Blog
April 14, 1934 Durban, South Africa –
May 2, 2023 5:04 a.m. Kolhapur, India
Very sad news to announce. Photo of Arun Gandhi at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, India. April 14, 1934 Durban, South Africa – May 2, 2023 5:04 a.m. Kolhapur, India Arun Gandhi, 5th grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, son of Gandhi’s second child Manilal and Sushila Gandhi, brother to Sita and Ela, and father of Tushar Gandhi and Archana Prasad, has passed away at the age of 89. A memorial service will be held at Phoenix Settlement in Durban, South Africa today at the same time his ceremony takes place in Kolhapur India. His son Tushar will give the last rights. Arun Gandhi is the founder of Gandhi Legacy Tour which introduces people to the major sites Gandhi...
Read MoreGandhi Legacy Tour of India The Book Available on Amazon
Come along as we chronicle in words and pictures a life-changing journey through the heart of Gandhi’s India. Within these pages are provided an intimate experience of unique philanthropic travel though parts of India and groups that remain closely associated with the impact and phenomena of Gandhi: in the past, at present, and most importantly, in the future. “His was a challenging journey and it changed the world.” He was a delicate and fragile man with glasses and a customary Hindu waistcloth, used a bamboo walking stick, and had a near-toothless smile. His outward appearance was that of a humble unassuming holy man; and fortified only with terrific bravery...
Read MoreGetting to Know Sharpeville Community History
Shining a light on Sharpeville history through performing arts. We enjoyed “A Day in Sharpeville” on our last Satyagraha Tour of South Africa and were kindly hosted by Nicho Ntema, Nina du Toit, Diniso “Gama” Gamakhulu alongside the Sharpeville Gang. We are coordinating our upcoming 2018 visit with our Sharpeville friends and in the process, we prepared a few “getting to know you” questions for our hosts. Due to the timing of the interview and that Sharpeville suffered a deadly massacre that shook the world March 21, 1960, we asked if they could lend any advice to the Las Vegas community given we just faced the deadliest...
Read MoreTogether We ARE #VegasStrong!
We express our deepest sympathies to all affected by the horrific senseless tragedy in Las Vegas October 1, 2017. Our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones. The heinous event occurred on the eve of the October 2 United Nations International Day of Nonviolence named in honor of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy and birth anniversary. A frustrated Gandhi commented on October 3, 1947: “Nobody now listens to what I say.” Photo was taken October 6, 1947 Here we are 70 years later… Real Las #VegasStrong: Many people when they think of Las Vegas, they associate the community with the one-mile strip that attracts 40+ million visitors a year. In the heart...
Read MoreHappy Gandhi Birthday, Bapu We Still Love You!
October 2nd is Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday Anniversary… To all my personal friends and friends of my late grandfather Mohandas ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi I send warm regards and best wishes from my home in Rochester, New York. I have been encouraged by many to continue writing an annual message on the day of Grandfather’s birthday, October 2nd (1869 – 1948). This date is now known as the United Nations International Day of Nonviolence which was designated by the U.N. to acknowledge Mohandas ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi each year. Bapu, we still love you! The Gandhi Birthday is Not Forgotten Thankfully, the Gandhi birthday is not forgotten by everyone. He still lives and...
Read MoreSevagram Ashram was Gandhi’s
‘village that was his kingdom’
In 1936 my Grandfather wrote from the newly established Sevagram Ashram to Henry Polak, his former senior editor when he was still in South Africa publishing the Indian Opinion newspaper two decades earlier. By that time my father Manilal Gandhi and mother Sushila Gandhi were managing the publication, which they would continue to do for another two decades. This vital piece of Gandhian history was recently published in Times of India. Gandhi writes his letter from Sevagram Ashram, shortly after establishing his latest and final headquarters that would remain until his death in 1948. “I am trying to become a villager,” he (Gandhi) wrote on 6 July 1936 to...
