (FEMALES AND MALES SHOULD HAVE SEPARATE CLASSES)


2) There was an informative talk on Guru Arjun Dev and Shabad Hazaray story. He enjoyed the talk and information given. An American Sikh was the speaker. The speaker got the campers to make lines in the Darbar Hall. The girls were asked to face the boys in lines. The speaker got the boys to sing one line of Shabad Hazaray to the girls and the girls were made to sing the next line of Shabad hazaray to the boys. This is totally wrong and unacceptable. Shabad Hazary are for God’s praise and should not be used for singing to girls and this nonsense. This is worse than fake sant Babas who do nonsensical parchar.

3) We been taught from day one that there is One God. This is how the Guru Granth Sahib starts with Ek Onkar. He says that in one of the camp talks by someone called Mr. Panesar, he said that there is ‘no God’. People send their children to learn about God and they at this camp say there is no God and that God is human beings. This Mr. Panesar taught them a concentration technique, focusing on a dot and that there is no benefit in repeating Waheguru. This is a lie. Since my childhood I have been told and learnt that a Sikh repeats Satnam Waheguru Simran and concentration should be on the sound of Sirman. Where does this technique of focusing on dots in your mind come from? Sounds like a cult Baba technique.

4) I was shocked to hear that day one was a Bhangra day. He said that a DJ was invited to the camp who was swearing and saying rude things. Is this a Sikh camp or a Bhangra camp? (BHANGRA IS PUNJABI CULTURE NOTHING TO DO WITH SIKHI)

5) In a Q&A class, the American Sikh, Mr. Panesar and others were answering questions to campers. I am disgusted to know that the speakers told campers that homosexual relationships are allowed in Sikhism, that same-sex marriages should be permitted in Gurdwaras, that Sikhs can find their own partners and marry outside Sikhism. These views are totally inappropriate and are preaching totally wrong things. We bring up children and teach them to be respectable and marry a Sikh girl and not to get into relationships with others. (SIKHS BELIIVE IN REPRODUCTION , HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS ARE ANTI GURMAT)

6) It was disheartening to hear that a camp leader who was wearing a nihung turban and big beard told campers that there is no need to keep Kesh to be a Sikh. How can someone keep turban and beard and say such a thing? The same camp leader said that the discipline a baptized Sikh has to follow is wearing the 5 Ks and no other rules need to be followed. Sikhism is a way of life and by wearing 5 Ks alone is not religion. This misguiding youngsters that it is okay to do anything you feel like.

7) I was shocked to know that a Mona (clean shaven) was given lead sewa in the Darbar. Being a Sikh camp I would have thought that if they could not find any Amrithdari Sikh to do sewa of the Guru Granth Sahib and do bhog of Sahaj Path then at least they could have asked Gurdwara Gianis to come.

8) My friend has always taught his children that keeping Kesh is important. But this camp has left negative impression on his son. He was sent to learn more about Sikhism because of the bad things you hear about happening in universities. But instead of bringing closer to Sikhism they have encouraged him that it is okay for a Sikh to go clubbing and parties. He no longer wears turban and instead ties a patka. This is shameful for his family.

SikhStudent Camp Issues - Meeting 1 Jul 2006, Gravesend, Kent
August 8, 2006 at 12:08 am (Sikh Student Camp)

In response to the serious issue of the rumours that are going around regarding the SikhStudent Camp held annually in Chigwell, Essex. On the 1 July 06 a meeting was held in Gravesend Gurdwara, Khalsa Avenue attended by concerned members of the Sikh sangat from around the UK and the Camp organisers. Below is a summary by one of the attendees (taken from www.MrSikhNet.com)

On Saturday 1st July, I attended a public meeting held at Gravesend Gurdwara, Khalsa Avenue, organised by our local elders of Gravesend with elders from Slough, Southall, East London and Midlands attending the meeting. This included ex-campers and ex-sewadars of the Camp sharing what they witnessed at the camp, which I am sure if anyone heard would be horrified by. These organisers acknowledged and accepted these statements. The meeting was filmed on video by someone from the Sikh Student Camp and was also recorded on MP3 by the Sangat. Previous to this meeting I had heard various rumours and Internet bashing, however this was the first time both sides sat down and the Sangat were made to know the true reality of the situation.

I don’t want to write an essay about all the things discussed in the meeting however I would like to share that some “very serious” issues were raised. The main issues, which I heard at the meeting, were:

a) Promotion of Sanatan Dharma, a fundamentalist Hindu interpretation of Sikhism, e.g. we were told that by campers that they were told that the kachera comes from Hanuman (monkey god), men dressed as nihung singhs cut themselves and put blood on the khanda of the nishaan sahib for 2 or 3 years running, and campers have been told that the “true guru” is not solely guru granth sahib but “three Granths”, i.e. dasam granth, sarbloh granth and guru granth sahib make up the “Guru”.

b) Lack of observance of Sikh code of conduct in darbar and generally the camp - the camp organisers admitted that a Big Brother style video was shown in the darbar which included campers singing Bhangra songs about women and liquor, also we were made aware that amritdharis which had publicly renounced Sikhism by cutting their hair were asked to do kirtan, clapping was encouraged in the Darbar. The camp organisers admitted that they had no control to control the situation.

c) Campers, but worryingly sevadars in the camp not observing correct behaviour with campers in particular females. It was admitted there were issues with “over friendliness” and a female ex-camper shared that sexually disgusting things were said to her for two years running and to her friends by sevadars running “discussions”.

