Monday, March 23, 2009

The word “Abhayadhama” means a place for all those who do not have a place to stay or live. It is a home for the street children, located at whitefield, Bengaluru.
This institution is run by “The Brothers of Holy Cross”, one of the branches of the great congregation of Holy Cross. This institution was founded by Bro. Jean Paul, a Canadian who served the poor and needy Indians for many years.
The Brothers take a term of 3 to 6 years in serving this particular community at this place. Since my aim is to talk about the ministry at this place, I limit my introduction here.
Coming to the real ministry, the boys who stay here are from different parts of Bengaluru and Karnataka. They are from different background with their own difficulties. Almost all of them have run away from their homes because of the mental or physical torture they experienced either from their parents or siblings.
How do they reach Abhayadhama?
The Brothers themselves visit the bus station, railway station and the streets, looking for these kind of children. When they find anyone of these categories, they immediately bring them to Abhayadhama. They identify the talents and interests of these children and put them in different trainings (as per their interest) to mould them to become self-sufficient and good citizens of this country.
Pre-behavior of these children:
Before coming to Abhayadhama these children involve in different kind of unwanted activities like stealing, pick-pocketing etc. some of them even get addicted to drinks, drugs and so on. With these background they are brought to Abhayadhama, and they are not only trained in different trades, but also are taught discipline, good manners and the other good habits to turn them into good human beings.
I think this could be enough for the ice-breaking; I would come up with more case-study in this article in future.
Those who are interested in extending your helping hand towards this institution can contact:
Bro. Basker.CSC,
Abhyadhama Human Development centre,
Abhayadhama Campus,
Whitefiled,
Bangalore-66.