Read MoreRemembering Sushila Gandhi 1907-1988
Our Ba (grandmother), Sushila Mashruwala Gandhi born August 24,1907, was a lady of grace and beauty, a force to reckon with, (for the apartheid government of South Africa), a wizard in the kitchen, a fabulous story teller, dignified simplicity personified, had the funniest sense of humor and above all was the most loving Grandma ever. Every time she visited India from South Africa she naturally stayed in Mumbai with us. My brother, Tushar and I would spend every moment we could with her and around her. She regaled us with stories of our Dad and our 2 Aunts when they were kids at Phoenix. She filled us with awe with her stories of the struggles on the Phoenix farm...
Read MoreWalking Water in California…
… with Dr. Rajendra Singh ‘The Waterman’
On the recent 2016-2017 Gandhi Legacy Tour of India , led by Arun and Tushar Gandhi, we visited Tarun Bharat Sangh Campus to meet Dr. Rajendra Singh and take field tours of a few water bodies Dr. Singh has “resurrected.” After two amazing days with Dr. Singh and his community, he informed our group about the upcoming Phase 3 of Walking Water in southern California slated for October 14-28, 2017. “More than a Water Walk, it is a movement!”, Singh has exclaimed. “WALKING WATER is an invitation, an action, an educational journey and a prayer intended to bring together the voices of the many Peoples of the Eastern Sierra and Los Angeles...
Read MoreVaishnava Jana To
Bhajan Bapu Included in Daily Prayer
Vaishnava Jana To is one of the most popular bhajans (devotional poetry), written by the Gujurat poet Narsinh Meta in the 15th century. This bhajan was included in Mahatma Gandhi’s daily prayer sessions. Poet Narsinh Meta Lyrics and English Translation (wiki) vaiṣṇava jana to tene kahiye je pīḍa parāyī jāṇe re, para duḥkhe upakāra kare to ye mana abhimāna na āṇe re Call those people Vaishnavas who Feel the pain of others, Help those who are in misery, But never let self-conceit enter their mind. sakaḷa loka māṁ sahune vande, nindā na kare kenī re, vāca kācha mana niścala rākhe, dhana dhana jananī tenī re They respect the entire world, Do not disparage...
Read More“SEWA” Self-Employed Women’s Association
Gandhi Legacy Tour has been visiting the SEWA organization in Ahmedabad for over a decade now. Over the years we’ve had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with several of the empowered women in leadership positions. We are always greeted with love and blessings and then given a passionate tour of (1) a sampling of various grass roots projects they’ve initiated, (2) their headquarters, and (3) the local community SEWA bank. They give the legacy group a broad overview of their history and honorable accomplishments along with field tours in order to share first hand experiences of the solutions they’ve implemented to address the community need....
Read MoreThe Amazing Waterman of India
Tour Visit Video Overview
Gandhi Legacy Tour of India 2016-2017 delegation was warmly greeted by The Waterman of India, Dr. Rajendra Singh, his family and the community members he serves. We were traditionally received, served chai and cookies, and learned more about the community, The Waterman’s background, and water body projects at the Tarun Bharat Sangh campus. A compelling story was told by campus community member Kasturi. Dr. Singh led us on a field tour of his first aquifer project. He explained how he was inspired to take up a life devoted to water conservation. He is fondly known as “Gandhi of Water.” He explained how volunteers worked to shore up their...
Read MoreResurgence: Communities Quenching the Thirst
Mother Earth and Struggling for Water Security
Resurgence the Film (h/t Tarun Bharat Sangh) Resurgence is a documentary based on efforts of communities quenching the thirst of Mother Earth and struggling for their water rights. It is an attempt to capture the survival spirit of folks of India, who are battling Climate change through their Water Wisdom. Under the charismatic leadership of Waterman Rajendra Singh; Tarun Bharat Sangh is promoting a nationwide campaign Jal Jan Jodo Abhiyaan (“JJJA”). JJJA aims to strengthen people’s capacities to cope with Climate change through Decentralized community-driven conservation and management of natural resources and raising their voices for water security and...
Read MoreMy Own Trip to Gandhi Land
by Cassandra Curley
From December 29, 2016 to January 12, 2017, I was among a privileged group of students and tourists who were led along an enlightening path of Mahatma Gandhi’s India. As presented devotedly through The Legacy Tour, the tremendous impact of this humble man remains evident decades after his death. Guided primarily by Arun and Tushar Gandhi, fifth grandson and great-grandson of Mahatma, we traversed over 2500 miles of terrain from Mumbai to New Delhi, covering historical sites and meeting with several organizations that uphold the Gandhian principles of peace, self-reliance and cooperation. As a student of peaceful solutions and a Peace Messenger myself, this group was one...
