Kids Corner

People

Feeding The Needy, Hungry, Homeless
In Darwin, Australia

EMILIA TERZON

 

 

 




Tejinder Singh and his three family members save $1 each a day so they can spend the last Sunday of every month handing out kilos of rice and chickpeas from a van.

"When I see the people, I stop and say 'you need food?'" Tejinder says.

Tejinder Singh and his family are immigrants from Punjab, the birthplace of the Sikh religion.

By day, Tejinder works as an air conditioner mechanic, but by night he drives through Darwin's streets in a taxi.

He occasionally encounters racism from cab customers due to the turban worn by him as an article of his faith.

In 2012, Tejinder picked up a person who asked him which school in Darwin his children attended. After Tejinder replied, the person said he would send his kids to the same school as he, Tejinder, was not likely to bomb an establishment that his own children attended.

Shortly afterwards, Tejinder launched his food van for the hungry in Darwin, to help the community to not be so afraid of his turban.

"Our religion says 10 per cent [of your income goes towards] the needy, poor, who need help, no matter if they follow your religion or not," he said.

"I try to follow my religion."

MONTHLY RITUAL

When we visited the Singh family home last Sunday, Tejinder had just finished cooking up 30 kg of food for his monthly Sunday rounds.

He had been driving his cab the night before and had not slept before cooking up vats of chickpeas, rice and peas in his backyard.

"He worked all night and he didn't sleep at all," his wife Gurpreet Kaur said. "It's amazing how he does it. He drives for 12 hours in the night and then [spends] five hours cooking around a gas stove."

Tejinder and his 14-year-old son Navdeep Singh then hauled a few coolers of food into a van especially decorated for the occasion.

They do not have a designated spot to hand out the Punjabi cuisine and sometimes spends several hours searching for people who might be hungry.

"Sometimes it's very hard to find the people," he said.

The food mostly ends up in the stomachs of 'long grassers' in Darwin's northern suburbs, but Tejinder said he does not discriminate.

['Long grassers' are Australian aboriginals who have been long discriminated against by the country's 'white' society and continue to live in conditions that are unimaginable to most Australians. They have little or no shelter and, during the Northern Territory’s wet season, have to contend with monsoonal rains.]

"I want to help needy people. Anybody, no matter black, no matter white, no matter what religion, or no religion" he said.

"If they are hungry, I will give them food."


[Courtesy: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Edited for sikhchic.com]
March 31, 2015
 

Conversation about this article

1: Harvind Kaur Singh (United States), March 31, 2015, 10:36 AM.

This is true Chardi Kalaa. To be so Guru-inspired is a blessing.

2: Ajit Singh Batra (Pennsville, New Jersey, USA), March 31, 2015, 11:51 AM.

Tejinder Singh is a truly God-conscious person when he says "I want to help needy people. Anybody, no matter black, no matter white, no matter what religion, or no religion. If they are hungry, I will give them food." A God's servant is free from the evils of pride and attachment. He/she, when serving humanity, instinctively feels that God is present in all. Worship and service of God becomes reverence for and service of humanity. The idea of langar in gurdwaras as a principal part of the worship protocol, teaches us to express ourselves in humanism.

3: Rup Singh (Canada), March 31, 2015, 5:35 PM.

A blessed soul living the teachings of the Guru. Not only gives out freshly cooked langar but seeks out the needy to do so. Simply amazing.

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In Darwin, Australia "









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