Hi everyone, my name is Marie-Lorry Coret and I am doing a BA in mass communication at the Charles Telfair Institute. My specializations are Public Relations and Journalism. As for Public Relations 393 all the students had to do an internship, I chose to do mine at Groupe A de Cassis mostly known as Lacaz A.
About Groupe A de Cassis:
Groupe A de Cassis is a Non-governmental organization operating in Port-Louis, the capital of Mauritius. This organization is mainly to help people living with the HIV/AIDS, sex workers, those living in poverty and drug addicts. These people are given food, shelter throughout the day at Lacaz A, and also the parents of the victims are given moral supports. Groupe A de Cassis organises many campaigns in order to make people aware about the dangers which are encountered by society. The last campaign organised was on Monday May 20, 2013 and it was a candle light.
Sub-organizations:
Groupe A de Cassis has many sub-organizations such as les Zenfans Benis, Viv A, SEL, Cazado, Outreach Program.
Les Zenfans Benis is a group for children aged between 7 to thirteen years old. They meet every Saturday at Lacaz A and they are guided by social workers.
Viv A is a group for all those who are living with HIV/AIDS and they all meet on Wednesdays to have counselling sessions by the members of Lacaz A.
SEL is a group of parents who have a relative in drug addition and they meet every Thursday.
Cazado is a group of youngsters who meet every Mondays where they see all the values which have been given to them.
Outreach program is to help the sex workers and the drug addicts who want to benefit the methadone.
The mission of Groupe A de Cassis is to respect the human dignity.
So far, I enjoy a lot my internship at Groupe A de Cassis because there are so many things which I am learning there.
3 comments:
Hi Lorry,
Groupe A seems to be a wide network of social workers indeed, by the number of subdivisions or as you call it, sub-organisations.
The HIV/AIDS branch was the most well-known feature or cause associated with the main NGO's name. People having drug problems is the second great cause embraced by "Groupe A".
It seems you are someone having a great care and heart for people who are in difficulty. May be this compassion will lead you to engage actively in "working with the poor".
Anyway, across the sub-divisions, every man/woman is seen as a person "capable of" and not as a "problem". I think finding the good in every person is a blessing and the right compassionate way to help humbly one another.
Hi Gilbert,
First of all I want to thank you for this encouraging comment. Indeed I really love "working with the poor" as you said. I am already engaged every Saturday with children who do not have the means for education and I think that because of this, I did not find working with a Non-Governmental Organization being difficult. All sex workers, drug addicts and HIV/Aids people are treated equally and respected at Groupe A. They really feel at home because they are given food, shelter and entertainment such as watching television, going to retreats and also participating in contests(drawing, singing).
Thank you again.
Cheers, Lorry
Hello Lorry,
Your internship seems to be a really challenging one for you as you are gaining your chance to apply what you have learned throughout your Public Relations course and apply it within the real world that also for a non profit organsation.
What better experience can that be your knowledge is going to be helpful to devise new strategies for this NGO which deals with providing help to the people suffering from HIV AIDS and those sex workers.
Other Public Relations techniques which you could use and which we learn throughout our course can be events management that is try to organise some kind of small scale event for create awareness about the issue, this can help to raise sponsorship for the organisation which is one of the task of PR Practitioner, through this event you could also provide brochures for better sensitization.
Other technique I can suggest you is to do community management whereby try to integrate the general public within your cause and don’t major tool of PR Practitioners of today ‘SOCIAL MEDIA’.
Thanks Lorry for sharing your experience.
Cheers Ourvashi.
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