MSC Newsletter 2011
Dear members and friends,
It has been almost 8 months since the Maltese-Serbian Community was officially registered and inaugurated. We would like to update you about the progress and prospects of our organisation.
Mr. Milan Pajic, who is a founding member of the organisation and has served as the General Secretary has left Malta to pursue his education. We would like to thank Milan for his dedication and a decision to continue supporting our organisation from abroad. We wish Milan success in his future endeavors and hope to have him back on-board once he finishes his studies.
In the light of this, Ms. Georgina (Gina) Ficur has been appointed as the new Secretary General of the Maltese-Serbian Community and shall hold this position in Milan’s absence.
As you can see, in the past few weeks there have been a lot of new developments. However, that is not all. MSC is proud to announce the partnership with S.O.S. Malta, an established and respected NGO, and APS Consult, an APS Bank consulting team. The MSC is taking part with these two entities in an EU sponsored project as part of the European Fund for the Integration for Third country Nationals. The project is called Health InterAct and it will benefit health professionals who will participate in training to deal more competently with people from other cultures and countries, which will in turn allow those third country nationals to access a better standard of health care in Malta.
This project, if approved, will bring MSC its first public exposure in Malta and the EU.
Furthermore, S.O.S. Malta and their Director Ms. Claudia Taylor East have generously offered their premises and logistics to our association. Accordingly, it has been decided that the registered office of the association is going to be changed to: 10 Triq il-Ward, Santa Venera, SVR 1640.
The other project that we would like to see lift off in a near future is the Serbian language course for children and members of the Maltese-Serbian families. We have been contacted by many people who would like to attend a course but unfortunately we were not able to identify the suitable person to undertake this task.
The association needs your help in finding such a person. If you are willing and capable or know someone who is interested in delivering this course, please contact us. This will be a paid position. Other conditions will be negotiated.
In the past few months we managed to fulfill a number of original goals and successfully negotiate the agreements with several companies and clinics whose services will be provided to our members at discounted rates. We negotiated the following services:
- Legal and Accounting (Credence Corporate and Advisory Services)
- Dental (Dr. Edward Fenech – St Anne’s Clinic)
- Private medical consultants ( General Surgeon, Gynecologist, Orthopedic Surgeon in St. Edward’s Hospital)
- Private (group of min.200 members) health insurance (Atlas)
- Investment options for small and big investors (BOV Valletta Fund Management)
Our members will be able to avail themselves from the above services upon presentation of the membership card.
The Association is working at the moment on securing more services which should ensure solving some of the problems and needs of our community, such as official translations, notary services, driving courses, real estate, fitness and beach membership, taxi services and classified ads space.
At this moment nothing of the already reached agreements or possible arrangements will come to force until we have a solid membership base. It is my unpleasant duty to inform our friends and existing members that at present our association has only 17 members! This number does not justify the existence of the MSC as such, nor does it motivate the executive committee to pursue their efforts to assist the Maltese-Serbian Community.
The future of our organisation depends directly on its membership. Therefore, we would like to invite you to make it your goal to recruit at least two other members.
Please forward this letter to all your Serbian and Maltese friends and colleagues in your contact book and ask them to do the same. Hopefully the word about MSC and its goals will spread and reach all people of both nationalities willing to become members and give their contribution to the association.
At the end, I would like to invite anyone of you who is willing to volunteer a few hours a week help us with administration work such as printing membership cards, distributing mail and newsletter, to contact us at: info@msc-malta.org
We strongly believe that only through the exchange of ideas and active participation of all will our association be able to reach its goals. Please be encouraged to contact us with any comments and suggestions that will improve our work.
You are kindly invited to fill in the attached membership form and sign up for the membership in Maltese-Serbian Community.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Pedja Andrejevic, President of the MSC and Ms. Gina Ficur, General Secretary