What an impressive and touching experience displayed by the boys on the Street… their action and will (desire) towards Don Bosco made me to tag our last Tuesday outreach (5th of July, 2022) as “Come Rain come Sun…, We remain with Don Bosco”. This reminds me of the famous quote or response of John Cagliero when Don Bosco asked John Cagliero to stay with him and be part of the religious congregation he was about to found. The young boy (Cagliero) as we were told walked to and fro at Valdocco, in deep thought, not knowing what to say… but after a much thought as the famous Salesian historian Fr Lemoyne writes, “The young Cagliero came out with the saying: ‘Monk or no monk, I’m staying with Don Bosco'”.
This Tuesday outreach is labelled “Charity on the Street”. It was initiated by the Salesians of Don Bosco which aims at incorporating the children on the street and other vulnerable groups into the welfare activity of the Don Bosco Home-Child Protection Centre Lagos. The main objective of this programme is to open the doors of our care to more street children and adequately cater for the “at-risk” children especially those who roam the Ojodu Berger-Bridge axis of Lagos State. Every week the management team and staff of Bosco Boys Home Lagos visit the children/youths on the streets as our outreach programme. During this visitation, awareness/sensitisation messages are shared with the at-risk children/youths and other vulnerable groups within the vicinity. Apart from the street visitation, every week, a good number of street children come into the Bosco Boys Home for shower, feeding, counselling, skill training, enlightenment talks, games and therapy.