Have fun, get educated and pay respect to our Republic...
Last 10th March 2010 was a special Toastmasters meeting, coinciding with our 42nd Anniversary of our Independence and 18th Anniversary of our Republic, Toastmaster of the Evening Ricardo Freyneau cruised us through the evening with some special items added to our agenda to reflect on this special event, such as the “Toast to the Republic” and our very own “National Anthem”.
Toastmaster Daniel Chan Chong introduced “empowerment” as the word of the day; just the right word to recall how
We also had 3 prepared speeches that evening, that of Patrick Ah-Vane (now a proud Competent Communicator!!), a level 10 speech entitled “Let’s save our planet”; followed by a speciality speech by Toastmaster Anna Hausser, which is a reading-out loud project entitled “The Telephone Call” and a Level 2 speech by Toastmaster Bipin Gooriah on a very debatable topic at the moment “Talk of the nation, death penalty”. One simple word to summarise it all: Fabulous…
Unlike our normal toasts in normal meetings, this time we had a Toast to the Republic, with a short sharing on the main Mauritian history events by Toastmaster Padmini Lareine, and Toastmaster Dario Adolphe for the toast. This was then followed by our National Anthem.
We also had cake to commemorate
A night to remember, not only for our guests, but for our regular toastmasters. Long Live the
How do our comrades from elsewhere react to the Mauritian experience?
To me Mauritius wears its independence like a warm, comfortable sweater that fits perfectly. Well done, Mauritius!
Pami Kular from UK:
The Mauritian experience is constantly a laugh and a cry... as I continue to discover its distinct nuances. I find the people very industrious on the one hand -with limited natural resources you all have made this country a success in various industries; yet the island-style mentality cannot escape the way we do things around here. In fact I was hoping for a bit more of the laid-back approach but its becoming as much of a challenge to know your neighbours in MRU as in Europe. Nonetheless I enjoy the ease with which one has easy access to a lot of activities from hiking, swimming, yoga down the road, 5 star dream weekend in the fantastic hotels, etc without the driving (we are catching up though) and parking stresses we face for the shortest trip in the UK. All in all it’s a great place because of the people that inhabit this jewel of an island.
Anna Hausser from Spain:
I came here eight years ago as an expatriate and two years ago I became a proud Mauritian citizen. Mauritius is a beautiful confetti, a world in miniature and small is beautiful. I love Mauritius!
Sylvie Moonsamy from France:
It’s been 20 years since I’ve been living in Mauritius. So I am a Mauritian and I react as one! But when I hear the first impressions of newcomers here, I realise that my initial reaction had been the same as theirs. I was confronted to a completely different work culture but over the years, I’ve developed a very zen approach towards the way of doing things here and have completely adjusted to the island’s way of life.
" History turning a blind eye bore him not witness History standing mute told not his full story He who had watered this land with his sweat And turned stone into green fields of gold The First Immigrant He, son of this land He was mine, he was yours, he was our very own "
This poem was written by Abhimanyu Unnuth and it reminds us that we, Mauritians, are descendants of people who came from far away lands... many of us came from places with names which have been lost in history and, let alone a face, not even a name can be assigned to these ancestors...
- Posted by: Ouma and Sabrina -
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