-Brian Mendonça
A for ALCOHOL
B for BROWN SUGAR
C for COCAINE
THESE ARE THE ONLY ABC’S
SLUM/PAVEMENT
DWELLERS EVER LEARN. LET US
HELP THEM UNLEARN IT.
The words above appear on a pamphlet of Jeevan Dhara which Gene D’Silva, the founder, pressed into my hands at his home in Mazgaon, Mumbai.
We had just made a survey of the delicacies in the midnight
streets of Mohammed Ali road. Gene had procured the bara-handi (12 handis) - a signature offering of the
season. ‘It is a combination of 4 dals and beef, mutton, paya and nalli or bone
marrow. Being Ramzan, barra handi is served by 6 p.m. and gets over by 6.30
p.m.,’ read Gene’s message when he invited us over for dinner. For good measure he added, ‘There is also an
Arab dish you get only during Ramzan. Beef is cooked in pure milk with tikki,
lavang and pepper.’ Indeed, the way he waxed eloquent about the dishes, it felt
as though it was an observance of his own community.
As he bustled about in the kitchen helping his wife Shobha -
who eats only vegetarian food - I
marvelled at the syncretism of India. Their daughter Sasha kept my son amused
on her Tab.
In their silent way, Gene and Shobha who is director of Jeevan Dhara are powering social change
in India. Twenty years ago a start was
made by providing food grains to 350 widows and their families in Chita camp,
Trombay, Chembur -- Asia’s second largest slum community.
Jeevan
Dhara is registered as a society and public charitable trust.* Its
volunteers run a football academy, conduct balwadis
(pre-school) vocational training, and adult literacy and study classes. A major focus is a rehabilitation and
de-addiction programme for slum children dependent on drugs and alcohol. Child
sexual abuse is another.
Gene’s commitment stemmed from a strong faith, a trust in
providence, and his own journey from being drug dependent to the beacon of
inspiration he is now. Along the way he met Shobha and he decided to ‘dive
into’ marriage when he was 42. It was then that both of them registered Jeevan Dhara in 2005.
Gene lost his dad when he was 17. When his mother left him
to work in Bahrain, he felt all the more lonely and depressed. The downward spiral
led him to substance abuse and alcohol. Gene found his calling when he cared
for a woman and her children in a slum. They had been ostracized by their own
community for contracting AIDS unknowingly from the woman’s husband. Gene discovered he wanted to work for the
poorest of the poor.
Jeevan
Dhara has a de-addiction centre at Lonavla. Their work has slowly
become internationally recognized. When last we spoke he was preparing for the
arrival of Swiss students from Geneva who are interning with his NGO. Overwhelmed by their experiences on the field
the students offer their testimonies about how volunteering has transformed
their lives.
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*jeevandharaonline.in Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, St. Inez, Goa on Sunday, 17 June 2018. Pix taken with Gene and family on Sunday, 20th May 2018 at Mazgaon, Mumbai.
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