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Click to read Prayas Kendra Report for 2007-08
ST JOHN
BOSCO COMMUNITY CARE CENTRE
 To
reach out
…….
as HIGH
as possible
To
reach out
…….
as FAR
as possible
PRAYAS
KENDRA, an initiative of St John Bosco Parish, Borivli West,
Mumbai, is a Community Care Centre for social and outreach
activities to all sections of the parish irrespective of caste,
creed, culture, gender and social distinctions. This centre was
inaugurated by the present Cardinal Ivan Dias on 31st
January2001.
The very
word “PRAYAS” means “To Try”. Hence, as the
word suggests, we have made an endeavor / effort to conduct various
projects through this centre to uplift the marginalized in achieving
their goals and to improve their way of life in areas of education,
vocational training, health and legal aspects. Through our community
outreach programmes, we try to reach out to the people living in the
slums, who are deprived of their basic amenities. Our aim is to
educate them about their various rights and empower them to be
self-reliant and self-sufficient.
The
following are some of the projects we have undertaken:
OUTREACH
PROJECTS
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Study
Classes ~ Aim:To work towards overall development of children
living in the Slum.
A
majority of the children in the slums go the schools run by the
Bombay Municipal Corporation and live in shanty houses with no
proper lighting. Therefore, a Study Class for Municipal school
children and others was started on the 6th
of July, 2001, with an objective to provide a favourable learning
atmosphere. At present, we have around 125 children coming to the
study classes. These children come from Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati
and a few from English medium schools. The classes are conducted
Monday to Friday from 6.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. There are 5 paid
teachers tutoring them in all subjects. We have also started an
extension centre at Gorai. Here we have around 25 students and 2
paid teachers.
The
Gujarati study classes at this centre was discontinued at Prayas
Kendra and started at Tilak Nagar, Babhai to make it convenient
for the Gujarati students who are residents of that area. 17
children attend these classes.
Activities:
Competitions
and various festival celebrations are held.
Teachers
meetings are held every first Saturday of the month.
Parents
and teachers meeting are held every second Wednesday of the
month.
Annual
Day-cum-Prize Distribution Day
Yearly
Picnic-cum-Sports Day.
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English
Speaking Classes ~ AIM : To work towards the overall
development of the youth from the slums.
Objective:
These
classes are conducted thrice a week from 6.00 - 7.00 p.m. At
present we have 7 students attending these classes. More than 30
students have benefited from these classes.
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Summer
Camps: Aim: To arrange a local enjoyable holiday, playing and
learning together for the slum children
Many
of the slum children can ill-afford a holiday. In order to help
them have an enjoyable summer holiday, we have so far had 2
summer clubs for the children from the nearby slums. Besides
arranging for different games, competitions, picnics and outings
on a daily basis, snacks and cold drinks were offered. Resource
personnel were also invited to talk to and teach these children.
Puppet and flower making were also taught. At the end of the
summer club, prizes were distributed at a specially held
programme.
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Legal
Cell ~ Aim : To provide legal aid to the poor and marginalised
We
have two Lawyers who come regularly on Monday and Saturday
evening. They are available to the marginalized to give legal
advice. Many avail of this facility.
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Medical
Cell ~ Aim : To promote preventive and curative health for all.
The
objective of the medical aid cell is
to
cater to the marginalized
to
create awareness on prevention of various diseases
Providing
medicines at subsidized cost
Arranging
medical check-up for the boarders
This
cell has 6 visiting doctors who come in from 5.30 to 7 pm and who
have volunteered their services for this good cause.
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Medical
Camps
So
far we have conducted 4 camps for Osteoporosis, Dental and Eye
check-up, ECG, Blood and Diabetes check-up and also a Cancer
Detection Camp. About 500 people were the beneficiaries of these
camps.
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Employment
Cell ~
Aim
: To help people to find suitable placement.
Employment
Cell is opened from Monday to Friday 9 to 11.30 a.m. to take care
of the unemployed. Many an individual have found suitable
placements in shops, offices and hotels as sales and marketing
personnel and many maids as domestic helpers.
