Randeep Singh, 44, is a family man with two beautiful children. He is the co - founder of the Sikh Welfare and Awareness Team (S.W.A.T.).
The name of this organization tells us about its aim to provide faith to humanity through the teachings of Sikhism. Created in West London in 2008, through the years S.W.A.T. has done a successful amount of work that has made a difference to lives of disadvantaged communities. It led projects that have not only solved financial problems of people in the short term, but have also improved their prospects in the long term. All of these would not have been possible without the input of the S.W.A.T. co-founder.
Background
Randeep was born in London. His father was an electronics engineer born in Punjab and his mother was a social worker, with a florist business on the side, born in Dodoma. Randeep’s early memories are of him sitting in the lap of his grandmother, listening to her praying. As he used to sleep in the same room as his grandparents and siblings, he remembers waking up in the middle of the night and seeing his grandfather meditating.“His voice still resonating through my ears today, living in a close - knit neighborhood in a detached house” – recalls Randeep.
The turning point
Randeep Singh believes that the toughest thing in his life happened to him when he was 18. At that age he changed his lifestyle by killing his ego and trusting in God’s will. It was necessary for him to take this step as Randeep says: “I was on the dark side to say the least. To be honest, I can't really take credit for it; I was blessed. Maybe it was the absorption of the Naam as a baby sitting in the lap of my grandmother”.
So Randeep not only became a baptized Sikh and took Amrit, but he also joined a special order: the Khalsa. Randeep is still following this path as he is trying to serve and protect humanity whilst remembering God.
Starting up S.W.A.T
When Randeep thinks of what made him set up S.W.A.T., he says that when he was a child, he “used to have visions of feeding homeless people in London in a white van with a sliding door serving from big silver pots hot food in the cold weather.” But when Randeep grew up, he saw that the majority of his peers were taking drugs and alcohol and he decided to help them to overcome these habits. He set up a youth club to educate local youth about the dangers of unhealthy lifestyle.
A year later S.W.A.T. discovered homelessness in its local area and spent three years every day looking after the situation. When in 2012 this issue was under control, the organization decided to spread the message of Guru Nanak Dev Ji to a wider audience in central London. Now S.W.A.T. is preoccupied more and more with such projects. So the work of the organization is devoted to noble means. According to Randeep Singh, its main philosophy is: ”We have a vision where every person we meet knows they are loved and valued, lives safely, with respect, faith, hope and care for themselves and others, achieving their full potential, positively contributing to and transforming their communities”.
The S.W.A.T.’s potential
Caring for humanity is a rewarding but also a time consuming task. Today Randeep spends most of his free time leading S.W.A.T. Spreading the teachings of his faith, Sikhism, he is not only a leader of the organization, but also its main mentor. Randeep believes that: “There is more to life than paying off your mortgage and living in the rat race. If we were more compassionate and forgiving this world would be a better place.” Randeep hopes that someday S.W.A.T. will become the biggest non – political help agency in the world to save lives at disaster sights.
The strength of the team is also its gurus, who give its students the key to solving their mental health issues. This key is Naam Japna – meditation in God. Randeep Singh believes that S.W.A.T. has great potential as “unless we have a solution to mental health issues these services are always going to be required.”
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There is more to life than paying off your mortgage. If we were more compassionate, this world would be a better place.
