On 6th April 2019, Sai Spiritual Education (SSE) children from the Sathya Sai Center of Central San Jose in San Jose, California Center invited the families of the Morgan Hill Community to “Sai Chat”, a human-values carnival at the Willow Glen Community Center, San Jose. The carnival, planned over 6 months, was designed as an enrichment programme to share the joy of practicing human values with a larger community in a fun-filled learning environment. About 150 people attended the event.

The event kicked off with a 12-minute movie created by the Group 3 SSE children titled “The Magic of Plant Confidence”. The movie highlighted how inspiring figures such as Lebron James, Lionel Messi, J.K. Rowling and Francisco Jimenez overcame great odds to achieve success through self-confidence, courage, a spirit of sacrifice and an attitude of perseverance and positive thinking.

There were booths for card-making, bead stringing and fabric painting as well as booths for fun and games. Each activity at the carnival was designed to help experience human values embedded in these activities in a fun way. A book drive initiated by the Sai nursery children reinforced the value of self-sacrifice. In total, the children collected more than 90 books to gift to the Morgan Hill community. The carnival was also designed as a “zero waste” event wherein the children made decorations with recycled material. Food was served in eco-friendly material.

A couple of the mothers from the Morgan Hill community shared, “Before we came to this programme, we were not sure how it would be, but we felt very welcomed. The values you shared, and the friendliness of the people made us feel very comfortable and part of this celebration.”