Abu Dhabi: The Konkani Community of St. Paul’s Church Mussafah, Abu Dhabi conducted their Second Annual Family Picnic Day on Friday October 27 at Yas Island Park with great fervor. After the Friday morning Holy Mass all people, numbering approximately 300, gathered at the picnic site. The Picnic started with a prayer led by Br. Robert Cardin and Rev. and Fr. Ashok Gonsalves, Spiritual Director of Konkani Community blessed the congregation. Br. Robert Pinto welcomed the gathering, appreciated and thanked their support for all their events and requested them to continue the same for their future events also.
Immediately after the opening prayer, a traditional breakfast was served to all gathered and soon after, the Cultural Secretary Mr. Lawrence D’Souza formed 10 groups and provided each group with badges for identification. To warm up the people, a balloon game was started and all people both young and old participated in the game. In addition to this several other games were conducted like passing the balloon filled with water, passing the ring, longest human chain, filling the water bottle, queen of Sheeba etc. The highlights of the day were the “tug of war” and “breaking the earthen pot” which was tied at a height of 9 ft. People enjoyed all the games and appreciated the efforts of the organizers.
The special guest of the event was Rev. F. Annie Xavier, Parish Priest of St. Paul’s Church, Mussafah who blessed the food and appreciated the community activities for the benefit of all. Immediately after food, a game of “Housie-Housie” was played which was conducted by Suresh Saldanha and a good number of gifts were distributed to the winners. A member of the Yas Island Park Management, Mr. Ali was felicitated for his cooperation as he was a great help to the organizers in providing permission for the picnic as well as assisting in acquiring a generator.
Other games resumed once Housie-Housie was over, and all groups participated. At the end of the session, a common theme was given to all groups with 5 minutes time limit and they were asked to perform impromptu. All groups participated and prizes were distributed to the winning groups. The festivities were paused for a tea, coffee and snack break at around 3.30 pm.
In addition to this, lots of other prizes and consolation prizes were distributed to the participants. There was a special lucky prize announced, besides the other prizes up for grabs, and the holder of the lucky ticket was awarded the special prize. The final attraction of the picnic was a Kabaddi match played between the volunteers which was enjoyed by all.
Br. Robert Pinto thanked the participants, sponsors and volunteers for their support. The picnic was concluded with a prayer lead by Rev. Fr. Ashok Gonsalves and everyone recited the ‘Laudate Domino’, praising the lord for the wonderful day. All people, young and old, enjoyed the day and it was a memorable time spend with families and friends. The picnic concluded at approximately at 5:30 pm.
