Projects
Bradenton TOS takes on massive library project The TS Study Centre in Bradenton, FL, has enjoyed holding their meetings at the Mitreya Center, an interfaith meeting place. A few members of the TS, however, saw an unmet need at the Mitreya Center – its library needed some TLC. Five members of the Bradenton TS/TOS group decided to take on the massive project of reorganising the Center’s library, so it would be more accessible to the centre’s many visitors. NOV 2017
| Food Distribution in Kenya by Usha Shah A long day, yes, but such a satisfying one! We now knew why we were delayed in Machakos! To meet God’s Angels! 130 families assured of getting meals for many weeks! Time to think about how to assist God’s Angels in Kyangoma Special Education Centre! JUNE 2017 |
Why Can’t the Sky Be Pink? Ria Pali, a member of Mahabharat group, Odisha, India, gave an experiential presentation there on “Awakening Creativity” on 5 November 2016. MAR 2017 |
TOS fundraising efforts to aid Olcott Memorial Higher Secondary School continues For over 120 years, the Olcott Memorial Higher Secondary School (OMHSS) has been providing a solid education for underprivileged boys and girls in Adyar, a suburb of Chennai in India. JAN 2017 |
Tanzania’s Youth Group Shines! Please enjoy this report received from the Tanzanian TOS and centred around their exceedingly vibrant youth group. OCT 2016 |
TS/TOS Kenya begins Youth Empowerment Programme Three young men completed training in landscaping and gardening in April as part of TOS Kenya’s new youth empowerment programme. The combined efforts of the TS, TOS, local business and community leaders in launching the programme is an exemplary model that can be followed by us all. JUNE 2016 |
TOS Annie Besant Model School, Rayagada, Odisha From its humble beginnings as a balwadi (nursery) school in 1992, the TOS Annie Besant Model School, has become government recognised and provides classes from nursery to class VII. The school that began with 20 students in a thatched house in Rayagada, Odisha, India is now housed in a permanent building with amenities such as piped water, electrical lines, toilets and a playground. MAR 2016 |
Flying Fingers Knit 15,000 Teddies in the UK The TOS Teddies for Tragedies project began in the UK in 2000. These soft little teddies, knitted with loving hands, are sent to children in need of a friend to comfort them. To date, 15,000 teddies have been knitted, 5,000 of them by the Bradford TOS alone. DEC 2015 |
Golden Link College Since 2002 the Golden Link College has stood as a prime example of a truly theosophical school. Suggests Vic Hao Chin Jr, “The work of a theosophical school is about character building, personality development and the awakening of self-awareness and higher intelligence. It is only secondarily about learning what are called theosophical concepts.” SEPT 2015 |
Working With Children in Colombia – This project describes work being done with needy boys and girls in Colombia to instill good moral values and brotherhood within the nation’s children. JUNE 2015 |
Brisbane TOS Art Show – This project describes an example of international cooperation within the TOS when a group in Australia was inspired to raise funds for a mobility aids project organised by the TOS group in the Assam and Arunachal Region of India. “We find the dedication, compassion and organisational ability of this Indian TOS group inspiring, and feel it is a privilege to be able to contribute ongoing financial support for its efforts to provide mobility aids to those in need.” MAR 2015 |
“Love without borders”: the TOS in France joins forces with the TOS in Ukraine — A touching initiative of TOS members in France to bring comfort to both Russian and Ukrainian children, victims of the continuing military skirmishes in eastern regions of Ukraine. DEC 2014 |
| For 120 years, the Olcott Memorial High School has been providing a solid education for underprivileged boys and girls in Adyar, a suburb of Chennai in India. Now it has a special need for our help in an important extension of its higher educational work. MAR 2014 |
Vocational training for women in Kenya: manicure, pedicure and hairdressing. As we all know, there are many ways of serving in this world. One of the easiest ever for Usha Shah was to serve as a guinea pig at the vocational skills training days she organised in late June for ladies in Nairobi. DEC 2013 |
Educating about violence to women in Bhubaneswar, India – We are happy to announce a TOS project that we are adopting for international support over the next two years. We invite you to share the information with your fellow TS and TOS members and friends. AUG 2013 |
