Shri Vallabh Nidhi UK (SVNUK) organised a special event at their Wembley Temple Gokaldham Centre on Saturday 14th September 2109.
The event was hosted to explain the upcoming Spring 2020 change in law for Organ Donation, and to encourage the Hindu Community in and around the Wembley area to actively support organ donation. It was supported by the Jain & Hindu Organ Donation (JHOD) Team and NHS Blood and Transplant.
Around 210 attended including many dignitaries and leaders from other local communities, Brent Council, the Gujarati Press, etc.
His Worshipful the Mayor of Brent Cllr. Ernest Ezeajughi, the Leader of the Council Cllr. Mohammed Butt, Cllr. Trupti Sangani and the First Secretary (Trade) of the Indian High Commission Mr Rahul Nangare were amongst those who attended.
Leaders of the Narayan Sewa Sanstha, Maa Krupa Foundation and Bhatia Community also attended.
Narendrabhai Thakrar, Chairman of SVNUK, welcomed everyone and said we should all be proud to actively support this very important project. He thanked Kiritbhai Modi, Chair of JHOD Steering Group for his support of the event, and that he was looking forward to seeing his presentation.
Shivum Kakkad and his mother Jaiminiben also attend. Shivum shared his experience, as his father passed away recently and they donated his organs.
SVNUK honoured both mother and son for their “gifts of life” to others from their sad loss.
A presentation was given by Mr Modi on Organ Donation, and was elaborated mainly in Gujarati to suit the audience.
The change of law from Spring 2020, the donor statistics, the need for more donors and the main concerns of the Hindu Community about organ donation were all addressed.
A short video clip was shown with leaders from various Hindu temples across the UK who supported organ donation and
explained the rationale behind this.
Questions were asked at the start as to how many attendees knew about the change of law, how many had already signed up for organ donation and how many had discussed the subject of organ donation with their families.
The same questions were asked at the end and the results were very gratifying!
The majority understood the new law change; Seventeen people were already registered and Fourteen new people registered on the day. A further 51 people said they would sign up later after discussion.
