Haloonaa Project Aims To Put The True Sikh Spirit Into Practice

August 18, 2008

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Link

http://www.thelinkpaper.ca/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1219085527&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&cat=2

"Haloonaa means to shake the Sikhs (globally) by creating awareness of 'Sikhi' ideas, ideals and principles," says Windsor-based engineer Harjinder Singh, 40, chief co-ordinator of The Haloonaa Project.

"We think the community is in a sleeping mode at this time and they are becoming ignorant of the principles of Sikhism," Singh told the Toronto Sun newspaper, explaining why a group of young Sikhs in Canada and the U.S. have joined hands to establish "Haloonaa" with the objectives of organizing workshops, seminars and discussions at various levels to create awareness of what would it take for the Sikh community to wake up and be counted.

Harjinder, Satwant Singh, an engineer with Ontario Power Generation, and Gurpreet Singh, who has a master's degree in science from India but currently works in a factory in Toronto, are at the helm of establishing Haloonaa.

Their counterpart in the U.S. is Harinder Singh of Sikh Research Institute (SikhRI).

They were encouraged when they sponsored an event last July at the Royal Banquet Hall in Brampton, which 1,000 people turned up for.

"That gave us confidence we are on the right track," Harjinder says.

More recently, on June 28, with the support of Houston-based SikhRI, they organized two educational sessions at the Sikh Spiritual Centre in Rexdale with 85 participants.

"We discussed solutions to prevailing problems within the Sikh nation," Harjinder tells me.