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Service Activities Outside India : 2017-18


Service Activities Outside India

In the 4 Mission centres and 11 combined Math and Mission centres in Bangladesh; other Mission centres in Fiji, France, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and Zambia and 24 Math centres in other countries, our Swamis gave lectures at the centres and also in colleges, universities, etc, conducted religious classes, observed religious festivals with special worship, organized seminars, and held retreats. Some of them also brought out publications on philosophical subjects and spiritual teachings. Some of the activities undertaken by these centres during the year are enumerated below.


Relief Work

The details of the relief operations conducted are given below:

Sl. Type of Relief Country Conducted through (centre)
1 Disturbance/ Distress Relief Bangladesh Baliati, Chittagong, Dhaka, Dinajpur, Habiganj, Mymensingh, Rangpur
2 Fire Relief Bangladesh Dhaka
3 Flood Relief Bangladesh Dhaka, Dinajpur
Sri Lanka Colombo
4 Refugee Relief Bangladesh Chittagong, Dhaka
5 Winter Relief Bangladesh Baliati, Chandpur, Chittagong, Dhaka, Dinajpur

Medical Units

During the year the following medical and allied units provided their services to the poor and the and the needy.

Units No. of Units Break-up of Total Patients
Male Female Child
Dispensaries (Allopathic) 18 75,883 80,903 20,584
Dispensaries (Homeopathic) 21,178 29,253 9,121
Dispensaries (Ayurvedic) 2,000 1,000 145
Eye Camps 1 500 500
General Medical Camps 12 4,000 4,000 640
Total 31 1,03,561 1,15,656 30,490

Educational Units

In the year under review, the following institutions provided educational services.

Institutions No. of Units No. of Students
Boys Girls Total
Higher Secondary Schools 1 426 558 985
Chatuspathi (Sanskrit Pathshala) 1 124 125
Secondary Schools 1 280 281
Junior High / Middle Schools (VI-VIII) 1 120 88 209
Jr. Basic / UP/ LP Schools (I-V) 6 220 215 441
Pre-Basic / KG/ Nursery Schools/ Crèches 5 426 281 712
Hostels / Students’ Homes 16 714 730
Orphanages 4 94 65 163
Computer Training Centres 6 518 181 705
Vocational Training Centres 2 182 14 198
Coaching classes 203 4,267 3,540 8,010
Total 246 7,371 4,942 12,559

 


Vocational Training

Details of various types of training provided are given below.

 

Vocational Courses

Batches Trained No. of Students
Boys Girls Total
Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, etc 3 107 14 121
Automotive Servicing & Repairing 1 15 15
Basic Computer Operations 1 60 60
Total 5 182 14 196

Rural Welfare Work

Under the Rural Welfare scheme, our centres provided the following items/help.

Items / Help Given Quantity No. of Beneficiaries
Male Female Child Total
Educational Kits* 40 40 40
Clothes 6,682 33,836 952 41,470
Pecuniary Help for
– Medical needs 55 47 102
– Educational needs 133 190 6 329
– Miscellaneous needs 526 220 2 748
Others 3,940 3,500 7,440
*Educational Kits contained textbooks, notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, geometry boxes, rulers, uniforms, etc.

Spreading of Moral, Cultural and Spiritual Ideas

This was accomplished through a number of libraries, lectures, regular classes, public celebrations, etc.

 

Libraries & Reading Rooms

No. of Units No. of Books Newspapers Periodicals Attendance
Public / Schools / Colleges 35 96,920 42 527 44,150

Our centres also published valuable books and 11 periodicals in 5 languages.

During the year, our swamis gave lectures at the centres and also in colleges, universities, etc; conducted religious classes, observed religious festivals with special worship, organized seminars, and held retreats. The details of which are given below:

Preaching / Lectures No. of Classes, etc Attendance
Classes / Lectures 1,812 4,29,655
Retreats 60 26,324
Celebrations / Public Meetings 134 4,39,245

News from centres outside India

A memorial shrine dedicated to the Holy Trio was constructed by our Colombo centre, Sri Lanka, at Thambyah Mudaliyar Chathiram, a pilgrims’ resting place, in Colombo where Swami Vivekananda was given a grand reception on his return from the West in January 1897. The place was also visited by some more monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna in later years.

Dhaka (Bangladesh) centre, held the concluding phase of its year-long centenary celebration with special worship, public meetings, conventions for youths, women and devotees and cultural programmes.

Three statues of Swami Vivekananda were installed at the Newcastle, Chatsworth and Phoenix sub-centres of Durban centre, South Africa. The centre held a programme at a public auditorium in Durban to mark the conclusion of its year-long platinum jubilee celebrations.

The students’ team of our Swami Vivekananda College in Fiji won the National Championship in the National Swimming Competitions 2017 held by Fiji National Swimming The students secured the following medals: Gold: 49, Silver: 26, Bronze: 19.

The newly built Sri Ramakrishna Temple at Jessore (Bangladesh) centre was consecrated.

The new kitchen-and-dining-hall building built at a home for terminally ill patients in Inanda, South Africa, was inaugurated. The building was constructed by Pheonix centre, South Africa.

A new altar was consecrated at the shrine of Portland (USA) centre.

The year-long silver jubilee celebration of Sarada Kindergarten of Singapore centre was inaugurated and a commemorative volume was brought out.


 

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