Swindon Balagokulam celebrates UK Parliament Week

The event started with flag hoisting, followed by warm ups, games. Along with the children and parents, the guests participated in the games too. 

After the games, the group held a debate around the question "Should the schools close again in view of the rising covid patients and deaths?"

The children were said to have enthusiastically shared their views both for and against, and then put their votes in the Ballot Box to be counted. Robert Buckland presided over the session as the speaker of the house and announced the voting result. 

Swindon Balagokulam were keen for the children to take centre stage and for each view and point expressed to be deemed valid and worthy.

A spokesperson said: "The children interacted with the guests and listened to inspiring words of experience and encouragement from all the guests about the democratic process and need for more positive engagement."

The young participants were also asked to write their views on leaves. They wrote andswers to the following questions: 'What changes do you want to bring in the society?' and 'What are the actions will you take to achieve that change?' The leaves with these views were put on the Kalpavruksha (wish-fulling divine tree) drawn on the board.

After the debate, the group concluded the session with Prarthana - a prayer for world peace and a vote of thanks.

Swindon Balagokulam says it's weekly group sessions also focus on undertaking Sewa (charitable) activities like food donations, blood donation drives and other fundraisers. The recent Sewa activity by the group was the donation of around 2,000 kilograms of tinned food items to Swindon Food Collective, the local food bank.

More information about Swindon Balagokulam can be found at https://hssuk.org/balagokulam/ or on the group's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/balagokulamswindon/