The Rogate ‘Sneha Bhavan’ Boys Town in Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh, is the first mission house of the Rogationist Indian Mission, where children receive affection, education and a real future.
‘ROGATE SNEHA BHAVAN’ at Nalgonda, Andhra Pradhesh is the first mission station of the Rogationist Indian Delegation. Two of our Indian Rogationists fathers (Frs. Saji Kappikuzhy,RCJ; Shaju Koonathan, RCJ) came to Andhra Pradesh on August 1, 2009 in order to get an experience in the field of street children’s work and to look for the possibilities to start a mission station. They stayed seven months with the Don Bosco Navajeevan at Hyderabad and Vijayawada to learn the language and to experience their work with the street and working children. After having an experience in this field, and as a response to the invitation of the Bishop of Nalgonda, His Excellency Most Rev. Govindu Joji, they arrived at Nalgonda on 26th march 2010. The Bishop welcomed them and expressed his great desire to have our presence in his diocese.
They were given accommodation in Kolping (youth) center near our land. This temporary house was blessed by His Excellency Most Rev. Govindu Joji on 6th April 2010. Bishop gave us one acre of land free of cost and other two acres we bought from him for the purpose of our project. This Rogationist project at Nalgonda district could accommodate 50 boys as interns. It can also offer short term courses like carpentry, electronics, electrical, welding, computer, Bakery, Plumbing, printing technology etc… to many poor and marginalized children of this area. The mission of this project is to provide relief to children at risk of any age, race or religious belief and the vision is to enable the individuals to take responsibility for the future into their own hands and to live independently.
History
As it is mentioned in the introduction, Rogate Sneha Bhavan is the first mission endeavour of Rogationist St. Thomas Quasi Province, India. The mission was launched in 2012. The house is situated in the suburban of Nalgonda in Telangana. There are two buildings, one for the child care home and the other for vocational training centre, namely stitching unit. The community owns 6 acres of land here in this premise and 1.7 acres of land as a separate property 18 km away from the house, which was given on lease for agriculture (Cotton) to the local farmers. The boy’s home was blessed on 17th February 2014 and the training centre was blessed on 23rd August 2017.
Activities
This house is a home and vocational training centre for orphans, school dropouts and working Children (only for boys). The children from the age of 5 to 18 are accommodated and taken care of here. The house provides shelter to the children of any age at risk. The community is working in collaboration with CWC (Child Welfare Committee) of the District (Government of Telangana) in the legal aspects. When the children are 18 years old, the house is legally free from accommodating the child. Since most of them are orphans, the community at its own risk support the children till they become independent.
The community initiated a venture named as Smart Angels – a dress, uniforms and sportswear manufacturing unit in the same premises for the sustenance of the house. The objective behind this initiative is other than supporting the community financially, to create local employment and thus to empower as many people as possible of our locality who are exposed to financial crisis. Since the social scenario is influenced by caste system, discrimination, marginalization, etc. the community contributes a little share to bring those challenged ones to the forefront.
There is also a baking unit initiated by the community. Due to the pandemic, the baking unit is temporarily closed. With the aim of making the community stable in terms of finance, the community establish a buffalo farm. By selling the milk, a considerable amount is gathered every month. Moreover, there are some other cultivation like, vegetables, banana plants, fruit trees and tapioca. The community is keen in being eco friendly, as so, every three months, some amount money is invested for planting trees.
Statistics
The total number of children accommodated at present is twenty five, ages ranging from 5 to 18 who belong to different religions and faiths. As mentioned above, there are four priests and three brothers are residing in the house with different responsibilities. Besides, there are four resident staffs – two (Couple) of them are working in the kitchen, one is working in the animal farm and the other is in the plantation, and there is a cleaning staff and a tuition teacher, both of them are day workers. The Smart Angels – Stitching unit is composed of 12 staffs including the HR.
Pastoral Dimension
The community is very prompt and alert to the pastoral necessities of the area. The community is always in healthy rapport with the bishop’s house, administrator and the cathedral parish. The community joins the parish community on important occasions and makes the service available whenever it is required. The community maintains a healthy and fraternal relationship with all the religious communities of the locality. Since there are only three men religious congregations and the number of the priests is few, the priests of the community are invited to celebrate Holy Eucharist in the nearby convents and formation houses in the week days. There are 4 Masses in week days (Monday to Thursday), 6 Masses on Friday and 5 Masses on Saturday. Moreover, the priests make available their service for monthly recollection, confession, blessings etc.
Charitable Dimension
The community is available and ready for the charitable activities. The Adoption at a Distance programme is well organised in the community. The community organises the programme for over 80 children of the area. There are regular meetings, house visits and updating to make sure that the help given by many generous benefactors reach the deserving children in time. Apart from this, a certain percentage of the local income is spent for the charitable activities.