Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Don Bosco Beatitudes Social Welfare Centre - Chennai, India - Dec 14, 2010

Our agenda for today was to visit the Don Bosco Beatitudes Social Welfare Center. Don Bosco is an international catholic organization dedicated to helping the needy around the world. Their operations in Chennai began in 1965, where they provide shelter and schooling for children of all ages, as well as a home for the elderly and those affected by leprosy.
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We first met the Administrator of center, Father Lawrence, and he gave us a detailed history about how the center began in the Northern Chennai. He then took us on a tour of the school campus. We passed by a group of young girls and they came up to the father acknowledged him and hugged him – it was touching to see the affection that they had for him and the impact that he was having on their lives.





The girls then turned their attention to the star attraction of the day – Jackie Chan (Li-Wei) and Bruce Lee (Tae). They were thankful I (Shan) was there too… So, I can take pictures of them with their new idols.
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Father Lawrence continued to explain that the school is open to orphaned children as well as those that live with their parents but are unable to provide for the children. In light of their background, the center seemed to be a place where the children could really be themselves and simply enjoy their childhood.

We then visited multiple vocational training centers within the grounds that included typewriting, tailoring, welding, carpentry, and computer training. The vocational training is provided free of cost. While some external companies also contract with these training centers, most of the products from the vocational training go back into the Center itself. This self-sustainability model has had an incredible impact in the Center. Unfortunately, as India has grown the demand for low-skilled labor has increased; so fewer and fewer children are interested in technical training, instead they want to enter the job market directly – short-term perspective. Hearing this, our initial thought was that maybe linking other orphanages to Don Bosco could potentially help both Don Bosco continue its sustainability model as well as help other orphanages with giving them a place to send their children after high school. Hopefully, we can further analyze this throughout next quarter.

2 comments:

  1. Coming across this post and seeing the pictures accidentally after 7 years, am humbled! -fond memories indeed! Thanks team!

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