By Dr. Wendy M Dickson –
Last year, Kiara Music Academy aligned itself with BOSCO, for a long-term partnership in working for the exploited Indian girl child. A year later, I’m so glad we did.
Every time I read the brutal attacks on innocent little children, especially girls, I ask myself what the heck I’m doing living my happy, fairly comfortable life while somewhere out there, innocent, sleeping children are carried off to be raped, tortured and killed. Our streets are unsafe. Our schools are unsafe. Even our homes are unsafe.
Working with BOSCO for the rescue and rehabilitation of exploited children, especially the BOSCO Rainbow Home for Girls, gives me the chance to do something besides standing on the streets holding a placard or venting my spleen on social media. BOSCO, an acronym for “Bangalore Oniyavara Seva Coota” or “the Organization of those who serve children at risk”, is an initiative of the Salesian Fathers of Don Bosco.
Today, BOSCO has a number of initiatives in Gandhinagar, Sumanahalli, Chamarajpet, Wilson Gardens and other areas, where committed social workers and religious work tirelessly to provide 24 x 7 shelter, food, rehabilitation and education to children found abandoned or exploited or just struggling to survive in railway and bus stations, markets and areas known to be dangerous and crawling with criminal activity.
Last year, the movie LION, based on the true story of a lost Indian boy, played brilliantly by Dev Patel, brought home to me a graphic and alarming picture of a world I’ve never known, right here in our own country. I was touched to the point of tears, and ashamed at my ignorance of what so many innocent children face daily in our country. Soon after, I was introduced to BOSCO Rainbow Home for Girls.
Heart-Tugging Moment
It took me only a preliminary visit of a few minutes, last year, to decide that the BOSCO Rainbow Home for Girls was what I wanted Kiara Music Academy to support. That in Rainbow Home, my kids and I could do SOMETHING, however small, to help the endangered girl children of our city.
The minute I stepped into the precincts of this very simple building in Wilson Gardens, a bunch of little girls rushed over to me warmly, grabbing hold of my hands and asking how they could help me. They spoke beautifully, in good English and of course, Kannada, and accompanied me to meet the Sister in charge. Looking at those little faces, all clean and shining and smiling, their hair done up in plaits and tied up in ribbons, it was hard to believe that these sweet little things had all been rescued from the muck and grime of the city’s streets, and rehabilitated here at Rainbow Home, after first being rec-connected with their families and obtaining the full consent of those families to their rehabilitation. Here, these little girls, who could so easily have ended up in the child-trafficking racket or left vulnerable to paedophiles and all sorts of monsters who would prey on them, have a place to sleep, simple yet wholesome food to eat, toilets to use, and clothes on their poor little backs.
They get an education. They learn the meaning of recreation. And re-creation. They have a compound where they can run and play in safety. Nothing is lavish or over the top at Rainbow Home. Nothing. The roofs of some of the sleeping quarters are tin or asbestos and must be hell in summer. The classrooms are tiny, remnants of a non-functional government school. In the monsoon the walls do get damp and the building cold and a bit dreary, despite the bright murals and the sounds of little girl laughter. It’s all very basic and it’s only just about enough…but, it’s HOME to these girls. A home where they’re safe from the big, bad world and its wicked predators. A home where they’re loved, groomed, directed and protected. Where they have a chance at something akin to the happiness our own privileged children take for granted. Here, they receive a good State syllabus education in Kannada medium, while also being taught to read, write and speak English proficiently, with a view to future employment. After their SSLC examinations, they are sent on to college or put into vocational training after which they are helped to financial security through job placements.
Cause for the Girl Child
When I visited Rainbow Home I knew this would be Kiara’s chosen cause, a chance to do something to ensure the validation of the female identity, so callously perceived and treated in our country, especially in recent times, and this, even as we labour under our delusions of grandeur as a “world power”. To my mind, a nation is only as powerful as its women and girls are safe and secure. In our own small way, we at Kiara want to work for this goal of true empowerment of the most vulnerable among us. And so, we partner BOSCO in their cause for the girl child.
This year, our music theatre mega-production “BELIEVE!” brings to the Bangalore stage, stories from folklore, myth, native and urban legend, which have been made into the finest of Broadway, West End and film musicals, all focussing on the values of faith, hope and belief. “Believe!” brings the message that we are not alone, that we share this planet with other creatures, and that we owe it, big time, for the gift of life that we enjoy; that goodness DOES exist and that one can find it, even in the most unlikely of people and places; that there IS power in one’s dreams if one has the belief and determination to work them into reality; and above all, that there is Something, Some ONE, bigger than ourselves.
While we work for BOSCO Rainbow Home in bringing this very powerful message to the Bangalore Stage, we teachers and students at Kiara Music Academy also learn and grow, daily, from our work and the message we seek to convey.
This year we will stage two shows, on September 7th and 8th.
September 8th, observed so joyously in our city of Bangalore as the Nativity of Mary, Mother of Jesus, is a significant date for us as we partner the cause of the girl-child. The person of Mary of Nazareth is considered, world-over, and across the divisions of race, religion, generation and gender, as the embodiment of female courage, virtue and purposefulness of existence. Kiara is honoured to celebrate the girl child, and to do something, however small, to safeguard, protect and promote the well-being of that child, on the birthday of one of the world’s most remarkable women.
It feels good to work for these children. It IS good to work for these children. Trust me, you and I and Kiara, together, can do this good thing to help Bangalore’s little girls stay safe and have a fair chance at a future.
Dr Wendy M Dickson is of Kiara Music Academy , Bangalore