This
year, we have placed around 25 in different categories.
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Visit
to the slums:
Regular
visit by the social worker and volunteers to the slum area to
identify and aid
Alcoholics
School
drop outs
Idle
and unoccupied and unattended loitering children
Physically
abused women
Conscientize
people without ration card, photopass
People
living in illegally constructed structures
People
with health and skin problems
The
purpose is to identify them so that the necessary outreach /
counselling could be done through Prayas Kendra, and also to make
them conscious of their rights.
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Counselling
There
is a trained counselor to provide emotional succor to the school
children, individuals and adults.
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Miscellaneous
activities
A
flower making course was introduced
Prayas
Kendra, together with Eskay Club, had organized Swimming classes
for boarders, day scholars and parish children.
Visiting
the sick and needy.
Co-ordinating
with the Provincial House team in conducting PRAs.
Helping
in boarding admissions and follow-up
Recycling
of old clothes, books and uniforms at the end of the academic
year
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Training
Programmes
Our
staff and volunteers attend various meetings / programmes
conducted by the Federation of Centres for Community Organization
(FCCO) and Aapli Mumbai
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Professional
/ VOCATIONAL courses
The aim of providing professional courses are to train the unoccupied
women and provide them vocational training in order to make them
self-sufficient.
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Tailoring
cum Embroidery cum Crochet Course
Prayas
Kendra felt the need to equip the women and girls, who have
dropped out from school with some vocation which will help them to
be economically independent. This class was started not only for
the women from slums but also for the women of our parish. This
class is conducted at the Prayas Kendra and at the Gorai Centre.
We
have a total of 14 students coming for these classes. There are
two paid teachers who have been employed for the tailoring
/embroidery classes.
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Beautician
and Hair Dressing Course
This
7-month course was started last year. This is a professional
beauty and hair dressing course at advanced level. On completion
of the course (practical and theory), a certificate will be given
by Prayas Kendra.
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Mehndi
Course
Mehndi,
coloured sketching on the palms and feet, is a craze among women
especially during the festival and wedding season. This course is
a good source of additional income for the women as there is no
major money investment and they can freelance this with a regular
job. Flexi timings are given in order to enable them to learn.
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Bakery
and Confectionary
As
part of our ongoing projects to bring about a change in the lives
of our people, last year, a unique system of training people in
various skills was introduced to provide gainful employment to
them. Flexi timings and no gender or age bar was introduced to
make it convenient for all. Highly competent persons in their
respective field were called to conduct these classes. Already 4
batches of 60 students have been completed.
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FUTURE
PLANS
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Domestic
Home Appliances & Repairs
2-wheeler
Mechanics
Continental
Cooking
Computer
Classes (Basic)
To
approach Doctors from various areas to provide medical assistance
to the locals there either free or at subsidized cost.
Services
of an Inspector of Police on matters relating to Law and order,
etc
Soft
toys
Flower
Making
Candle
Making
Card
making
Jewellery
making
Conversational
English Speaking
Conversational
Hindi Speaking
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We
constantly endeavor to provide diverse services after assessing the
need of the people all around and also availing of local skilled and
professional people who will provide free / subsidized services. The
social worker heading this Kendra is a full-time paid employee.
Many of the people in our employment are paid a meager sum to ensure
commitment and continuity. The volunteers are encouraged through
various means and training programmes to ensure a high motivational
interest in this social outreach.
Most
of the courses are conducted on a no-profit-no-loss basis just to
conscientise and equip the people on their rights, their needs to
become economically self sufficient in order to live a life of
independence and dignity.
Funding
is ensured through the nominal amount we earn through the medical
camps and registration fees. This does not suffice for the
maintenance of Prayas Kendra, the conveyance of volunteers and its
telephone bills, which is huge as major reminders / work is done
telephonically. We have to depending on the philanthropy of the
Church’s Community Welfare Fund and the Salesian Community.
We
wish to continue this good work, with better and up-to-date
facilities in order to continuously address the community needs, at
large, and the parish needs, in particular as we are linked to St
John Bosco Parish.
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