Highlights
- From its origins as a small community gathering, the Sikh Youth of Australia has grown into a multitude of services.
- A new pictorial coffee table book gathers more than 20 years of highlights from SYA's journey.
- Surinderjeet Singh's book tells the story of SYA participants who have grown and settled in various professions.
The project has taken five years in the making for journalist and writer Surinderjeet Singh.
“In 2017, I thought of compiling the glorious moments of the initiatives organised by SYA, which held its first-ever small camp in 1998 in Austral Gurudwara," Mr Singh told SBS Punjabi.
He said his task was made complex because many founders of the SYA are either in the process of retiring after 20 years of "selfless service" or have passed away.
So, he made it a priority to track down those who were involved in earlier camps, both as organisers and attendees, in order to preserve their stories through words and photographs.
This involved travelling all over the country.
“It took me almost two years to go around and meet people who are now settled in almost all parts of Australia and jot down their experiences of the earlier camps,” said Mr Singh.
“The book is not about my personal story, rather it is the story of hundreds of people who became part of the camps organised by SYA.”
Camp activities Source: SYA
Having started as an annual summer camp dedicated to religious, cultural and personal development, the SYA has expanded to other initiatives like the Young Sikh Professionals Network, Culture Care, Sikhi2Give, Eco Sikhs and Mighty Khalsa.
As Mr Singh points out, these initiatives are now independently run by the youth who once picked up leadership skills from the annual camps.
The colourful book '21 years Sikh Youth Australia', which includes over 160 pages of photos and comments, is now available from SYA’s website.
Listen to the audio by clicking on 'Speaker' in the photo above.
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