Steps 1 to 4: Getting Started

Step 1 - Get hold of a copy of Shanti the Grass-eating Lion. This website's purpose is to give simple instructions on how to set up action clubs and run them well. The book Shanti the Grass-eating Lion introduces the heartfelt inspiration and wisdom to make it all come alive in everyones heart. It's for all adults, young people and children alike, and all profits from the books sale go toward establishing and maintaining orphanages and other child welfare work.

Step 2 - Get others involved.

Take a copy of the information provided on the introduction page (In PDF) (In Microsoft Word) and see if you can find other people who may want to help. It's almost always easier when there is a few of you all working together inspiring and encouraging each other. Besides all people have different talents and abilities to offer. You may find some may not want to become directly involved with helping to run the club but they can help you in other ways, for example, identifying causes for you, helping you find a meeting place (Step 2 below), naming useful people for you to contact and so on.

'An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.'

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Step 3 - Find a comfortable place for the action club to meet regularly.

You need a place large enough for all your action club members to meet. If there are just a few of you meet at someones home, otherwise local community meeting places and centres are best. These can be public halls, scout halls, places of religious gathering, school halls to name but a few. In some hot and dry countries, meeting in a park under a tree may be fine.


Step 4 - Decide what projects you want to start up with.

Click here is a long list of potential projects to suit everyone:

Step 4a - Alternatively, you can select a project to address a particular issue in your community that may not be already listed.

If you or your fellow members have been affected by a particular issue and feel strongly about it; you may want to choose a project that addresses that specific need in your community. The next thing to do would be to focus on a specific area of that problem. For example, child labour is a big problem in many countries. But there are many causes and driving forces behind this. Tackling all of these causes at once would be too much and it would likely lead to failure as the causes may not receive all the individual attention they need. To be really effective and bring success your project would need to sharpen its focus on one particular cause at a time. For example, instead of child labour, you could focus on children having to work long hours in your community and them consequently missing out on education.