My Dear Friends!
In the spirit of our 20 years long journey based on a wonderful learned experience of working together for the well-being of 25,000 poorest of the poor in the outskirts of Antananarivo (Akamasoa), we can joyfully thank God for His blessings in keeping our team united and many of our supporters faithfully contributing to the achievement of this endeavour we call “Charity Night”.
Akamasoa, is the place where with Fr Pedro Opeka in charge, under his heartfelt dedication and guidance, the poor built for the poor an oasis of well-being, like the premise of heaven surrounded by the ocean of misery… 92% of population are living under the poverty line in Madagascar!
On our part, we adopted with God’s help not one or a few, but 14,000 little children (the majority abandoned and orphans). Our help is providing them with many months of education. One of our dollars can provide one day of schooling per child: a small bowl of rice with beans before and after the classes and medical care when needed. I would encourage you, Dear Friends, to ‘have a look’ at the details of this beautiful and great endeavour we are part of: www.perepedro-akamasoa.net.
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As for the last 20 years, I would like to express my profound gratitude to all the members of our committee, to the participants and especially: kitchen team with Georgette and Ramon Paltoo at the helm and Jeannette Beaudoin behind the preparation of the Parish hall at Liverpool.
At the vigil of our event, Saturday 26 last October (4 pm), the ‘working bees’ gathered to take care of the kitchen (Paul Aloir, Jocelyne & Hervé Juste, Georgette & Ramon Paltoo) and prepare the hall (Jeannette Beaudoin, Gérard Clément, Steve Du Casse with his sons: Jacques & Paris, Elodie Ehlan, Sinisita Filitoga, Michele & Bernard Fortin, Andrew Jelavic, Gino Martignago, Françoise & George Maurice and Helène & Jean-Louis Worobec).
The kitchen was relatively well maintained so there was no need for a ‘big cleaning job’ as was the case years ago. We give the ‘thumb up’ to the manager of the place, Eric Morelli, who also provided us with a sufficient number of tables and chairs.
The Parish hall, thanks to the careful, well organised activities: putting in place and cleaning of tables and chairs, decorating tables and walls was ready to welcome participants by 10:30 pm.
On Saturday 27 in the morning Jeannette Beaudoin brought the beautiful flowers given by Lauretta & Alvisio Olivieri (A&L Florist) for the embellishment of our tables. In the afternoon Francesca Chow with her friends Sharon & John McDivitt joined by Malika & Peter De Zilva and others, put together a magnificent stall of variety of items for sales during the night… Francesca Chow brought magnificent carnations from her garden flowers, jars of her homemade jams, her colourful cushions and quilts…
Wojciech Serafin (Wawel Import Export) enriched the stall with lot of exquisite chocolate and sweets from Poland he donated for this occasion.
Wine (red and white) for the guests of honour was provided by Angela & Frank Valore (Valore Cellars) and bottles of red/white wine on each table by Carole Castellan, Josette Kishtoo and Krystelle Vicary. Italian sparkling and flat water to all were provided by Robert Lamonica (Lamonica IGA).
Before our place was opened to welcome all the friends of Akamasoa, the kitchen volunteers mentioned above were joined by Nourdine family (Bruno, Françoise, Clara, Noah et Thomas) and the couple Jacques & Nathalie Govinden. They gave all their hearts and minds into the preselection, partition and presentation of the food at the dinner time on the tables in the hall.
It’s worthy and important to acknowledge the generosity and skills of those who dedicated their time and their culinary abilities to offer delicious and savoury dinner to over 200 people: Paul Aloir, Jeannette Beaudoin, Pierre Brunet, Francesca Chow, Janette Dalais, Stephanie Dubuisson, Sinisita Filitoga, Lylette François, Nathalie Govinden, Margaret Joseph, Patricia Joseph, Jocelyne Juste, Roseby Malepa, Maryse Maurice, Jacqueline Mavisa, Guariana Moschon & Davide Giada (Caffatteria Italia), Françoise Nourdine, Eileen Noyeaux, Georgette Paltoo, Mirella Paltoo, Monique Paltoo, Denise Patel, Marina Peerbaye, Nadia & Laurent Schwarz (“C’est Si Bon” Patisserie), Marie Paul Sidonie, Leanne& Didier Sockeel (“Ganache” Patisserie) and Danielle Tranquille.
Florence & Stephan Motte (Label Baguette) donated baguettes, fresh from their bakery at Maroubra French, to accompany the food.
This time the ‘early birds’ were little bit surprised by the ‘bottleneck’ at the entrance to the hall caused by my late half an hour arrival… Lesson for the future: to leave the donations receipt booklets with someone close to the place… and not to make half away U-turn to pick them up from home…
Thanks God, quick thinking of Dina Iunius ‘saved’ the situation by registering donations in her book to be transferred later on into the official ones.
