Foundation for Development of Human Excellence
Chihuahua, México
The following service activities were carried out in Mexico during 2020:
Seva - Food Service
Food service to the Tarahumara Indigenous Community living in Cerro Grande Community in the City of Chihuahua began in October 2018, and continued throughout the current year in the months of January and February. During these two months 1,574 meals were served, with the average meals served rising from 520 to 787.
Unfortunately, at the beginning of March, it was necessary to suspend the weekly food service due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the City of Chihuahua, as well as the City of Mexico.
In order to continue aiding the Taruhumara families in the City of Chihuahua the group decided to prepare grocery bags with food staples, so from March to October 564 grocery bags were delivered.
In addition, Professor Lupita López suggested that the group begin making Sampa which is a traditional food from Tibet. It consists of a mixture of toasted cereal seeds and legumes which are ground into a flour, then mixed with honey and dehydrated banana flour to be formed into 25 gram portions. The nutritional value is high and it can be stored over a long period of time at room temperature in a closed container, needing no refrigeration.
The group decided to take on the job in June and began testing over a period of four months, developing several improved recipes that are being evaluated nutritionally, as well as making a laboratory analysis in order to register the product with the Sanitation authorities.
Seva - Devotional - Musical
Preparations began in January for Swami´s 95th birthday celebrations. Mexico brought together a chorus of devotees from several cities such as Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Huamantla, Pachuca and San José Los Cabos to sing typical Mexican songs. Soon various persons from different Latin American countries such as Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia and Argentina entered the group!
Professor Ana Moreno was chosen as Musical Director and Renee Nevarez as the singing teacher. The training and rehearsals were done over the internet for the foreign members. On October 10, 2020, Sadhguru Sri Madhusudan Sai informed the group that musical videos were not required for the birthday celebration. At that moment the Chihuahua group was on a farm filming the video. It was decided to finish it as an offering to Swami for His birthday.
A group of Mariachis was formed to travel to India for Swami´s birthday and two videos were made and sent to India.
Study Circle
At David Cornsweet´s invitation, in April of this year, a Study Circle was formed to study Swami´s talks. After six weeks, upon instructions from Swami, the group began studying the “Master the Mind” talks. Currently there are four Study Circles, one in Chihuahua with 28 members and a second in Mexico City with 14 members, a group in the state of Tlaxcala made up of children and another with 11 adults. In Guadalajara the circle has 12 members. To date 23 episodes have been studied in weekly sessions.
Education Seva
The Spanish translation of the Teacher´s Manual written by Suwanti and Ron Farmer has been completed.
Additionally the group is continuing its collaboration in translating the modules from the Hope Collaborative Leadership Program.
Project 1x1x365
In the face of the growing inequality between people who have all their nutritional needs covered and those who do not, it was decided to begin a new project as Seva in the food distribution area; the group is working on its implementation.
The Objective is to share a meal a day with one person over 365 days, to help eradicate hunger in the world. The Vision: a world without hunger is possible, and the Mission: inspire and encourage by example so that the project 1x1x365 multiplies.