Event held on : Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Second Annual General Body meeting of the Mangalore Cultural Association Doha Qatar was held at the Doha Grand Hotel on the 13th May 2010 at 7.30 pm. The meeting started with the MCA Anthem. The cultural secretary Arthur Pais who conducted the program gave a brief introduction about the incredible task done by this association in just two year’s time. In three major events organized by the Association in the last 2 years ever since the birth of this Association, a large number of poor families and orphan people have benefited out of it. He also emphasized in his introductory note that the Association has always given importance to our Mother Tongue Konkani making it a point to use Konkani in all of its programs to a great extent. President Harry Lobo welcomed all members present and thanked them for their continuous support towards the association. He specially mentioned the role of the advisory committee members in the upbringing of MCA, their selfless efforts and thoughtfulness towards the poorest of the poor of our society even though they are fully occupied in their professional fields. While welcoming all the guests and members present he thanked each and every member for their constant support in all the projects of the Association. He requested to continue this same support towards the future projects.
The Annual Report for the past year was read by the General Secretary Benjamin Rebeiro. This mainly highlighted the financial support given to various orphanages, sick and the needy and the poor children for their education along and also the programs conducted by MCA in the year 2009-2010. Aid was sent to the 923 Children from 18 Orphanages from the diocese of Mangalore, 6 Families were supported for their medical requirements, 4 students were helped in their higher studies and 10 children in their Basic studies. A Mangalorean Konkani Drama was put up for the first time in Qatar which involved 13 artists who came from Mumbai/Mangalore it was staged on 15th may 2009 at the Doha Cinema with an audience of 800 plus. This comedy play “MATARO SORBELA” written and directed by Francis Fernandes Cascia was a treat to all Konkani people in Qatar. This also helped the association to fulfill their objective in helping the needy. The Vocal Voice workshop conducted by Mr. Jossy Moras from Dubai was held twice in the span of 1 year which helped the upcoming singers to give a better performance in their future presentations on stage. Many other celebrations like Monthi Fest/ Xmas & New Year were also celebrated. Benjamin also announced that this year the main event will be the Semi Finals of Gulf Voice of Mangalore to be held on the 1st of October 2010.
The finance report was read by the treasurer Clement Saldanha..
Advisory committee members starting from Mr. Joachim D’Souza addressed the members; He said that he was happy to be associated with MCA and will try his best to support the good cause. Then it was Mr. Wilfred Fernandes who spoke to the gathering in his usual dramatic style and said that the good work done by MCA has been recognized by most of the religious personalities back home which he witnessed while he was in Mangalore this vacation.
Felix Lobo spoke in detail about the main Aim & Objective of the Association and requested the members to keep up to it.. As our main Aim is to help the poorest of the poor we will not deviate from this point any time. He urged the gathering to continue their support for this good cause and also to bring in more members who are willing to be a part of this mission.
Election for the post of President and Vice President was held. Mr. Harry Lobo was Yet again unanimously reelected as the President and Mr. Jason Quadros was elected as the Vice President for the year 2010-2012. The rest of the Executive and support committee members selected are as follows:
Benjamin Rebeiro Secretary
Peter Rasquinha Joint Secretary
Clement Saldanha Treasurer
Arthur Pais Cultural Secretary
Wilson Mendonca Sports Secretary
Veena Rebimbus Pais Public Relations / Media
Alex Lobo Volunteers Coordinator
Susan Rodrigues Event Coordinator
Dorothy Quadros Membership Coordinator
Support Committee
Austin Rodrigues, Wilma D’Souza, John Pinto, Alwyn Victor D’Souza, Gilbert Lobo, Aloysius D’Souza, Sangeetha Braggs and Anil Cutinha.
Games were conducted by Mrs. Wilma D’Souza and Susan Rodrigues and prizes distributed to the winners by Mrs. Mable Fernandes and Stephany Lobo. With a grateful heart Wilson Mendonca, outgoing Vice President thanked each and everyone for making the Annual general body meeting a grand success.
Dinner was served. A total of 125 members were present on this occasion.
At this point Mangalore Cultural Association reminds all the singers and music lovers in Qatar that the Auditions for the forthcoming Gulf Voice of Mangalore will be held on the 11th of June 2010 at Indian Cultural Center at 4.30 pm. The application forms are available online in www.mcaqatar.org . The last date to receive entries will be 01 June 2010. Any queries please write to mcaqatar@gmail.com