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I would like to make known the appreciation of all our participants (myself included) to the presence of one of our spiritual leaders, auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney: Most Reverend Richard Umbers. It was also our great honour to welcome Honourable Michel Daley MP and his wife Christina, General Consul of France: Mr Nicolas Croizer, Honorary General Consul of Madagascar Mr Anthony Knox and his wife Suzanne, Fr Brian Lucas (National Director of Catholic Mission), Brother Dr Patrick Liew (Fatimah Hospital’s Director in Ipoh, Malaysia), Sister Telesia Talalua (care of the sick from Wallis and Futuna in the hospitals of greater Sydney). It was also a pleasure to see at our VIP table Fr Lewi Barakat representing Fr Paul Monkerut PP and for the first time Fr Ruben Martello FSF, whose parents were present with us, given their great and longstanding dedication to the cause of the poor in Madagascar.
Around 7:30 pm, Ky Chow, our MC for the event, opened the gathering inviting His Lordship Richard Umbers to bless our evening with his Apostolic blessing, followed by the tasty and abundant dinner.
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We were accompanied by soft (and boosting our appetite) music, courtesy of Gerard Clément DJ.
At 9:30 pm it was my turn to express my gratitude to all those present and especially members of the committee and friends of our poor in Madagascar for their longstanding 20 years dedication and generosity.
Firstly, I would like to pay my homage especially to those who went to be rewarded by Jesus who associated himself with the poor when He was talking about our upcoming last judgment (Mt 25:31-40)… Member-founder of our association: Jean Sydney Fortuné (2006), member of our committee: Michel Soultan (2015) and generous supporter of our lottery: Roger Marius Defranchi (2016)… And from Madagascar, I’d like to remember our holy man, doctor in medicine and successor of the Apostles: Mgr Pierre Zévaco who twice blessed our Charity gathering in person (2001 & 2006) who went from this world in 2017.
Secondly, it is important to acknowledge the great contribution of our ‘pioneers’ in organising food for our Charity dinner: Christian & Marielle Guillemin until 2011, then after 2012 with Nadia Schwarz in charge, from 2013 Alphonse & Marie-Claire Perrine were busy with food ‘supply’ and since 2017: Georgette & Ramon Paltoo.
The food provided was always greatly appreciated by the participants, nevertheless the place where it was enjoyed, the decorum of the hall and tables also played a big role…
Care for making our parish hall ‘welcoming’ our guests was from the beginning in the hands of Nadia Fortuné and from 2012 until now: Jeannette Beaudoin.
To those two teams: kitchen and hall, congratulations for your input, lasting dedication and sacrifice of your time and material given to making our 20 last events memorable and greatly appreciated by our poor (especially 1400 of children – among them the majority orphans and abandoned) at Akamasoa! This year Akamasoa will celebrate 30 year of its foundation and the Holy Father, the Pope Francis promised to come to Madagascar and to celebrate the Eucharist at their place!
And we are, by our participation in keeping Akamasoa alive, we are greatly blessed!
I would like to thank God for the privilege of blessings we, all the participants, have received welcoming at our events the successors of the Apostles: Bishop David Cremin (1999, 2000), Bishop Pierre Zévaco (2001, 2006), Archbishop George Pell (2002), Bishop Julian Porteous (2003, 2009), Bishop Anthony Fisher (2004), Bishop Peter Ingham (2005), Archbishop Issam John Darwish (2006), Bishop Terry Brady (2011), Bishop Benjamin Ramaroson (2008, 2010, 2012), Bishop Peter Comensoli (2013), Archbishop Paul Gallagher – Apostolic Nuncio (2014), Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana – Apostolic Nuncio (2016), Bishop Anthony Randazzo (2017), Bishop Richard Umbers (2018).
Fr Pedro Opeka from Akamasoa blessed our Charity Night in 2011 and 2013.
