Lions Club of Seychelles inducts new president, office bearers |13 July 2022
The office bearers
New members of the Lions Club of Seychelles were officially inducted and sworn in during a brief ceremony at the Chilli Bar Restaurant, La Louise last Friday evening.
The new president for the lionistic year 2022-2023 is Md Nur Alam, the secretary is Mani Guru and treasurer Suresh Babu.
Other new office bearers are first vice-president Vijay Pandaya, second vice-president Hasa Al Zahid, third vice-president Suresh Babu and membership chairperson Dr Sasikumar.
Another major achievement for Seychelles is the appointment of regional chairperson Karpagam Senthil Kumar and zone chair D.V Sharma.
The event started off with the customary Lions roar followed by a lion toast which was proposed to the health of the President of the Republic of Seychelles Wavel Ramkalawan and to the international Lions club.
In his acceptance speech, new club president Lion Md Nur Alam explained that one of his main roles as president is to promote and encourage unity among club members and his focus will be on service to the community and leadership development.
“Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It's important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It's the way in which we ourselves grow and develop. I am positive that along with the members of Centennial Women’s Lions club of Seychelles, Melvin Jones Lions Club of Seychelles we will continue to serve the community by identifying areas that need attention and to make a difference. As a service club we will continue to assist the less fortunate in our community. As a club we will strengthen our fellowship among members with more activities together with our families. We need to give good example to the young professionals who may then become Lions and show interest in caring for those who need help. Lions are people who have the desire to make a difference in our communities. Through our actions Lions can make a difference. ‘Where there is a need, there is a lion’, said Mr Alam.
Outgoing president of Lions Club Seychelles, Lion Abul Kalam Azad, welcomed all members and guests and noted that during the pandemic situation the Lions Club of Seychelles was able to accomplish all of its goals. It also received the best award: 1) Sight Programme, 2) Publicity, 3) Club extension, 4) Best joint activities.
He said: “As club president I feel that we did our best to the betterment of service in Seychelles and on behalf of Lions Club Seychelles president I sincerely extend my thanks and gratitude to all members of Lions Club Seychelles, RC, ZC, DOs presidents and board members of all three clubs. On behalf of my team I thank you all once again for keeping the trust and confident in us for the Lionistic year 2021-2022. I wish the incoming club president, Lion Md Nur Alam, and his team a very successful and prosperous Lionistic year 2022-2023. As an immediate past president I am always available for any kind of assistance and support.”
For outgoing region chair, Dr Sashi Kumar, the Lionistic year 2021-2022 which came to an end on June 30 was an extremely successful one. Despite the very unfortunate and unusual circumstances due to the coronavirus pandemic the Lions of Seychelles managed to excel magnificently. I take this opportunity to congratulate all the clubs for doing extremely well during this difficult situation. Wonderful, meaningful and well-arranged activities throughout the year. The number of activities done and reported is excellent. Thanks a million for supporting me as your region chairperson.
It has been a wonderful experience working with you all for one year. As a region chairperson I focused on service, membership, leadership, training club development. As a region chairperson I monitored the health and status of clubs in the region and motivated, counselled and communicated with the clubs and promoted district programmes and activities. I also kept the district leadership team informed of the clubs’ activities and shared concerns and challenges. I promoted the clubs’ quality initiatives and also facilitated the exchange of ideas about programmes, projects, activities among clubs in the region, promoted district, multiple district and international programmes to clubs in the region.
Incoming region chair Karpagam Senthil Kumar also made a speech and said: “I am honoured and delighted to take up this opportunity as region chair given to me by the district governor Lion Shezhan for this year 2022-23. It gives me great privilege to be the first lady region chair and more importantly I take this moment to inform that this year Seychelles falls under an individual region G Zone 13 which was a long term dream for Lions of Seychelles. Taking this opportunity, we the Lions can do much more for Lionism as well as for our community. All these will be possible and is possible if we work together united. Our theme for this year is ‘Become Champions of Service’. Each and every member is a champion. This is to make us realise that we are not only members but born champions... I would like to thank Lion Dhana Sasikumar and IPRC Lion Dr Sasikumar for motivating me in joining Lionism. If not I wouldn’t be here today taking up such a responsible post in a well-recognised organisation. As region chair my main vision is to encourage members in bringing in more new active members and volunteers, make members participate in various leadership development programmes and other training programmes organised by the district and international, formation of new clubs including Leo club and to strengthen the existing clubs to bring and pull in more leaders from Seychelles in district as well as international level, to promote and encourage unity among clubs and to focus on more service oriented projects required for our community.
Contributed
