SRMD Global Youth Festival 2022 concludes in the  presence of Gujarat’s Home and Youth minister Harsh Sanghavi

Dharampur/Valsad (Gujarat): The four-day Global Youth Festival 2022, organised by the international headquarters of Srimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur (SRMD) and crafted under the spiritual visionary and global humanitarian Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, concluded on December 27 in Dharampur, Valsad, in the august presence of Gujarat’s Home and Youth Minister Harsh Sanghavi.

The festival hosted youths from more than 15 countries across the world including the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, France, UAE, Oman, Australia, Kenya, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand etc.

In association with the prestigious G20 Summit 2022, this global youth collective saw the esteemed presence of Harsh Sanghavi, Minister of Gujarat State – Home, Youth, Sports, Industries and Transport, who specially graced the event to announce their collaboration and journey through the 50+ curated events at the festival. Being a passionate torchbearer of youth initiatives, and leading several cultural and sports activities himself, Shri Harsh Sanghavi was a befitting inspiration and icon at the Global Youth Festival.

The festival also welcomed the Country Director of UNEP in India, Mr Atul Bagai, who awarded the winners of ‘Hacks for Humanity’ – a social welfare hackathon and applauded the diverse rural upliftment projects ongoing during the festival.

Addressing a gathering, Harsh Sanghavi said, “I am in awe of the remarkable creativity and ideas that I have witnessed at the Global Youth festival and the 43+ projects showcased under the ‘Hacks for Humanity’. The profound vision and guidance imparted by Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji have led to the massive achievement of bringing the most educated minds amongst the youth to engage in spirituality, even in this age of social media. I have learnt a lot from this experience. My only regret is not visiting Dharampur earlier, as I could’ve applied Pujya Gurudevshri’s teachings to further enrich the quality of my service. This festival and its vision will serve as a great inspiration to many youth leaders such as myself.”

Backing the Global Youth Festival was Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji’s powerful vision, “Tremendous energy, enthusiasm, exuberance, and power are the assets of today’s youth. They have the drive but need the direction. They have the wings and if given the eyes they can soar high and far in the spiritual skies.”

This festival was a means to achieve this goal through its underlining tagline Meet the Real You. All the events collectively promoted real-world wisdom, future-ready skills, professional development, community service, rural regeneration, sports, music and arts as well as providing a platform for power networking.

Some memorable highlights of the Global Youth Festival 2022 include:

• Keynote Series by Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji on the ‘DNA of Success’ which decoded the recipe to being peak performers

25+ Social Impact and Rural Regeneration Projects

• Mega multi-speciality medical camp where the youth partook in interactive health education including anaemia testing, cancer diagnosis etc. and actively helped conduct screenings
• Play therapy and Olympics for the specially-abled, wherein youth also made walkers and wheelchairs for the children
• Health initiatives for animals:

–           Helping set up surgeries for large and small animals

–           Building one-of-a-kind sensory sheds for livestock

–           First-aid training educating people about how to provide temporary relief

–           Goat Deworming and preparing vitamin laddoos

• Miyawaki Medicinal Forestry

–           Planted over 6000 saplings belonging to 50+ species to create the first-ever native micro forest in the entire region.

• Distribution of Solar Lights to Remote tribal villages
• Running a Conscious Kitchen & Creating sustainable Kitchen Gardens in villages

–           Brought farm to table by harvesting vegetables and cooking organic meals for the locals

–           Learnt the tribal process of non-violent ghee-making and cooking

• Exploring the Power of Dung: Making pots and logs using dung, to serve as a natural fertiliser as well as cooking fuel
• Refurbishing, painting and providing new equipment to community centres and schools
• Plogging & Upcycling:

–           A unique Segregation Relay for waste collection while jogging

–           Upcycling coconuts and banana peels into fertilisers for horticulture

• Bio Pharmacy: Educating locals with recipes to prevent and treat illnesses with plants

Wellness and Wisdom

• Soulful Stretches every morning including the Barfi Bootcamp and unique wellness techniques like EnerChi, Sound Bath and Yogalates
• Wisdom Masterclasses and knowledge-based sessions
• Experience Workshops: The Art of Kintsugi, Roar: The Courage to be Yourself, The Breath Lab & Find your Flow, Gen-Z: Bloopers, Bloggers and Believers

Global Youth Olympics with 20+ indoor and outdoor sports competitions

The evenings were immersed in magnificent musical events – featuring the GYF Concert with an orchestral lineup by the Nandan Borkar Collective and a global music competition judged by renowned singer Sachin Sanghavi.

This festive season, the Global Youth Festival truly celebrated the collective energy of youth across cultures and countries in the most unique way, getting thousands in touch with their true spirit.