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August 10, 2006
A little sunshine in a bleak landscape
The Don Bosco Home orphanage tucked away at the far end of St Patrick’s Church in Saddar, and known for its exquisite stained glass windows, houses 60 children whose ages range from four to 18, writes Anwer Mooraj
One has to be a special kind of individual to devote considerable amount of time and energy to the poor, the dispossessed and the dregs of the society. Fortunately, there is no shortage of such people in this land. Even though Pakistan is a developing country, beset with social and political problems, a significant amount of charity is doled out by the privileged.
Among such Samaritans are also those who look after the needs of orphaned children. There are a number of adoption attorneys, both in Pakistan and abroad, who are engaged in the task of finding foster homes where children can lead a decent life, grow and adapt in a society programmed for competition.
Almost every Muslim sect and subgroup has devout and virtuous people who have spent their lives caring for and rehabilitating orphans. In Karachi the minorities, especially the Parsees and the Hindus, have not lagged behind; though it was through pure serendipity that this writer discovered that there is also an orphanage for Christian children that has apparently been around for quite a while.
One evening, whilst relaxing in my club, I heard somebody mention the name of Don Bosco. It turned out that he was referring to an orphanage, named after an Italian priest who was born in a little cabin at Becchi, a hill-side hamlet near Castelnuovo, Piedmont. He was a priest whose mission in life was to set up a network of orphanages in various countries for underprivileged boys.
In 1937, a like minded individual, living in the quaint, picturesque and overgrown fishing village called Karachi, got a whiff of the humanitarian spirit of this pious individual and decided to do something about it. His name was Jehangir H. Kothari.
It was a red letter day for the Catholic priests when this Parsi philanthropist gave a generous donation from the charity trust created by him. And Monsignor Lemmens, ably assisted by the late Brother Gratian, got down to the serious business of starting and running a home for the orphans.
After Partition, their successors gamely trudged along in an environment that was at times suspicious and at times indifferent, until His Grace the Archbishop of Karachi, the Reverend Simeon Pereira, requested the brothers of the La Salle Brothers Congregation to manage the charity. And so, in the fullness of time, the mission of the La Salle Brothers took over the noble work and opened centres in Faisalabad, Khushpur and Multan.
Faisalabad appears to have a fairly large network with the Brothers managing four schools, a hostel for boys, a formation house, and a Diocesan office which handles the training of teachers and the supervision of around a hundred schools. The Karachi establishment is a little more modest. Besides the Don Bosco Orphanage, there is a Half Way House and a House of Hope -– both of which are drug rehabilitation centres.
The Don Bosco Home, tucked away at the far end of St Patrick’s Church in Saddar, known for its exquisite stained glass windows, houses 60 children whose ages range from four to 18. They attend classes in St Patrick’s High School, St Patrick’s Technical School and St Paul’s High School – where the language of instruction is Urdu and English.
Like all orphanages, the Don Bosco Home has been dogged by financial problems and for years operated at a subsistence level. Four years ago a number of Pakistanis led by a businessman, Ahmed Bayat, decided that something ought to be done to improve the lot of the orphans. And so they passed the hat around and managed to collect a little over Rs2million.
The place was given a new look. A fresh paint job was followed by a reconstruction of a kitchen and bathrooms, a number of two-tier beds were added, computers installed and an instructor hired. When Ahmed Bayat tried to get permission for extending the kitchen and constructing a proper dining room, he hit a hidden reef. The Karachi Cantonment Board, for some curious reason, refused to accord the necessary permission.
Let’s hope that the chairman of the cantonment board pays heed to the plight of these orphans and steps in. It would certainly bring a little sunshine into a bleak landscape.
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