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 Our Earth Shelter is a 24-hour open house for the roofless (street) children of Mumbai. It is a home to which they belong .Any of them as per their need can walk into shelter at any time for shelter, bath, food, recreation, education, entertainment, celebrate events, learn a skill, save his earnings, seek guidance, plan his future, find a job, correspond with his family, sharpen leadership skills, develop his personality, etc..... |
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 Leopard representing Strength Our Aim is to give back to the child his lost childhood, accepting him as he is and cater to his basic needs, especially of love and care : provide him with ample opportunities to acquire education or learn a skill that would help him stand on his own feet. Finally to assist him to gradually grow and reintegrate into the larger society. this process of moving from the street to society is a long and arduous journey. Our joy is in being with him all through this experience. |
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 Crane representing Hunger No
Place Like Home
The
Don Bosco Shelter Mela was organized on the 4th of November
2000. It was a cool memorable day packed with fun and frolic for 1500
street children and volunteers who enjoyed the day merrily. Let me begin
by telling you something more about shelter. It is a home situated at
wadala for street kids who live in utter conditions of poverty and those
coming from joint families to orphans left lonely on the street. Thus
shelter organizes a mela every month for those kids to enjoy and get a
taste of all the activities the rich enjoy and make a merry of. So the
kids poured in from the 19th evening onwards and stay on till
the 20th night. If they enjoy it they are welcome to stay on
otherwise they go back home to their so called “addas” or their hang
out for the night. This monthly fair is held on the 19th and 20th
of every month at shelter don Bosco’s Wadala. |
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 Fishes representing freedom The Diwali mela was organized on much under scale the venue being the Don Bosco school Grounds. Fifteen of the enthusiastic Aicufers volunteered for this mela to make this day a success few of us came early to help with the registrations and tie the loose ends of the setup. The different activities were the health camp where their aches and dental activities were checked. Next for those who were in a terrible need of a haircut and so there was a saloon. Another stall was the “Hamara Adda” where a survey was conducted on the kids or teenagers individually enquiring about their occupation, family income and so on. If the person needed immediate attention a follow up would be done. I must not forget the game stall which was open the whole day and had various Tele-games throughout. Games Like Cricket, 9pins,ringing the duck, aiming the ball through a tyre, and so on. Those who won were given tokens and those who collecteda pretty good number of tokens were given items of their daily use like pencil box , crayons, a comb, a banyan, a towel, a cap or a T-Shirt.The center stage played its role by entertaining the kids with music at the same time giving them a chance to come and display their talent and skill in the form of dances, singing, and recitation ok jokes and poems |
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| Well our volunteering was a two way traffic we helped them enjoy the day and they in return taught us how to gift plants instead of bouquets which live only for two days. They taught us vermiculture and how to make manure for our plants by separating wet and dry garbage and thus we can gift saplings which can grow as plants if cared and watered daily with love. Shelter Boys also had a stall of their own where they sold dyed dupattas and other gift items mad of junk and jewellery. This money would be divided among them and which would go into their savings account which would later be handy to pursue a course to make a career and a better living. As the day went by the children were served their respective meals and in the afternoon their was an exciting magic show and an art competition where the children were allowed to display their art and imagination and creativity on the stroll. Well the day wouldn’t be complete without the burst of crackers and the display of multicolored fireworks thus symbolizing the celebration of the festival of lights. The Children were excited and were jumping with joy. Their happiness knew no bounds | |||
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As the grand orchestra expressed their talent of music and song the children along with us had a fantastic evening. They were happy we made them feel like we were one of them. Finally the day ended with a sumptuous meal and mouth watering dinner and sweetened their hearts with a delicious ice cream served as dessert So I appeal to you if you like children and would like to be a part of this wonderful activity you could become a volunteer for this monthly mela without compulsion. It is held on the 19th and 20th of every month at Don Bosco’s Shelter Wadala. For further details you can contact the office of the campus minister
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