Children's Day Celebrations in Car Nicobar

News from Car Nicobar Island

A gala cultural evening was organized on 16^th November, 2008 in connection with the “Children’s Day Celebrations” at Sawai Village in Car Nicobar by the Child Led Disaster Risk Reduction (CLDRR) project team of West Bengal Voluntary Health Association (WBVHA), one of the most reputed and active NGOs carrying out their operations in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, supported by Save the Children – Bal Raksha Bharat, member of the world renowned International Save the Children Alliance.

The submerged lighthouse at Malacca, Car Nicobar

The program included a welcome song by the WBVHA Project team led by Miss Irene Mary, the Cluster Coordinator and Mr. Amrose, the Village Level Animator of WBVHA from Tee Top village, presentation of Nicobarese Tribal folk dances by the tribal children of Tapoiming village, Govt. Middle School, Chukchucha, a thematic skit on First Aid by the children of Small Lapathy and Mus village, drawing and painting competition and various other entertainment dances and songs by the tribal children of Sawai village, Car Nicobar under the guidance of Miss Anita Rebecca and Mr. Asim Kumar Bala.

Folk dance by Nicobarese Tribal school girls

The event gathered large crowds from Sawai village and also from the rest of the 14 villages in Car Nicobar Island. There were roars of applause umpteen times during the function and the audience and the guests were enthralled by the spellbinding performance of the Nicobarese Tribal children led by the CLDRR project team of WBVHA.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Guest, Mr. Yuda Victor; the First Headman/Captain of Tapoiming village eulogized the efforts being made by the WBVHA project team under the resolute and cordial leadership of the Project Coordinator, Mr. Shrinath Vashishtha through their Child Led Disaster Risk Reduction project for the mammoth benefit of the Nicobarese community. He also expressed great confidence and faith in the operations of the WBVHA project team and hope that the efforts being made by them would be sustained by the community and the WBVHA organization, as well.

Song by WBVHA, CLDRR project team, Car Nicobar

The Guest of Honor, Mr. Philimon Alban, the First Captain/Headman of Sawai village also expressed great contentment regarding the methodology used by WBVHA and the noble objectives of their project of CLDRR. He also exalted the enthusiastic participation of the children from his tribe in the event as well as the CLDRR project that is being carried out by the WBVHA team led by the Project Coordinator, Mr. Shrinath Vashishtha. Later, the Chief Guest, Mr. Yuda Victor, the Guest of Honor, Mr. Phlimon Alban and the special guest Mr. Dharma, the Program Manager, TATA Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Port Blair distributed prizes to the winners of various competitions.

Eventually, the Project Coordinator of WBVHA, Mr. Shrinath Vashishtha, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Chief Guest, the guest of honor, the special guests, Mr. Dharma (Program Manager – TISS), Mr. A. L. Patrick, Secretary, Sawai Council, Mr. J. Jaichandran, Deptt. Of Education, Car Nicobar and the entire community of Car Nicobar for gracing the occasion with their esteemed participation and for blessing the children on the auspicious occasion of “Children’s Day Celebrations”. He said, “We are committed to work endlessly and industriously towards the materialization of the dream of an exemplary Nicobarese community in terms of cooperation, communion and a disaster prepared Nicobar that was a passionate resolve of Padma Bhushan, Bishop John Richardson, who can aptly be described as the “Gandhi of Nicobar”. He also expressed profound optimism in receiving the continuous support and assistance of the buoyant Nicobarese community, the Tribal Council of Nicobar and the Andaman & Nicobar Administration towards his team’s drive for accomplishing their goal of -“A Disaster Prepared Nicobar”.