Meeting the Mentors: Jayesh Bhai Patel

I want to start sharing with a little story about Jayesh Bhai.

Like any other household, at Jayesh bhai's home, when guests would come over they would serve them tea. But at some point, they asked why should that be limited to just their friends and acquaintances? So one day Jayesh bhai goes out into a busy public area, asking passers-by, "Would you like to come to our home and have tea?" And like that Jayesh bhai began having tea with strangers in his home. One of those strangers was a vegetable seller, who was carrying a huge heavy parcel of vegetables on her head. As they had tea, Jayesh bhai learned that she was very poor and had to walk miles with that parcel every morning to sell her vegetables to be able to earn for her children. Because she was on foot, she would have to leave her home at 4am to get to the market on time. Jayesh bhai asked if she would benefit from having a wooden cart to transport her vegetables, and she said of course. So Jayesh bhai gets one for her. A few months later she comes back to tell him how much the cart has made a difference for her, how much time and effort she saves and how grateful she is. And to top it all off she hands Jayesh bhai Rs.800 to pay him back for the cart! Jayesh bhai is moved by this, but instead of keeping it he asks the woman to bring back someone else she knows who would benefit from having a cart, so they could pay forward. The woman brings back a friend, who then brings a friend of hers, and so on until eventually, they had funded 59 carts! And all of it started from a simple but radical cup of tea. It's a reminder that even a seemingly small act of kindness can lead to powerful ripple effects that we cannot predict.” 

Jayesh Bhai in Safai Vidyalaya

One of the co-founders of Manav Sadhna, an NGO based out of the Gandhi Ashram, Jayeshbhai was deeply influenced and inspired by his father, Ishwar Patel. He was known as “Mr. Sanitation” in India, had built 200,000 toilets, started 118 organizations including the Environmental Sanitation Institute. Many would agree that Manav Sadhna is not your typical NGO. More like an incubator of compassion and love with a results-oriented framework for changing the world and left with a greater commitment to changing themselves. It started with Jayesh bhai, his wife, Anar Patel, and their noble friend, Viren Joshi. They would go out to the street or a slum area and meet with kids. Whether they were playing with them, cleaning them, cutting their nails, or feeding them nutritional snacks. Today Manav Sadhna serves more than 8000 children and women through more than 35 projects that have organically emerged based on the needs and participation of the community.

While Jayesh Bhai believes in the beauty of small acts and power of relationships. He elaborates that in order to develop meaningful relationships, we must focus on understanding people instead of trying to change them. As soon as we do that, we will deepen our understanding of who we are and what our relationship with them means. Slowly, we will see that we are all interconnected, our journeys are intertwined. He lives and breathes compassion and love, such is his presence. In this opportunity to meet Jayesh bhai, don’t ever try to praise him. Because he will throw away all the praise, and keep only your love :).

Here is an incredibly short video that truly captures his spirit.