From the Editor

Dear Readers,

Many of you, like me, may not have known that the 23rd of June, was the UN International Widow's D a y . I t ' s a f a i r l y n e w commemorative day on the UN's calendar and it is intended to raise our awareness of widows around the world.

Summer has officially arrived in the northern hemisphere and children and their teachers are out of school. People are wearing lighter clothes and enjoying the chance to be active and out in the fresh air.

In the southern hemisphere we have finished the long rains and are adding extra blankets to our beds as we begin the “winter” season. Wherever you are in the world and whatever your weather, we wish you well and good times with family and friends.

Our July issue has an interesting r a n g e o f a r t i c l e s f o r y o u r enjoyment, enlightenment and n e c e s s a r y a c t i o n . I s a b e l l a DeSouza tells us how she took up the sport of golf and the benefits she has gained as a result in “Lady Golfer's Diary”. Mary Anne Cordeiro shares the plans for the Deccan Heritage Foundation's music festival which will be held at the end of this year. Our gifted Frederika Menezes treats us to a beautiful poem called “Heart to Heart”. We know you'll love it!

Goan women continue to make the headlines and chalk up firsts. We share an article about Stefi Cruz , a young violin teacher, who will represent India in the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland. Dr. Marguerite Theophal shares her thoughts about parables with us in a wise article. Dr Jaya Earnest raises our awareness of the plight of widows in Afghanistan and Africa and gives us a chance to “Adopt a Widow”. Pamela Gonsalves shares her l ight hearted observations about a bus ride from Calangute Beach to the Panjim Bus Terminal.

Enjoy the issue!

(for the Editorial Team)

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LADY GOLFER'S DIARY

Challenge, discipline, and ecstasy come together with this game. The beauty of the golf courses is an additional benefit as you mingle with nature and the Creator's paradise.

I won several golf prizes during my first five years of playing the game. Those were thrilling experiences which left me with happy memories. At one Ladies Open

competition I won the first p r i ze i n my div is ion and my handicap dropped to 19. I had to give m y f i r s t w i n n e r ' s speech. Golf g i v e s y o u u n e x p e c t e d opportunities t o i m p r o v e yourself!

Lady golfers are a stylish lot. What with the i r p re t ty

skirts or shorts, their colourful golf shirts and their flamboyant hats, they beautify the golf course and add charm to it. Unfortunately my current job as PA to the Chairman of a group of companies is hectic andI am unable to join the ladies' weekday competitions.

If I have any regret at my deathbed, it will be that I did not play enough golf in my lifetime!

Golf is a very beautiful game. Ladies, I encourage you to venture into this exciting game.

Golf was a game that boggled my mind. I wondered why my husband and his friends found such a thrill hitting a tiny little ball and got such joy dropping it in a tiny little hole. Every Saturday I moaned and groaned, knowing my husband would leave me alone on Sunday to go and play with his buddies. One fine Saturday morning I announced to my husband that I would walk with him and his friends on the golf course on Sunday. He was shocked. I was determined.

That Sunday was an e xpe r i e n c e t h a t never left my mind. I found that the men really concentrated on the ball, trying to hit it straight and long. There was silence all around. Finally when every man put the ball in t h e t i n y h o l e (putting they call it) they would talk. I t a g g e d a l o n g taking note of all t h e b e a u t y o f nature around me. When we made it to the 18th hole, I thought the game was over. Not so. After a shower there were a few drinks and then the happenings during the 18 holes were discussed in detail. My aim was to be with my husband so for 12 whole years I walked with four avid golfers every Sunday.

Then came the shock. I lost my job. It was traumatic. I decided then that perhaps I should take up learning golf with the wicked intention that I would get to play with my husband. I took a few lessons and from then on, I would wake up early and be at the Sigona Golf Club Nairobi Kenya every day at 7 am for a whole month, playing alone to get better. In two months time I was at work again but I continued golfing and after six months I obtained my handicap, an essential number in golf that enables you to rate yourself and play with

others. It was the happiest day of my life.

