SPDF celebrates International Men’s Day |20 November 2014
The Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF) organised an interactive morning for its service personnel at the Seyhcelles Defence Academy at Ile Perseverance yesterday to commemorate the International Men’s Day.
This year’s theme is ‘Keeping Men and Boys Safe’ and the objectives of the day include focusing on men's and boy's health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models.
It is an occasion to highlight discrimination against men and boys and to celebrate their achievements and contributions, in particular their contributions to community, family, marriage and child care.
"People all over the world are used to relating to men as protectors and providers, but how often do we consider the actions we can all take to protect men and boys from harm and provide them with a safe world where they can thrive and prosper?" says an international press release to mark the occasion.
International Men's Day (IMD) is an annual international event celebrated on November 19. Inaugurated in 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago, the day and its events find support from a variety of individuals and groups in Australia, the Caribbean, North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the United Nations.
In his opening speech for the occasion, the deputy Chief of Staff of the SPDF, Lt Colonel Michael Rosette, on behalf of the Chief of Defence Forces Brigadier Leopold Payet, told the soldiers that SPDF is proud to take part in the celebrations as it honours and value the courage, dedication, integrity of the men serving in the defence forces.
“Celebrating International Men’s Day is an excellent idea and give some gender balance because most of the time when people talk about gender, we think mainly of women and not men. So this is very important for us today,” said Lt Col. Rosette.
He also mentioned the various services set up by the SPDF to make sure that the social well being of its personnel is looked after and expressed his confidence that the force has hard working and dedicated servicemen who are contributing positively to the development of the SPDF and the country.
Lt Col. Rosette also recognised the spectre of social ills that are affecting Seychelles and where the force has not been spared but he also mentioned steps that are being taken to tackle the issue.
He made special mention of Minister Vincent Meriton’s message referring to our society being in danger of losing some of its men to social ills which he said is not a positive image of Seychellois men.
“Through the guidance and vision of our Commander-in-Chief President James Michel and the Chief of Defence Forces Brigadier Leopold Payet, we will be able to overscome these difficulties and work towards making the SPDF servicemen good law-abiding citizens of Seychelles,” said Lt Col. Rosette.
There were also testimonies by Lt Col. Francois Michel Antat of the Seychelles Coastguard who has spent 36 years in the force and by 28-year-old Captain Ashley Mondon of the Special Forces Unit. Ashley has clocked only eight years of service in the SPDF.
Both men stressed on the need for discipline to be able to progress in the force. They pointed out to the soldiers the abundance of opportunities available in the force and urged them to grab these.
This was followed by the cutting of a cake for the occasion by Lt Col. Rosette, Lt Col. Antat and Captain Mondon.
Presentations on spirituality and body image, positive body image and health body image also marked the occasion.
Jean Ally performed his song ‘A Time for Everything’ where everybody joined in.