International Women’s Day - 2009

SETIK-Kandy commemorates the International Women’s Day on 7th of March 2009 at the Hatton Setik Centre. The theme of the celebration was “Let us Protect Her as our own Mother”. We organized this programme to ensure the rights of women to protect and promote their dignity without discrimination. There were about 475 participants took place at the programme.

The programme started after the sticker campaign which was done by the youth groups of our fields. Introductory address was given by Rev. Fr. George Sigamoney, and he explained about the issues related to violation of women’s rights. In his speech he highlighted the social, economic, political and cultural issues which women face in their day today life.

Our Guest Speakers for the programme were Mrs. Rathnasamy - Assistant Director of Zonal Education in Hatton and Mrs. Suranji Wijenayaka- Att-at-Law. They made their keynotes about the issues of the plantation women such as abortion, less literacy rate in the plantation women, domestic violence and child labour in both Tamil and Sinhala mediums.

After the sessions a common discussion session took place at the programme to get the feed back from the participants and to forward their questions. After the discussion session two women from the plantation sector and rural sector address the audience by sharing their experience with their day today life routine. The programme concluded with an entertainment by a group of women.

National Independence Day Celebration

Setik- Kandy celebrates the National Independence day on 4th February 2009. As we expected to give the opportunity to the people who are unable to participate from the remote areas of the Central Province; this year celebration was held at Youth Training Centre in Innamaluwa- Dambulla. Around 700 people participated at this event from the districts of Matale, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya.

The programme started after hoisting the National Flag along with four religious flags by the religious leaders. In the programme inter religious and inter ethnic cultural presentations included since we always try to build a better relationship among all the ethnic groups. Rev. Fr. Camillus Janz from Setik Institution and Rev. Fr. Desmond Perera-The Parish Priest of Innamaluwa Parish presented at the programme.

A drama and cultural items were presented by youth groups of our fields to highlight the importance of the inter ethnic and inter religious relationship, peace and solidarity. Rev. Fr. Camillus Janz gave the introductory speech and the special guest speech was delivered by Mr. Samanatha Ekanayake - Lecturer of Sociology Department, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka from Sinhala medium and Mr. A. C. S. Crooz from Tamil medium on the theme “Socio-economic issues caused for the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka”.

Youth Camp and the Shramadana Campaign

The Youth Unit of Setik together with the Diocesan Youth Apostolate organized a camp for youth from 28th February to 1st March 2009 which was held in Bogowanthalawa. Our main objective of organizing this programme was to enlighten the youth on their social responsibilities.

The programme was opened by Rev. Fr. George Sigamoney - Director of Setik, Rev. Fr. Camillus Janz, Rev. Fr. Desmond Perera - Diocesan Youth Apostolate Coordinator, Rev. Fr. Roy Clarence - Diocesan Director of the Migrant Commission and Rev. Fr. Lakmal Perera - Coordinator for Setik in Nuwara Eliya District. There were 260 participants from the fields where Setik activities are implemented and from the parish youth groups. On the first day three sessions were held to enable the youth to understand themselves; Who they are? What are their responsibilities in the present context?. After the session those present were divided into groups for discussions and sharing of experiences.

A Shramadana compaign was organized on the second day to clean the environment of four hospitals in the district of Nuwaraeliya. All the participants actively involved themselves in this activity and gave their fullest cooperation to clean the area.
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