by Br. Sandeep Parmar
WADALA-MUMBAI, MARCH 25, 2015: Shelter Don Bosco conducted its Monthly Mela for outreach boys residing in Mumbai on March 20, 2015. There were forty two boys who participated in 
the Mela. It began with a registration of the names of the boys at 8:30 a.m. which was followed by breakfast and tea.
During the assembly the theme of the Mela which was "opening accounts in the bank "was introduced by the Rector, Fr. Gregory D'Almeida. He briefed the boys about 'how to open an account in the bank and what evidences they would have to provide'. The theme was chosen, keeping in mind the problems outreach boys face with regard to keeping the money that they earned safe. There were various activities like hair-cut, cutting of the nails, medical checkup, bathing, distribution of clothes and counseling that were carried out for the outreach boys.
There was a session on 'how to open a bank account' which was very well presented by Samantha Gonsalves, Manager of Citizen Credit bank. The session was very informative and gave the children an idea of how they could save money for themselves. This was a new concept for all the boys.
Thereafter, the boys were shown a new Hindi film named 'Ab tak chhappan 2'. After which, lunch was served. The boys left the premises of Shelter Don Bosco with a better perspective towards life. During the course of the day, there were eight boys who filled the forms to open an account and two boys were prepared to go to Dhanu for de-addiction.