It is only when you take up golf, you realize what an excit ing game it is.

Isabella DeSouza (Nairobi, Kenya)

Issue 28 | Page 2

DHF unveiled plans for the Reis Magos

International Festival of Music (“RIFM”)

at a high profile reception showcasing

the historical Deccan region of India, at

the Indian High Commission in London

on 21 May 2014. The event was

generously hosted by His Excellency

Ranjan Mathai, High Commissioner of

India to the UK, who invited leading

members of the Indian business

community.

After an introduction by the High

Commiss ioner, George Miche l l ,

Founding Trustee of DHF and an

archaeologist specialising in the Deccan

region, gave a fascinating slide show

presentation highlighting some of the

wonderful historical treasures of the

Deccan region. This was followed by

Mary Anne who outlined the charity's

principal aims and how the launch of the

RIFM is in line with DHF's strategy. The

first festival will be held at the newly-

restored 16th century Reis Magos Fort in

Panjim, Goa from 12 December to 14

December, 2014.

Heritage is of extraordinary importance

to the Deccan region and Goa in

particular owing to its unique historical

background. DHF is a charitable

organisation whose goal is to preserve,

restore and promote the heritage as well

as the plethora of places of cultural

importance in the Deccan region of India

through conservation, cultural and

educational projects. One of its key

objectives is to pass on this rich heritage

t o t he eve r -mode rn i s i ng nex t

generation of Indians as well as

enlightened foreign visitors to the

region. RIFM will generally follow a

theme that will reflect the rich heritage

of Goa and in 2014 the theme will be

“the Sea”.

RIFM will revive a magnificent cultural

space in Goa for the benefit of the local

populace and visitors alike. A musical

extravaganza will be put on to celebrate

both traditional Goan music including

fado, dekhni and Mando in addition to

western classical music performed by

world acclaimed musicians including the

soprano singer, Patricia Rozario OBE, a

native Goan herself. This reflects the

burgeoning interest in western classical

music in vogue all over India.

DHF is working in partnership with the

Giving Voice Society and INTACH with

financial support from the Dempo Group

as Principal Sponsor and the Helen

Hamlyn Trust as Education Sponsor. The

partners will engage around 1000 local

school children in workshops from around

20 schools around Goa in advance of the

festival.

Mary Anne stated: “We feel that alongside

a high level music festival, the restoration

of Reis Magos opens the possibility of

showcasing educational work on Indian

heritage themes together with relevant

arts and artefacts. In particular we are

interested in the overall educational

possibilities that a high level event of this

nature will foster in Goa…The festival will

also serve as a focal point for work in

schools through the organisation of a

competition, the finale of which will take

place in the reconstructed jewel that is

Reis Magos itself.”

DECCAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION AND PLANS FOR THE REIS MAGOS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MUSIC

Mary Anne Cordeiro (London, UK)

Mary Anne Cordeiro was awarded an Open Scholarship to Worcester College Oxford and graduated with an M.A. honours degree in Chemistry having successfully completed a

dissertation in Quantum Pharmacology. Since then she worked in the City with Investment Banks including Goldman Sachs, before becoming a Venture Capitalist with a passion for

Healthcare Technology. Mary Anne is Chair of BalletBoyz, member of the Oxford Chemistry Development Board and has interests at the Royal Academy of Arts and Asia

House. She has a love for India, inculcated in her by her parents. She is Co-founding Chair of the Board of the Deccan Heritage Foundation (“DHF”).

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A frown I caughtOne bright dayOn the face ofA loved one

It stubbornly remained…

I sang lines fromA happy song

Recited a rhymeThat promised to turn frowns

Upside down…

To my dismayThe frown did not

Go away!

This loved oneI took on a spree

Of buying fun and fancy thingsI emptied my purse but It still was for nothing…

The frown stoodStrictly in place

I was running out of ideas

On how to bring a smileBack to that dear face!