This little ‘look into’ our last 20 years wouldn’t be complete if I did not mention our great friends from diplomatic-political side: (GC= General Consul; HC=High Commissioner; HGC=Honorary General Consul)
- Patrice Curé (HC of Mauritius; 1999, 2000), Anthony Knox (HGC of Madagascar; 1999 – 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013 – 2018), Edward Duyker (HGC of Mauritius; 1999, 2000), Jean-Claude Poimboef (GC of France; 2000), Georges Ackaoui (HC of France; 2000), Marc Finaud (GC of France; 2001, 2002); Jane Jouanis (HC of Mauritius; 2002), Barclay O’Brian (HGC of Mauritius; 2003); Pierre Seilllan (First Advisor of the French Embassy; 2004), Laurent Delahousse (GC of France; 2004 – 2006), Ilona Kałdońska (Vice-consul of Poland; 2005), Patrick Renault (Ambassador of Belgium; 2009, 2010), Daniel Rafal Gromann (GC of Poland; 2009), Niel Marquardt (GC of USA; 2011), Eric Berti (GC of France; 2013, 2014), Regina Jurkowska (GC of Poland; 2016, 2017), Pierre Alexandre Bianconi (Vice-Consul of France; 2017), Nicolas Croizer (GC of France; 2018)
- John Mac Call (Delegate to the Superior Council of French living in Australia and Sud-Pacific, UFE; 1999 – 2002, 2004 – 2017), Robert Michkin (President of French-Australia Association; 2002), George Varughese (Ethnic Communities Council; 2004, 2005, 2007 – 2013, 2015 ), Michael Daley (MP; 2007, 2008, 2010 – 2013, 2015, 2018), Bernard Le Boursicot (President UFE; 2011, 2012)
After my little discourse, surrounded by our Association committee members, it was time to enjoy the ‘cutting of the cake’! I am putting it in brackets, because It was no ‘ordinary’ cake! French Patisseries: “Ganache” (Leanne& Didier Sockeel) and “C’est Si Bon” (Nadia & Laurent Schwarz) gave us the “top French” traditional ‘Piece montée’/ ‘Profiterole tower’ in three parts (tower + two ‘basements’) containing 200 pieces! Congratulations for the beauty of that masterpiece greatly appreciated by the ‘customers’ of all ages!!!
Then came ‘surprise, surprise’! Our MC, Ky Chow announced the time for dancing as never before: the great Maestro of piano accordion, Ross Maio, from the first touch with his golden magic fingers his extraordinary top-quality accordion, the hearts of many participants were uplifted and as we can see on the pictures (when published) there was no need of encouragement (!). The powerful beauty of the music brought people to dance spontaneously and we could feel and admire like the whirlwind bringing to the parquet all spectrum of age in harmonious movement! Greatly appreciated!
Then time came for a very abundant in variety and quality, dessert! During dinner and straight after it, our Elvis in person reappeared in front of us! Enjoyment again for ‘all ages’ and more movements, this time in Elvis’ style! Greatly appreciated also!
As usual, a great lottery (drawn by Christina, wife of Michael Daley MP) was followed by the ‘lucky door’ prize draw.
For the last many years Creugnet family was taking care for the last preparation and run of it during the event. This year Alain and his son Gabriel were joined by Andrew Jelavic.
For the last few years already, our great lottery drawing attracts curiosity of many people in the hall turning their heads towards the left corner of the hall (facing main entrance) where almost 1/3 of the winners are located! The attention is a result of often heard: “it’s US!” They are the members of the Italian prayer group from Ryde! Very generous people! For many years, under the leadership on Giuseppina Galluzzo they (with their relatives and friends) are buying 3500 lottery tickets and that why others were not picking up the reason of: “It’s US”!
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At the same time, acknowledging the generosity of the donors to the ‘great’ lottery prizes, I’d like to congratulate the winners. These are the winning ticket’s numbers:
- Bowerhaus*Old Hollywood Tripe Strand of 8, 10 & 12 mm of graduating white pearls necklace with a pair of earring valued at $2600.00– donated by Elizabeth Lee, won by number: 08059
- Oil painting (“Summer Gestalt” 800×660 mm) by David Robert Hill valued at $1600.00 – donated by IT Prayer Group (Ryde) won by number: 05769
- Bowerhaus Ocean Blue round pearls necklace (adjustable length)& earring set valued at $1000.00 given by Elizabeth Lee, won by number: 02882
- Bowerhaus Champagne Blush round pearls necklace (adj. length)& earring set valued at $1000.00 given by Elizabeth Lee, won by number: 00258
- Gift Voucher valued at $687 (3 Nights Midweek in a Superior King Room for 2, including breakfast and Dinner for 2 to the value of $60 at the Peninsula Nelson Bay) valid until 30th November 2019, from «Valore Cellars», won by number: 04472
- Voucher$500 donated by «Cadry’s Persian Carpets Specialists» at Edgecliff valid one year, won by number: 08373
- Voucher $500 from Myer – donated by Nadia Fortuné, won by number: 06993
- Voucher $500 from Lamonica Homewares at Haberfield donated by Dina& Mario Iunius from International Ceramics, won by number: 05764
- Gourmet hamper valued at $280.00– donated by Guy Roose from «Apromo Pty Ldt», won by number: 04285.
