Newskarnataka.com, the favoured news portal of Kannadigas the world over, has been introducing persons with an amazing record of service to society, from the land of Karnataka and beyond, to the world via its OTT platform on YouTube.com and Facebook.com. The program, ‘Amazing People’ has already completed 16 episodes and is growing in popularity.
The 17th episode of the series “Amazing People” was broadcast live on its YouTube Channel on 26/02/2021 and Alwyn Mendonca Musician, Singer & Entrepreneur, Jeevan Tauro, Ex Cricketer, Coach, Mentor & Fitness Trainer KM Asif Ex-footballer & Philanthropist Founder of Team B-Human NGO were the Guests, CA Valerian Dalmaida & Mentor, Spearhead Media Group Rajesh Sequeira were Program Co-Hosts.
“Profession first, hobby next,” says Alwyn Mendonca
Music and Singing is my passion. From childhood days I was interested in music. I am a self-learner and soon started practising. Further, I got opportunities and made use of them. Everything is possible in life, but we need to take the first step. Says Alwyn, founder of Heritage Safety Training Center, based in Dubai. Heritage is a leading international provider of Health, Safety, and Environmental Training to the Middle East market & India.
“No doubt music is my passion, but for my economic sustenance, I had to pursue my profession. After completing my Civil Engineering, I moved to Dubai in the year 1995 in search of a job. Soon started my career in a construction Company. There I saw people performing hazardous jobs risking their life. I have observed, lack of safety and health awareness among the employees as well as the Management. This prompted me to acquire a proper qualification in this area. In the year 2004, I acquired safety qualification and now upgraded from level three to six. Armed with the qualification I changed my profession from Civil Engineering to Health and Safety and worked in many MNCs. After gaining sufficient experience in the field, I started a Heritage Safety Consultancy in the year 2014. Heritage Safety and Health consultancy delivers Safety awareness programmes across the GCC countries to educate and share current safety professional standards, trends, best practices, and efficient operational procedures.
“There is no short-cut, follow three-D for success,” says Jeevan Tauro.
My mentor Late Benjamin D’ Souza, Physical Director of St Aloysius college has planted Three-D seeds in me. They are Dedication, Determination, and Discipline. I vow my success to him., says Jeevan Tauro, a Cricketer who reached up to the level of playing for Karnataka State in juniors. But with a disappointing note, he says “to be successful in cricket, a cricketer needs to be in front of the eyes of the selectors.” But he has different words to express his gratitude to NK. NK is reaching to the spots where talents are hidden.
My interest in cricket started from the days when I was travelling to Carmel School through Nehru Maidan in Mangaluru. I used to watch children playing cricket on these grounds. After joining St Aloysius college, during the games period, I started playing tennis ball cricket. My cricketing talent was spotted and I played for the school team. Mr Ajay Alva, and Benjamin D’Souza, looking at my aggressive batting selected me to play in the college B team when I was in High School. After this, I did not look back. I played and captained the college team, District, Zone, and University, scored 1000 runs every season for consecutive five years and this is one of the achievements of mine. While I was playing for Mangalore University, for the first time we qualified for the finals rounds of the Rohinton Baria Trophy. The sad part is that it was the first and the last. It was a great honour for me to get selected to the under 19 State Cricket team under the Captianship of veteran Indian cricketer Yere Gaud.
I moved to the gulf, and worked there for 6 years in NMC, and played for the league in UAE. Later in pursuit of my profession, we migrated to Canada during the year 2002. I did not give up my passion for cricket and started a coaching clinic along with other friends. Our academy with indoor and outdoor coaching facilities attracted good response. I am also a coach to Canada under 10 girls softball team.
I have a dream to start a cricket academy in India and also to be the coach of the Canada National Cricket team.
Achieving “Zero hunger” is our ambitious project, says KM Asif.
Though we are from a middle-class family, I saw my father helping needy people in our locality. Since my childhood, I have always been empathetic to people. I consider that the blessings of my father are on me and now I have the opportunity to serve people. To promote universal brotherhood and be part of the cause of the people, we have started two NGOs, B-Human and Wellness helpline. The NGO is functioning in Mangalore and carries out many humanitarian activities in the entire district and also adjacent localities.
The NGO B-Human started in the year 2016, has been in the service to needy people. The NGO has distributed around 53000 food packets to migrant and stranded labourers during the Covid time. The wellness helpline came forward with 225 plasma donations to the patients. We have also extended other services like providing oxygen cylinders to the hospital.
Several plans of our’s are in the pipeline like Roti Bank, Dress Bank, Oldage Home, Orphanage, Job Placement, etc. We wish to see that no person in the world suffers from hunger.
Watch the full conversation here…