I bought an ice cream coneTwo in fact

One for me and the otherFor the “frowny” …

The entire day having Gone by, it was evening

As we sat on a bench by a busy roadside…

I asked my dear one quietlyTo tell me what the matter was

'Trust me, I will make youSmile again' I said…

That did itThe frown took an

Upward turn!

We talked, my dear one and meI needn't have spent all day

Trying to buy cheer…All that was requiredwas heart to heart

Company!

HEART TO HEART COMPANY

Frederika Menezes (Goa, India)

Mary Anne Cordeiro, Chair of theDeccan Heritage Foundation

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Anthem; an extract from Henry Purcell's 'Come Ye Sons of Art'; and a string piece also by Paul Carroll called 'Castle of Mey'.

How do you feel at the prospect of this trip? How have you been preparing for it?

I'm incredibly excited as this is my first overseas trip. It's going to be such a novel experience, meeting other young musicians from other Commonwealth countries.

I've been working very hard to learn the music scores. I've been assigned the first violin part which is difficult.

Tell us how you began studying the violin. You come from a musical family, don't you?

My father Douglas Cruz played guitar in several popular bands and my mother Esperanca acted and sang in Konkani tiatr. My sisters Joy, Sandy and I are triplets. Both of them play keyboards and sing. I began violin study at age 9. My long-term teachers include Caridade Fernandes, Eshvita Nazareth and George Gama.

Congratu la t ions on th is fabu lous opportunity. Tell us how it came about.

I've been working for the last year and a half as a violin teacher at Child's Play India Foundation (www.childsplayindia.org), a music charity that works to bring classical music to India's disadvantaged children.

Child's Play is one of the few institutions f r o m I n d i a c h o s e n t o j o i n t h e Commonwealth Music Partnership. In May, we were invited to send a representative to p lay in the v io l in sect ion of the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra as part of the build-up to the Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014. I auditioned and was selected.

Where will you be playing?

The Commonwealth Youth Orchestra will have concert performances at the Royal Concert Hall Glasgow; St. James's Palace and the Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, London between 23 and 25 June.

Do you know the concert programmes yet?

Our concert repertoire will include Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for Strings in A major; Concerto for Violin and Strings No. 2 by Paul Carroll; The Commonwealth Song and

How long have you been a violin teacher?

I have been teaching privately for about nine years and at the Pilar music school for seven. I have been with Child's Play since January 2013.

Child's Play India Foundation has sponsored my own further p r o f e s s i o n a l t r a i n i n g : masterclasses with the violinist Rasa Zukauskaite improved my confidence and my technique. The intensive Suzuki Violin teacher training programme taught me the principles of the

Suzuki ethos and methods of teaching. Most recently, the week-long Trinity Laban Summer Music Academy course in Mumbai helped me in planning my sessions, dealing with teacher-pupil relationships and learning new teaching strategies.

What of the future?

This wonderful opportunity will certainly give me a broader perspective that I can impart to my pupils as well. It is the first of many opportunities for the children, the teaching staff and the musicians who play in Camerata Child's Play India.

STEFI CRUZ TO REPRESENT INDIA IN COMMONWEALTH YOUTH ORCHESTRA IN LONDON AND GLASGOW

Dr. Luis Dias (Goa, India)

Stefi Cruz, a young violinist and teacher from Aldona Goa has been selected to represent India in the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra, a creation of the Commonwealth Music Partnership which has Queen Elizabeth II as Diamond Jubilee Patron and Maestro Zubin Mehta as Music Patron. She spoke to the Navhind Times in an exclusive interview. Adapted and used with permission.

A lost sheep, a mustard seed, a woman searching determinedly for her lost coin, an errant son and a barren fig tree, have all conveyed timeless and extraordinary truths. In choosing to teach through parables, Jesus was using a common, popular device most other Jewish rabbis had used over the years; yet the parables of Jesus, with examples drawn from ordinary, everyday life in ancient Palestine, are the ones we are most familiar with. A total of 33 parables are recorded in the books of the Gospel, and their impact - and enduring effectiveness - lies in making deeper theological truths accessible to all people. In each parable, there is the literal meaning and a deeper, beneath-the-surface message about living God's teachings.

