COMMUNITY L❤️VE
Langar event at the NCSS conference in Austin, TX.
NCSS conference attendee sends a note of gratitude to the KF team for the Langar event
"I wanted to take a moment and extend my thanks to you for providing lunches for all of us at the NCSS conference last month. This was a wonderful outreach, and I was humbled to be the recipient of such generosity. The meal was absolutely delicious, and I loved the idea of Langar. I thought this was a great way to reach out and teach conference attendees about your faith. Education is key to bringing about cultural understandings. "
- Ann Adkins
Check out more pictures from the NCSS 2019 conference
"I wanted to take a moment and extend my thanks to you for providing lunches for all of us at the NCSS conference last month. This was a wonderful outreach, and I was humbled to be the recipient of such generosity. The meal was absolutely delicious, and I loved the idea of Langar. I thought this was a great way to reach out and teach conference attendees about your faith. Education is key to bringing about cultural understandings. "
- Ann Adkins
Check out more pictures from the NCSS 2019 conference
Judge Lillian Sing, First Asian American Judge in Northern California
Judge Lillian Sing shares her first encounter with a Sikh man in the 1960s
I am a retired Judge from San Francisco who grew up in Hong Kong and immigrated to the United States when I was 18 years old.
My first experience with a Sikh man wearing a turban was when I was in middle school in the ‘60s. In those days, I walked to school every day, and I would pass a building with a doorman, who was a dark man with a turban and long beard. I was very afraid of him because he looked so different. I tried to walk quickly past the building to avoid any eye contact.
After some time, I told my sister Ann, who was one year older, that I hated walking past the building because of the dark man with the weird turban and long beard. And that I was afraid of him.
My sister told me not to be afraid. She advised me to just say “hello” and add “Ah Cha.” She greeted him that way because she saw others in the neighborhood doing the same. I did not know what that “Ah Cha” meant but I knew that was a common way of addressing Indians in Hong Kong.
So I gathered strength the next time I walked past the building to stop and say politely: “Hello, Ah Cha.” He responded very kindly, nodded his head and spoke in accented Cantonese, “Hello, have you eaten yet?” - a common greeting in Cantonese: when you said hello, you would ask if they had eaten.
I nodded and quickly walked away.
From that day on, whenever I walked past him, I always made a point to greet him with a “Hello, Ah Cha.” And he would respond to me in Cantonese, “Hello, have you eaten yet?” I was no longer afraid of the dark man with the turban. While our conversation was always just limited to a greeting for each other, in my heart, I felt elated that I was free from any fear of him, and he was just another nice person who guards the building next door.
Years later, I learned that the dark man was a Sikh and the greeting “Ah Cha” was a term from “achcha,” an Indian word that means “yes.” And from another Indian word “acharya” which denotes a teacher, knowledgeable person or someone with culture and wisdom.
As a young girl, I was afraid of the Sikh man who had a different mode of dress and wore a turban, but my sister Ann quickly educated me in a simple, humanistic way that helped me overcome fear and potential prejudice against people who looked different from me. I mentioned this story to Tarlochan Singh, with the Kaur Foundation, who tied my hair up into a turban at the CCSS conference (and I loved my new headdress,) and he asked me to write down this experience.
Imagine what the world would be like if we could teach our family, our neighbors, and the community to treat others with kindness and respect and not only to accept but to appreciate differences in culture and language. We’d be like the young girl that I once was, who felt a sense of elation and peace from reaching out to a man who looked, acted and spoke differently from me. We would quickly learn that people from everywhere are the same; that we all seek peace, harmony and civility in a society that promotes cultural and economic equality and values diversity. It’s also relevant to remember that in the Hong Kong of the 60’s, there was no politically powerful demagogue telling us to hate and fear the Sikhs, or that one race is superior to any other. How much intelligence and humanity does it take to recognize that no race, religion, or nationality is superior or inferior to any other--that all of us are simply part of the long rivers and roads of humanity?
As a youngster I found my own way to relate to someone different. And I gained so much from that simple experience that will last a lifetime.
