The Didier Charitable Trust (Regd.)
A light in the lives of the forgotten
The Future and
Expansion Plans for Morning
Star ...
The Past:
It's 18 years since the dream of creating Morning Star
came to John Kennedy Samson, and in that time the organization has moved
from a small single room humble home in Anekal to NGEF Layout, then to
Kothanur and finally to the permanent abode at Chagalatti Village, Jalahobli,
Yelahanka. What one found at Yelahanka in the beginning was an old house,
a tiled roof brick construction consisting of three rooms, a bed room cum
dormitory, a room for different activities, more a multi-purpose room, and
another used as the kitchen. The first kitchen was outside the building,
and later a proper kitchen was constructed in a separate room attached to
this building, where the meals were cooked. Today this building is being
used for yoga classes, also a study dorm and a general purpose room where
the children can watch video (VCR & DVD)
programs like movies, children's tapes, and educational tapes.
As the number of children increased,
this arrangement became quite inappropriate for the whole lot of over 55
kids (normal and challenged) to be packed into and so in 1994, after discerning
the spending of the collection of funds which John had gathered over the
years, a new stone building was built (see photo on left). It was first
thought that this would be enough for the boys, in a way it was, but the
Government has laid down some commitments that Morning Star is forced to
follow, and accept or else there may be sanctions for not doing so. The
Government have insisted that more challenged children (around 100!) have
to be taken in, and extra rooms built separating the normal children and
the challenged children.
What we find in the new building at present are rooms on the ground floor
dedicated to a dinning room, kitchen, guest rooms, toilets, music room,
special challenged children's room, a computer room, library, office room,
and a wonderful courtyard. There is an upstairs that is the bunker bed dormitory
for the normal children. The challenged children who cannot climb the stairs
sleep in the dining room or one of the other rooms on the ground flooor at
night.
Keeping this in mind, the plans were drawn out and a foundation was made
for the 'extension' project for the challenged section. This has to be
built by December 2006, so that creates a great burden on the depleted
funds of the Morning Star management who do not get regular funds.
From the photo on the right you can see the foundation laid out for the
future expansion project, for which a great sum is required to complete
the same. It is so easy for people to put pressure on NGO's and force them
to make changes to their scheduling and financial commitments. This project
would need materials like special furnishing, ramps for the challenged
children to move easily on, special toilets, tables, furniture, because
earlier there was a common use of the existing furniture as all that
was done was to stagger the timings for food, baths, but now the burden
has become a double edged sword, it's not that any funds are being received
from those that are putting pressure!! A real Catch-22 process.
The Future of Morning Star:
The next urgent Main Project is to build
a special seperate area for the Challenged Children, and the foundation has
already been laid. Presently granite blocks are being cut for the new building
(stones for the challenged childrens' building
, more stones
, still more stones
!!. As the monsoon as started, no construction work is being carried out.
What is being gathered at this stage is steel, wood and sand.
What help is encouraged: Any funds to procure
steel rods, sand and wood for door and window frames, floor tiles would be
appreciated, encouraged and welcome. This is
the best time to buy the commodities (Sept - November 2005)
as the prices are down as builders are not erecting complexes because of
the monsoons. Later in December the prices will shoot up when the demand
starts increasing, and buying then will be expensive.
What is not required:
Photographs
on this Site: Courtesy Mark & Jude Lazaro, Lyn Fernandez and Ronnie
Johnson
-
Morning Star
Home Page
-
Meet some
of the Challenged Children of Morning Star ...a few lines
and photographs on some of the Challenged children and those who
have been successful in bettering their lives
.
-
A Day in the Life
of a Morning Star Child
.... A daily child's routine,
covering school days, holidays, weekends, both for the normal
as well as the challenged child
-
A Day in the Life
of a Morning Star Dad
and Mom .... A glimpse of the life
of the Morning Star Dad and Mom, a
24x7 experience, that never
ends with the sunset, that's when the responsibility and another
dimension begins
-
The Dream that became "Morning Star"
- the story of Morning Star
-
Addresses
- of Didier Charitable Trust and Morning Star Learning
Center
-
What are the Facilities
- the facilities for the children at Morning Star
-
FAQ's
- Frequently Asked Questions regarding Morning
Star
- The
Future Plans
- the next project for the expansion facilities
for challenged children
-
Contact us
- Inquiry and Feedback Form
- Visit Ronnie
Johnson's "
Bangalore Walla
" Home Page
-
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Road Map
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.
The Map is not drawn to scale, but gives an approximate direction
with landmarks that you would see enroute. Take care of speed
breakers that have been placed on the road to prevent trucks from
over speeding.
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