Read MoreSatyagraha Tour of South Africa
Overview of Day 2 Albertina Luthuli Shares
Satyagraha Day Two we meet Greg Garson of Garson Expeditions a certified South African Tour guide who is also quite the historian. He rightly insists we start with an overview of South African History. Greg is a beautiful and eloquent story teller mesmerizing us as he shares an overview of the long and complicated history with our delegation. He begins by taking us to King Shaka Zulu’s last military citadel and the site of his grave where he was assassinated by his two half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangana. King Shaka Zulu rose to be one of the greatest Zulu King’s, his earliest mentor was Dingiswayo. King Shaka’s first major battle against Zwide, the...
Read MoreMani Bhavan History
MK Gandhi and ML King Connection
On the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India we are given a tour through the Mani Bhavan. Important historical meetings, arrests, and events relative to Mahatma Gandhi (“Bapuji”) are explained in the video. Bapuji learned how to spin the wheel at the Mani Bhavan. During the Gandhi Legacy Tour, while touring the Mani Bhavan in Mumbai, Arun Gandhi explained the relationship between his grandfather M.K. Gandhi (aka “Bapuji”) and Dr. Martin Luther King. In Arun’s soft and humble voice, he begins to tell this precious leela. Arun said, “It was in the late 50’s that the Indian government invited Martin Luther King to visit the India. He...
Read MoreTwo Nations In Turmoil
The Mahatma Gandhi New Series of banknotes are issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the legal tender of the Indian rupee (₹), intended to replace the Mahatma Gandhi Series of banknotes. Announced on November 8, 2016, it followed the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes of the original Mahatma Gandhi Series. Similar to the preceding series of banknotes, the obverse of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series banknotes also prominently displays the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. The logo of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is also printed on the back of the banknotes of this series. The first banknotes issued in the New Series were the denominations of ₹500 and ₹2000, and are in...
Read MoreZulu Traditional Culture
Zulu Traditional Dance: Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park Departure back to Durban, South Africa Stunning Zulu’s practicing a traditional dance and chant at a local community center in South Africa close to the Mozambique boarder. We happen to spot the group driving down the road after leaving the Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park a Safari Game Reserve on our way back to Durban. David my driver notices them first, backs the car up, and we park on the side of the road to watch. The group of youth spot us as they step it up performing like warriors. Initially, I could not make out who the leader of the chant was; he then breaks from the group, steps in front so we can clearly see...
Read MoreCradle of Humankind
Cradle of Humankind The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site is one of eight South African World Heritage Sites. It is the world’s richest hominin site, home to around 40% of the world’s human ancestor fossils. Read more click here 5.28.2017 (arrive in Johannesburg by evening) Welcome to South Africa! On arrival you, make your way to the Hotel Shuttle Bus Terminal for your complimentary shuttle to the Emperor’s Palace (Approx 5 mins) 3 nights at Emperor’s Palace on a Bed & Breakfast basis 5.29.2017 Cradle of Humankind Tour 5.30.2017 Visit to the Satyagraha House 5.31.2017 Take the shuttle back to Johannesburg Airport Flight South African...
Read MoreMarketPlace | SHARE Handwork of India
Pushpika in her own words shares with the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India group how MarketPlace|SHARE came to life. During the 2009-2010 Legacy Tour of India, the delegation visited Marketplace|SHARE after a devastating monsoon rips through their offices and the slum communities they serve. They lost everything and it was shortly before the big earthquake in Haiti. When Marketplace|SHARE community heard the news of what happened in Haiti and how it affected the people, they agreed as a community that everything they made and sold for one month would be donated to the Haitians affected by the earthquake. MarketPlace: Handwork of India grew out of a very small-scale...