Teaching hairstyling skills to help Kenyan women become independent …12 ladies in the impoverished village of Gachie in suburban Nairobi, Kenya were getting ready to come to the Theosophical Society in the Parklands Estate to learn hairdressing. Wanjiku was going to train them in simple styles. JUNE 2013 |
Violence against women in India – On January 11, Sri Murlidhar C. Bhandare, Governor of the State of Odisha in India, launched the latest project of the TOS in Bhubaneswar, “Change the mind-set to stop violence against women.” MAR 2013 |
SHE – A new TOS project at Adyar …The SHE Project aims to address the health and vitality issues of the underprivileged. The first step has been to conduct a battery of tests as part of a ‘Master Health Check-up’ package for employees and contract workers at the Adyar Headquarters. The process was carried out at Precision Diagnostics, which is a part of the Medall group. The centre has state-of-the-art facilities. NOV 2012 |
Promoting the application of theosophical principles – funerals. Following its Annual General Meeting in May, the TOS in France organised a seminar on a rather delicate theme: Burial, cremation and alternative funeral services. The seminar attracted more than 50 participants keen to gain a theosophical perspective on cremation in a predominantly Roman Catholic country where burial is the traditional practice. AUG 2012 |
Working with a village in Hungary – In recent issues we have brought two news items on the youngest of our TOS groups – the TOS in Hungary, which was officially registered as a non-profit organisation in June 2011. As reported, their first long term project was the ‘adoption’ of a flood-affected village with the blessing and support of the town’s municipal officers. MAY 2012 |
Two more distributions of TOS emergency aid for starving families in East Africa – Since September 2011, the TOS in Kenya has been providing emergency aid to families suffering current acute food shortage in a village to the east of Nairobi. At the end of 2011, the third and fourth distributions of food were accomplished together with further negotiations to set up a cooperative to manage a bore well and other village activities. Mrs Usha Shah, TOS convenor in Nairobi, Kenya, provides the following reports of these latest distributions in which she was personally involved. FEB 2012 |
Second distribution of TOS emergency aid for starving families in East Africa In October we reported on a new project initiated by the TOS in Kenya to provide emergency aid to families suffering current acute food shortage in a village to the east of Nairobi. The second distribution of food to the 55 families being helped by the TOS has recently been accomplished. DEC 2011 |
TOS emergency aid for starving families in East Africa – In the face of the current acute food shortage in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, the TOS in Nairobi has undertaken a project on behalf of us all. The town of Kitui, 130 km east of Nairobi, was selected and a church identified as local partner. OCT 2011 |
The TOS in Finland: Supporting educational projects – The TOS in Finland has been energetically raising awareness about three spiritually oriented educational projects it has chosen to support: a children’s home in southern Finland, the Olcott Memorial School and the Social Welfare Centre at Adyar, Chennai, India. JUNE 2011 |
The Educational and Social Programmes of the TOS in Pakistan – With every passing year, the TOS in Pakistan only strengthens its resolve to continue with its various programmes unimpeded by the turmoil that engulfs the country, and often pitches it into the world’s headlines. APR 2011 |
The Alchemy of Music & Dance – Once a year the Sunshine Coast Lodge of the Theosophical Society in Queensland, Australia stages an event to bring the message of theosophy to coast residents and at the same time raise funds for the TOS projects it supports. There is another unintentional benefit for all who contribute to making this day such a success – the simple joy of engaging in service and building a nucleus of brotherhood. JAN 2011 |
Collecting books for the Golden Link College library– a project of the Adelaide TOS and the TOS in New Zealand. When you find a school whose philosophy and practices are based on theosophical principles what do you do? Well, the answer was clear to members of the TOS groups in New Zealand and Australia. They are committed to supporting the school – in this case the Golden Link College in the Philippines. DEC 2010 |
