Sri Sathya Sai Zonal Youth Conference

Sairam Everyone,

The Sri Sathya Sai Zonal Youth Conference was successfully conducted on Sunday-10th May,2009 at the Venutai Chauhan Sabha Gruh in Karad. Around 525 Youth from 5 districts of Pune, Solapur, Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur have assembled for this conference. One of the slogans of the conference says "Dare To Be Divine". The main objectives of this conference is to present the magnificent work by Sai Youth from all the 5 districts in the previous year and also to discuss the plan of action for the next 6 months. The team from Mumbai have visited almost all the villages which have been adopted by the five districts and noted down the developments made through the service activities and also the challenges that arose during this process. Kudos for this team for their commitment and determination.

The morning session was about laying down a plan for the next 6 months. Taking the SSSVIP (Sri Sathya Sai Village Integrated Project) to the next phase, it was decided that a survey is absolutely necessary before starting off with the implementation work in the villages and this survey should revolve round the family rather than the village as a whole. The benefits of this approach are that the required details about every single person in a family can be collected and consolidated to decide the various areas that need to be concentrated as a part of village development. In general the 3 important areas of focus are

1)Sociocare

2)Educare and

3)Medicare

In every village Sai Youth will spread the divine vibrations through the Pandari bhajans and then start the village development activities, 2 activities ie. Sanitation and building a Sai seva Kendra in the adopted villages was given to the Sai Youth-gents and 2 activities ie. Balvikas classes and Child & Mother Care was given to Sai Youth-ladies of every team. This project should be completed by November 23rd,2009. One village out of the adopted villages in every district should be declared as a model village. The model village acts as a platform where the Sai youth can take up innovative projects and depending on the results of their implementation and experimentation –the same methods can be implemented in other adopted villages also. All the model villages from 28 districts in Maharashtra will be competing for the Nirmal Puraskar award which will be given to the best developed adopted village and the co-ordinators of the activities in this model village will get a chance to present the activities in front of Swami.

In the afternoon session., the district co-ordinators of all the 5 districts have presented their development activities in the previous, year many of them were debuts in facing the august gathering. The presentations made everyone spell-bound for the dedication, commitment, care and patience that has been displayed by all the Sai Youth members for the betterment of the society. This would not have been achieved but for the guidance and inspiration provided by Swami.

Some of the senior members have shared their experiences with Swami and given guidelines to the youth members for the projects that will be taken up in the future. Our State President Shri Rameshji Sawant and Shri Mukesh Patel ( State Youth Coordinator) inspired the youth and shared some of their experiences. Shri Nimesh Pandya has pointed out the importance of one of the slogans of the conference – "Youth...The Time To Invest". Another senior member termed this Zonal conference as one of the best organized Zonal conferences that he has attended.

This conference is a culmination of the pain staking efforts by volunteers, organizers and speakers. The organizers deserve a special word of appreciation for their commitment and dedication. Breakfast and lunch was provided for all the volunteers of the conference.

We pray Bhagavan for his grace on these adopted villages and to transform these Sai Youth members as worthy instruments in His Divine mission.