Abu Dhabi: St Joseph’s Konkani Community (SJKC) Abu Dhabi, conducted their third annual family picnic, at Yas Park Gate, North with great fervor. More than 350 members were present to enjoy the beautiful day.
Firstly, breakfast was served to the attendees and then the picnic kick-started at 10 AM as per schedule with a short prayer led by Rev. Fr. Rodson Goes OFM Cap, Spiritual Director of the Konkani speaking community in Abu Dhabi. The prayer was followed by a welcome speech by Lancy D’souza, the coordinator of SJKC, along with reading out the guidelines so that the gathering could understand and adhere to it. He also thanked the gathering for their continuous support in making the event a successful one.
Thereafter, eight teams were formed so that the games could be conducted in a systematic manner. This started off with a warm up game, followed by a balloon game, a sack race and passing water and filling the bottle. Once the above mentioned games had come to an end, traditional lunch was served at 1.30 PM. The lunch was served after the grace before meal prayer, led by an elder member of the community. Mangalorean delicacy dukra mas and sannas were served along with other delicious dishes. Ronny and his team entertained the crowd with live music during the lunch-time.
The day was filled with several games like tug-of-war and many activities such as Konkani song singing, group performances and activities related to the year of tolerance. In addition to this, lots of games were conducted for children as well.
The end of the session, a five- minute skit was performed by each group. During this process, the participants exhibited their hidden talents. Tea, coffee and snacks were served to the gathering at 4.30 PM. Spiritual Director Rev. Fr. Rodson Goes distributed the prizes to the winning teams.
The SJKC committee members,Fr Rodson Goes, Lancy D’souza, Leo Rodrigues, Sharan D’souza, Manoj Menezes, Ivan Mathias, Sunil Pinto, Priya Dias, Shaila D’sa and Jyothi Rodrigues along with a few volunteers, worked tirelessly to make this day a memorable one. Reena, Deral Menezes and Chandini carried out the activities in a very orderly manner. Jyothi Rodrigues, secretary of SJKC, thanked all the gathering, the community members, volunteers and those who supported the cause directly or indirectly. The picnic was concluded with a prayer at 5.30 PM. With active participation, the community members made this event a memorable one.
