-Brian Mendonça
On the Sunday after Easter we visited Asro – the home for children with HIV/AIDS. * Asro is in Thivim. It is run by the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy
Cross. It was extablished in 2001. Asro is a stone’s throw away from Asha
Bhavan – a home for elderly disabled people and women in distress. It is a unit
of the Karnataka Holy Cross Sisters’ society. It was established in 2016.#
The move was initiated by members of our small Christian
community (SCC). Provisions were bought for these two places out of
contributions collected from community members - in particular after the weekly
Way of the Cross which used to be held in Lent.
Our cars left at 3.30 p.m. Our first visit was Asha
Bhavan. The building is a new multi-levelled
structure with a beautiful grotto at the entrance. It is elderly-friendly and designed
to accommodate a number of women in several clean rooms. Many of them are over
80 years of age. Some of them look vacantly at nothing in particular. Still
others have difficulties in speaking. One was being fed.
The kids with us were given the task of passing around the
Frooti. As the inmates munched on the
rolls, we started singing a medley. We opened with ‘You are my sunshine’ in C
major. The inmates were invited to sing.
One gent regaled us with ‘Tambde
Rosa’. Another lady piped in with
the Portuguese love song, ‘Encosta tua Cabecinha.’
We ended with the hymn ‘What a
friend we have in Jesus.’
As we entered the courtyard of Asro, boys were seen playing cricket in the courtyard. We sat the kids in a circle and served the
snacks. Queenie was given the task of
organizing the games. She was ably assisted by my nieces Michelle (19) and
Mabelle (15) who were here from Bombay on holiday.
In the first game, the kids had to blow a balloon to as big
a size they could (without breaking) and tie it with a knot. Of course, some balloons
burst among squeals of laughter. The biggest balloon was selected for a prize.
Now all who had the balloons had to move around in the centre and try to burst
the other balloons while protecting their own. The last two on the floor with
balloons were given prizes.
The next game was passing the hat to music. When the music
stopped the child with the hat had to tell us his/her name. If the name was
S-N-E-H-A then the 5th child away from Sneha was out of the game. A
sing-song followed with the children singing the hymn ‘Bless the Lord, O my
soul.’ They also sang ‘Yesu Masih, Tere
Jaisa Koi Nahin.’ We offered ‘He’s
Got the Whole World in His Hands.’ Finally Michelle and Mabelle led all into an
action song.
We were back at 6.30 p.m.
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*Asro: (Konkani) ‘Support. ’ The letters are
also an acronym. They could stand for Acceptance, Service, Rehabilitation and Outreach.
# www.holycrossbangalore.com Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, Panjim, Goa on Sunday, 5 May 2019. Pix of Asha Bhavan (top) and Asro (bottom) courtesy Ravi Pinto.
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