Drinking water for all at Adyar – Until this past June, residents and workers at the TS’s international estate at Adyar have relied on ground water for their drinking supply. The Social Welfare Centre situated just outside the main gate of the compound also depended upon it. Gradually this water has become less suitable for drinking. In early June, the TOS in Chennai facilitated the installation of a reverse osmosis water purification unit on the TS estate. OCT 2010 |
Lumen School opens in the Philippines – A new theosophically-oriented school has just opened in a poor farming district of Bago City, gateway to the western province of the island of Negros in Central Philippines. MAY 2010 |
Update on Seeing Eyes for Everyone – In launching this programme in September 2007, the TOS Chennai Region aimed to provide eye care for as many disadvantaged people in and around the city as possible. So far, screening for vision impairment has been carried out in five schools and two slum areas, totalling some 8,500 school children and slum dwellers. (more...) MAY 2010 |
Service activities in the Ojai Valley – Krotona is known all over the TS world as a spiritual centre where members can go on private retreat or to study theosophy at its school…. What is less known is that the residents engage in modest local community service projects (more…) MAR 2010 |
Can We Do Anything About This? – Extracts from a talk given at the first international conference of the TOS on the subject of mobility aids in his country by Mr P.S. Mital National Secretary, TOS India. JAN 2010 |
Finland: Two projects – The TOS in Finland is one of our most recently formed TOS groups. It started in October 2008 with great enthusiasm and in just over one year, has already taken up the challenge of supporting two projects: a children’s home in southern Finland and a new Krishnamurti School in India. (more…) NOV 2009 |
Heartbeats of Africa – One out of every 200 children born in developing countries suffers from a repairable congenital or rheumatic heart defect…. The TOS in Dar es Salaam … has chosen to support the Heart Babies Project. (more...) SEPT 2009 |
Partnerships to promote service – From Tim Boyd, TOS USA …. A couple of years ago we were thinking about what we might do to have a greater impact on people’s lives. The biblical example of teaching people to fish rather than giving them a fish came to mind. We came up with the idea of Service Workshops.. (more…) JUNE 2009 |
Sponsoring the education of underprivileged girls in Pakistan – As the global war on terrorism continues and governments join hands spending billions of dollars to rid the world of this evil, another war is also taking place, albeit silently and very often unnoticed. It is a war against the ignorance, superstition and tradition that deny millions of women and girls in underdeveloped countries their inalienable rights… ( more… ) MAY 2009 |
The TOS in Sweden is just a little over ten years old and already it has an impressive record of service. Since its foundation in 1995, it has focused on helping orphans and street children in Latvia and working with another small Swedish organisation called Letthjälpen (Swedish for Helping Latvia) or Latvian Aid Association. ( more… ) MAR 2009 |
The Annie Besant Animal Welfare Dispensary, Adyar – Any idea how many animals are treated per year at the animal shelter at our International HQ? Around ten thousand – almost all free of charge. What about the number of staff members? There are eight: three veterinarians, a manager and four attendants. An extra attendant is needed to drive the ambulance truck; in the meantime the senior doctor, Dr Jagannathan, has to drive it himself….. ( more…) JAN 2009 |
The SEE (Seeing Eyes for Everyone) Project was launched in September 2007 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of eminent Theosophist, Damodar K. Mavalankar. The Theosophical Order of Service, Chennai Region, India, has initiated this new project, extending the range of medical support its members already provide to disadvantaged people in their area. So far, screening for vision impairment has been carried out in five schools and two slum areas…( more… ) NOV 2008 |
Golden Link School, Philippines was founded in 2002 by the Theosophical Society and the Theosophical Order of Service in the Philippines to provide a transformational education for less privileged children. Many in the theosophical world regard it as a model of Theosophy in action amongst the young. While addressing core academic subjects, the school also focuses on deeper issues of character building, integrity, and self confidence in an effort to develop students who will be agents of social and personal transformation…. ( more…) AUG 2008 |