She visits India quite often to learn about the country’s culture and history. But it was her trip in 2016 that changed Heather’s perception about Mahatma Gandhi. She was stuck in Rajkot, Gujarat, for a couple of days with her daughter Radiance Cumming. “I knew who Mahatma Gandhi was. But I didn’t know about his teachings and principles. During my stay in Rajkot, I decided to learn Gandhian philosophies and ideologies. My daughter and I toured in and around Gujarat. We visited Gandhi ashram in Porbandar and got to know about the great leader the country has ever produced,” Heather starts the conversation. 

Heather, who has been running a charity service organisation, Simwatachela Sustainable Agricultural and Arts Program (SSAAP), in Africa, is currently in the city to work with the Gandhian Peace Foundation. In a candid chat with DT Next, the social worker talks about her idea of Gandhi and how Gandhian principles are still relevant in today’s world. 

"Gandhi doesn’t belong to an era; he is an infinity. He said that his ideas are not new — ‘I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.’ 

I think it is important to recognise that Gandhi was not an intellectual by any means. Intellectualism and intellectualising life is like finding the easy way out of being alive. It keeps the heart as distant as possible, protecting one from feeling too much and going deeper within. Gandhi was against this. He was a man of the hands, the heart, and finally, the head. He believed in inner truth and self-realisation, with the insight that if one works with his hands and heart first, then what will emerge from the mind will be more potently profound than the limited intellect. What comes from the mind will then be wisdom.” 

After getting to know about the revolutionary leader, Heather took a four-month course at Gujarat Vidyapith in Gandhian non-violence. “I wanted not only to spread Gandhi’s words through the world but specifically to Africa, where concepts of non-violence are very much needed,” she explains.

During her stay in India, she noticed that Gandhian studies focus only on the academic/intellectual sphere, giving no regard to children and their potential in practising Gandhian non-violence. 

“I was looking for a book about Gandhi for my daughter Radiance Gaia Amara Cumming. But I realised that there aren’t any child-oriented education materials. And that’s when I got in touch with Dr. S. Kulandaisamy, who wrote the publication: Gandhian Way to Peace. It is one of the only child oriented educational materials I had discovered in my quest of making Gandhi not only for adults but also for children,” she explains. Heather also believes that in this age, Gandhi’s principles are more relevant and every child should be taught about them. 

“In India, children are taught about spirituality and religion from a very young age. Though India is the birthplace of Gandhi, there are no teachings about the great leader. It should be a part of their upbringing and shouldn’t be something that they learn while at college,” quips Heather. 

“I want to start Gandhian educational programs and Gandhian libraries in Africa (Sierra Leone, Zambia and Ethiopia). I wish to give Africans a new idea about leading a better life. Sustainable love is the spirit of the work we do in Africa and the mission of our projects there. Africa is our life and everything we do everywhere else in the world always leads us back to Africa,” she mentions. 

What she has found during her stay in Africa is that the locals are very strong and intelligent. “They are perfect satyagrahis and can start a movement that will lead to a great political change. And most importantly, they can do it nonviolently. But what they are lacking is information. And my mission is to guide and support them,” sums up the activist.