Courtesy: Herald Malaysia


SFA brings smiles to underprivileged children

Nov 11, 2016

by Pauline Kuan

At 6.00am on October 1, the Church of St Francis of Assisi (SFA) was filled with excitement. 30 primary school students and 60 volunteers from SFA eagerly waited for the buses to arrive, for their Mission ride to SJK(T) Ladang Coalfield in Sungai Buloh to meet 85 poor and underprivileged students.

Themed Miles of Smiles, the objective of this Mission, initiated by Parish Priest, Fr Andrew Manickam OFM Cap, was to give an opportunity for our SFA children to do their part in sharing their love and bringing smiles in this Year of Mercy to these students. What better way to do this than to evangelise through games — a fun-filled mini Sports Carnival. Much thought was put into the planning as the Organising Committee wanted to ensure that each and every child from the school and from SFA were given the chance to participate. There were no SFA or Coalfield team, each team had SFA-Coalfield team mates and they were not competing with one another but were playing together.

On arriving at the school, there was a simple opening ceremony and welcoming speeches by the Head Mistress, Puan Anuradha, Fr. Andrew Manickam and Mr Raymond Letchumanen, the Orgnising Chairman. Then everyone proceeded to the field for a warm-up aerobics session led by Angela Lim, a Youth Volunteer.

Telematch for the various age groups kick started the sports programmes. It was indeed beautiful to see the children participating in games such as Hook the Fish Up, Run Waiter Run, Gorilla Walk and many more.

While the children were sweating it out in the field, our SFA Youth Volunteers were getting hot in the canteen preparing burgers to be served during break time. There was also a freeflow of ice-cream. The children and adults alike were spoilt for choice with the many different flavours served.

Futsal and Netball brought cheers and shouts from both the courts. Futsal was too good to resist. Whilst the children were busy kicking the ball, Fr. Andrew Manickam was busy recruiting players amongst the volunteers for a friendly Futsal match.

Indoor games of Carrom, Scrabble and Sahibba were also available. For many of the children, this was their first time playing these games. Volunteers were there to teach them and before long, the children had mastered the games.

All good things must come to an end, however, and at midday, everyone gathered together for the prize giving ceremony. In the spirit of sportsmanship, every participant was a winner. Everyone received a Gold Medal and a Goody bag, followed by lunch and more ice-cream! It was indeed a Saturday well spent.

Successful Evangelisation! Mission Accomplished!


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com