The staff and inmates of the Don Bosco Anbu Illam for boys, located in Ukkadam, are busy getting ready to celebrate Christmas. The home shares its campus with Child Line, an organization that works towards the rescue and rehabilitation of children, especially the girl child. The festive mood had clearly set in. The inmates, with the help of the staff, have decorated a Christmas tree. There is a huge Christmas star that is lit after sunset and a smile also lights up everyone’s face.

Earlier this month the Don Bosco home celebrated their 25th year anniversary recently, but this year’s Christmas celebrations were a low key affair.

“We saw on TV the sufferings of the people in the flood hit regions. As a mark of respect, we did not want to celebrate Christmas lavishly this year,” says a Child Line member of the staff, who does not wish to be named.

Just when the inmates of this home and the Child Line staff were getting ready to celebrate Christmas, the latter received a phone call from a college student from St. Joseph’s Church, Pothanur. The caller informed Child Line that a woman had left her few months old baby in a roadside trash can the previous night. The caller also reported that the same woman had returned to pick up the child from the trashcan and is now begging for alms with the baby.

The Child Line team swung into action. They requested the caller, a girl, to take the woman to the St. Joseph’s Church. The girl agreed. On the pretext of giving her a meal (which the girl ultimately did), the girl took the woman and the baby to the church. Meanwhile, the Child Line staff informed the Father of the St. Joseph’s Church about the woman and her baby, and he too pitched in to help.

While the woman, who was a rag-picker, was eating her meal, the Child Line staff reached St. Joseph’s Church, Pothanur. “Her name is Kavitha and she is 32 years old. This is our fifth attempt to rescue the woman and her two-month-old female baby. The woman herself is an orphan and this is her second child from an illicit affair with another rag picker in the city. Sadly, the first child was sold by the man,” says the Child Line staff.

The staff also informs that each time Child Line received a call requesting to rescue this woman, they would rush to the location, only to find that the woman had gone away.  This time their efforts and the team work paid.

The police was alerted and the formalities were completed at the police station. Kavitha and the child were taken to the Child Line campus where she was first counselled by the Child Line staff. She was then given a bath. The head of the home gave Kavitha a new sari to wear.

Kavitha told Child Line staff that her girl child was born about two months ago at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH). The little baby had never been washed since its birth. Kavitha added that she used to hide the child in the trashcan because she was afraid that her partner would sell this child too.

The staff bathed the little one and dressed her with a new set of clothes.

Meanwhile, the inmates of the Don Bosco home were getting ready to celebrate Christmas. Kavitha and her child too joined the celebrations. Her two-month-old baby was placed in the crib. She played the role of baby Jesus and those who witnessed the skit that depicted the birth of Jesus Christ, said that this girl child (who is yet to be christened) perfectly played her role.

Kavitha and her child are currently residing in a home that is located in Singanallur. “The child is our priority. We are confident that Kavitha will not to go back to her partner, if regularly counselled,” says the Child Line staff who rescued her.

Miracles do happen during Christmas season.