Calling for abstracts
THE Durban Hindu Temple is encouraging organisations to be part of its first youth conference, A Celebration Towards 120 Years of Positivity in 2018, by submitting abstracts before April 20.
The conference, which will be hosted at the temple in Somtseu Road, is being coordinated in conjunction with the South African Hindu Maha Sabha and the Shree Sanathan Dharma Sabha of South Africa.
It is scheduled to take place on June 23.
The theme is Taking the Legacy Forward: Past, Present, Future and will jointly celebrate Nelson Mandela’s centenary birth anniversary and promoting the Hindu language and culture.
■ Category 1: Understanding Scripture open to those between 10 to 15 years. You would need to select a chapter, verse or Shloka from any scripture you are familiar with and discuss your understanding of it.
■ Category 2: My Favourite Deity (ages 16 to 21). Select your favourite deity and discuss why you chose him or her and how you would use the teachings from this deity to improve the future
of SA.
■ Category 3: My life in stages: Past, Present, Future (ages 22 to 30).
Past: Reflect on your forefathers (related or not) and find out what they did to improve themselves through Hinduism. For example: built a temple, started a seva project, taught a Hindu language, conducted discourse and engaged in cultural activities for the young.
Present: Reflect on whether you are proud of their achievements and if, in any way, you have taken the initiative to follow in their footsteps.
Future: Fast forward to the future and imagine yourself in a scenario discussed above. Do you see yourself either continuing on their path or would you define a better way to improve your role in the Hindu community?
■ Category 4: Innovation (ages 31 to 35). Do you have any innovative ideas to change the tide as it is at present, for example, reduce the need for converting and maintain the Hindu legacy going forward?
■ Category 5: Hinduism and the relevance of the Mandela legacy (open category)
The selection of papers for paper presentations will be based on abstracts of not more than 500 words. The abstracts must include the name of author, institution and email address and must be submitted online to durbanhindutemple@telkomsa.net or jyothikapersadh@gmail.com by April 20.
Abstracts must include a clear but brief indication of the purpose of the paper. It should provide a concise indication of what the audience can expect from the paper presented.
The author should indicate the topic theme together with the age group (listed above) under which the abstract is to be included. A panel will review the abstracts from April 22 to 26.
Documentation which meets the review criteria will then be selected and notification of the outcome of the abstract submissions will be made between April 30 and May 2.
Each abstract will be reviewed for acceptance against the following criteria: Relevance to the theme in broad terms, clarity and coherence, supporting evidence and findings and comprehensive and suitable methods. After the abstracts have been reviewed and selected, a programme will be circulated.
Pre-registration is essential for all participants and guests.