When S. Ravi Singh, Founder and CEO of Khalsa Aid was struck by the plight of the refugees in Kosovo in 1999, he decided to do something for the victims of natural and manmade disasters such as floods, earthquakes, famine and war. In 1999 when the birth of Khalsa was being celebrated, the news of refugees struggling to cross the cold and mountainous border to reach a safer and peaceful Albania came to his notice. He also read in the newspaper about a small group who were organising an aid convoy to Albania – the Sikhi teaching of ‘Sarbat da Bhala’ came rushing to his mind. He phoned the group from the newspaper and asked to join them to help deliver aid donated by the Sikh community who had been extremely generous in giving food and money – within two weeks they were on their way with two trucks and a van load of aid to Albania. This gave him an idea to form an organisation to do such work and then was born the organization (Khalsa Aid).
Khalsa Aid is an international organization with its head quarters at Unit 13, 21 Whittle Park Way, Slough, SL 1, 6 DQ. It was founded by S. Ravi Singh with the aim to provide humanitarian aid in disaster areas and civil conflict zones around the world. The organisation is based upon the Sikh principle of “Recognise the whole human race as one”. With the passage of time Khalsa Aid has setup its chapters in most of the countries. Whilst the inspiration for the charity stems from a strong belief in the Sikh principles, their work is by no means restricted to the Sikh community. Khalsa Aid became the first ever cross-border international humanitarian aid organisation based on the Sikh principles. Since 1999, we have been able to provide crucial aid to millions of people around the world: from victims of the Yemen Civil War to refugees landing on the shores of Greece from the Middle East and, more recently, the Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar seeking refuge in Bangladesh; to earthquake, flood and hurricane-stricken areas in Nepal, Australia, and the Caribbean. Closer to home, our teams have helped residents in the UK cope with the devastating floods that swept through Cumbria and the south-west of England; and we were there to support the families who escaped the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower in London. S. Ravi Singh, Founder and CEO of Khalsa Aid was presented the ‘International Sensation’ Award in Vancouver in 2017, he accepted it in utmost humility on behalf of the entire Khalsa Aid team, volunteers and supporters.
S. Ravi Singh believes in Gursikh ideology of Sarbat Da Bhala. In his words “We have always put the ideology of welfare for all at the core of everything we do and it’s this principle in Sikhi that drives us. It’s a much needed belief in the world today when we look at the atrocities mankind is carrying out against itself. Just this week our India team is at the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar giving aid to the Rohingya Muslims being killed and driven out of their homeland. But organisations like us exist because there is still a genuine will in people to do well and whenever we are faced with such dark times, I am truly heartened that the support is there in abundance. And that’s what matters – which we are there for each other as human beings and look after one another.”
Since setting up the non-profit aid and relief organisation in 1999, Ravi Singh has helped provide aid to victims of natural disasters, wars and other tragic events. He has travelled to the front-line around the world including Kosovo, Syria, Congo, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, as well as help communities closer to home in the UK during the floods in Somerset and the more recent tragedy at Grenfell Tower, London. So far India is concerned; this chapter is looked after by its director S. Amarpreet Singh. He has played an instrumental role in developing the long-term projects in Punjab (India) as well as coordinating emergency relief after natural disasters in Nepal & within India. He is currently leading the Rohingya Refugees Relief project in Bangladesh where the team have set-up an extraordinary langar service, feeding 20-25,000 refugees. Khalsa Aid’s Founder and CEO said: “Amarpreet has shown exceptional leadership qualities in developing Khalsa Aid in India. He has played a key role in building a network of volunteers across India. I am confident he will do the same in Asia Pacific. I wish him every success.” Khalsa Aid has some long term programs these include “Focus Punjab” where by long term support in Punjab region is planed. There contacts in UK are telephone number 0044(0)1753567457 and email is info@khalsaaid.org. Khalsa Aid office in India is at SCF 8 opposite Eqbal Inn SST Nagar Patiala 147001. There contact number in Patiala is 01755001300.
