Guwahati: Over a period of 3-days this week, Salesians of Guwahati province reached out to Artisans, Migrant workers, and Sick people, from 22nd to 24th February 2021.
Bosco Reach Out, the social service wing of the province handed over 80 handlooms to artisans, set up a Migrant Desk to assist youth in search of work, and provided an ambulance cum mobile eye clinic.
Bosco Reach Out implemented handloom project in collaboration with Government’s Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Govt. of India. The project which aims to develop the artisan cluster in rural areas across the country to revive traditional and indigenous craft.
The main deliverables of this project is to up-grade skills of the artisans and to provide them modern tools and amenities to scale up their productions with quality.
Artisans are also clubbed into groups so that risk factors of the business can be minimized and investment capabilities to the business become easier through their contributions.
The second intervention, Don Bosco Bharosa, the Migrant Desk, was inaugurated on 24th February 2021.
“Bharosa in Hindi language means trust and Don Bosco Brand is trusted by both job seekers and job providers,” says director of Bosco Reach Out Fr Jayaprakash.
On the working of Migrant Desk Fr. Jayapraksh explains “Our North Eastern desks networks with similar desks in others parts of the country. As the migrant youth from North East India are spread out in all major cities of India, the main objective of Don Bosco Bharosa is to provide safe migration to the youth of North East India. If the migrant youth of our region face any problem in any part of the country they will be assisted by the nearest Migrant Desk of the Don Bosco Society.”
Don Bosco Society has set up Migrant Desks in all the major cities in India. North East India has three centres at Dimapur, Guwahati and Shillong with many more sub centres.
The migrant desk at Guwahati has 5 sub centres, located at Kamrup Metro District of Assam, Assam Plains, Karbi Linguistics Region of Assam, Bodo Linguistics Region of Assam, and Garo Hills Districts of Meghalaya. The desk will at the moment be collecting data.
A placement cell based at Guwahati helps young people to get safe jobs.
In a third venture, for the first time in Northeast India, an Ambulance cum Mobile Eye Clinic was launched on 24th February, 2021.
Speaking at the inaugural function, Programme Coordinator – Health, Bosco Reach Out Mr. Probal S.G, said, “This Mobile Eye Clinic was a result of the culmination of experience that Bosco Reach Out gained in community ophthalmology, by providing eye services to the marginalised in the interior parts of Assam over the last 10 years.”
Executive Director of Bosco Reach Out Fr Jayaprakash, thanked the collaboration of Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Guwahati, over the last 10 years and said, “this model of Public-Private partnership in providing medical services to the poor is a model that can be replicated all across the country.”
Fr. K. S. Paul established Bosco Reach Out in 1983 as non-profit, non-political and non-religious organization. The official social development wing of the Salesian Province of Guwahati in North East India, it is committed to the integral and holistic development of the human person.