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Reflections on the Gala Première of Songs of Life and Liberty By
Rea Pournaras, a Campus des Nations parent:
"It
was Ann Krake (head of music at Nations) who strongly encouraged me,
saying: “Please come, come, it will be so much fun.” for the first
rehearsal programme at Pregny back in September 2007. And that’s how I
found myself being a part of this huge family of 500+ singers in this
unforgettable Scott Stroman concert for FOTIS. My two daughters also
participated - they had been lucky enough to sit with Scott and learn
from him in his two previous concert productions at La
Châtaigneraie.
A few months before, I had received an appealing invitation from John
Aram to join the FOTIS concert committee for the upcoming, first ever,
Foundation-wide concert. Not only was I singing but I also found myself
helping with all my heart to add an incremental stone to build up what
everyone in our school community and beyond admits was a great event.
We produced special concert T-shirts, actually made in India, which
were the official dress code of all performers and the composer
himself. Special thanks go to Diana Smith who introduced me to Uma
Amurangham, another Nations parent. The T-shirts gently sent a lively,
beautiful and meaningful message to the whole audience, printed with
just a few words that summed up the whole idea of this truly
sensational event:
“Students Performing for
Students”
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44 students
receive secondary education thanks to FOTIS and a wonderful Gala Concert
As a result of the enormous success of the Songs of Life and Liberty
concert last March, FOTIS is now supporting the secondary school
education of 44 students in Africa and South America. Thank you all for
your generosity and welcome to the first FOTIS newsletter which will
give you some information about how the work is expanding.
It has been something of a challenge going from
three students to so many in such a short time. FOTIS has secure
financing - thanks to the work of the performers, volunteers, music
staff, teachers and parents, and to the generosity of our sponsors -
and can guarantee that it will be able to fulfil its most important
commitment which is to pay for these 44 children until they complete
their schooling. Having come across huge differences in the amount of
money needed to provide similar opportunities in different countries,
the Committee is continuously monitoring what it spends and how,
keeping very careful projections of how much to expect cost rises over
the foreseeable future and looking at other ways to raise further funds
to develop FOTIS.
An early decision has been to have sufficient reserves to be able to
match - either wholly or in part - funds raised by colleagues within
the International School for projects with which
they are closely involved. The Committee feels that this is a very
important way it can help Ecolint activists make their fundraising
efforts much more effective. Over time FOTIS is looking to develop
increasing close links with all the humanitarian educational efforts
being made within the school. This should go hand in hand with further
developments FOTIS hopes to achieve over the next couple of years.
In-depth planning with Ecolint staff will start early next year.
Meanwhile we have had many other requests from Swissbased individuals
with close links to children needing help to pay for their schooling.
Sadly, we have to turn down their requests - unless you can help us.
Please do!
FOTIS needs more help
if it is pay for schooling for these children in Burundi
Because of the conflict in Burundi, Roger Mburente moved to Rwanda as a
refugee in 1972 where he stayed until 1985. He then came to Switzerland
to study theology at Fribourg and now works with the Catholic Church in
Colombier and Peseux. He is also a tutor in Humanitarian Assistance) at
the Institutut oecuménique de Bossey . Since 2005, he has
returned to Burundi every year with young Swiss volunteers. The
children in this picture are mostly very poor orphans who have
benefited from the Swiss link to AVEDEC (Association Villageoise
d’Entraide et de Développement Communautaire) based in Gitega,
central Burundi. Thanks mostly to Swiss support, there is now access to
fresh water and sanitation in their village but it is obvious there is
simply no future for so many brilliant young people who can’t go to
secondary school. Some are orphans of war or HIV AIDS; others have
parents who can’t pay the school fees. Their actual school fees are
only CHF 180 annually, although ccommodation, food, clothing and
other expenses bring the total to nearer CHF 1,500. Nonetheless, such
is the traditional generosity of friends and family members in Africa,
all that is keeping them out of school is a very few hundred francs per
year. The FOTIS Committee finds it very hard to have to turn down such
applicants. But in the current financial turmoil, the Committee has to
err on the side of caution so as not to let down existing commitments
to the 44 FOTIS students. Please help us to work with many more
children! They need your support!.
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Meet a past Student,
Beti Ru (Burundi)
 "It is a long way from Geneva to Adelaide,
South Australia, but the city reminds me a little bit of Geneva in the
summer. Both are clean, quiet and reliably well-run. I often reflect
about the road that led me here, and it all starts at La Grande
Boissière, where I was kindly offered a scholarship to pursue an
IB diploma after escaping my
native Burundi in the midst of a civil war in 1993. I completed my IB
in 1996 and went to the US to study Government / Political Science at
Dartmouth College and, for a time, at the London School of Economics. I
then worked as a Corporate Litigation and Intellectual Property
paralegal in New York City until early this year. While in New York, I
met my future wife, Ari, who was from Adelaide. She moved back here in
2006, and I soon followed. I now work as a Case Manager for a company
that manages South Australia’s Workers Compensation authority."
Meet a Student, Neema
Zacharia
 Neema is from Tanzania and is the seventh of
ten children whose father has abandoned them. Her sister paid for her
school fees until her own children needed schooling. Following a local
tradition, and supported by FOTIS, Neema is currently working as a
student teacher for a year at Gyetighi Primary School under the
auspices of the Rift Valley Children's Village. She intends to finish
her last two years of high school next year and ultimately hopes to
become a lawyer.
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