A Flashback of BSAC: Gifting a happy childhood to slum children

S.Shanmugam and a group of childhood friends who were born and brought up in the slums of vyasarpadi, in North Chennai was hailing  from a marginalized family. Parents being a daily wager finds hard to meet their daily needs. These group of committed young men fortunate to find a childhood mentor in a Salesian priest.

“It all started one day” our neighbourhood witnessed a nasty clash between two communities. Everyone was chasing people from the opposite group, to beat them up. As we were running madly after the other group, a tall man intercepted us and gave us a football, saying: "With so much of energy, why don't you all kick this ball and win a game and win laurels rather than running around to hurt your fellow beings." Our group, all aged around 8 years or 9, took to football and other sports. He organized us into a team and called it sub junior C team. His name was Bro Sigamani. He was the Director of Don Bosco Youth Centre, Vyasarpadi. We used to run to Don Bosco Youth Centre after school hours, to play and learn lessons in a happy way. We had opportunities for sports (Football, Volleyball, Hockey, Carrom, Table Tennis) and activities such as Scouting, young students’ movement, and Youth Groups. As little children we were happy and playful, with no thought of the vulnerable community we were living in.

Nearly six feet tall and sinewy, Bro Sigamani had sparkling eyes. He was a man with determination, and earned the pet name "Iron Man" for his strong character and integrity. He lived a life of divine destiny.

Bro Siga knew each child by name. He was interested in every child's life and wanted child participation in all aspects. He wanted every child to get an opportunity to excel and believed that if lead well, children would make angels on earth. He would meet each one of us and help us play a sport or study our lessons, in a very positive and motivating way. He was an ardent football player and was the best coach for us. He was always there for us, for sharing our silly stories about school. He would mingle with all of us and unobtrusively tell us where we went wrong, without hurting our little hearts.

Apart from skill building, Bro.Sigamani groomed us as community leaders. When we entered our youth.

We were determined to pass on the gift of a happy childhood our mentor presented us, for new generations of slum children. A group of 8 Rover Scout’s friends-initiated community service for slum children when Bro. Sigamani left for South Africa on an assignment. We started our activities in the street with some children taking tuition in the evening hours and we played with them for promoting sports habit. We continued the centre and night school for almost 10 years. Many experts and well-wishers applauded our work and suggested that registering our work would open new avenues for help and support. We never knew what a CBO or NGO was, though we were doing what they were supposed to do! We registered our work as Bro Siga Animation Centre (BSAC), much against Bro Siga's wishes and objection. In 1993 BSAC was registered as a society and later the office building was constructed, on the land donated by the community people. Such was the welcome for our initiative from the community.  

Vysarpadi is a very backward part of Chennai and lacks basic civic facilities. It is densely populated and highly crime prone. The children can drift into delinquency very easily, if unattended. The regular scenes of crime, theft, family feuds, uncouth behaviour, lack of educational opportunities, rampant police abuse, and widespread discrimination at large strengthened our determination. Bro Siga's faith in us motivated us no end. BSAC's prime focus has been on child development by providing education which serves as a key tool for empowerment. There were school dropouts, with many working as child labour. Our focus was on arresting that and motivating them to go back to regular schools.

We wanted to improve the living conditions of the youth and children. We dreamt of imparting leadership skills, empowering and training youth to be employable and ensure education for children living in the lower strata of the society and thus being given an opportunity to excel. This was the prime thought in establishing BSAC in 1984 with the vision “BETTER PEOPLE, BETTER COMMUNITY”.

By the intercession of Beloved father Gerard SDB, and with the help of Fr. Mc Farran our organization building was constructed. Programs like computer training, tailoring training, spoken English training were started in this building.

All the compliance like proper audit, income tax exemption, tax exemption for donations and permission to receive foreign donations were obtained and its construction was further strengthened.

Foreign charities like Amaithi Foundation and Asmae France appreciated our service and provided financial support. This enables various projects to be implemented smoothly.

To transmit our social service to the next generation. Mr. Srivatsram, MD., Wheel India Ltd., has been helping the Supplementary Education Centre program since 2005 and Mr. Hendry Theagarajan, managing trustee (Human rights Education trust), Rotary club of Meenambakkam is also proud to join hands with us and strengthen us!

Fellow charities have been a source of comfort and warmth in many moments is a blessing.

As a daily journey towards growth, our service journey with several confederations to prepare for the next leap with a re-aligned, visionary mindset. (Confederation of India Organisation Service & Advocacy (CIOSA), Forum for promotion of Child Participation (FPCP), Federation of Children Movement Right to Participation (FCMRP) Social Action Movement (SAM), Tamil Nadu State, being a convenor for Reading Skills Enhancement Network (RSEN) was our networking partners and it is a joy to share that walk with them.

Crowded houses, striking poverty, absence of civic facilities, high drop out of among children, volatile behaviour of young adolescent children, crime and delinquent behaviour, and lack of proper health facilities are some of the major concerns in this area. Adolescents from Vyasarpadi are constantly exposed to antisocial behaviour and influences, leading to major social issues affecting adolescents are – drug addiction, child labour, early marriage, child abuse and violence against children.

To address these issues BSAC started informal and formal tuition centres in 1984 with 120 students, which is now called supplementary education centres which cater to 300 to 400 children every year. In 1985 we started "Siga Night Schools" that were tuition centres for children.

In the year 1993 BSAC was registered as a Society and the office building was constructed, on the land donated by the community people. Such was the welcome for our initiative from the community. We grew moderately, on the strength of grass-roots efforts of our friends and well-wishers. Slowly, more support from well-wishers and donors arrived and brought hope where only fear and despair existed. A shot in the arm was the support of France-based ASMAE, starting with Reading Class

Program in 2003 and later for Child Rights, Skill Building program and restructuring of BSAC in the promotion of child rights and participation. 

As years rolled, we were able to streamline our programs and structure them properly with guidance from great souls. We now have structured programs focusing on three major areas of Education, Child Rights & Skill Building.