The English word 'parable', from the Greek word 'parabole', literally means 'to place alongside'. So a parable, at its most basic, compares one thing to another. For example, one parable describes the simple transformation of dough into bread by the inclusion of yeast. We learn that we are transformed when we allow God's word to take root in our hearts, and in turn, are

called to be 'leaven' that transforms the society in which we live and work. Why should a shepherd go through a lot of trouble, even risking his life to find one lost sheep when 99 are safe in his care? The shepherd's concern for one lost sheep and his willingness to risk his own life for it conveys to listeners a lot about God's concern for each of his children. As a translation of the Hebrew word 'mashal', the word parable may also refer to a riddle. So, while many of Jesus's parables start out grounded in the commonplace, they contain a twist which would, in many ways, contradict or question assumptions and beliefs his listeners had held for years.

Take, for example, the parable of the good Samaritan. A Samaritan man, who would be a person from a group that orthodox Jews of the time despised and considered as being unworthy of God, ends up as the selfless, compassionate hero in a story. Wealthy kings, whose normal concerns are with their own wealth and power, end up cancelling huge debts owed to them by mere servants. "The marrow of a parable," Jerome, an early church father, declared, "is different from the promise of its surface,

and like as gold is sought for in the earth, the kernel in a nut and hidden fruit in the prickly covering of chestnuts, so, too, in parables we must search more deeply for divine meaning."

Perhaps the best advice to help us learn from parables today comes from Sally McFague, a theology professor, who suggests that the first thing to do with a parable is to read it several times, letting the story penetrate us, rather than looking around for possible interpretations of it. Sometimes Jesus ends a parable with the words: 'Let those who have ears listen', and we could receive the message as, 'Here's my story; not all of you may get it, but some of you - do try to understand it'. Jesus taught in parables so that people would remember them, pass them on, puzzle over them, perhaps discuss them, and try to figure out what they really meant. Helping us break habitual patterns, stereotypes or biases, the purpose of Jesus's parables is to bring about a change of mind and heart in those who care to truly listen.

Follow Marguerite Theophil on our website, www.speakingtree.in

LET THOSE WHO HAVE EARS LISTEN

Dr. Marguerite Theopil (Mumbai, India)

MY BUS JOURNEY FROM CALANGUTE BEACH TO PANJIM BUS TERMINAL – GOA

Pam Gonsalves (Founder Member - UK)

with cashew nut trees in the distance.

Soon we came to the village of Pilerne with small family homes of different shapes and sizes. The colour palate has gone wild, which makes this and other villages quite picturesque. A strong smell of fish reminded me that we must be near the small fishing village of Betim. After going under a couple of bridges and down winding roads we arrived at the Panjim bus terminal, an hour's journey, from Calangute. There seem to be hundreds of buses arriving from and leaving to destinations all over Goa.

This is a must for anyone visiting Goa. It is quite an adventure and you get a real flavour of what Goa is like away from the hustle and bustle of the main tourist areas! It is an enjoyable and interesting bus journey and I'd recommend it, even for the faint hearted!

My one hour bus journey from Calangute Beach to Panjim bus terminal cost me Rs.20/- each way on a 'ladies only' seat away from the blazing sunshine. The bus departed at 9.30 am sharp after much hooting and bellowing for passengers. The “No horn please” signs by the roadside are not adhered to and there are no seats or shelters to indicate bus stops. The streets are crowded – packed bumper to bumper with taxis and scooters, shoppers, smartly dressed school children and street vendors selling fruit and hot tea. Calangute has its own charm and chaos – I remember when my parents hired a house on the main road, so going back always brings fond memories.

