14. ZdgaUr AmoVw~ 2012 AmoVw~ 2012 ZdgaUr
FOR WHOM IS THE History Of Boarding
MILAGRIS BOYS BOARDING: • In the year 1978 need of a boys boarding was felt since children
The poor, the orphans and the needy: had to come from far off places to school and the transport sys-
Our primary aim is to cater to the poor, the orphans and the tem was not good and the villages were also not accessible.
needy of our Catholic Community of our diocese. • Under the guidance of the then Parish Priest Fr. Napoleon Athaide
• Today with the Right to Education all children are supposed to and the intiative of Fr. Santan Dsouza and Ronnnie Pereira, the
get basic education. Schooling the government will provide but boarding was started in the present parochial house and the as-
there are children who are very poor and do not have the lodging sistant priests mainly looked after the boarders. That was in
and boarding facility and this is where this boarding will be of great June 1978 and there were about 10 boarders. Slowly more chil-
service. dren wanted to avail of the services and within two years there
• There are homes which are broken due to various reasons and were about 15 to 20 boarders. One of the first boarders to pass
the children are the sufferers and their basic education is neglected the tenth standard was none other than Fr. Jospeh Dantas, of
at times. This boarding will be of great service to them. Amberi Mangaon, of whom we are proud since he has become a
• There are orphans or children with one parent who is no more, priest and is presently doing his priestly ministry in Germany.
and maybe the other parent has to work, the boarding will be of • Most of the times brothers or seminarians were appointed to help
service to them out in the administration of the boarding. At a certain time a per-
• All those children who for some reason or the other are deprived son named Denzil Chawan a layman was appointed to look after
of getting the education can come to this boarding. the children. The seminarians did a great service especially with
• The above criterion will be our priority to admit children. If there regard to their studies and making them always feel at home. To
is still place in the boarding and school then others also will be wel- mention a few Brothers Jovian now a priest, Cyril, Roy, Jeetandra,
comed but of course with a price to defray the expenses. Wilfred, late bro. John etc.
We have our diocesan school wherein we give the best pos- • The boarders lived in the two rooms below the present refectory
sible education and so the demand is high. To get admissions in of the parochial house and managed with three w.c. only. One
K.G. for our Catholics is easy but to get admission in higher classes room was the kitchen and the other was a dinining, sleeping, study,
is very difficult yet our principal does his best to give admission spe- dressing, playing, relaxing, guest, parlour etc etc room. At that
cially to the boarders. And so it is important to apply in the month of time there were no beds, children slept on the floor.
March/April itself. Humble beginnings......... Poor children.
We hope to get benefactors for this purpose because as one • You can have accommodation but if you do not have food the
knows with the present structure the overhead expenses also will boarding is useless and that is where our dear commonly known
rise.Those who want to sponsor a child can contact the Boarding in- as “Aunty” that is none other than Mrs. Arkan Fernandes from
charge who is Fr. Melwin Pais at present. Salaiwada and she offered her services looking after the 'potoba'
of the children for nearly ten years..There were two girls Fulamen
• Faith is reason grown courageous. - Sherwood Eddy
V
and Agnes schooling and also helping Mrs. Fernandes.
• Faith is courage; it is creative while despair is always
• Those were “bulgar” and 'milk powder days sent from abroad
destructive. - David S. Muzzey
and not forgetting the oil that went a long way in preparing the
• Reason is our soul's left hand, Faith her right. - John Donne daily bread.
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15. ZdgaUr AmoVw~« 2012 AmoVw~« 2012 ZdgaUr
• Soon the demand for the boarding started growing and so more other have helped and will help in future the boarding.
place was needed and the sacristy and other rooms etc of the old • Now we have the present structure ready for use . Looks mas-
church were put to good use by shifting the boarding dormitory sive but when the number of inmates increase it might appear
and kitchen there. There were quite a few children from the ghats, small in the future.
from Kadgaon, Badnem, Gauthan etc. and even from South Goa. • Presently we have the present batch of borders only 18 from
The strength of the boarding grew to 40 and above. chillipilli std 5th to big in std 10th .
• Of course the other facilities like the essentials of toilets, bathing • Now we have Bro. David from Masura who is taking care of the
rooms, dining hall etc were limited and so the idea of a new place present boarders .
and building started coming up and a lot of discussions were held • We cannot forget our dear Xavier from Charatha, Sawantwadi
every year but nothing came out in concrete. who is presently not only a cook but a fatherly figure for the present
• There came a time when the rooms of the old church structure boarders and when father or bro is not there he gives the children
were in a precarious condition and it was dangerous for the chil- some 'fatkas' to keep them disciplined.
dren to stay there and so temporarily the boarding had to be • The total cost of the project that is the Boarding and the Minor
closed down for about five to six years. seminary is about One and a half crores. One cannot forget the
• After a gap of about 6 years again the need of the boarding was benefactors for their timely help to cater to the daily needs of the
felt. There were a 30 children and soon the demand increased children. The other need was to contribute generously for the
and the number reached to 45 But, slowly the number of stu- building. You can still be one of the donors and benefactors. The
dents had to be decreased due to inadequate facilities. So much main structure is ready but a lot of bills have yet to be paid. A lot
so that there was no alternative but to seriously think of a better of furniture and other requirements are needed, wherein your
place and that is when after a serious earch in 2009 for land be- contributions will help.
gan. Mr. John Dsilva our ex choir master was kind enough to • We are grateful to the following benefactors
mediate to acquire this prime piece land in the heart of Sawantwadi The main contributors:
at a very reasonable price from his close relatives. Without his Eichstatt Diocese Germany, Kindermission works Rs. 65,20,810/-
help and the kind generosity of the D'Silva family the new bud- Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle Rome Rs. 29,25,000/-
ding diocese would not be able to afford to pay the existing price. Fr. Francis D'Souza Rs. 8,00,000/-
• The day dawned when the foundation was blessed by Fr. Francis (This includes various donors and also Sawantwadi wados that
D'Souza the Rector of the Cathedral on 3rd May 2010 at 4.00 contributed generously to the silver jubilee)
pm. in the presence of Bishop Alwyn Barretto and other priests. Mrs Irene Pinto Correa Rs. 5,00,000/-
• The work began under the guidance of the architect Mr V.N. Solar System by - Bayer, Germany
Kamat and the workmanship of the Contractor Suresh Akerkar
both of Sawantwadi. Surely but steadily the work progressed. At And other numerous generous donors not forgetting our
times due to paucity of funds and labour trouble and other minor Bishop Alwyn who has been continuously getting in new donors for
glitches work had to be slowed down considerably. But with Gods the recurring expenses.
grace 5th October was chosen because it is an auspicious day, Dear friends we still require your help to clear some major
the 7th anniversary of our diocese. bills do help us.
• In a special way we thank all the priests who in some way or the - Fr. Francis D'Souza, Milagris Cathedral, Sawantwadi
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