1 Report of FMA-NDF 8 th Annual meet 2011 Date 11–15 November, 2011 Venue : Mornese, Yercaud, Chennai. Host : Chennai Province Organizer : NDF Resource person : Fr. Joe Xavier, S J Participants : 37 ( Sisters & Lay staff) from six provinces FMA-NDF Annual Meet is the coming together of FMAs engaged in Development sector in South Asia. It is always a joyous occasion where there are lots of sharing and learning takes place. This year the FMA-NDF 8 th Annual Meet 2011 was held at Mornese, Yercaud, Tamilnadu from 11 to 15 November 2011. The FMAs of South Asian provinces and their lay staff, all together 37 members, participated in it. The participants were given a warm welcome with garland and sandal paste. The inaugural prayer led by Sr. Azarias Arokia Mary Selvi and her team made everyone feel at home and enter into the event joyously. Each participant was given an Ahal (lamp) and asked to light it from the main Kuthuvilakku (Lamp) and to place it around the colourful iconogram symbolizing the whole universe and the children of God. Children of Tiruppur Marialaya staged a wonderful prayer dance and also offered cultural extravaganza. The joyous multi-coloured dances depicting the cultural ethos of different states of India were vibrant reminding each one of us of the different religious and cultural communities among whom the apostolic mission is carried out by the FMAs today. Sr. Mary Dora, NDFC welcomed the gathering and said that Annual meet is an occasion in which we, the FMAs working in the social development sector come together to share our best practices, successes, failures and challenges so that we learn from one another and grow as one body of FMA South Asia. Sr. Alphonsa Yettukuri, the Vice Provincial, INM gave the inaugural address and conveyed to the participants the blessings of Sr. Magnificat, the Provincial of INM. She kindled the hearts of the participants with her words “ We have an energy that comes from God to reach development to the vulnerable people and liberate them”. The keynote address by Mr. Ganesh Raj from IL&FS highlighted the various possibilities where FMAs can network with and give training for the underprivileged. Ms. Maithe` Beels on behalf
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Report of FMA-NDF 8th Annual meet 2011
Date 11–15 November, 2011
Venue : Mornese, Yercaud, Chennai.
Host : Chennai Province
Organizer : NDF
Resource person : Fr. Joe Xavier, S J
Participants : 37 ( Sisters & Lay staff) from six provinces
FMA-NDF Annual Meet is the coming together of FMAs engaged in Development sector
in South Asia. It is always a joyous occasion where there are lots of sharing and learning takes
place. This year the FMA-NDF 8th Annual Meet 2011 was held at Mornese, Yercaud, Tamilnadu
from 11 to 15 November 2011. The FMAs of South Asian provinces and their lay staff, all
together 37 members, participated in it. The participants were given a warm welcome with
garland and sandal paste. The inaugural prayer led by Sr. Azarias Arokia Mary Selvi and her
team made everyone feel at home and enter into the event joyously. Each participant was
given an Ahal (lamp) and asked to light it from the main Kuthuvilakku (Lamp) and to place it
around the colourful iconogram symbolizing the whole universe and the children of God.
Children of Tiruppur Marialaya staged a wonderful prayer dance and also offered cultural
extravaganza. The joyous multi-coloured dances depicting the cultural ethos of different states
of India were vibrant reminding each one of us of the different religious and cultural
communities among whom the apostolic mission is carried out by the FMAs today.
Sr. Mary Dora, NDFC welcomed the gathering and said that Annual meet is an occasion
in which we, the FMAs working in the social development sector come together to share our
best practices, successes, failures and challenges so that we learn from one another and grow
as one body of FMA South Asia. Sr. Alphonsa Yettukuri, the Vice Provincial, INM gave the
inaugural address and conveyed to the participants the blessings of Sr. Magnificat, the
Provincial of INM. She kindled the hearts of the participants with her words “We have an energy
that comes from God to reach development to the vulnerable people and liberate them”. The
keynote address by Mr. Ganesh Raj from IL&FS highlighted the various possibilities where
FMAs can network with and give training for the underprivileged. Ms. Maithe` Beels on behalf
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of VIA DON BOSCO appreciated the sisters and encouraged FMAs to work together for greater
achievements.
