Indo American News

Tag: sewa

  • Refugee Youth are Receiving Help from Sewa International

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    Volunteers working with Refugee kids at Los Arcos

    HOUSTON: An unanticipated need for educational support for refugee youth has developed at the Los Arcos apartments in Southwest Houston. Each day, an increasing number of refugee children approach Sewa International’s field office asking for help with their homework. Refugees face a host of vulnerabilities when adjusting to their new lives in the United States. They face educational, economic, and linguistic barriers. Refugee youth, in particular, are at risk for educational gaps that later result in limited employment opportunities and reduced quality of  life. To address these shortages, it is important to recognize the unique needs of refugees and provide resources to address them. With the support of its staff, volunteers, and community members, Sewa International is working to develop an afterschool tutoring program for refugee youth at the Los Arcos apartments.

    Sewa International’s Refugee Empowerment program provides long term empowerment services to refugees and immigrants in Houston, including educational support, mentorship, and various health services throughout the year. Sewa International has a field office at the Los Arcos Apartments in Southwest Houston, where several of these services are provided. Sewa International first began working with Bhutanese refugees in 2008, when they first started arriving in the United States. For several years, Sewa International has worked with Bhutanese refugees to address their needs as they work to adjust to drastic changes that life in the United States entails.

    Sewa International is a non-profit organization that works to provide various long-term services to families of diverse backgrounds, including family services workshops, yoga classes, and empowerment programs for refugees and immigrants. Our mission is to serve humanity in distress, aid local communities, and promote volunteerism.

    For further information, contact Ruba Alafifi at americorps-houston@sewausa.org.

  • Sewa & VYASA Concluded 4th Camp to Manage Diabetes Through Yoga Therapy

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    Participants and volunteers at the conclusion of SDM camp at the Dawn Center city of Houston.

    HOUSTON: “This was by far the best program in this center with highest rate of retention”, said William Rees ‘Billy’, Senior Consultant with DAWN (Diabetes Awareness & Wellness Network) facility in the 3rd ward area of downtown Houston.

    The 20 hour program to manage Diabetes through Yoga therapy was conducted in partnership with City of Houston Health department. This was 4th such camps offered by Sewa International and VYASA in Houston.

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    Dawn centers Melanie Gilmore gives Sewa a certificate of Appreciation.

    15 residents of third ward area participated in this camp which was spread over 3 weekends.

    Melanie Gilmore, (Health Planning Chief with Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS), Division of Aging, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention (ACDIP), expressed great joy and shared her happiness that so many participants were could participate and benefit from this program . She and her family prepared delicious vegetarian Soup and sandwiches for all participants and encouraged all to continue the practices which they found beneficial.

    She also presented the certificate of appreciation from DAWN center to Sewa International and Stop Diabetes Movement for bringing this program to DAWN center. The participants were deeply appreciative of  Venita Ray who helped in bringing this program to DAWN. Venita also expressed great satisfaction and pleasure to see the camp went so well and that it touched so many people in a positive way .

    The program was run by volunteer Yoga therapists and Doctors and the participants were deeply appreciative and expressed their gratitude to them for making this program possible.

    One participant said, “Since beginning of the program, I am feeling that my blood pressure is normal. I can’t wait to go to my doctor and share the good news.” Others also expressed how much they enjoyed and have found useful this ‘pill-less’ therapy which empowers them.

    The program which would have otherwise costed the participants at least a $1000 was offered completely free to all participants and supported by all volunteer Yoga Therapists and medical doctors who came from all parts of the city from Katy to Pearland to Woodlands.

    Stop Diabetes Movement (SDM) originated at SVYASA, Yoga University in Bangalore, India. Through systematic research of 30 years, comprehensive yoga modules have been established that have shown measurable improvement in the various complications associated with Diabetes. The program has been proven to reduce cholesterol and reduce dependence on medicines as well as reduce anxiety and depression associated with the disease. VYASA centers in Houston with help of Sewa International has conducted SDM camps in different part of the city with help of local organizations since beginning of the year.

    Next SDM at Sugarland is scheduled for Late January 2015.

    Contact info-sdm@sewausa.org for further information and pre-registration.

  • Sewa and Arya Samaj Organize a Workshop on Raising Emotionally Healthy Children

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    Audience in workshop

    HOUSTON: A Free seminar “Raising Emotionally Healthy Children” was held on Sunday, November 16 from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM at the Arya Samaj library.  The seminar was co-hosted by SEWA Houston Family Services and Arya Samaj of Greater Houston.  This seminar was presented by Bhawna Luthra, who is a Marriage & Family Therapist. She is a very effective presenter and her unique style of having participants involved with discussions is appreciated by all attendees. In this seminar she provided very simple but effective ways on how to solve and cope with every day struggles with children in life. She also presented several techniques to deal with children’s behavioral, anxiety and academic challenges.