Read MoreTwo Documentary films by Kasturi Gandhi
Stories of Shoemakers and Weavers
The documentary was created as part of curated exhibition of Rohi: Stories of the Shoemakers of Kachchh. It was fifth curated exhibition and for year 2015 we choose leather craft. It narrates lives and work of leather artisans (belong to Meghwal community) of Kachchh. This is a result of 4 months of field work in the various leather craft producing clusters of Kachchh. This master piece was created by Kasturi Gandhi, a movie maker based in Mumbai. The following video is a documentary movie on the lives and work of women weavers who are associated with recycled plastic weaving project of Khamir. It narrates the various dimensions of their lives and how a small initiative...
Read MoreManav Sadhana, an NGO based in Sabarmati Ashram
On previous tours, we visited the “Manav Sadhna, an NGO based in the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad, which is dedicated to the upliftment of the underprivileged through love.” Manav Sadhana – In 1990, a team of young volunteers, inspired by Gandhian values, began gathering under the branches of a tree in the Gandhi Ashram every Saturday to play with street children. They provided the children with a nutritional meal and taught them about basic hygiene by cutting their nails and bathing them. This activity quickly came together into a full time endeavor working to brighten the future of underprivileged children. Today, from a quiet corner in the Gandhi Ashram,...
Read MorePretoria Highlights
In 1894 Gandhi helped found the Natal Indian Congress, to unify local Indians into a political force, and became the first secretary. In September of the same year, Gandhi became the first Indian to be enrolled as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Natal. Gandhi felt firsthand what it was like to be discriminated upon, he struggled to find a hotel in Johannesburg and the Grand National Hotel would not allow him to eat in hotel dining room. The Central Baptist Church turned Gandhi away and would not let him enter a white church. At the meeting held in the Empire Theater in Johannesburg, Gandhi introduced the idea of Satyagraha resistance through non-cooperative,...
Read MoreArun Gandhi Radio Interview on
Cape Talk in Cape Town, South Africa
Arun Gandhi sharing his thoughts on the radio in Cape Town during one of our past Satyagraha Tours of South Africa. Arun Gandhi’s Message “The Gandhi Legacy Tour, led by Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi, and great grandson, Tushar Gandhi, for the past several years is unusual in that it does not focus on places of tourist interest but places of human interest. It is designed to educate … ” … in the essence of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence and how individuals can apply it to bring about socio-economic change. The tour visits rural India and urban slums to see and compare projects helping to make the change we wish to see in the world. Gandhi believed in creating a...
Read MoreOn This Day!
On This Day! Today is the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s swearing-in as President of South Africa. Photo: This is the very location where Nelson Mandela cast his vote in his country’s first all-race elections at a polling booth in the school. Mandela chose the area because he wanted to give the native black population the confidence to vote. He chose Ohlange High school in particular because this is where John Dube the first President of what was to become the ANC was buried and he wanted to lay a wreath. Mandela stood by the grave and said “Mr President, I have come to report to you that South Africa is free today.” Photo taken during...
Read More
A Beautiful Interview with Ela Gandhi
A beautiful interview with Ela Gandhi. For Ela Gandhi, a peaceful strategy was the key to emancipation for an oppressed South Africa. Violence never solves anything, she says. A skinny Indian lawyer with the mark of greatness – who was thrown off a train in Pietermaritzburg for defying in principal an unjust law – once said that Ahimsa – a sanskrit word which means respect for all living things and the avoidance of violence towards others – is one of the world’s greatest principles which no power on earth can wipe out. “Thousands like myself may die in trying to vindicate the ideal, but ahimsa will never die,” he said. It was in fact Ela’s grandfather who uttered those...
Read MoreBook Review: Gandhi’s Footprints
M.K. Gandhi’s pursuit of liberation from an era of violence and subjugation was thoroughly documented prior to Prerag Cicovacki’s new look at Gandhi’s actual goals and pragmatic approach for humanity’s liberation, not only from government imperialism and racism but from the actual impediments to spiritual liberation that he himself struggled against. The central issue and the novelty of this new book is its focus on what Gandhi wanted to liberate us for. The book also provides an assessment of how viable his positive vision of humanity was and is. Cicovacki writes: “What is paradoxical in Gandhi’s approach is that he himself was a unique...
