The Financial Toastmasters club celebrated the Annual Independence Day of the country on Monday the 12th of March 2012. The club organised this event at Anna Hausser’s place, a founding member of the club. The Independence Day celebration coincided with the club’s annual humour contest, which has now become a standing tradition whereby the Toastmasters of the club, their families and friends participated.
The Toastmaster of the Day was none other than our dear Distinguished Toastmaster Padmini Lareine. She introduced the Guest of Honour Marc Israel, President of the Port Louis Toastmasters Club. In his speech, TM Marc Israel highlighted the fact that Mauritius is a place where the different cultures of the world interact in harmony and peace. He also added that each Mauritian has the responsibility to be a good communicator and a leader in the field in which he or she is. He emphasised that Mauritians are blessed to live in a country with a nice climate where there is a definite “joiede vivre”. After delivering such an inspiring speech, the Guest of Honour was invited to cut the Independence cake, symbolising the patriotism of all Toastmasters. Then, all Toastmasters and guests sang the National Anthem in unison, symbolising the unique though diverse aspects of Mauritius and our club. While singing the National Anthem, the pride of being Mauritian reflected on everyone’s faces and our thoughts were with all those who have contributed in a way or another in giving independence to our motherland.
As a token of gratitude and for his exceptional contribution to the field of communication, Marc Israel was rewarded with the Outstanding Member Award by the Financial Toastmasters Club. He has been winner in all speech competitions he participated at national level. The second member who obtained the Outstanding Member Award was Anna Hausser for her dedicated membership, generosity and support to the Financial Toastmasters Club since its inception. She has shown an incredible resilience in the face of adversity.
After such intense moments, all those present participated in the bring and share party, symbolic of the fraternity prevailing within Toastmasters clubs. Everyone had their share of food in this sumptuous lunch. The sharing of the different type of foods emphasised our different cultural origins. We all enjoyed the bonding and networking and made new friends. While the adults were having their food and drinks, the children were having lots of fun in the swimming pool and on the beach. The nice atmosphere created by a sunny weather, a wonderful beach and an azure blue sea made the day very relaxing.
After enjoying the lunch, we moved to the second part of our agenda: the Humour Contest. The brave participants were TM Emmanuel Chenede, TM Thavish Chareetur, TM Daniel Chan Cheong, TM Imteeaz Rajabalee, TM Luc Merven and TM Xavier Harel. The audience listened to each speaker with great interest.
The humourous twists and turns of TM Emmanuel were well appreciated by the audience. TM Thavish shared some jokes on topics such as “my wife” and the 4 commandments of marriage which sent the audience laughing down their hearts. TM Daniel through some humorous anecdotes pointed out how our society has evolved. TM Imteeaz narrated how he managed to obtain his skipper license in a very humoristic way. On his part, TM Luc shared a story on insects and clones. Last but not least, TM Xavier came up with a very interesting presentation and role play requiring the participation of various members and guests. We really had an enjoyable time listening to the humorous presentations. The 4 judges of the day TMs Marc Israel, Frederic Boudan, Anna Hausser and Nella Soobadoo after an intense deliberation came to announce the results. The winner of humour contest was TM Imteeaz Rajabalee. That ended our great Independence Day cum Humour Contest. As a cherry on the cake, everyone went to the beach to either swim or to enjoy sun tanning. What an enjoyable and memorable day it was for the Toastmasters and the guests. We were all tired but happy.
On the occasion of the Independence Day and as a fervent patriot and member of the club, I would like to conclude on the following quote: “Hail Mauritius, Hail Financial Toastmasters Club”.
At the Financial Toastmasters Club, members meet every 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month from 6 pm to 8 pm at Le St Georges Hotel, Port Louis. Please feel free to contact the club on the following email: financialtoast@gmail.com.