Former Asha Deep children visit us during the holidays.
ASHA DEEP, PANAJI.
Many of the regular children visiting Asha Deep are out of state either on their summer break or with their families tending
to their homes and fields. Due to this reason the number of children who came to the Shelter this month dropped down to about 35 to 40 on a daily basis. March had a total of 93 different children visiting the shelter. Many of these children were new and visited the shelter for the first time. Since our regular school going children were on their summer vacations, our staff was able to concentrate better on the new children. However we know that once schools reopen and the Heavens open and rain comes down the number of children visiting will increase. Two of the night shelter children, Kissan and Sanjay will be shortly placed in our homes. One of our Night shelter child Ajay, who was with us for about a week, has returned to Mumbai with his mother.
A few boys from Victory House, former children of Asha deep, visited the shelter and spent their time as a part of their vacations. We were really glad to see our former children John, Irfan and Akola who used to spend their days and nights on the streets and were taken into Asha Deep last year. After staying for a few months, they were placed in a Home/Boarding School (Margaret Bosco Bal Sadan) in June 2007 and are doing extremely well.
Our Staff spent maximum time with the children and helped them in all their activities at the shelter. Lokesh and Ramdas effeciently completed the field work and also helped in cleanliness, hair-cutting, nail-cutting, repairs and maintenance etc. Lawrence, a trainee is now been able to professionally handle the cooking.
We had a number of children treated at the Health Centre or G.M.C. this month for various ailments. Sanjay, our night shelter child was sick with diphtheria and was hospitalised for 4 days. He needed a lot of medication, and after he recovered was immunized for other illnesses (as he had not received these immunizations at birth). Shankar was taken to the hospital for an injury to his arm. Kiran, Babu, Rohini and Ramesh were treated for fever and infections. Ravina was treated and given a tetanus shot as a nail had pierced her leg near her house (she lives in a construction area).
Our staff was busy preparing children for school in June. They taught English and Konkani letters, numbers and nursery rhymes etc. About 15 children will be enrolled into school in the month of June. A few of our regular school-going children were also present and they were taught sentence making, spelling, writing numbers in figures, multiplication, etc. They also learnt some craft, embroidery and doll-making.
The prize for the ‘child of the month’ (for studies and behaviour) was given to Kissan and Nagir. In addition, we also gave prizes for school-going children, who stood first in their classes for the final exams: Nagir – std.I, Sonu – std.II, Alaudin – std. III
Lokesh efficiently carried the field work this month, as a result of which a number of new children began visiting the shelter. The field workers have the important task of convincing as many parents as possible to send their children to school the coming academic year. They have also been administering first aid on the field.
‘Dadima’, Kirti Gaonkar has been faithful and came almost everyday, helping with teaching, cleaning, grooming the children, playing with them, teaching them craft, etc. She also sponsored snacks for them. We are grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Morris for giving 3 DVDs for the children to enjoy, Joehfa Jekhna for donating clothes and a mattress, and Mukta Pearls, for the delicious sweets they brought for the children. A big thank you to Mr. Rajiv Shirodkar for donating 25 kg rice, 10 kg dal and 4 boxes of sweets, and to Sharon and Rob Kay for the contribution towards raincoats for the children.
Thanks to all the staff, management, visitors, for making it all possible. We are very happy with the work we do towards the underprivileged children and we seek to reach to many more. Asha Deep truly is a hope and light to many a street child and we thank God that He has used us as a vessel to bring joy and hope to so many children and their families. We close this month with a prayer to Him for his protection and look forward to a new season with hope to share His love with many more.