The conclusion of the meeting was that the Elders said if the Camp organisers, 50 in number, cannot control a group of 10 people who attended the camp and afterwards admitted to the Camp organisers that they wished to sabotage the camp, then how could they control a possible 20, 30 or 40 wrong campers?

A lady who was in charge of last year’s security of the camp nicely summarised that “Security is the most important thing in a Camp. For any good camp you need excellent security. If we don’t have the man-power or capability to control campers then we shouldn’t do a camp.” An Elder said that the Sangat could send 30 or 40 men to help the security and “save the camp” however at the same time that would cause tension and aggression with those who attend the camp with the intention of causing trouble and fighting at the camp is not a solution but would be a further problem.

Deep and serious issue, so let’s not jump the gun. It’s good that we are all concerned and wish to help out. So let’s do that. I was happy that Internet Rumours and “Hear-say” were cleared at the meeting and the Sangat were made aware of the “THE” truth so that they could move forward to actually help the Organisers to address issues of immoral conduct, promotion of Hinduism in Sikh appearance to campers, loose behaviour and how basic Gurdwara etiquette has been observed.

So let’s pray and let’s try to do something positive. May God help us in keeping Sikhism’s purity and sincerity.

Gurdeep Sandhu

Also parents of children who have been to the camp and ex-campers are asked to convey any complaints they have about the previous camps and worries they have to Mr Toor, the Headmaster of Chigwell School, via email, letters or phonecalls:

Write To:
Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College
Roding Lane
Chigwell
IG7 6BQ

Phone:
020 8559 9160

Email:
principal@ggskcollege.co.uk
toor@ggskcollege.co.uk
registerar@ggskcollege.co.uk

Email to Sikh Student Camp - Latest
August 17, 2006 at 6:26 pm (Sikh Student Camp)

On 8/8/06, Sikh Parents Awareness Society

Dear Sikh Student Camp 2006 Team
It is disheartening to read your request of details of the incidents that we have highlighted in the leaflet. If you remember a meeting with yourselves was organised by Seva Singh Lallee, Manjit Singh and other Gravesend Gurdwara Committee members in early July 2006. Not only did this meeting have representatives of the camp & the victims of the camp, but also had many members of Gravesend Sangat, because it was held in the Gurdwara Diwan hall.

Within this meeting all facts were presented to the Camp Organisers such as Gurmukh Singh, Randip Singh & Jasjot Singh. Furthermore to jog your memory this meeting has been captured on video by yourselves and we have an audio recording.

The culprits responsible for these and other incidents have been identified face to face and it is important to realise that you where dismissing these issues by saying those individuals have been banned for some time and so been dealt with. When the pictures of 2005 camp are reviewed those individuals are in the front during seminars and workshops. These same individuals were promoting the camp at “Keertan in the Park” in Hounslow, one week ago.

We have done nothing more but to given you suggestions and offer our help to stop these things from happen this year. Please remember our resolve to allow 10 or so of us to help out at your camp, this was flatly refused by Camp Organiser Gurmukh Singh of Gravesend.

Please acknowledge that within this meeting you agreed that these issues happened. Referring to the camp organiser who is head of security, she stated that if the Camp Organisers cannot implement controls then the camp should not happen. When we questioned about how these culprits were dealt with, Camp organisers like Gurmukh Singh refused to elaborate, again this doesn’t give us any confidence in your intentions.

Within some of the emails I have received people are asking to clarify the camp organisers. If you remember you agreed to submit to us a list of camp organisers so that we could differentiate the organisers from the culprits. As to this day we have not received this list. It looks as if you do not wish to differentiate the organisers from the culprits.

The details have been with the organisers for many weeks now and we are still awaiting any response or action

IS THE SIKH STUDENT CAMP LIVING UP TO its MISSION STATEMENT?
About Us

Who is Sikh Student?

The Sikh Student team consists of a base of 50+ volunteers largely centered in and around London. Our volunteers are current students, graduates and professionals - including teachers, lawyers, engineers, doctors, dentists, and persons serving in the army and police. Many of our volunteers are also actively engaged in seva (voluntary) for the Sikh community through other organisations, projects and local Gurudwaras.

What are the objectives of Sikh Student?

The objectives of Sikh Student are to provide opportunities for spiritual, personal and professional development of Sikh youth. In particular we look to achieve this by:

• Teaching the basics of Sikhi in a friendly & non judgmental environment.
• Allowing people to experience and develop their spirituality.
• Encouraging people to think about and explore their heritage.
• Encouraging youth to put something back into their communities
• Providing opportunities for personal development, and informal mentoring on careers and professions

If you have any questions get in touch!

Feel free to contact us if you need anymore info. You can contact us on 07522120862 or 07522118776.