Celebration of Nativity of Mother Mary and Inauguration of ‘Young Tanzania’
SMAM: Kifaru, Same, Tanzania: The popularly known ‘Monti Fest’ the feast of Nativity of Mother Mary was celebrated with devotion at the Mary Immaculate conception Church, Kifaru SAME on Thursday evening at 4:30pm.
Parish Priest Fr Hilary Lobo celebrated the Holy Eucharist and SMAM Social Development director Fr Victor Machado gave the homily on the significance of the celebrations. Mission superior Fr Alwyn M J D’Souza and Asst. Parish Priest Fr Jason Lobo were the concelebrants.
Parishioners brought flowers & offerings to mother Mary & Fr Hilary Lobo blessed the new crops, grains and vegetables offered by faithful. Parishioners conducted the beautiful choir & enhanced the tempo of the celebrations.
After the mass, all were distributed with the Sugarcane one of the significance of ‘Monti Fest’. Leonardo Laghua and family donated the same. Sisters of the Marian convent decorated the Alter and Mother Mary’s statue. Brother Lanson Pinto was instrumental in all arrangements. At the end, the parish priest thanked all those who regularly joined for the 9 days Novena and everyone who participated in the celebrations.
Blessing and Inauguration of ‘Young Tanzania’:
After the celebrations, all parishioners along with priests marched towards the Youth co-operative project site called ‘Young Tanzania’. It is an initiative of the Society of Mangalore Africa Mission [SMAM] to empower the youth of Kifaru Parish and generate employment through self-sustaining projects. Parish Priest Fr Hilary Lobo blessed the newly built Chicken and Piggery farm and prayed for its success and entrusted it to the care of Mother Mary.
Through the co-operative society, youth will have small-scale livestock industry which will help not only the parish youth but also the parishioners. SMAM has many plans to empower the poor people of Kifaru and its nearby villages. All parishioners seemed to be very happy with the initiative. Mission superior Fr Alwyn M J D’Souza thanked everyone who worked for the realization of the project.
