Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha (GNNSJ) is an organization dedicated to selfless service in the name of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, (1969 – 1930) – Founder of the Sikh Dharam (Religion). GNNSJ is thus a faith-based organization (FBO) duly registered in the UK , India and Kenya .
GNNSJ extends its hand of good will and benevolence to all. Through selfless service, it endeavours to practice and propagate Sikh Dharam´s core principles.
GNNSJ was formally founded in Kericho, Kenya in the 1950s by Sant Baba Puran Singh Ji, who emigrated from India to Kenya in 1917. He lived for a total of 57 years in Kenya , of which most were spent in Kericho. He set up Kericho Wagon Works in 1925.
He earned an honest livelihood through hard work, and helped others in the town. He contributed to municipal improvement schemes such as the renovation of hospitals, schools and churches. In recognition of his civic contribution, the town square was named Puran Singh Square.
He was lovingly called Baba Ji of Kericho. He devoted himself to a deep life of meditation, practicing and propagating Sikh values, touching and transforming thousands of people´s lives.
Babaji loved Kericho´s environs and worked towards its sustainability. The founding vision and leadership of GNNSJ was provided by Sant Baba Puran Singh Ji. Baba Ji passed on in England on 5th June, 1983. He was succeeded by Bhai Sahib Bhai Norang Singh Ji who steered the activities of GNNSJ until 3rd July, 1995. Since 1995, the work of GNNSJ is directed by Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh.
In recent years there is a growing recognition that FBOs are a vital cog in delivering assistance to local communities.
More than 75 percent of the world´s population ascribes to the major world religions. Constructive cooperation and coordinated action amongst people of good will in religious communities, political parties and civil society is crucial.
Humans need to develop a sense of universal responsibility. Fundamental values of humanity are honesty, freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance and respect for nature.
Achievement of the MDGs can make a major contribution to alleviation of poverty and suffering. GNNSJ with its NSPSI initiative has taken the first step to engage in partnership to assist the local population of Kericho district in working in some little measure towards the delivery of the MDSs.
GNNSJ is suitably located within the donor and recipient communities in Europe, Africa and Asia .
Education, skills and knowledge are central to working towards the MDGs, which can be assisted and delivered if they are tackled at the grassroots level by empowering the younger generation with good education know-how and values.
This will enable them to tackle issues like poverty, child mortality, health, disease, financial, and environmental issues.
Kericho is the emerald of Kenya ; scenic, serene, truly breathtaking and naturally carpeted tea-country´ of tranquility. Kericho owes its name to a renowned Africa healer and medicine man known as ´Kerich´.
Today, Kericho is home to Africa ´s largest Gurudwara (Sikh place of worship) as a ´living´ monument to the great saint Sant Baba Puran Singh Ji.
The Gurudwara has become a stunning architectural landmark in the region and it also envelopes Baba Ji´s modest home and workshop. The site has been gazetted by the Government of Kenya as a place of spiritual significance.
Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm or brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
The vision of (Nishkam Saint Puran Singh Institute) NSPSI is to be the preferred destination – the centre of excellence in education – for today´s professionals.
The mission is articulated in providing qualitative education by highly trained and motivated teaching fraternity while sustaining good moral and ethical values, in a safe, caring and inspiring environment.
NSPSI has taken due cognizance of the collective need to realize the Millennium Goals through formal training of professionals.
Nishkam Saint Puran Singh Institute is a visionary, benevolent initiative for indigenous local youth, subscribing to the Sikh Dharam´s value of doing positive good for all.
This enviable enterprise has built bridges between different faith communities across continents, nations and nationalities, supported by respective governments, fostering good will, hope and prosperity at grassroots level.
NSPSI was conceived in honour of Babaji, the Sikh Saint of Kericho, and as a project for doing good for others beyond your own.
It was done in a spirit of genuine appreciation of the respect and cordial relations that have existed between the Sikh community and the native populace living together since the late 19th Century.
The cornerstone of the NSPSI education curriculum is to impact academic knowledge firmly grounded in intrinsic values of truth, integrity, compassion, social responsibility, morality, selflessness, and respect for diversity.
Kanini Evans Kariuki
Kanini Evans Kariuki is a veteran Kenyan Journalist with several years of experience behind him. He was born on July 10, 1963 in Nakuru town,Rift Valley province, Kenya, at Kivumbini estate. His entire family members later shifted from Kivumbini to Flamingo estate, then Kimathi, Thumaina, Langalanga and then to Free Area, near the Lanet Army Barracks where they settled.
He completed his secondary education at Afraha Secondary School in Nakuru town , Rift Valley province,Kenya,in 1980, and then joined Naitiri High School,Western Kenya, for his"A"level education,completing in 1982. Later, he underwent training in journalism in some institutes in Kenya.
Kanini who doubles up as a researcher, has worked for all the leading Daily newspapers in Kenya;the Daily Nation, The Standard, The Kenya Times and The People Daily.He was the Eldoret town Bureau Chief of The Star newspaper-Kenya's most incisive and authoritative by-weekly newspaper, which collapsed way back in 1998 due to what was perceived as political machinations worked out against it by the past government.Eldoret town is in the Rift Valley part of Kenya,which was the hotbed of the 2007 ugly political violence.
Kanini is currently also a media consultant for Soldiers of Peace International Association,Africa liason office,Nairobi.
In his long-standing career as ajournalist,Kanini has covered various dramatic events in Kenya which include the story of former renown detainee Koigi wa Wamwere. He has also covered the 1992 and 1997 politically-instigated ethnic violence in the expansive Rift Valley province, and the worst of all, the 2007 political violence in Kenya where over 1,500 people were killed,350,000 displaced, hundreds maimed and property worth billions of shilings torched following the disputed elections.
Kanini also covered the sad story of the late outspoken and fiery Kenyan clergyman bishop Alexander Kipsang arap Muge, who was famous in the East African region for fighting corruption, land -grabbing, political assassinations,bureaucracy and other irritating vices.
Bishop Muge perished in a bizzare road accident on August 14,1990 along the Eldoret/Turbo road, facing Western Kenya.
The bishop died after a controversial but triumphant visit to Western Kenya in Busia, after receiving death threats from a former cabinet minister, warning him that he would die if he dared visit the area.
Kanini is in the files of Amnesty International for his courage in the reportage of events in the volatile Rift Valley region, and has received commendation from the global Human Right's watchdog.
Apart from covering events in the Rift Valley, he also writes about issues affecting East and Central Africa as well as other parts of Africa.
Kanini has been trained on Journalism and ethics by the Media Institute in Kenya, and has also undergone various in-house trainings in journalism with the Daily Nation Media Group, East Africa's largest circulating newspaper.
The writer can be reached on email address: [email protected]