Read MoreStory Teller Liz Coleman from the
Gandhi Legacy Tour of India Delegation 2014-2015
Liz Coleman from Lane Community College curated a digital travel log from the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India 2014-2015 delegation. This tour we added Dr. Bunker Roy’s Barefoot College to the itinerary. “This is the first half of a movie documenting the Gandhi Legacy Tour in which we explored Gandhi’s work, life and death. We visited India from Dec. 2014-Jan. 2015.” Part One This is the second part of of Liz Coleman’s video. Part Two Share us...
Read MoreWas Gandhi Racist?
Was Gandhi Racist? Selective research and reporting have sometimes distorted the image of Gandhiji. As a result, Ela Gandhi (Arun Gandhi’s sister and granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi) felt compelled to compile a message included below. Satish Dhupelia, great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and who lives in Durban South Africa, was interviewed on the South African Radio on the matter of Gandhi being racist and his comments are also contained below. I personally traveled to South Africa twice on the Satyagraha Tour of South Africa wherein we visited the Phoenix Settlement. Ela Gandhi gently walked us through Gandhiji’s history, “Seeds of Democracy”...
Read MoreWhat would Gandhi do today?
by Arun Gandhi, 5th grandson of Mahatma Gandhi What would Gandhi do today? When the world is torn apart by violence and governments around the world commit war crimes to preserve their hold on power; when inhumanity of the average citizen has reached its nadir and when hopelessness tears civilization asunder, we pray for peace and think of Gandhi and his message of nonviolence. Soon October 2 (Grandfather’s birthday) will be upon us when most of the world will pay lip-service to a man who sacrificed his life to show the world that there is a better, peaceful, way of resolving conflicts. Towards the end of his life when a journalist asked Gandhi what the future of...
Read MoreOctober 2nd Worldwide Message of Peace
Happy Birthday Bapuji!
October 2nd Worldwide Message of Peace The Gandhi Legacy Tour family supports the efforts of Peace and of the Gandhi Development Trust in Durban, South Africa. This week Gandhi Development Trust leadership reached out to friends to help spread the message of peace to youth. October 2, 1869 is Mahatma Gandhi’s birth date. Jai Jai Jayanthi Bapuji! Satish Dhupelia, great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and also serves the work of Gandhi Development Trust writes the following note: The Gandhi Development Trust wishes to reach out to as many students as possible to spread the word of peace and non violence. As part of this process we have prepared a message that we would...
Read MoreGandhi’s Teachers
Recently I hosted Tushar Gandhi and his lovely wife Sonal during their brief visit to Las Vegas, and as we dined on fine Indian cuisine at the wonderful Gandhi Cuisine restaurant the discussion turned to the subject of Gandhi’s teachers. For our memorable evening we were joined by the eminent UNLV Gandhi scholar, Satish Sharma, who authored four books on that very subject. Gandhi had four prominent early teachers that helped shape his perennial philosophy of Peace: Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta from India, Leo Tolstoy from Russia, John Ruskin from England, and Henry David Thoreau from America. Dr. Sharma shared that his earliest memories related to the idea of...
Read MoreNew Culture of Peace
Arun Gandhi is often asked during his speaking engagements and legacy tours what he says in “high-level” meetings to political leaders and he responds, “the same things I’m saying to you.” The following webtv video provides a perfect example of this during his recent address at a high-level United Nations forum in New York. In Arun Gandhi’s opening remarks, he said there is need to stop “exploiting people, religion, to gain our goals and ambitions. That is only the way we can bring peace through non-violence.” World peace cannot be achieved unless individuals accept non-violence as a way of life, according to Arun...
Read MoreMahatma Gandhi Quote on Real Freedom
“God demands nothing less than complete self surrender as the price of the only real freedom worth having. And, when we lose ourselves, we immediately find ourselves in the service of all that lives. It becomes our joy and recreation. We are a new person, never weary of spending ourselves in the service of God’s creation.” Mahatma Gandhi Share us...
