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http://goanvoice.org.uk/miningpetition.php --------------------------------------------------------------------------- REPORT FROM RURAL BARDEZ: Pomburpa's Spring Fest 2010 Two hundred students of St. Elizabeth High School, Pomburpa, and adults from all over Bardez, attended the week-long "Pomburpa Spring Eco Summer Camp 2010" beginning on 12 April that culminated on World Heritage Day i.e. 18 April, with the 'Spring Fest 2010'. This was arguably the best "Spring Festival" held in spring season to celebrate a natural water spring that is reputed to have healing properties for eye irritations common during the summer season in tropical Goa. It happily coincided with the eve of the festival of the Earth Goddess Lairaee in Shirgao and her twin sister now famous all over Goa as Milagris Saibinn of Mapusa. The zatra and the feast coincide this year on 19 April, 2010. The festival was inaugurated on Monday 12 April by Dr. Walter D'Sa, Principal of St. Xavier's College, Mapusa, a college that was started at the neighbouring village of Bastora in 1963 before moving to the market town in 1968. Benhill Antao then demonstrated to the participants how to handle snakes if they dare and advised them to contact the Forest Department's animal rescue squad to show that they care. Reptiles are also the children of Mother Nature. For persons residing in Bardez, the Green Cross [Ph.9822123042] also provides the free service of catching snakes that may stray into houses in search of food, water or coolness during summer, especially as their natural habitats are being destroyed by the rapacious real estate developers. On 13 April, the young Mr. Harish Sawant promoted the learning of glass painting through hands-on experience. He also showed the students the finer points of sketching. The best of these works were on display at the Spring Fest on 18 April. On 14 April was "A Day with Joe Rose". This singer from Aldona has settled in Pomburpa and added life to the camp with his singing, a skill he taught to the participants so well that they demonstrated it with gusto at the Spring Fest. Sujit Kumar Dongre of the Centre for Environmental Education [CEE], Porvorim, interacted with the participants on biodiversity on 15 April, while Alva Fernandes of the Food & Drug Administration [FDA] interacted on 16 April. The action shifted to St. Elizabeth HS on Saturday 17 April. Goa's garbage specialist, Clinton Vaz from Benaulim, re-activated the compost pits set up some years earlier with the sponsorship of the Pilerne-based Green Ray Foundation [GRF]. It was a happy occasion for Tony De Sa, Trustee of GRF and former Headmaster of Sacred Heart High School, Parra, the mother school of the more famous St. Britto and St. Mary's High Schools of Mapusa. Funds from GRF are available for similar projects in schools anywhere in Goa, informed Tony. The best was kept for the last. The Pomburpa Spring Fest 2010, displayed the Natural Heritage of the spring and its surroundings as well as the Cultural Heritage of the village to all on World Heritage Day. There were displays of fruits, nuts, vegetables, spices, flowers and plants of commercial importance like the Soapberry or Rinta and Bhirindam or Kokum. There were mangoes, cashews, jackfruit, chickoo, pineapples, kokum, carvandam, cherries, churna [Zizyphus rugosa] and the increasingly popular Soursop [Anona muricata] that is reputed to have cancer curing properties. Miguel Braganza, who writes the popular weekly column "Green Thumb" for plant lovers, enlightened the participants on the reasons why the Tulsi [Ocimum sanctum] and the Banyan tree were conserved by Indian rituals like Tulsichem laginn and Voddachi Punov and why the Maddi [Sterculia foetida] was planted at the fama of each church feast. Traditions like drinking sol-kaddi for cholesterol balance and using the non-corrosive soapberry for washing children's were also highlighted. Editor of Vavraddeancho IXTT, Fr. Feroze Fernandes; noted architect Dean D'Cruz; former Sarpanch of Moira, Vigilia DeSa; ex-Sarpanch of Pomburpa, Sara Maria Braganza; Communidade researcher Leroy Veloso; Loss Prevention Manager of Marriott Michael D'Melo; hotel management faculty Moses Fernandes: Agriculture Officer Rena Fernandes; St. Xavier's College lecturer Alice D' Cruz; journalists Pamela D'Mello and Govind Potekar; Joe Rose, Tony De Sa and others were present for the Spring Fest. Many of them would like to have such events in their own villages. Mario Fernandes [ph.9881344379], the moving spirit behind the Pomburpa Spring Eco Camps since 2008, to bring the heritage site into focus for conservation and improvement, and Fr. Santan Carvalho, the Parish Priest of Mae de Deus church, Pomburpa, have offered their expertise to do such events for the love of Goa. ------------------------------------------------------------ [This note was received from Miguel Braganza, and is being circulated, in the public interest, to build awareness on issues of relevance to Goa. Please send your feedback to goa...@goanet.org with a copy to Miguel Braganza braganza.mig...@gmail.com or +91-9822982676 (SMS preferred).]