- Voucher valued at $150for ‘Bella Fonte’ Restaurant at Comfort Inn HuntsLiverpool valid until 2/02/19; donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by number: 03922
- Voucher valued at $150 for ‘Bella Fonte’ Restaurant at Comfort Inn Hunts Liverpool valid until 2/02/19; donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by number: 08671
- Gift Basket valued at $150.00– donated by «GJ Food», won by number: 03283
- Oil painting (“Ghost Crab”) by Louise De Marco Jelavic valued at $120– donated by IT Prayer Group (Ryde), won by number: 03292
- Gift Basket valued at $120.00 – donated by «Petersham Liquor Market», won by number: 02710
- 2 Vouchers each valued at $50.00 donated by «Ganache Pâtisserie Française» at Castlecrag, 04041
* Bowerhaus cherished items are donated as raffle prizes in aid of charity. Though all raffle items donated are valuable, they have no monetary value toward exchange or upgrade; (however, they still bear the Bowerhaus’ pride of good workmanship).
Our ‘Lucky door’ prizes brought joy to 14 people! I take pleasure to acknowledge the generosity of those who gave the precious items which were often ‘rearranged’ by Jeannette Beaudoin and prepared ready to be taken home by the winners. The generous donors are: Jeannette Beaudoin, Liliane Dubourdieu, Anne Marie Puaud, Lise Selvon and Nadia Schwarz.
This unforgettable 20th Charity Night finally came to the end… Just over 200 people participated!
Those who were too tired to continue, went home. Those still feeling in ‘good shape’, gave a helpful hand to put away in order the chairs and tables, to clear away the wall decorations, to sweep the floor, and to leave the kitchen in good condition for the next function!
I would like to express again my gratitude to all the participants for their generous attitude towards our poorest of the poor in Madagascar under the caring dedication of Fr Pedro Opeka! Good job, Desi Tjioe, capturing unforgettable moments of this event we can now admire watching attached to this report pictures.
We ask God’s blessing upon the Parish Priest, Fr Paul Monkerut and his staff of giving us the use of the Parish hall for gratis. What a wonderful gesture of not charging us $600, gift going to Akamasoa! Thank you, Fr Paul and the good people around you!
Thanks God we have the best in 20 years result of the Spirit of Charity for our 2018 appeal:
donations: 72,929
participants: 18,070
sales: 3609
lottery 18,970
amounting to the sum of $ 113,578.00
May Almighty GOD reward your goodness with His blessing! May one day we all could hear from our Lord: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Mt 25,23). I’m sure, that there is no greater recognition that HIS!
Fr Jan
P.S.
If I forget by inadvertence to mention some people, I apologise for it and leave to the Almighty to ‘compensate’ them with His blessing my mistake!
On Wednesday 9 January our SFRCC Association made the direct transfer to Akamasoa account the sum of $89,838.00 (53,112.23 Euros)
The rest $23740 (less 10% for the admiration fee; Euros 13,238.37) has been forwarded by Catholic Mission on the 6th March 2019 .
FROM FR PEDRO TO ALL:
Chers bienfaiteurs à Sydney,
Encore une fois nous étions agréablement surpris de votre générosité lors de la 20ème Soirée de Charité que vous avez réalisé pour les enfants et les familles pauvres d’Akamasoa.
Nous sommes réellement heureux de voir votre détermination d’apporter votre brique au combat contre l’extrême pauvreté qui mène notre Association Akamasoa depuis 30 ans.
Par cette lettre, au nom de tous mes coéquipiers, responsables, les familles démunies et les milliers d’enfants qui étudient à Akamasoa, je voudrais vous dire notre profond remerciement pour ce grand amour avec lequel vous réalisez tous les ans ce grand Diner de Charité.
Je vois avec une grande admiration que la recette de votre Soirée augmente chaque année pour la plus grande joie des familles démunies qui bénéficieront de votre aide.
La somme de 66,350.60 euros que nous avons reçu de cette Soirée de Charité, nous allons l’utiliser pour acheter les médicaments qui sont tellement chers ici à Madagascar et que beaucoup des malades ne peuvent pas payer ces médicaments. Grâce à votre solidarité, des nombreux malades guérissent.
Ensuite une deuxième partie, nous l’utilisons pour acheter la nourriture puisque nous donnons tous les jours un repas à 9.000 enfants et un millier des personnes âgées et femmes seules. Cette nourriture permet aux enfants d’aller à l’école, aux femmes seules de travailler et s’occuper de ses enfants, et aux personnes âgées de manger à leur faim, les dernières années de leur vie.
Pour cet amour, cette solidarité et ce partage effectif, concret, nous vous redisons notre gratitude et notre reconnaissance !
Nous prions le Seigneur de vous donner bonne santé, une longue vie et surtout Sa Bénédiction pour que vous soyez heureux au milieu de votre famille !
Très fraternellement !
Père Pedro