Read MoreGWEI Accepted by UN Economic and Social Council
“United Nations Economic and Social Council chamber New York City 2” by MusikAnimal – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Commons. Gandhi Worldwide Accepted by United Nations Economic and Social Council Special Consultative Status Bestowed on Gandhi Children’s NGO by UN WACAUNDA, Ill., Aug. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — “The UN Consultative Status for our organization will enable us to actively engage with ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, as well as with the United Nations Secretariat, programs, funds and agencies in a number of ways,” stated Arun Gandhi, the organization’s founder and 5th grandson of...
Read MoreIva-Nyaniso Diniso: One Man Art Exhibition
Press Release: August Sharpeville, South Africa IVA Infant Images Exhibition Iva-Nyaniso Diniso will be celebrating his sixteenth birthday through his first one man art exhibition at the Vaal University of Technology’s Department of Visual Arts and Design (K-Block) on the 1st September 2015 during lunch hour. The art exhibition ‘IVA Infant Images Exhibition’ marks also the welcoming of Spring season and September Heritage Month. The artworks reflect the free spirit of creativity and the flow of imaginative thinking. The simplicity of the images drawn reveals the spontaneous combination of mind, hand and material rhythmically applied in a fearless approach. ...
Read MoreHappy World Elephant Day!
Yes, Happy World Elephant Day! World Elephant Day is an international annual event on August 12, dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world’s elephants. The video snippet above showcases a herd of sacred elephants we spotted on our safari day at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve June 3, 2015. Gandhi Satyagraha Tour of South Africa 2015 Another fabulous video taken from Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa: Satyagraha Tour of SA 2014 I spot another elephant with a “Tower of Giraffes” further behind the giraffes in the bush. The elephant spots me with my camera, and is as curious with...
Read MoreArun Gandhi Pietermartizburg Railway Station Address June 7, 2015
Another spot on address by Arun Gandhi in Piertermaritzburg during the Satyagraha Tour of South Africa. He talks about the purpose of the Gandhi Legacy Tour in South Africa. He continues on with: “The thing that touches me most about my grandfather, is the statement that he made just a month or so before his assassination, when a journalist asked him, what do you think is going to happen after your passing to your philosophy? And he made a very prophetic remark when he said, “the people will follow me in life, worship me in death, but not make my cause their cause.” That unfortunately, is the tragedy with not just my grandfather, but for all the...
Read MoreMeet Miss Fikile Lucia Ngcobo
The Valley Trust A CENTER FOR HEALTH PROMOTION Valley of the Thousand Hills near Durban South Africa A visit with the NGO, The Valley Trust (“TVT”) – A Center for Health Promotion – in the Valley of the Thousand Hills near Durban will highlight Day 6 of the Satyagraha Tour of South Africa. Celebrating over 60 years of service in rural and peri-rural communities similar to the Valley, TVT has been assisting communities to take charge of their development and realize their potential by building educational capacity to secure employment, create financial stability, and develop sustainable healthy and holistic communities. In anticipation of the Tour and the...
Read MoreGLT Continues to Support World Responsible Tourism
Third Consecutive Year!
World Responsible Tourism, in association with the UN’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), is a universal movement, helping to build a solid, sustainable future for responsible, philanthropic and eco travel and tourism. Since its introduction seven years ago, World Responsible Tourism has captured the hearts and minds of responsible and philanthropic travel facilitators everywhere. Gandhi Legacy Tour (GLT) has received permission to proudly display the World Responsible Tourism emblem to emphasize commitment to “responsible travel” for a third consecutive year 2015. Responsible and philanthropic travel honors sustainable projects across the planet, underscoring a...
Read MoreThe Culture of Violence
A materialistic society can survive only by adopting a Culture of Violence to control the vast majority of people who are exploited. We are caught in the cycle of fear and violence each feeding on the other. This Culture of Violence is destroying humanity just as cancer kills human beings. Is the Culture of Violence normal human behavior? India’s legendary leader and my grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, believed human beings are not inherently evil, but are forced to act violently because of ignorance. In frustration and anger we allow strangers to determine the fate of our lives and before we know it our lives lie shattered in the dust. At the age of 24 Gandhi...
