field trip

Miriam, Jo, and I headed off to an monthly event held by a local organization: the Don Bosco Mela. Basically, local boys who live on the streets, work as bus boys, or some that even live in the shelter spend two days (hosted by the Don Bosco org.) in a shelter where they get free food, a place to sleep, a haircut, access to a doctor, play games, and dance like bollywood film stars. We walked over there with AVSAR's program director in the pouring rain and as soon as we turned the corner into the building we were greeted with "Hello Didi!" (didi means older sister in hindi). Many of them came up to us one by one and introduced themselves and shook our hands. They were all curious to know where we came from...

The most impressive part of the fair were the group of boys dancing like little Shah Rukh Khan's and Hritik Roshan's. They can easily put any of my friends to shame in a second with their perfect imitations of bollywood dance moves (sorry girls). The coordinators had the room set up so that they was a stage with a dj and a dance floor in front. In the corners of the room, some boys were painting and others were playing carrom. In the back, the boys were getting haircuts and doctors were doing physicals. Some kids were just passed out in random places around the room. I have no idea how they were sleeping in the middle of so much chaos. We met a volunteer from Germany there, she's in India for six months as part of an internship through her college. She lives at the shelter and goes around to the different Don Bosco shelters each day to teach english. I dont know if I could do what she's doing. I know that everyday I look forward to returning to the AVSAR home base to relax and simply feel at home. It's nothing fancy, but it's more than enough after a long day's work in Mumbai.

http://www.shelterdonbosco.org/