For Many, a Day at the Beach Is Also an Awakening to Compassionate Living

By Lome News group (Originally in French)

On Sunday, April 16, Golden Year 3 (2006), the brothers and sisters of Lome Center organized a day of sharing the message of Alternative Living on Lome Beach. The beach is a place where people come to enjoy themselves every Sunday. On this Easter Sunday, many families and youngsters gathered for picnics, so it was a good opportunity to share Master’s teachings. We planned to distribute Alternative Living flyers and News magazines, and also to share vegetarian foods prepared by fellow initiates.

In preparation for this activity, interviews were arranged with two local radio stations. To reach the greatest number of people, one interview was conducted on a station that broadcasts in Ewe, which is the local language and one was in French.

After Sunday group meditation, we divided into two groups, one for preparing the vegetarian dishes we planned to offer, and one to clean and arrange the beach area of the venue. Also, more than 300 Master’s News magazines and 5000 Alternative living flyers were prepared for the occasion.

We began the activity on the Sunday afternoon, with three different booths: one for information on Master’s teachings, where we would offer handouts as well as News magazines and Alternative Living flyers; another for entertainment, with microphones and loudspeakers to “season” the event with Master’s and local music; and a food stand for sharing the vegetarian food. The kitchen team had prepared more than 10 dishes, substituting vegetarian ingredients in local meat-based recipes, in order to “join the act to the speech” and to show to people that it is easy to change one’s way of living.

When we arrived, a group of brothers and sisters went to all parts of the beach to share the good news of Alternative Living and to invite people on the beach to visit our booths. After we introduced the Association and Master’s teachings, people were invited to make a line to receive copies of the News magazines, Alternative Living flyers and the vegetarian dishes. With Master’s grace and blessings, discipline was kept all through the sharing. Many people enjoyed the vegetarian dishes. They expressed surprise that their taste and flavor was so similar to non-vegetarian dishes and that they were even more delicious. According to the customs of the country, a “real” meal would not be without meat; that’s why vegetarianism is an obstacle for many people. But many people saw that the vegetarian dishes offered to them proved the contrary, and they were all amazed. Most promised to try to prepare a vegetarian dish at home.

One teacher had come to the beach that day to read a book on vegetarianism that he had borrowed from one of his friends. He was researching about the virtues of vegetarianism to help another friend who was sick. He told us that his wife had been vegetarian for a long time and always invited him to do the same. But he was thinking it was nonsense until the day when fate led him to reading that very book when he saw Master’s News magazine in a child’s hands on the beach. After he came to our booth he was happy as a child himself when he received the information and sampled the vegetarian dishes. Later he came back to ask for more Alternative Living flyers to share with his fellow teachers.

Many people came to the beach with their own dishes but eagerly accepted the vegetarian dishes offered to them, saying that they were really delicious indeed. Some of them returned to our food booth as many as three times because they found the food so tasty and wished to take some for their relatives who stayed at home.

After eating the vegetarian food and reading the News magazines, some people went to the information booth to learn more about Master’s teachings. Toward the end of the event, everything was collected and properly disposed, to keep the beach beautiful and clean as Master has taught us so well. The next day, a group of initiates went to the beach again to put it in order by sweeping our venue and its surroundings.

Inspired by the success of this activity, the Lome Center organized similar distributions on all the famous beaches of Lome and its suburbs. Thus, five distribution groups were formed for five different beaches, with 1000 flyers for each group. Distributions were made on April 27, Independence Day in Togo; on April 30, the day before Labour Day; and on May 1, Labour Day. Guided by Master’s inspiration and grace, we were very happy and satisfied to encounter a large number of Togolese people who had come to enjoy themselves on the crowded beaches.

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