ABUJA, 19 September 2022 – The Philippine Embassy in Abuja celebrated the Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANA Mo) with Filipinos living in Abuja by pushing it as the top theme for first-ever family day conducted by the newly reconstituted Filipino Community Association in Abuja (FCAA) at the Abuja Horse and Country Club (AHCC).
MANA Mo 2022 was thrust as the first item in the daylong outdoor picnic on 18 September 2022 with a brief talk by Roderico C. Atienza, the Embassy’s Chargé d'Affaires and Consul General, on the event’s significance. In fact, the MANA Mo 2022 banner held almost equal pride of place with a similar FCAA banner hung as a backdrop in the clubhouse. MANA Mo’s message was driven home in a fun way by a puzzle game that pitted 24 members of the Filipino community in a race using enlarged and printed WhatsApp emoji stickers designed from the 2019 iteration of the event. The participants were asked to match the photo of a sea creatures with its most appropriate cartoon bubble dialogue.
Once they had found their partner, the pair was asked to shout “MANA Mo!” The first three pairs were handed door prizes. Almost 100 Filipinos attended the Family Day event, which was held at the golf and horse stables run by German-owned construction firm Julius Berger Nigeria (JBN) by the shore of the man-made Jabi Lake. “This game was lots of fun,” said Dena Lu, a long-time Filipino community advocate and coordinator for eHealth Africa. “Not many Filipinos are aware of the observance of this event, and the fast-paced game made us remember the importance of the Philippines as an archipelagic nation. I learned a lot today.”
Photo 1: MANA Mo emoji stickers from WhatsApp used as pieces of a puzzle that have to be matched by 12 pairs of competitors between the characters and its most appropriate matching dialogue.
The Philippines declared on 14 September 2017 through Presidential Proclamation 316 the month of September as the Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month (MANA Mo) to enhance awareness and consciousness of the Filipinos on the maritime and archipelagic features and concerns of the Philippines. This year's theme, as approved by the National Coast Watch Center, is “Our Seas, Our Livelihood, Our Life Source: A Whole-of-Nation Approach Towards Raising Maritime and Ocean Awareness".
Photos 2 & 3: 24 members of the Filipino Community Association Abuja (FCAA) lined up in two rows waiting to match their WhatsApp emoji characters with the most appropriate dialogue bubble wait for Consul General Roderico C. Atienza and Consular Officer Ivy S. Platon call for the start of the game.
In addition to this overall theme, the DFA has also adopted the sub-theme “Philippines as an Archipelagic State: UNCLOS @ 40” to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the signing of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). -END
