Dear Editor,
Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN), in collaboration with SEWA-GUYANA and the Cornelia Ida Mandir, quietly conducted its 9th annual blood donation drive on May 2 and 3 last. It was yet another record-breaking voluntary venture yielding 570 units of blood, though we fell short of our target of 600 units. Our previous high was 551 units. It is regrettable that year after year such a feat goes virtually unnoticed in Guyana.
Our project started in May 2007 with a modest contribution of 76 units which we were told was a record for Guyana. In 2008 when we set a target of 170 to mark the 170th anniversary of Indian Immigration, we raised 176 units. Since then the contribution has risen almost exponentially, and the response was so overwhelming that starting in 2013 we decided to have the drive twice a year, the second time to coincide with Divali, as a result of which the combined total for the year was 1,059 units. This, we were told, was about 10% of all voluntary blood donations in Guyana. From 2007 to our most recent blood drive, we have contributed a staggering 4,091 units of blood to the National Blood Bank.
We want to take this opportunity to thank the staff at the Blood Bank for their diligent work that lasted without break for about 12 hours each day. We are also grateful for the massive support we have received from donors. People came from as far as Wales and Canals I and II on the West Bank to Parika Backdam, Leguan and Wakenaam. They came without any material incentive and on their own expense. We are also happy to report that along with members of the Cummings Lodge Mandir, the entire Dhanaciar Singh family of the same community supported the drive.
But the most important support came from the students and teachers of SVN. Most of the teaching staff showed on both days to help with a variety of chores, and in the days coming up to the drive they spent several hours each night calling up persons on our data base to remind them of the event. In all of this, the contribution of SVN students was critical. Each student was requested to find two donors from their respective villages. Once the names were submitted the office verified the information which was then entered into our data base. The students themselves were asked to remind the donors that they had recruited.
Because the drive required the constant supply of electricity, the school’s generator was used for more than 12 hours each day, and this added to the expense that SVN and SEWA incurred. In addition meals were prepared for donors and volunteers. The Blood Bank supplied 20 cases of Vita Malt, with compliments of Banks, that was meant for the donors. But since this was grossly insufficient we had to procure an additional ten cases.
Though publicity and support from the business community are important to ensure greater success, our effort is inspired by the spirit of daana, a Sanskrit word that means giving, generousity, charity, etc. The Bhagavad Gita (17.20) speaks about three types of giving. Accordingly, that charity which is given to one from whom there is no expectation of a return, which takes into consideration the proper time and place and which is given to a worthy recipient with the notion that “it should be done” is the purest and ideal giving.
According to this teaching giving blood qualifies as the highest kind of giving. Those who give it do not expect gratitude from any specific individual because they do not know who the recipient is. Those who receive it have no specific person to thank because they do not know the donor. It is this anonymity that makes blood donation the most ideal form of giving.
Yours faithfully,
Swami Aksharananda