Read MoreThe Waterman of India
A tip of the hat goes to Tushar Gandhi for introducing us to this amazing innovator Rajendra Singh … We have just added his NGO “Tarun Gharat Sangh” as a stop on the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India itinerary. Rajendra Singh is a man on a mission – he wants to stop a Third World War from breaking out because of water shortage.Singh, known as the “waterman of India”, is a celebrated water reclaimationist from the Alwar district of Rajasthan India. Singh won the Stockholm Water Prize, an award known as “the Nobel Prize for water”, in 2015. The prize honors individuals, organizations and institutions whose work contributes to the conservation and protection of...
Read MoreViolence Running Rampant
Originally posted @GWEI Violence runs rampant in these austere times. An embodiment of the concept would certainly manifest as the Hydra itself, the multi-headed serpent monster from ancient Greek mythology, a monster which Hercules himself had difficulty slaying. Mimicking the Hydra, violence is manifold and ruthless. In today’s world, where there is mass profit from maintaining perpetual tragedies such as war, obtaining any leverage over this beast is an absolutely Herculean task. Despite the seemingly infinite difficulties that one who chooses to walk nonviolent a path has before them, many, such as Mohandas Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King and Bell Hooks, have boldly...
Read MoreNew Gandhi Tour Grants for Youth!
Originally Posted at GWEI Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute (“GWEI”) Board of Directors has established the “Essay of Excellence”, a youth “Gandhi Legacy Tour Travel Grant” program. Two travel grants will be awarded annually – one for the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India (Dec 29 – Jan 12, 2015-2016) and the other for the Satyagraha Tour of South Africa (May 31 – June 15, 2015.) Both tours will be led by Arun Gandhi and his son Tushar. Aligning with with United Nations Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) Youth Forum, admonition “Giving young people a voice in development”, GWEI partnered with the Rochester, NY-based MK Gandhi Institute of...
Read MoreAVANI Children’s Home Challenge
Originally Posted at GWEI Of the estimated 85 million child laborers in India today, over 40,000 of them work in the Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. Many of these children have been sold or forced into hazardous occupations and commercial sex work. Girls suffer the most. It is AVANI’s mission to work alongside children from the homeless, migrant and nomadic communities. AVANI does this by conducting surveys to identify children at risk, rescue those children in need, and provide them with food, clothes, shelter, healthcare, rehabilitation and an education up to grade-level 10 and beyond. In 2005, a group of migrant laborers requested that Anuradha Bhosale...
Read MoreFirst Visit to Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve
The slideshow above features photos taken on the first Gandhi Satyagraha Tour of South Africa one day optional excursion from Umhlanga Rocks, Durban to Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve. The Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve is situated on the east coast of South Africa; it’s the oldest game and nature reserve in KwaZulu Natal, in central Zululand. The game reserve features the Big 5, it’s where King Shaka used to hunt and known as his royal hunting grounds. It has the largest population of the white rhino in the world. Most of the rhino’s in zoos and other safari reserves come from the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve. This reserve was established as a safari...
Read MoreNelson Mandela Foundation:
Meeting with the ‘Robben Islanders’
During the inaugural Gandhi Satyagraha Tour of South Africa June 2014 we had the opportunity to participate in a historic gathering at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, with several of whom were imprisoned with Mandela for decades and then went on to play important roles in the re-establishment of the post-apartheid government. This is a partial account of that amazing time together. Tour Delegation led by Arun & Tushar Gandhi meeting with Ahmed “Uncle Kathy” Kathrada, and Robben Islanders Laloo “Isu” Chiba, and Shirish Nanabhai at the Nelson Mandela Foundation Nelson Mandela, following his Presidency, would ask his staff of that time to do...
Read MoreGandhi Tour in Progress Cited by Times of India
Times of India caught up with the Gandhi Tour legacy travelers as they toured parts of Gujarat, visiting institutions that were set up by the Mahatma or were inspired by his philosophy, during the annual pilgrimage. AHMEDABAD JAN 5, 2015: Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Arun Gandhi, 80, and his son Tushar, 54, visited Sabarmati Ashram on Sunday. The two were leading the annual Gandhi Tour that Arun and his group of select students from University of Rochester’s MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, have been undertaking for the past 16 years. Arun is the son of Manilal Gandhi, Mahatma’s second son. Speaking to Times of India about the Gandhi Tour visit to...
