25 years

Silver Jubilee Celebration

Don Bosco Veedu Society celebrated its Silver Jubilee on 5h of February 2016, at the Bishop Pereira hall, Nanadavanam. Fr P.D Thomas Director Don Bosco Veedu Society welcomed the gathering. His Grace Most Rev. Dr Soosa Pakiam M, the Archbishop of Trivandrum Archdiocese blessed the occasion and conveyed his words of grace. Rev Fr Joyce Thonikkuzhiyil, SDB, the Provincial of Don Bosco, Bangalore presided over the function. Smt. Shobha Koshy, the Chairperson Kerala Child Rights Commission was the Special Guest at the Function.    

Representatives from the Social Justice Department, the Labour Department, the Railways and the Police Department graced the occasion and were specially honored for the 25 years of help and support towards the work for the children at risk.

In Collaboratio with the labour Department of Kerala, the Society has initiated a help desk for the young migrant labourers who reach the city. The launching of the project also took place at the occasion. 

The Silver Jubilee Souvenir was released by Smt. Shobha Koshi, the Chairperson of Child Rights Commission of Kerala. 

The Previous Directors of the Society were also honoured on the occasion for their dedicated and meritorious work of leading from the front. 

The cultural programmes by children of the Sree Chithra Home, Vinoba Niketan, Namaste Wings to Fly, Shalom and Students of the Don Bosco Tuition Centre entertained the audience with their spectacular performances. 

Yar national Seminar

REACHING THE UNREACHED

The Trivandrum Don Bosco Veedu Society organized two days National Seminar on the 4^th and 5^th of February 2016 on the theme “Reaching the Unreached”   focus on the 18+ age group young at Risk categories (Young Prsioners, Senior Children of Juvenile Homes and Migrant Young labourers) . The Seminar was inaugurated by Adv R.V Rajesh, the Chairperson of Kerala Youth Commission, in the esteemed presence of Rev Fr. Stephen Mukkattil, the Rector of Don Bosco Veedu Society, Trivandrum, and Rev Fr Thomas Koshy, Fr Maria Charles, Fr Mathew Thomas and Fr Thomas P.D.

122 delegates and speakers from different parts of the country participated in the seminar. The five sessions were: Migrant youth in unorganized sectors by Mr. Kshithij Urs, Action Aid India; Young prisoners – Leading them to freedom and dignity by Mr. Vikas Kadam, Prayas, TISS; Social Integration of senior children in Juvenile Homes and special homes by Ms Arlene Manoharan, Programme Co-ordinator - Juvenile Justice, CCL, NLSIU; Human Rights Education in schools by Fr Thomas Pallithanam SDB; and Skilling as strategy to empower the target groups by Fr A.M Hose, ED, Don Bosco Tech, India.

The National YaR Seminar 2016 witnessed the prestigious YaR awards under various categories to celebrate outstanding organizations and personalities that have rendered their services to the Young at risk across India.

jubilee

Its time to celebrate! Its Our Silver Jubilee

merrry XMAS

deaf children

They are also Children

Don Bosco Veedu Society has tried to rehabilitate seven deaf and dumb children in the past one year. All these children had run away from their homes or schools. It is often a tedious task to restore them as it is very difficult to trace their family due to communication issues. We have found that almost all such children also have mental health problems and it is mainly due to the neglect they often feel even if their homes are healthy. In all the seven cases our rehabilitative process of training them in schools for deaf and dumb have failed due to the fact that they often run away and find it difficult to adjust with others. It is natural that they feel neglected in a family as they can get on the nerves of others especially in conversations.

According to the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), approximately 66 percent of Deaf people live in developing countries, where authorities are rarely familiar with their needs and where very few Deaf children have access to employment and education. Only about 10 percent of the world's Deaf population receive any education at all, and only one percent receives this education in sign language - even though the majority of deaf people worldwide use sign language in their daily lives.  Even if home is healthy it would be much better that they grow up with similar children so that neglect issues will not crop up.

It is often difficult for a Deaf person to break into a conversation. He/she cannot hear and be uncertain as to when they can break in. When this happens, it may appear that they seem to be intruding on what you say without contributing. In this circumstance, you need to be proactive and turn to the Deaf person and make eye contact, as a signal to join the conversation or to give a message or to ask a question. Deaf children are relegated to a low social status as a direct result of the poor or nonexistent education they receive, the stigma they face, and the lack of awareness of their full potential as active members of society.

Waking up in the morning can be the first daily activity that presents a problem. Many deaf people can use their internal clock to wake up in the morning if they spend some time learning techniques for waking up. Smoke detectors, timers on the oven and even the telephone present problems for deaf people every day. Technology is helping alleviate some of these difficulties. Alarm clocks can now turn on lights or vibrate to help the deaf person wake up. Telephones are also available to allow the deaf person to communicate on the phone.

