Community Outreach
Embracing the World wants to see a world where no one slips through the cracks into invisible poverty and despair, and where everyone has a chance to see their dreams come true. With that in mind, our Community Outreach project is actually many projects with a single goal: creating concrete, practical differences in the lives of those who are struggling - for those who could pull themselves up out of destitution, if only someone would extend their hand.
Financial Aid for Widows and Victims of Poverty and Disability
In India, when the primary earner in a family dies or is severely injured, the family often goes hungry. Since 1998, Embracing the World has provided monthly pensions for 50,000 widows and other victims of poverty. In 2006, the project was expanded to benefit the physically and mentally challenged.
Ultimately, Embracing the World will provide monthly pensions for 100,000 impoverished men, women and children who are struggling to make ends meet. Recognizing that disability and/or the loss of a family member can consign those in the developing world to a lifetime of hardship, our pensions have no expiration date - they are given for life.
Care Homes for the Elderly
Elders have always been afforded a special place in Indian culture, and traditionally were well looked after and cared for in every way by their children and other relatives. But times are changing, and in the context of the rapidly disappearing ancient traditions, the pain of India's isolated elderly population is particularly acute. Embracing the World runs four care homes for the elderly in South India, providing a tranquil, supportive atmosphere for elderly persons who have no one else to look after them. The care homes have a family atmosphere, and the residents are encouraged to take an active part in daily activities. Each care home also has a community hall where the residents come together with members of the surrounding community for social and cultural events.
Sponsored Weddings for the Poor
Marriage is inherent to India's culture and essential for the stability of the entire family and community. For decades, Embracing the World has sponsored the weddings of impoverished couples. Each year, during Amma's birthday celebrations, she conducts weddings for the poor. For these ceremonies, Embracing the World provides all the items necessary for a traditional wedding, including the bride's wedding sari and gold ornaments. After the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Embracing the World conducted free weddings for hundreds of poor couples whom the disaster had deprived of the means to afford a traditional wedding.
Hospital Visits and Meals on Wheels
Embracing the World volunteers throughout the world visit hospitals, nursing homes and the elderly and infirm in their own homes. Volunteers also write letters of support to those battling serious illness.
Circle of Love Inside - Prisoner Outreach
In the United States, Embracing the World runs a program called "Circle of Love Inside," through which volunteers from around the world write letters of hope and solace to people serving prison sentences in the US. Books of Amma's teachings are sent free of charge to inmates and prison libraries. Many of the letter recipients have received no mail or visitors for years at a time. They often say their contact with Embracing the World volunteers helps to restore their faith in their own goodness - they receive proof that someone might still accept and love them, regardless of their past. This faith gives them hope for the future and the strength to persevere in their efforts to better themselves.
Upon request, prisoners are taught Amma's simple Ma-Om Meditation by mail. Embracing the World volunteers have also begun teaching Amma's IAM - Integrated Amrita Meditation Technique® - in youth and adult correctional facilities.
Service-oriented Youth Groups
In 2001, Embracing the World launched AYUDH, a global youth movement empowering young people to integrate universal values into their daily lives. AYUDH means peace in Sanskrit and is an acronym for a Sanskrit phrase meaning "youth perpetuating the wheel of dharma (righteousness)." AYUDH members aim to help establish a future of hope, peace and social engagement - starting with themselves.
Currently active in India, Africa, Europe, America, Australia and Japan, AYUDH's service projects and green initiatives include caring for the elderly, homeless and disabled; tree planting and organic gardens and seed banks, cleanups of highways, forested areas and slums. AYUDH is a member of the European Union's Youth in Action program. In India, Embracing the World youth groups formed ATMA: one of the largest anti-tobacco awareness initiatives in South Asia.
Free Meditation Courses For Soldiers, Prisoners, and the General Public
IAM-Integrated Amrita Meditation Technique® is a powerful meditation technique synthesised by Amma to help people find fulfillment in life. The technique refines one's mind - bringing relaxation, concentration, a more expansive sense of self and greater awareness.
Embracing the World volunteers teach the technique free of charge in all parts of the world, not only to individuals but also to corporations and correctional institutions. At the request of the Government of India, Embracing the World is undertaking the massive project of teaching the meditation technique to India's 1.3 million paramilitary personnel. As of 2008, classes have been given to the Border Security Force (next to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tibet, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar), the Central Industrial Security Force, Sahasra Seema Bal, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Classes have also been taught to soldiers of the Indian Army and Navy.