Friday, April 3, 2015

Fr. Joe reaches out to the poorest of the poor in Education @ Dhamori, Maharashtra.


  
Taking time out from his hectic itinerary , and following his passion and dream of Education and empowerment to villages, Fr Joe visited St Joseph Seva Sanghs Yashoda English medium school Dhamori, which is located in a remote tribal village This school caters to the underprivileged and impoverished populace of a dozen other surrounding villages namely,Chasnali,Mahegaon,Devi,Kandalas,Shirwade, Manjarewasti.  This school has classes from Nursery to STD III, with a strength of 300 students and 13 qualified Teachers.
Despite the Governments RTE (Right to Education) policy, 2085,many villages in Maharashtra have no schools, forcing children to walk 8 to 10 kms  to attend formal schooling. A report published by Directorate of Education. With this thought in  mind  Mr. Francis Anil Dhawar founded,Yashoda English Medium school  founded by Francis Anil Dhiwar in 2010 with an aim to cope up with this gross inequity faced by the children in these villages.
It is here that Fr. Joe is continuously guiding and helping this school to flourish, with the support of his church and Friends of Kripa. Fr. Joe has adopted this school and assured his support in future developments.
Viewing the  absenteeism and high drop out rates in villages, Fr Joe has further assured improvement of various facilities that would attract the children to come to school.Even to the extent of constructing a protective boundary and proper RCC constructions as per the Government norms.
Fr. Joe who was the chief guest at the schools 4th annual day celebration commended the President Mr. Francis Anil Dhawar  for the team spirit and dedication of the his teachers and well disciplined students.and further stated that the students of the school, have the great quality of developing into future scientists and distinguished citizens.
          To mark the occasion various cultural programs of story telling, poetry, songs, dance and karate demonstration was presented. by the children from the school.  
Parents who attended the program were highly inspired by Fr Joe’s speech to them. As a token of gratitude,they presented him with grapes and other products from their farms. A touching episode was an intoxicated gentlemen staggered to greet Fr Joe   and fell at his feet. Fr Joe lifted him and hugging him said to him “Your place is not at my feet. It is in my heart.” and invited him to seek  recovery at Kripa Bandra.  The man was son touched that he  went away with tears of joy. Later at night, he phoned up Mr. Francis Anil Dhiwar  and vowed never to go for a drink again. Surely a steeping stone to recovery. Hearing this news Fr. Joe immediately informed that as a Class A Trustee of AA, he would start an AA meeting group and extend his support through and extension of kripa Foundation in the village for further rehabilitation for alcohol and drug abuse which would include HIV care.
 In memory of Guruji Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar the school has decided to start Yoga classes for the villagers in the school campus. 
The program was a grand success with the students, staff and parents going happily home with memories of a great annual day celebration.

Submitted by
Francis Anil Dhawar
Kopargoan
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Newsdesk