In 2013 SYA celebrates it 15th year of sewa for the youth of Australia. We have some exciting things planned this year, but let us first recap on 2012 our most successful year to date!

Sikhs in Australia: An update
According to the 2011 Cenus, Sikhism is the fastest growing religion in Australia 2006 – 2011. —The population of Sikhs in Australia rose from 26,000 in 2006 to 72,000 in 2011, a rise of 174%.
It is in this context that SYA is proud to have been a part of the journey of our community over the last decade and a half. We hold fast to our vision:

To empower our youths and families to be proud of their Sikh identity and contribute positively to the social and economic development of Australia.

And it is our commitment to this vision which continues to drive us to do the best by our community and provide our youth with every opportunity to lead their lives as proud Australian Sikhs.
Below is a summary of activities SYA was involved in over 2012.

SYA would like to thank all those sewadars, supporter and youth who made all this possible last year, and for the 14 years before. And of course our eternal gratitude is to His Kirpa – without which we all would not have been able to even take the first step!
Gurfateh!

January 2012

• SYA’s annual 14th Summer Camp in Sydney with over 300 participants
• Organ and Tissue Donation awareness campaign in Melbourne and Sydney (in association with the Organ & Tissue Donation Authority)
• National Kirtan tour (poetry recital) program with Giani Sukhdaiv Singh and Veer Manpreet Ji – 42 programs across Australia Live streaming of Kirtan programs – over 400 attendees from Australia, UK, USA, Singapore, NZ and Kenya
• SYA Green Day Out (Amazing-race style event with environmental focus) – 80 participants —
• Can Too – Charity Swim Race participation by Jaspreet Kaur Boparoy

February 2012

• Online Webinar on Sikhism – first for Australian Sikh community. Over 100 participants across Australia, particularly regional areas
• International Women’s Day at Kirribilli House with Governor General – 3 representatives from SYA – Harmeet, Gurmeet and Jagjit

March 2012

• Clean Up Australia Day – SYA Green Team in conjunction with Glenwood Gurdwara and Revesby Gurdwara. Fifth largest registered “Clean-up” group in Australia
• Blood Donation Campaign by SYA Melbourne Team – 40 participants

April 2012

• Performing at Opening Ceremony of 25th National Australian Sikh Games & holding a stall at the games

June 2012
8th National Leadership Weekend – 150 participants featuring the “Ideas to Impact” course – a Start-up Incubator for social entrepreneurs, resulting in the following social projects:

• Young Sikh Professional Network
• Culture Care Healthy Lifestype Application
• Kooh-i-Noor Charity
• Sikh The Day Calendar Applicaiton

July 2012

• Mighty Khalsa Fun Day at Austral Gurdwara – 40 participants
• Blood Donation Campaign by SYA Melbourne team – 30 participants

August 2012

• Paper presented at CRC Symposium – Leadership and Global Opportunities – Saranpaal Calais —
• Agile Project Management course for “Ideas to Impact” participants
• Sarbjoth Veriah – volunteer trip to Uganda to help train physiotherapy

September 2012

• National Student Leadership Forum – 3 representatives from SYA
• Prof Jaswant Seminars on Sikhism – Melbourne and Sydney – in collaboration with Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria

October 2012
Response to Wisconsin Shooting Incident Federal

• Parliamentary debate – Michelle Rowland MP
• Media coverage

Paper presented at CRC Youth Leadership Forum – Devpaal Singh

November 2012

• Harinder Singh (SikhRI, US) Seminars on Contemporary Sikhism – Melbourne and Sydney – in collaboration with Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria
• Nisha Kaur Jholl – Secondment to Sikh Coalition in USA

December 2012

• Young Sikh Professional Network – launch event with guest speaker, Sarv Girn, CIO, Reserve Bank of Australia
• Kooh-i-Noor Charity – Women’s charity project launch
• Mighty Khalsa Fun Day at Turramurra Gurdwara