On 8th of September the AYAC Dahanu community celebrated triple celebrations viz. the Nativity of our Blessed Mother Mary, the Girl Child Day and Teachers’ Day. Children from 6 villages and the VTC students especially girls, nearly 180 were present for the celebration.
‘It all began with Mary’. We commenced the programme by placing flowers near the feet of Mother Mary. The tuition children invoked God’s blessings through a prayer song and then welcomed the Sisters and the teachers with a welcome song. The lamp was lit by the Sisters and the teachers. The importance of that day was explained to the children by Sr. Vandana Malya. The children and the youth performed dances to show their gratefulness to God for giving them the gift of life as a girl child. They also showed their respect and honour to the Sisters and the teachers who give their service to help them come up in their life.
The teacher and the students spoke about the importance and the value of a girl child. The animator, Sr.Mariet Luckose expressed her gratitude to all the girl children and the teachers who are created in the image and likeness of God and our Bl. Mother. She said “Mary our mother is a girl, we too are girls and we rejoice and thank God for we are girls. A girl is a good friend, a mother, a sister, a wife, a daughter and her contribution is much but still the ill treatment that she receives is not less. They are not accepted, not respected, aborted before they could see the world, they are killed, beaten, raped and many other things. So we who are safe need to pray for them”.
She also acknowledged her gratefulness to the teachers who tirelessly give themselves generously to teach and follow children in different villages and teach them the values. She said though you write on black with white, you add colour to the life of those children who are deprived of basic necessities. Teachers in turn expressed their thankfulness to the Sisters and the children.
The celebration also consisted of games, prizes to the winners and distribution of snacks.
