All the boys who call Don Bosco Anbu Illam home are well mannered and cultured. Around 120 inmates live at the home located in Vellakinar, on the outskirts of Coimbatore city. The home turns 25 on December 8 this year.

“As soon as we receive a call from Childline, we send our rescue team to the spot. If the child is a boy, we bring him here to Don Bosco Anbu Illam. If it is a girl child, we send her to Marialaya home,” I. Angeline, staff of Don Bosco Anbu Illam home, says. This shelter is home to orphans, semi-orphans, and boys whose families cannot raise them.

The home is headed by its director, Father David Ryan, who interacts with the inmates on a regular basis. The inmates of this home, all minors, are enrolled in government-run schools. However, the home also has several inmates who are school drop-outs. Such children are enrolled in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme.

Over the years, some of the inmates have made this their permanent home. Angeline, for example, has been working as one of the staff for the last 18 years and she has made up her mind that she will continue to work there as long as she can. She has no plans to retire. Had it not been for Bosco Anbu Illam, the streets would have been home for Muthu (name changed). Having spent his childhood here, he gives full credit to this home and its caretakers for being groomed into an adult today. He works as an auto driver for Bosco Anbu Illam. As soon as the home receives a rescue call, he drives the rescue team in the auto owned by the home. It is his way of giving back to the home.