Read MoreAVANI and Gandhi for Children Update 2014
Originally Posted on the GWEI website: AVANI Eco-Dome Development Update 2014 AVANI is one of the stops on the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India For the Holiday and New Year we have a composite of images & notes relating to the AVANI Domes progress… Just in time for the monsoon rains last September, the exterior of the main dome structure at the five acre site was completed. The rains actually assisted in the curing and hardening process of the mud based plaster finish.* Registering for College Aruna and Mehndi glance at a copy of the college admissions paperwork for the school of science and math. Aruna will be the first AVANI student to continue with her...
Read MoreMy Interview with KonectIDY
“We must bring solace to suffering humanity!” KonectIDY sat down with me to learn more about the motivation behind my lifetime of service as an ambassador of peace and non-violence, and why I believe it is important for all people worldwide – to buy, wear and share the “Gandhi For Children” bracelet. Q – Who was Mahatma Gandhi to you? What did Gandhi mean to you personally? Please share a story or experience in how your grandfather most influenced or inspired your life? Arun Gandhi – Personally, Gandhi was my Grandfather and a “light” that guides me in my quest for the purpose in my life. He taught me the value of humility and simplicity the two hall marks...
Read MoreInterview with Anuradha Bhosale Part 2
Continuing from part one, my interview with Anuradha Bhosale, Kolhapur India activist, social reformer and local hero, shares additional deep insights and reflections with us. LB: What was the worst story of exploitation that you can share with us? AB: The worst story of exploitation has occurred in my own life. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law harassed me right from the beginning. I was ruthlessly used as a house maid by all of the in-laws numbering seven in all. I was working at that time with Verala Development Society (VDS) at Sangli town. That involved travelling every day 65 miles to and fro, office or field work from 11 to 6. Each day l reached home not...
Read MoreInterview with Anuradha Bhosale
Interview with Anuradha Bhosale of AVANI originally published at the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute Blog: AVANI is one of the stops the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India makes each year. Anuradha Bhosale is a highly cherished hero to thousands of impoverished children and their families. Ms Bhosale is a renowned grassroots women’s rights and anti-child labor activist based in Kolhapur, India where more than 35,000 children are involved in daily labor for local industries. A former child-laborer herself at the age of six, she has spent the past 20 years fighting for the prevention of child exploitation, labor, trafficking, and female infanticide. Anuradha Bhosale is a...
Read MoreHappy Birthday, Grandfather Gandhi!
Original Post Source by Arun Gandhi: Gandhi Day Message Artist Gary Manson from Gatlinburg, Tennessee Gandhi Day Message Gandhi was born October 2, 1869 One hundred and forty-five years ago Mohandas K. Gandhi was born in an innocuous town in Western India and no one imagined he would become an Apostle of peace, love and humanity. He was killed 66 years ago leaving the world a legacy of goodness, compassion and the way to achieve true civilization. Instead the world decided to go in the opposite direction, the direction of materialism and militarism, both antithetical to the concept of civilization. The result is in 1914 the world was embroiled in the...
Read MoreTolstoy Farm and the Satyagraha House
photo: Gandhi Tolstoy Farm June 1912 – Gandhi, Kasturba and Sonia Schlesin (extreme right) June 9, 2014: We visited the Tolstoy Farm. Gandhi attributes the success of the final phase of the Satyagraha campaign in South Africa between June 4, 1908 and 1914 to the “spiritual purification and penance” afforded by the Tolstoy Farm. It became the home for supporters of the Satyagraha movement. It was a simple life. He wrote: “I have serious doubts as to whether the struggle could have been prosecuted for eight years, whether we could have secured larger funds, and whether the thousands of men who participated in the last phase of the struggle would...
Read MoreWe must be the change we wish to see in the world!
Dear Friends, With the increase in violence and economic disparities all over the world I am sure you are, like everyone else, concerned about the future. This is why more than ever Gandhi’s prophetic words: “We must be the change we wish to see in the world” become meaningful. But how do we change and what can we do to make this world a better place for future generations? It is always little acts of kindness that make a big difference. The world will not change until we change nor will there be peace in the world until we know what peace means and how can we become peaceful ourselves. As part of my grandfather’s philosophy of nonviolence he...
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