The bus wound its way through Calangute past the main market just managing to miss the roof tops of very tiny roadside shops. It made its way to Candolim, the

next village which was packed back to back with small shops selling almost identical goods. I saw clothing, sun glasses, sandals, beautiful coloured bedspreads and scarves. Every colour on earth is on display, making this seaside village attractive and inviting. In between I noticed restaurants, a big supermarket and banks offering good incentives for NRI's (non-resident Indians)! Both Calangute and Candolim cater for tourists who come from all corners of the globe.

The bus took a left turn and almost as if by magic the scenery and setting changed. I saw the village church surrounded by a white wall standing tall at the top of a small hill. It was quieter and there were no shops in sight. We were now travelling at quite a fast pace. The land was flat with dried paddy fields on either side and there were beautiful undulating hills scattered

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In 2011, the United Nations declared the 23rd of June as International Day of Widows. Its aim is to raise awareness about the status of widows around the world and to call upon state leaders to take actions to uplift their well-being. Three years after this declaration, not much has changed about the plight of widows in Afghanistan and Africa. This article seeks to raise awareness of widows in Afghanistan and Africa.

It is estimated that there are about 2 million Afghan widows and they live under very difficult situations. Destitution, absence of support systems, poor health, lack of economic oppor tun i t ies , den ia l o f inheritance, stigmatization and social exclusion continue t o p l ague t hem as t he g o v e r n m e n t r e m a i n s preoccupied with political and security issues. Afghan widows st i l l subsist on roadside paupe r i sm and meag re handouts from the State and their families. Widowhood in Afghanistan is like a death sentence and the shortest road to a lifetime of misery.

Jalal Foundation is one of the few organizations in Afghanistan to help widows. It is also sponsoring a signature campaign to stop violence against widows and motivate local leaders to organize support for them. Jalal Foundation wants to help widows organize and dialogue to: (a) raise the amount of financial

assistance provided; (b) adopt a national strategy for uplifting of widows' well-being; (c) create a dedicated government entity for widows; (d) enable widows to organize and secure representation.

In Africa, the estimate is even more grim: thanks to HIV/AIDS, relentless wars, and the harsh realities of poverty, an estimated one in four women in Sub-Saharan Africa, or 63 million women in all, are widows. Many of them are young,

have small children and are desperately poor. In Half a Piece of Cloth, the Courage of Africa's Count less Widows , author Jane L. Crane exposes t he da i l y realities these women f a c e . T h e b o o k c h r o n i c l e s t h e desperate plight of nearly 60 widows in seven different African countries. They range f r o m w i d o w s w h o survived the genocide in Rwanda, ran from the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, survived the "rape capital of the

world" in the Democratic Republic of Congo, fought for their land in Zambia, and cope with HIV/AIDS in a black township in South Africa.

Half a Piece of Cloth also documents how cultural factors and superstitions add to the widows' suffering, putting their children at risk of little or no education and

a life of poverty and despair. Among other atrocities, widows in African countries are blamed for their husbands' death, stripped of assets, and are frequently left desperate, without welfare or other safety nets.

Part I of Half a Piece of Cloth tells the widows' stories. Part II offers solutions – among them education, economic empowerment, and individual, grassroots and other efforts to bring about change – with the goal of helping Africa's widows to have a full and satisfying life, or what Crane calls "a whole piece of cloth."

The author Jane L. Crane discovered the desperate situation of the widows while doing graduate work on women's land issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. She founded 'Adopt a Widow' to help African widows learn a skill to support themselves and their children in a one-year program while experiencing emotional healing. Today, she lives in San Diego, California, and travels to Africa regularly. Details about her book can be found at www.halfapieceofcloth.com.

Millions of widows, including widows of war, continue to be neglected by the mainstream of development. Advocacy on their behalf will go a long way to call the attention of national leaders to their sorry predicament. Afghan and African widows have suffered for so long. The time for action is now!

Revised and adapted from an advocacy email to the International Federation of University Women and the Rwanda Association for University Women.

INTERNATIONAL WIDOW'S DAY: JUNE 23 OF EACH YEAR

Jaya Earnest (Founder Member - Perth, Western Australia)