Traditional school environments are difficult for a deaf person to navigate without the aid of interpreters. Special schools for the deaf help young people learn how to communicate with others and the skills necessary to get through the world as a deaf person. The use of interpreters in college helps many deaf people earn degrees and advance in the workplace.

 

Deaf children face the lack of positive Deaf role models who can communicate successfully and mentor the children to reach their full potential. As a result, most of the young people are doing poorly or failing their classes. They cannot imagine attending college, let alone becoming a successful professional. Society tells them that they are "dumb."

Without proper education, deaf role models, mentors and tools to gain acceptance in society, deaf children will continue to face issues of neglect.

sicp

STATE INITIATIVE FOR CHILD PROTECTION (SICP)

In ascociation with the Social Justice Department of Kerala, the Trivandrum Don Bosco Veedu Society conducted first training and awareness campaign for the World Vision child protection group leaders of Trivandrum. This was part of a State Initiative and we have kicked off the first of ten of such similar workshops to be conducted for differerent stake holders within the district. Mr. Manoj Joseph, Senior Programme Coordinator, SRRC, CHILDLINE India Foundation, Chennai   inaugurated the district level programme at 10.00 AM today (19-09-2015) at Trivandrum Social Service Society Hall at Vellayambalam. 

The training programmes are aimed at sensitising care givers of children regarding issues faced by chidlren and laws related to chidlren. Information on allied systems relating to children was also provoded. Practical information on Juvenile Justice Act, and Protection of Children from Sexual offences act was also provided so that they have sufficient knowledge to seek help when chidlren under their care require the same.

We conducted the workshop in collaboration with World Vision, TSSS and LES. THe programme started at 10.00AM and ended at 1.30 PM.

generation gap

GENERATION GAP

On 28^th Aug, 2015, our helpline received a call saying that one college student had brought a girl to the Gandhi Park and was sharing intimate moments there. The same youth had brought another girl to the same spot on the previous day. While speaking with them during the counselling session, we found that the boy was an adult and the girl was an adolescent. It was surprising to find that they were meeting each other for the first time. They connected and fell in love through facebook. The girl had travelled hours to reach the place. The details went like this.  The girl was chatting with him by using her mother’s cell phone.  She had saved his number on the cell phone in the name of her classmate – another girl.  So her parents never doubted anything and she had spent hours chatting with her facebook lover from her mother’s phone. The parents were very protective of her and she was being cheated by a man under their very nose! There is a widening gap between parents and their children.

There are many causes why the generation gap between parents and their children is formed. First of all, the greatest difference perceived between the generations is the way of using technology. Today the world is more advanced each day, as a result of the fast paced development of the society. Parents do not even know many of the modern technologies and equipments children use.

Second, a majority of parents spend too little time communicating with and listening to their children, even though they ‘love’ them very much. Notwithstanding, children do not share their school life or other day-to-day events with their parents. Parents may not know what their children are thinking about. Lack of time spent with children is a great reason for the creating a gap and love is communicated through presence and time spent with children.

Third, parents may have absolute control over their children. They want their children to have more advantages and opportunities. Thus, children may not have complete freedom in the choice of those leisure activities. As a result, children always believe that their parents are against their opinions all the way. They try to keep everything secretive and do not tell their parents when they encounter problems.

Fourth, due to the traditional custom, most parents adopt a straight face and do not show their feelings when they talk to their children. On the other hand, children believe that they are grown-ups and it is high time for them to be independent. On the whole, both parents and their children do not see things from the standpoints of each other. Thus, misunderstanding is a great cause for the formation of generation gap.

Bridging the generation gap is essential. To tackle this problem, there are some ways by which such gap can be bridged.

1.    Parents need to gain adequate knowledge of the latest technologies that are used by their children so that they can know beforehand possible dangers.

2.    Parents and their children have to be aware of the importance of open communication and parents need to take initiative for the same.

3.    Parents should not have too high expectations. On the other hand, parents should know what their children like the most.

4.    Parents must not start a conversation by giving orders. Instead, they can begin by discussing a topic that can hold their children’s interests. Become friends of children.

5.    Never let your children feel ashamed of the parents. Be role models.

6.    Parents need make their children understand their limitations and define boundaries for them.

7.    Relationship between parents and kids is sensitive, hence dignity to be maintained to preserve the love and emotions in the relationship.

8.    Teach all you want to your children before they reach teenage and you will have a bright and responsible youth.

Let us remember a merry family requires lots of give-and-take, and it really needs the co-operation of all its members. Accordingly, the generation gap between parents and their children can easily be bridged.