<B>Thinking of our athletes ! </B>

The Mauritian community in Melbourne must be busy ?welcoming members of the Mauritian team, but also caught up in the excitement of the Melbourne 2006 XVIII Commonwealth Games between 15-26 March,? said the Australian High Commissioner during a reception he hosted for the Mauritian delegation. The delegation left the country to uphold the Mauritian flag in Melbourne. After Queen Elizabeth II opened the games during an imposing and entertaining ceremony, they got under way. As the level of competition is really high, Mauritian athletes are more expected to beat national records than to bring back medals? This competition will be an opportunity to learn more from the record breakers worldwide! Their presence there is enough to make the nation proud of its athletes

<B>HSBC helps SOS Village with education project</B>

Last Friday, the CEO of HSBC, Phillip Dawe, handed a cheque to the national director of SOS Children?s Village. Thanks to its credit card charity rewards programme and its special Christmas cards, the bank was able to collect Rs 344,000 for the children. ?I would like to thank our many generous cardholders and Mastercard International for supporting our Charity Rewards and Christmas Cards programmes (?) We have been running our credit cards rewards programme for a number of years. Never before, however, have we had such a large response from our customers to a single programme,? declared Phillip Dawe. This money will contribute to the funding of the SOS Children?s Villages? Vocational Education and Training for adolescents (VET). This programme is aimed at initiating adolescents in VET and trades, imparting basic knowledge and skills in local trades and catering for their developmental needs.