Marist Brothers Old Pupils Association (“MBOPA”) donated $155,000.00 to St Joseph’s College and Marist Brothers Primary School. The funds were from proceeds raised during the 70th Anniversary of St Joseph’s College last month.
From the same proceeds, MBOPA also donated $5,000.00 to the Little Sisters of the Poor at Mapuifagalele and another $5,000.00 the Carmelite Nuns at Vailima.
Tuatagaloa Aumua Ming Leung Wai, President of MBOPA thanked the sponsors and those who supported the anniversary celebrations. “I give praise to God for his never-ending love and favour upon us. Despite the pandemic, the Marist fraternity was able to come together for the anniversary and raise much needed funds for our Marist schools.”
The pandemic has adversely affected the Marist schools as seen by the poor payment of school fees and the high number of students who have dropped out from school. “But such adversities strengthened our resolve to push on with the anniversary celebrations. Our plan is to take our Marist schools to the next level, but we cannot do that without money and the right people,” said Tuatagaloa.
Part of the celebrations included the Vodafone Marist Fautasi Regatta which saw thousands at the Apia seawall on race day.
The regatta was made popular by the inclusion of the first ever fautasi rowed by an all-female crew led by renowned skipper, Vaimasanu’u Zita Martel. The all-ladies crew called Fautasi o Toa came second despite racing against 4 fautasi rowed by old boys of St Joseph’s College. The Fautasi o Toa heralded a new era of fautasi racing in Samoa, a once all male sport.
Another special feature of the anniversary was the involvement of the members of St Mary’s Old Girls Association (“SMOGA”) who came out in full force to support MBOPA.
As for what is on MBOPA’s agenda for next year, Tuatagaloa replied, “There were a few exciting ideas that we were not able to feature during our anniversary because of the pandemic. So we may pursue them next year. This is addition to our main focus to really help improve our Marist schools.”
The closure of MBOPA activities for the year was marked by a Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday 16th December 2020 at St Joseph’s College.