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    Bhawna Luthra conducting the workshop

    SEWA Houston Family Services works closely with Arya Samaj management to organize these workshops.  This three hours long workshop was attended by thirty nine people. To reach out to the community, these workshops and seminars are broadcasted on Indian radio programs and printed in the local Indian newspapers.
    Sewa Family services programs caters to various needs of families as a unit.The workshops conducted under this program cover a whole range of topics right from financial advise  to career counselling.There has  been a very positive response in the community for these workshops ,and Sewa has been successful in giving experts from different fields a platform for interacting with the community.

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    The entire team with Arya Samaj acharya Suryananda ji

    These workshops are held every month; for more information about the upcoming workshops, visit our  www.sewausa.org or connect with Umesh Kapur at 713-591-2912 or Rajeshree Jaiswal at 281-804-9759.
    Sewa International would also like to thank its media partners, Indo-American News, India Herald and Voice of Asia news papers as well as Meena Datt, Shoba Joshi and Padmakant Khambatti ji for helping to get the word out.

  • Sewa International and Houston Maharashtra Mandal Join Hands to Raise Funds for Jammu & Kashmir Floods

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    HMM president Megha Ozarker handing over the check to Sewa Project coordinator Kavita Tewary.

    HOUSTON: As we go about enjoying our life every day, there are children and families suffering in Jammu and Kashmir, struggling in cold weather, looking for food and shelter. To most of us in Houston,  lives of those children mean nothing but a news item. But, it meant more to some wonderful men and women at Maharastra Mandal.

    Sewa International a leading Hindu faith based nonprofit with humanitarian focus and worldwide reach.When the recent J and K floods happened Houston Maharashtra Mandal’s (a leading nonprofit) board members particularly Mridula Lele and its President Megha Ozarker and Ravi Ozarker,undertook the noble endeavor of raising funds for this disaster.

    Mrudula Lele from HMM collecting funds for J &K
    Mrudula Lele from HMM collecting funds for J &K

    Mrudula Lele said that  as citizens of India they felt a responsibility towards helping Indians in need. With this attitude in mind, Houston Maharashtra Mandal decided to organize a fundraiser for the J &K floods. HMM WAS researching for organizations which were helping for this cause and came across Sewa International. Sewa is a reputed organization in the Houston area and they also have their sister branch Sewa Bharati, in India, which is working for this cause on ground level.HMM contacted Sewa and they explained the intensity of the flood situation and how they were helping the people affected. Apart from sounding genuine, the empathy with which they work for people in need was the factor which made HMM decide to give the collected fundS to Sewa.The effort put in by the HMM president Megha Ozarker was commendable.Houston Maharashtra Mandal 2014 Committee members had a phone conference with Kavita Tewary, Project Coordinator|Sewa International.  She gave an excellent talk about the situation in Kashmir and also supported HMM’s intention to help.  She had in-depth knowledge of what was happening in Kashmir.

    After the meeting, HMM sent an email blast to all its members to raise awareness for this calamity,an appeal was posted on HMM website ,and a donation box was set up at the Diwali event in Katy. Appeals were made several times during the event to raise funds.Overall, the response was great.According to Ravi Ozarker any donation big or small is very important and builds community strength. Strength and confidence that we are there to help out our community and other communities when any need arises. It showed how much people cared for our communities in India and were willing to help.  We witnessed love for country, love for our people, love for our communities and above all love for humanity.

    If you want to help or if your organization wants to do similar efforts for flood hit Jammu and Kashmir or states hit by Cyclone Hudhud, email at Houston@sewausa.org or call -Kavita Tewary@ 713-303-4253

  • Sewa Collaborates with City of Houston to Manage and Control Diabetes

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    Melanie Gilmore, (Health Planning Chief at City of Houston) with VYASA and Sewa Volunteers outside the DAWN center where SDM camp is starting this week.

    Stop Diabetes Camp using Yoga Therapy at City Of Houston DAWN Center

    HOUSTON: VYASA and Sewa International are starting the 4th SDM (Stop Diabetes Movement) Camp at D.A.W.N. center of City of Houston in downtown Houston from this week in partnership with Health department of City of Houston. The camp will offer free classes covering  Integrated approach of Yoga Therapy to manage and control Diabetes for 20 hours. More than 15 participants are expected to take benefit of this camp starting on November 6.

    Earlier, successful camps were conducted in Katy, Alief and Woodlands area where more than 60 participants have been benefited so far. Sewa International, a non-profit organization servicing Houston Community (www.sewausa.org) is offering this camp with expertise of VYASA.

    Stop Diabetes Movement originated at SVYASA, Yoga University in Bangalore, India. Through systematic research of 30 years, comprehensive yoga modules have been established that have shown measurable improvement in the various complications associated with Diabetes. The program has been proven to reduce cholesterol and reduce dependence on medicines as well as reduce anxiety and depression associated with the disease.

    Sewa International and VYASA centers in Houston, Los Angeles and Boston have started similar programs on a pilot basis. Based on the efficacy and success of this program in these cities, it will be expanded to other cities in USA.