Written by Saranya Devan
Earlier this month, The Clairwood Tamil Institute Youth Movement held the first ever National Tamil Youth conference in South Africa thanks to the sponsorship made by Dr Mickey Chetty from the International Movement for Tamil Culture.
The conference was well received by youth from various parts of the country including dignitaries from religious and cultural organizations.
The conference was broken up into four pillars of Tamil – Tamil Education; Tamil Arts & Culture; Tamil History in South Africa and Tamil in Society today for tomorrow.
Each pillar was broken down into three sub-topics. Papers were presented by 12 youth. The presentations were well researched and gave the youth a chance to think upon each topic discussed.
Dr R.T Govender from the Arts and Culture Department and Mrs Vasugi Singh from the South African Hindu Maha Sabha presented insightful speeches.
The presentations contained important information that the delegates took back to their various organizations and communities.
A representative from the Fry’s Vegetarian Foods had given a message on the benefits of a vegan diet and had prepared a scrumptious meal for all.
The first day of the conference ended with a banquet held at the Elarish Restaurant in Bluff, where delegates were able to relax and network with each other.
A Bharathanatyam and fusion dance performance by NatyaArasan Cameron Pillay and singing by Kirthan Pillay brightened everyone’s evening. The MC of the conference, Jayendran Kandasamy also got grossed in the moment and rendered popular tamil hit songs such as Devuda from the movie Chandramukhi. The 12 youth who presented papers, received a trophy of appreciation.
The second day of the conference saw the entire delegation transported by bus to the Divine Life Society in La Mercy. The youth were given a tour as well as insight into the societies mission and purpose. They were then treated to piping hot biryani and dhall.
Thereafter, the youth visited the Brahma Kumaris at the Global Peace Centre where a session of meditation took place followed by an interesting and interactive group based exercise. The group exercise gave the youth the chance to socialize on a different level by sharing light moments and laughter.
The youth then traveled back to the Clairwood Tamil Institute where they were presented with a certificate of participation. Many were sad to say goodbye as new found friendships had been made.
The convenor of the Clairwood Tamil Institute Youth Movement, Vaijeshwari Reddy has to be commended for pulling off such a successful conference. Reddy mentioned that, “it wasn’t an easy task to gather the youth together. Many efforts were made to ensure that the conference was well received. However she was more than satisfied with how the conference ran”
Well done Vaijeshwari for a job well done.
Many youth that attended the conference await the 2017 Conference.
Vazhga Tamizh Mozhi- Long Live Tamil.
