The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh – kishor Swayamsevaks Camp took place July from the evening of July 31st till the evening of August 2nd, the venue being the Hindu Temple of Atlanta. The camp was organized for 10 to 15 year old sevaks in order to teach them about Hindu Dharma and other Hindu concepts, and was attended by 39 swayamsevaks. The sevaks arrived at the temple at around 6:00 p.m. and were situated by 8:00 p.m.
That evening, after dinner, the sevaks received a bhaudhik from Sri Sudharshanji, the RSS Sarsanghachalak, in which he highlighted the main points about RSS/HSS and told an inspirational story. This camp inauguration was followed by Parichay Games in which the sevaks introduced themselves.
Monday morning the sevaks were woken up sharply at 6:00 a.m. and were introduced to yoga by Sri Surender Reddyji. Immediately afterwards, Sudharshanji came once again and gave another interesting bhaudhik. Morning shaka was around 9:00 a.m. and the sevaks were taken outside to the temple grounds and were introduced to the basics of Niyuddha and Danda, as well as some traditional games played in India known as Khel. After morning shakha, the sevaks were divided into two mixed age groups for a discussion on common misconceptions of Hindus in America. Afterwards, we read a Hindu youth magazine which addressed 10 major questions about Hinduism. The sevaks were split into 10 groups and were to create a poster on the question that was assigned to them. Finally, each group presented their poster to the other groups. In the evening, we had another shakha and the sevaks progressed in their knowledge of Niyuddha and Danda. That evening Sandeep Parasharji conducted a workshop about Vedic Mathematics and taught us about the ancient Vedic technique for calculating multiplication and division problems.
Tuesday morning started off the same way as the previous day with yoga and shakha. After breakfast, the sevaks were divided into two groups for a charcha session in which Anshulji moderated a discussion about “Balancing your Hindu culture and your American culture both spiritually and socially.” The discussion was active and many sevaks were able to contribute something to the conversation. Next, the sevaks participated in an activity that involved them communicating in order to create a geometric figure. The final activity for the day was creating skits. The sevaks were divided into groups and were given a topic which they were to create a two minute skit about. The skits were interesting and were enjoyed by both the shikshaks and sevaks.
At around 5:30 that evening the sevaks rehearsed for the samarop pradarshan in which they showed what they learned in the areas of Niyuddha, Danda, Khel, and Yoga. Afterwards, the sevaks presented the geet “Ish Hame Detaa Hai Sab Kuch” along with Subhashit and Amrutvachan. The camp finally came to a close after Yogeshji and other volunteers who organized the camp encouraged parents and sevaks alike to participate in the regular shakhas and upcoming camps. This was all followed by Bhojan which was offered to parents and sevaks and was so generously prepared for us by the kitchen volunteers (Dr Uma Reddy ji was the coordinator) of the Hindu Temple of Atlanta. Among the Shikshaks in this camp were Mukya Shikshak Shashankji; Chandanji; Amitji; Anshulji; Rudraji, a vistarak from New York City; and Vikasji, a vistarak from Los Angeles.