Be the Change………

MACCS Befriending Companions - Amma’s listening ear

By Mark Nuttall

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others — Mahatma Gandhi

Mark Nuttall shares some memories about Amma UK, introduces the MA Centre Befriending Companions — our newest and most ambitious seva project — and sends out a clarion call for new volunteers

Do you remember seeing Amma for the first time? In the same way as thousands of other people, in that first darshan, I was entranced by her presence, her eyes, her hug and the cool sandalwood paste that was pressed into my forehead along with a fair amount of welcoming shakti. My mind can still recall with absolute clarity this momentous event, although it actually happened as long as thirty years ago in a small Hindu community centre near Archway in London. I can also reflect that having reminded myself of the various events that have occurred since then, I find myself unable to discern which were due to my own doing, or happened because of Amma’s intention, or were merely the impersonal working out of karma!

Being smitten by Amma, I soon got involved helping out with the preparations for Amma’s annual visit. In the early nineties, there were a small team of dedicated people helping out. It brings a warm feeling to my heart to think how many of those devotees remain to this day and have had children who grew up knowing Amma from the time they were born.

Amma would come to the UK travelling with her group from India (flying to Europe straight after the North American tour) which was maybe composed of some fifteen people, mostly renunciates (now Swamis and Swaminis). They were supplemented by the European based tour group of no more than seven people, who would all cram together in one vehicle and then drive over for Amma’s visit. To give that some context, last year there were something like 400 people on the official European tour group that came to London!

In the UK, we have seen our group evolve and various opportunities for service develop e.g. the Oxford Homeless Project and GreenFriends. As such, the Befriending Companions is our newest, and certainly our most ambitious, a form of community voluntary service, or spiritual seva. This service arose as a response to Amma’s call, earlier this year, for people to provide assistance to those persons suffering from the stress and social isolation caused by the Covid 19 lockdown. Much planning, thinking and organising went into setting up the Befriending Companions which was collectively conceived with the intention of being a long term seva that would continue beyond lockdown and indeed beyond the point COVID-19 is dealt with as a threat to our health.

The purpose of the Befriending Service is to offer free telephone companionship to those who are lonely and isolated. How it works is that when someone calls into our service, they will be assigned an individual responder volunteer (befriender) for supportive friendly conversations. We provide basic training for our befrienders to prepare them for their role. You do not need to be either a counsellor or a life coach in order to join our team and become a befriender — although if you are one, you would be most welcome!

Backing up the frontline befrienders we have, behind the scenes as it were, a small team of supervisors to give our befrienders support, advice and encouragement. Although we can always do with more trainee befrienders, at the moment we find ourselves especially in need of more support supervisors. To become a member of this backup team we require people who are qualified in some therapeutic capacity — whether that be as therapists, social workers, doctors or any other helping profession. This is in order that our support supervisors are experienced enough to give appropriate guidance for our befriender team when they need it, for the benefit of the befriendee.

This is such a worthwhile project, as it reaches out to benefit the wider community. So, if you are looking for an opportunity for voluntary service that really makes a difference do please contact us accordingly! You do not have to believe in God or follow Amma, to serve, all that is required is open-heartedness and willingness to give a little of your time to this worthy cause.

If you are interested in volunteering for the MACCS Befriending Companions please contact Vargini at support@macentre.org.uk