Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (KM/NR)
Mangalore, Oct 15: “Students of social work need to work to ensure smiles on faces of people. They need to know that smile yields another smile, thus miles of smiles will be brought on faces of people”, declared Octavia Albuquerque, former MLC, and alumni of the School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya here at the Nilaya auditorium on Sunday October 14.
Addressing old students of the institution at a get-together entitled “Annual Home Coming Day Celebration”; she said that the students were sunshine’s and lights of the society. However, according to her society is selfish and people face many problems like litigations, financial problems and loneliness. It is such cases that social workers must play the role of trouble shooters with genuine heart, she advised.
Advising not to let heart rule the mind, she urged social workers to work without expecting gratitude from people and fight their own drawbacks, to serve society better. She said social workers must learn to teach others to do fishing rather then feeding with fish. If anyone is facing problems in his or her life, either social or personal, or owing to stress, uncertainty, insecurity and the like, a social worker must teach him or her how to overcome problems, she explained thereby differentiating social work from what is generally known as giving solutions.
Moreover, she appreciated those taking up social work at graduation and post-graduation level and said today’s generation are privileged to take up social work as full time occupation, which was never possible before and advised that whoever wanted to take up social work as goal in life must first equip oneself, by being prepared which involves self-training being in touch with academics.
The School of Social Work’s Alumni association chairperson Asha Nayak welcomed the gathering. The treasurer Mabel D’Souza presented the accounts and the secretary Priya Shetty read the annual report.
Jacinta Vijay Alfred, corporator, Falnir ward and old student of the institution was felicitated on the occasion
The occasion was also graced by Dr Jacintha D’Souza, ex-officio president of the association.