Here is the latest blog from our students and graduates. 

Jasmine Patel is a former Miss India UK contestant and studies journalism at GCU. She has creative flair in every way.

Homelessness catches up to thousands of people across the nation. Shelter Scotland have reported over six thousand people are recorded to be homeless in Glasgow, in the last year.

A shocking number! People say we need to do more! Members of the general public will donate occasionally to charities all year round, but sometimes is it okay just to wave the money?

I say, follow Mahatma Gandhi’s example: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

As students, we are encouraged to join the Students’ Union societies, so I took on the lead role as Vice President of the Hindu Society. We got our members together and encouraged them to perform a selfless deed for the good of others. As practising Hindu’s, we believe in the concept of “sewa”, which means “selfless service”. It is offered by “tan, man and dhan” – mind, body and wealth.

At our events, whether it’s a talent show or the Diwali Ball, we encourage our guests to donate by buying raffle tickets. Throughout the year, we have held many cake and bake stalls, selling cakes and biscuits to raise money. We have also stretched as far as selling exotic Indian snacks such as homemade samosas and barfi (Indian sweets) made fresh and from scratch in the kitchen of our student flats. Only those homemade chefs will know the complexity in making these tasty delicacies, in which students don’t generally tick the boxes of an amazing Indian chef. Yet, we still managed to make them as tasty as our mum’s cooking. The profits went to securing accommodation for the homeless giving them a place to stay. These small deeds accounted to providing them with the third basic need for survival – shelter.

Yet, it didn’t feel like we did enough.

On National Seva Day, (a national day dedicated for Hindu’s from all communities to contribute a service, selflessly) we pulled our members together to provide clean clothes. The second box was ticked in the basic needs for survival – clothes.

We went all out on National Sewa Week – similar to National Sewa Day but for the duration of an entire week. We performed our last deed to fulfil the first basic need for survival - food. With our bare hands, we made sandwich pack lunches, once again in the kitchen of our student flats and went out to serve those living on the streets in the evenings. Their faces lit up at the sight of someone giving them food. This was a kind of happiness in itself for me. They ate their packed lunches to their heart’s content. No complaints.

I have struggled during fasts without food or water for 24 hours and it did make me wonder how these people still survive to have gone without food or water for two or three days. Our eyes met and I realised the rest of us are fortunate. Even though we might become skint at times or we keep working because we ‘think’ we never have any money in our pockets, our positions are far more luxurious compared to their living standards. We’ll still have clean clothes to wear, we’ll still have a home to return to and we’ll still have food left in the fridge.

For the first time, I felt content to have helped someone in need. I could see it in their eyes that they were pleased that someone came to help.

“The best way to find yourself is in the service of others” - Mahatma Gandhi.