SEVA'S PROGRAMS
This year, the Seva Foundation, will celebrate 20 years of service for
people struggling for health, cultural survival and sustainable
communities.

Seva has successfully challenged old models of charity and narrow
political formulas, and moved on to create lasting practical solutions
and spiritual connections in its work.

A small, nonprofit, non-governmental foundation, Seva has built
partnerships in international health in India, Nepal, Tibet,
Guatemala, Mexico and the United States. It is conscious that
whether it is involved in programs to restore sight, promote
sustainable agriculture, helping communities sustain themselves
economically or fight disease it must do so in a way that promotes an
authentic dialogue between profoundly contrasting world views.
Programs are developed in a way that builds self-reliance and are
based on a vision of the connection between spirit, culture and health.

Seva initially focused on the plight of the millions of needlessly blind
in India and Nepal. By making a long-term
commitment to working with local partners,
by organizing professional training in
cataract surgery by hundreds of American
and Canadian ophthalmologists, by helping
create a model of self sustaining eye care
programs, by arranging for the transfer of the
latest technology to support the highest
quality cataract surgery Seva has helped
millions in the developing world have their
sight restored. Its work in India, Nepal and
now Tibet is widely replicated in other parts
of the world.

In response the pervasive human rights violations and suffering in
Guatemala and Chiapas, Seva initiated a refugee protection and
accompaniment program and programs that supported indigenous
culture, sustainable agriculture and micro enterprise. Its work with
Mayans and other Indians in these areas has been matched with over
a decade’s work with Native American communities in the Unites
States.

Seva's most recent Native American project in tackling the epidemic
of diabetes on reservations, combines an interest in the relationship
between spirit, culture, mind, body and health. Its expanded concept of
holistic care has already attracted the attention of several tribes and
groups working on Native American health issues.

Seva has always been interested in the process of service: seva itself
is a sanskrit word meaning service. The organization’s leaders
wrote books about service and compassion in action and have been
invited to lecture extensively on these topics. The organization began
to offer retreats for social and environmental justice activists to help
focus attention on the need for a process of inner renewal; to help
them in sustaining their compassionate action in the world.