After the inauguration, Fr. Joe Xavier, the NDF consultant explained the purpose and
dynamics of the Annual Meet. He said that FMA-NDF is gaining ground among the people and
in the congregation and in the recent years there is palpable growth in the development
sector, organizationally and programmatically. He highlighted the role of the SDCs in the
development process of the Provinces and insisted that together FMAs can make the
difference. He also commented that annual meet is not a workshop or seminar or conference.
It is a coming together to share and learn from one another and so each person is a resource
person in this annual meet. He continued to explain the purpose of the meet as follows:
To Share with one another the best practices, lessons learnt, struggles and pains
undergone and the joy of working in social ministry.
To identify the challenges faced individually and collectively in the context of emerging
developmental issues, problems and approaches.
To discuss current developmental issues, emerging concepts in development
discourses, new development approaches and strategies.
To celebrate successes and achievements and the recognition and the awards received
for our services.
To plan for the future based on previous experiences, challenges and current
development discourses.
In the following session Sr. Anna T, SDC Bangalore and Sr. Annie, SDC, Guwahati
Province presented their Annual reports and the session was chaired by Sr. Juliana Rosario of
Kolkata province. The participants highly appreciated Bangalore and Guwahati teams for their
well prepared report as per the format. Soon after the session, the assembly congratulated Sr.
Anna. T for having received two awards namely “Excellence Award for National Social
Activity” from Global Achievers Foundation, Delhi, and “INDIA GOLD STAR-2010 for individual
contribution for social economic growth” from Intellectual People and Economic Growth
Association, Delhi. Sr. Alphonsa, the vice Provincial, INM honored her with a shawl. And Ms.
Maithe and Fr. Joe, SDCs and the all the participants congratulated her with flowers. The post
lunch session was chaired by Sr. Agnes Fernandez from Bangalore Province where Mumbai,
Shillong, Kolkata and Chennai SDCs presented their annual reports. The annual reports of the
SDCs were comprehensive as per the new format and brought out the one year hard labour of
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the SDCs and their teams. The annual report covered not only of Master Plan 2011 activities
but the whole gamut of works done by the SDOs at different levels. All the SDCs and their
teams were appreciated by participants for their hard work throughout the year.
Highlights and observations
Struggles and difficulties were taken as challenges.
Sharing of success stories added impact on the presentation.
Widening of networks enhanced skill development programmes.
Collaboration of the laity was highly appreciated
Accessing Government funds is praiseworthy
It was indeed a great moment for everyone to see the second issue of “FMA-NDF Voices”
on the theme “Reaching education to drop-outs and non literates” being released by Sr.
Alphonsa, the Vice Provincial, INM province. She appreciated Sr. Mary Dora and her team for
their achievements in short duration. This was followed yet another historical event, namely
the launching of FMA-NDF website www.fmandf.org. Ms. Maithé Beels, the representative of
VIA DON BOSCO launched the website. Mr. Andrew Michael, the NDF programme coordinator
briefly explained to the floor on how to access the website. Fr. Joe Xavier pointed out that the
SDCs are responsible to update their pages and make it reader friendly.
Feedback by Fr. Joe Xavier
• Inaugural function was creative, meaningful and provided a good start.
• The maiden initiative in bringing a resource person from a corporate sector in line with
our works served our purpose.
• He appreciated the hard work put up by the sisters of Chennai province and the
planning done by NDFO and expressed that the inaugural function created positive
vibrations among the participants.
• A lot of hard work was involved in preparing the annual report and all the SDCs
adhered to new reporting format. The reports were of high quality, easy to follow and
systematic covering all areas. He also pointed out that how while adhering to the
format one could be creative as done by Shillong Province.
• Each province has got its own way of reaching out to people with contextualised
strategies. Overall, growth of the sector is conspicuous and visible though levels are