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Swiss Malayalee Friends (SMF)
is a non-profit, non-political, cultural organization
working towards the betterment of the social lifestyle
by promoting cultural awareness among Malayalees in
Switzerland. Established in 1999 at a modest level in
Allschwil, Basel, by a handful of dedicated members, SMF
has already acquired wide recognition among Malayalees
in terms of performance and speciality of its cultural
programmes and within this short period of time, it
ranks one among the prominent organizations in
Switzerland.
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They
try to bring in the tradition and culture of our
land through their activities and the events they
conduct as part of their regular programme and this
provides a forum for its participants to meet and
exchange their views and also to foster friendship,
goodwill and understanding among its members. Being
a cultural organization, their fundamental objective
is to promote our language and culture and uphold
the cultural heritage and integrity of our land.
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Apart from conducting
cultural programmes, SMF also stands for helping
third world countries including India in
collaboration with agencies working in similar areas
and SMF have extended substantial help in this
direction during the past years. |
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In addition to the
above, SMF provides opportunities to interested
persons to exhibit their hidden talents and
encourages its members including their families &
children to paricipate and take leadeship activities
of the organization. SMF also aims at creating a
spirit of comradeship and understanding among fellow
Malayalees by providing occasions and platform to
meet together and discuss their common problems in
this otherwise busy life. |
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| Easter
Celebrations 2008 |
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Every
year they celebrate Easter with a holy mass , lunch
and a long cultural programme at the end .Fr Saji
Naduveildathu celebrated mass and gave the easter
message during the mass and during the cultural
programme.Sunny Mankudyil ,president of SMF welcomed
the audience and mentioned about the late Stephan
Vellarackal, one of the founding members who passed
away one year ago. Ranga Puja was taken from the
Album of Ceriac Cherukad titled "Ambara Rani". The
programme was moderated by Anna Marie Akkat . The
cultural evening consisted of all kinds of items
like single, group songs and dances .A comedy script
directed by Stephen Chirackal and acted by a group
of children attracted the attention of the audience
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Mathew Kureekal
gave the vote of thanks and Sibi Thottukadavil
conducted a tampola in which 10 prizes were
distributed to the winners. The delicious lunch was
prepared by group of specialists liks Roy Menacherry,
Sunny James, Thomas Mookanam Parambil , George
Pulprayil . |
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| Dr.Vayala Vasudevan Pillai
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This year they were privileged to have Dr.
Vayala Vasudevan Pillai who gave an impressive
speech and the audience listened to him in pin
drop silence for 15 minutes being a Hindu
speaking on Christ in modern society. He has
written 12 plays and 2 books on theatre studies
. He mentioned that he was associated Xtians
because he studied in Mar Ivanios College and
became a professor there for several years and
the life of Christ, the Bible had influence on
his dramas which he wrote in later years. He
acted the role of Jesus Christ years back in the
drama named " In the foot steps of Christ
"directed by William D'Crux in the sea shore of
Trivandrum during a church festival.
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At that time , the audience listened and saw the
drama as if they were attending a holy mass in
church . During the interval , some people came
to the green room to give their respect to the
man who was acting as Jesus Christ .At that time
, the people did not have TVs or serials to
watch but during the church or temple festivals,
drama was one source of entertainment . He is at
the moment Director and Dean , Faculty of Fine
Arts , Centre for Performing and Visual Arts,
University of Kerala Trivandurm . |
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To hear the speech of Vasudevan Pillai , click below :
Dr.Vayala Vasudeva Pillai : Swiss Malayalee Friends
Allschwil Switzerland
To see the photo album click below
Play & View All Images
To see the Video clips click below:
Swiss Malayalee Friends Allschwil Easter celebration
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