- Judge Lillian Sing, First Asian American Judge in Northern California
I am a retired Judge from San Francisco who grew up in Hong Kong and immigrated to the United States when I was 18 years old.
My first experience with a Sikh man wearing a turban was when I was in middle school in the ‘60s. In those days, I walked to school every day, and I would pass a building with a doorman, who was a dark man with a turban and long beard. I was very afraid of him because he looked so different. I tried to walk quickly past the building to avoid any eye contact.
After some time, I told my sister Ann, who was one year older, that I hated walking past the building because of the dark man with the weird turban and long beard. And that I was afraid of him.
My sister told me not to be afraid. She advised me to just say “hello” and add “Ah Cha.” She greeted him that way because she saw others in the neighborhood doing the same. I did not know what that “Ah Cha” meant but I knew that was a common way of addressing Indians in Hong Kong.
So I gathered strength the next time I walked past the building to stop and say politely: “Hello, Ah Cha.” He responded very kindly, nodded his head and spoke in accented Cantonese, “Hello, have you eaten yet?” - a common greeting in Cantonese: when you said hello, you would ask if they had eaten.
I nodded and quickly walked away.
From that day on, whenever I walked past him, I always made a point to greet him with a “Hello, Ah Cha.” And he would respond to me in Cantonese, “Hello, have you eaten yet?” I was no longer afraid of the dark man with the turban. While our conversation was always just limited to a greeting for each other, in my heart, I felt elated that I was free from any fear of him, and he was just another nice person who guards the building next door.
Years later, I learned that the dark man was a Sikh and the greeting “Ah Cha” was a term from “achcha,” an Indian word that means “yes.” And from another Indian word “acharya” which denotes a teacher, knowledgeable person or someone with culture and wisdom.
As a young girl, I was afraid of the Sikh man who had a different mode of dress and wore a turban, but my sister Ann quickly educated me in a simple, humanistic way that helped me overcome fear and potential prejudice against people who looked different from me. I mentioned this story to Tarlochan Singh, with the Kaur Foundation, who tied my hair up into a turban at the CCSS conference (and I loved my new headdress,) and he asked me to write down this experience.
Imagine what the world would be like if we could teach our family, our neighbors, and the community to treat others with kindness and respect and not only to accept but to appreciate differences in culture and language. We’d be like the young girl that I once was, who felt a sense of elation and peace from reaching out to a man who looked, acted and spoke differently from me. We would quickly learn that people from everywhere are the same; that we all seek peace, harmony and civility in a society that promotes cultural and economic equality and values diversity. It’s also relevant to remember that in the Hong Kong of the 60’s, there was no politically powerful demagogue telling us to hate and fear the Sikhs, or that one race is superior to any other. How much intelligence and humanity does it take to recognize that no race, religion, or nationality is superior or inferior to any other--that all of us are simply part of the long rivers and roads of humanity?
As a youngster I found my own way to relate to someone different. And I gained so much from that simple experience that will last a lifetime.
- Judge Lillian Sing, First Asian American Judge in Northern California
" Thank you Paul and Ko for organizing first amazing API Cultural Awareness Training
It is my pleasure to listen to other presenters to learn more about other culture but there is one common is mutual respect and care...Together we will work for a world with peace, harmony, democracy and happiness for all. "
It is my pleasure to listen to other presenters to learn more about other culture but there is one common is mutual respect and care...Together we will work for a world with peace, harmony, democracy and happiness for all. "
- Dr Huu Vo M.D.
United Council of Vietnamese Homeland and Overseas
"My experience with the Kaur Foundation also promotes the theme of Expanding Visions/Bridging Traditions. This organization has developed curriculum explaining the Sikh religion. Using various classroom methods and styles students learn of the particulars and the struggles of a practicing Sikh. The people at Kaur Foundation understand the problems of teaching religion in public schools."
- Terry Cherry
President of National Council for the Social Studies
|
Find out more about our organization by signing up to our Newsletter
|
|