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Swiss TEEDOR
holds ‘Welcome 2002’
THE Tamil Eelam Economic Development
Organisation's (TEEDOR) Swiss branch held its third annual festival to welcome in a New Year on January 1, 2002. The Forum Freiburg arena was filled with over four thousand Tamils as events kicked off at 3pm.
Organised with the support of the Swiss Millennium, the Tamil Television Network (TTN) and the
International Broadcasting Corporation Tamil (IBC Radio), proceedings began with a moment of silence in honour of those who had fallen in the Tamil struggle for self determination.
The Sangamam music group then treated the audience to a performance of several Tamil liberation songs as a prelude to a song contest.
The contest, staggered in-between other programmes, was fought out by thirteen vocalists from across Europe.
Several dance performances, including those by Berne's Thirukones-war Nadanalayam and Thamilar Illam, also took to the stage at various points in the event.
The popular silver screen comedian, director and producer Mr Manivannan appeared as the chief guest. In his address to the gathering, Mr Manivannan reflected on his loyalty to his language and his people. In what was more a dialogue with the audience than a speech, he also fielded questions. His son Raguvannan accompanied Mr Manivannan on stage.
Swiss Tamil artistes provided constant entertainment with an array of dances and comedy dramas. The Swiss office coordinator explained TEEDOR's work in the Tamil homelands.
Mr Manivannan awarded winners of the song contest. In a fitting end, all contestants graciously donated the cash they won towards
TEEDOR's valuble work for the Tamil people.
Mullai Ondrium holds fundraiser for Mullaithivu children
Mullai Ondrium had a delightful evening of their
inaugural gathering on December 29 at Wembley Church Hall. Defying a bone chilling cold, over 300 people at-tended that evening to show their support and encouragement.
Mullai Ondrium was established by the former students of schools in the
Mullaithivu District. The objective of the evening was to support the children in the district who struggle for
their daily needs and for their basic educational requirements.
The evening began with 2 minutes of silence for
those who lost their lives in the war, followed by the traditional lighting of the lamp, and then a speech by the President honouring the special guests. The cultural programs by children and adults followed and the evening concluded with a vote of thanks from the secretary.
Highlights of the events were the dances, 'Kavadi Nadanam', a drama
"Puhalidak Kolangal" by the youths, and a musical programme by the Mullai musical group. The children's events
brought out highlights of the Tamil culture and were both fun and educational for the children.
The drama showed the dilemmas Tamils face when living in this country, and gave the audience plenty to laugh about as well as providing food for thought.
"The war over the last two decades has destroyed most of the natural wealth of Mullaithivu and these children are deprived of their livelihood," said one former pupil. "Going to school eve-ry morning is not easy. What is there to eat? What is there to wear? What do you take to school?"
"There are not enough table and chairs in the classrooms so pupils have to sit under trees, on the floor. Add to this, no clean water to drink and a shortage of
teachers," said another member of the audience.
Explaining the background to the forming of the organisation, a member said "Thinking about the plight and suffering of the children in the Vanni, a few youngsters ventured to help out their brothers and sisters in Mullaithivu and formed Mullai Ondrium just a few months ago. There are no political or religious reasons behind this Ondrium, just a desire to help our fellow Tamils back home."
Brunel Tamils enjoy ‘Kalai Alaikal’ variety
Brunel Tamils presented "Kalai Alaikal 2001" on December 15 at the Howell Centre, Brunel University. An evening filled with a variety of performances fr-om a range of people, commenced with a traditional bharathanatya dance,
Pushpanjali, by Vinitha. This was then shortly followed by a speech from the President, Thayanujee Santhirakumar.
Carrying-on with the traditional theme, a veena performance ensued, performed by the students of Suthamat-hi SriSatkunam and was followed by another dance, Om Namashivaya, by the students of Shanti Thayaparan. The audience was then provided with a change, as dancers, Tai, Chris and
Linda, performed a modern dance to the song "Kathalikum Penn".
Biruntha and Biravina then performed one of the two dances which they were set to do. The sisters first danced to the smash hit song
'Kannodu Kanpathelam' from the film 'Jeans' and then later on, after the interval, danced to the song 'Nathiye Nathiye' from the film 'Rhythm'. Tamil Vibes, once again made a guest appearance, dancing first to
'Muhabala' and then after the interval dancing to 'Ride With Me' by Nelly, giving the audience a taste of both the Tamil and English vibes running through the show.
The final performance before the interval was a comedy sketch, "Engke
Pokirom?" (where are we going?), which was performed in two halves, the first before the interval and the second half after the interval. Script and directions were by Bavan, who managed to
accurately capture the stereotypical lives of the younger Tamils in a manner which had the audience bellowing in laughter.
The second half of the program consisted of a fashion show, a poem, songs and dances and a speech by the Chief Guest, Dr.
Sivaloganathan. The fashion show, Colours of Life, was split into two parts. The first part entitled Western, choreographed by Tai, merely had a few models displaying a set of clothes whilst dancing to a western remix of songs. The second part entitled Eastern, choreographed by Dushi, was fairly similar to the first half however, the male models had donned a more traditional attire.
The final program for the evening was the 'Hot 'n' Spicy Masala Mix', which was a dance to mix of songs
performed by the Brunel Crew with appearances by Tamil Vibes in between. The program was compered by
Ramanan and Gowri, and was a fairly entertaining evening. However, the audience was heard to say that the event was not as successful as the event from the previous year.
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