A century8217;s watch on health

Started under the Seventh Day Adventist, the work began in 1896 under the name International Tract Society8217;. This society began by issuing a number of tracts in the international series. Two years later, it began publishing a magazine titled The Oriental Watchman as Asian countries fall under the Eastern or Asiatic World and Watchman, as the name suggests, is keeping a watch on the work of which the printing was done by commercial printers in Calcutta.

In 1903, the Watchman press was founded and was housed at the mission8217;s office in Calcutta and in the month of July it turned out its first issue of The Oriental Watchman. In 1905, the press was moved to Karmatar, Bihar and remained there until 1909 when it was transferred to Lucknow. The growth of church membership and the consequent increase in the need for publication made a larger press building necessary.

The International Tract Society was changed to the Seventh Day Adventist Publishing House8217; in the year 1919. In 1924 the publishing house was moved to its present location at Salisbury Park, Pune and it was renamed as the Oriental Watchman Publishing Association8217;. Six years later, in July 1930 the house was renamed as Oriental Watchman Publishing House8217; and it continues to serve the SDA Church under that name in Southern Asia.

The house prints in many languages which includes Assamese, Bengali, English, Garo, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Khasi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Naga, to name a few.

The OWPH is an international organisation with diversified interest in the fields of medicine, management, education, social and welfare schemes, women8217;s ministry, satellite connection, radio network and publishing ministry. The total membership comes to 9,47,9780.

The OWPH is recognised by the United Nations and there are around 204 countries and areas recognised under this. It operates in 5,478 schools, 87 colleges and universities.

8220;We have health ministries including 161 hospitals and sanitoriums, 313 clinics and dispensaries, nursing homes and 55 publishing houses printing in 238 languages,8221; informs Edison Samraj, chief editor of the publishing house. He continues, 8220;The Seventh Day Adventists mission is a movement that began in 1840 and the distinctive message may be summarised as follows 8211; That the good news of the gospel through faith in Christ, it is a call to worship the creator and an appeal to have faith in the Lord Jesus8217;.

The OWPH has a number of institutions under its wing like 300 schools and 12 hospitals which are involved in social service activities in major cities and also in rural areas.

The three-day centenary celebrations which were held from November 18 to November 22 saw a lot of participation from the people at the institution. They started with a peace march, the theme being Reverence for all life8217;, from Shaniwarwada and ended on the Salisbury estate. They had several releases of magazines, souvenirs, value education. Workers of this publishing house were felicitated by several dignitaries. Discussions and demonstrations by eminent dieticians and food processing personnel marked the third day celebrations.

As Edison Samraj elaborates on the various achievements, 8220;We have done the good work for a hundred years in creating an awareness among the people of India and have come up with very good publications. The recent addition of new machines will sharpen our commitment and enlarge our services. With the speedy import of machinery we have been able to render better services8221;.

With this kind of of steely determination and a century of good work to fall back on they can look forward to many more.