Australian values at work in our communities. Volunteers from the Sikh Gurdwara Perth Inc. welcome all members of the Australian community to their temple to share a meal. They’ve served 40,000 meals in the past year during COVID-19 and delivered hot meals and cold drinks to firefighters during the 2021 Wooroloo Bushfire.
Find out more about Sikh Gurdwara Perth here: https://sikhgurdwaraperth.org.au/
Transcript:
[Prabhjot Singh Bhaur]: In Australia we started langar for the wider community through the COVID service that we’ve been providing. So all the food is prepared by the volunteers. [Mrs. Navtej Kaur Uppal]: So many volunteers come twice a week. [Prabhjot Singh Bhaur]: In every Sikh Gurdwara there is a community kitchen. A langar hall. “Langar” basically is a shared meal. The concept is mainly equality. So no matter what culture, no matter what caste or religion you come from, we all share a meal sitting equally at the same level. [Sarabpreet Singh Romey]: So we are making here, pakoras. We are cooking for around 400 people today. So, all volunteers. They’re all volunteers, they’re not paid. [Mrs. Navtej Kaur Uppal]: We’ve got a chef, we help him. Like, in cutting, washing and then packing. [Kristiann]: We work with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal families and CALD families. And we give out food every Monday and Wednesday and then we give out the food that we get from the Sikh temple on Fridays to our families in need. [Sarabpreet Singh Romey]: So far we have donated 40,000 meals in a year now. And this is still continuing, it’s all because of the support of the community. Not only our community, the wider Australian community as well. [Jarnail Singh Bhaur]: We do encourage non-Sikh members of the community to come and attend the Gurdwara and to partake in the services We do have a few non-Sikh volunteers that are to the Gurdwara coming on a regular basis. [Michelle]: It’s opened our awareness for the Sikh community because in our everyday life we don’t normally just run into other cultures and this has just enabled us to really feel the warmth from the Sikh culture and appreciate each other. [Jarnail Singh Bhaur]: Wherever you go, whenever you see the Sikh flag it means you can go there and shelter, you can ask for help, and that help will be provided beyond their limits. [Prabhjot Singh Bhaur]: I love everything about being Australian. The freedom we have here or the facilities we have here, I could not have afforded them in India. So I obviously love being an Australian and I love the values as an Australian that we have here.This post is also available in: 简体中文 (Chinese Simplified) 繁體中文 (Chinese Traditional) Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) العربية (Arabic)