Dear Saligaonettekars, Thanks for the cyber solidarity!
We can assure you that your prayers, good wishes, solidarity and those who have supported the movement finiancially too have helped greatly in keeping all of us motivated and active in Saligao. We appeal for your continued support to the Saligao Civic & Consumer Cell and the Salmona Pariyavaran Manch that is still fighting to save the Salmona Spring. In a common mission. M&M. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Below is our reply to the award: Muriel & Mario's reply to the Malvina Athaide Award For Social Justice, at the Caritas Holiday Home Hall, Panjim, on 17 December 2005. When we first heard that we were being singled out for this award our question was, "What for? There are many, more deserving people who could be chosen. Besides, our names and faces have been out there for a while and we thought that the contribution of someone newer on the circuit should be recognised." And then we were given the reasons that Alina just mentioned... So we are happy to accept this award because it is linked to Malvina and our work with her. We are accepting it because she led from the front much of what we did during those initial years and helped to inspire much of what we did after she left. We thank her husband Dileep for choosing us and are accepting it because for the last 18 years, we have worked in her village of Saligao. We are accepting it because we spent all this time doing a lot that she herself longed to do, back home. We are also accepting this award because it captures our involvement in Goa over the last 26 years. One drawback of awards like these is that only one or two people can be chosen to give them to. In reality, they are tributes to many more people whose names and faces are not in the public eye. What we would like to record this afternoon is that this award is a tribute to many, many movements, groups, and individuals who have worked and inspired us over the last quarter of a century. This award is a tribute to their work and struggle too. It is a tribute to the original group started off by Malvina in 1979 - her sister Merlyn, Alina and Susan are here with us this afternoon. It is a tribute to that most feared and wanted group, the Progressive Students Union (PSU). Many of you may never have heard of them, but since liberation never has the Government of Goa feared any group as much. Student leaders like Sandesh and Prashanti, Prashant, Roland and Carol, Sabina were young people from whom we learnt a lot. Only Roland is here this afternoon to represent them. You will have to excuse the emotion, because those young people inspired us by putting their lives at stake. In what was then a police state, they faced the lathis, bullets and jails of state power, yes, the institutional terror of this gentle, beautiful Goa, one of the richest, most educated and developed states in the country. This award is a tribute to the Jagrut Goenkaranchi Fouz - Sergio, Roland and Carol again, along side whom we fought the juggernaut of Modern Mass Tourism. It is a tribute to Goa Desc and Goa Can together with Lillian and Roland who struggle to keep democracy alive at the grassroots, and who arguably are the only activist initiative organising people at village level. It is a tribute to the women's movement in the state - Albertina, Carol and Auda from Bailancho Saad, Bailancho Manch and Bailancho Ekvott respectively. It is tribute to our local village action groups like the Saligao Nagrik Kriti Samiti and the Saligao Civic and Consumer Cell in which we are now active. And in more recent times, this award is specially a tribute to the Salmona Pariyavaran Manch along with whom we are struggling to save our Salmona Spring. The convenor of the Manch, Arun Sawant is here. Arun, this award is as much for you and the others at Salmona who have spent sleepless nights struggling to save the spring. As much as this is a tribute to the groups and people we have worked with, we would also like to share this money with some of them. These people and groups are totally unfunded. They do not have any big foundation funding them and certainly no foreign funding agency. We know how the struggle is carried on, most often reaching into their own pockets to keep the movement going. This award is also a tribute to many, behind-the-scenes people like our parents and family members who have held fort at home, contributed to our activity financially and supported us emotionally when times were hard and activity was at its peak. It is a tribute to our children who have not had us at times when they felt they needed us most. In recent times, except for the Salmona Spring struggle, we are not on the streets as much as before. We do not play frontline roles as much. That is because we are now trying to practice what we have been shouting about all these years - looking after our aging parents and two adopted children. But the movement is alive within our family and in the village. This award is also a tribute to one of the most behind-the-scenes-people in our lives. It is someone you are not going to guess - Fr. Desmond D'Souza himself - the person who started all this trouble for us many, many years ago! For me (Muriel) he turned my cozy, conventional nursing world upside down in 1979 when he challenged me to take alternate health care to Goa's villages instead of being confined to the Asilo hospital. It was he who made a barefoot nurse out of me! For me (Mario), 37 years ago in Bangalore it was he who first introduced me to the concepts of social justice and option for the poor. And if it were not for him, both of us may not have been walking the path of social concern and justice together. And finally, this award is a tribute to everyone in this hall who are involved in social justice and rights issues. While most people lament that Goa has gone to the dogs, and that we are finished, it is the social-worker, the NGOs and the activists who put their money where their mouth is. Who put their jobs and their careers at the service of change. Who put their lives on the line. Who talk, as talk they must, but who also walk the talk! Thank you. (ends) -- PS: Kindly note our new e-ddress: Muriel & Mario <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and make the change in your e-ddress book. - M&M. ................................................. there *is* anOTHERgoa - the destruction of Salmona Spring, for instance! ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' muriel & mario, 4/4 tabravaddo, opp. st. anne's chapel, saligao. bardez. goa. 403511. tel: 0832-2278276 / 2409999 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' _______________________________________________ Saligaonet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goacom.org/mailman/listinfo/saligaonet
