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History
ESTABLISHED 1994
PARISH ENTRUSTED TO THE
SALESIANS BY THE DIOCESE OF AHMEDABAD IN 1995
Rt. Rev. Charles
Gomes had a vision for the Salesians. He was eager to have them set
up centres in a semi circle to¬wards the East of Ahmedabad, namely,
Kapadvanj, Bayad and Dakor since these areas have a high
concentration of Thakors.
The Salesians did some scouting in
this area but were initially reluctant to es¬tablish themselves
there because the Jesuits who were based in Kathlal, ap¬proximately
15 kms from Kapadvanj, were already catering to the needs of the
area.
Fr. Michael Fernandes, while Rector of Dakor, sought
permission to acquire a portion of land at Kapadvanj in view of
further developments in the Kheda District of Gujarat and the need
for support communities for Dakor.
Fr. Aurelius Maschio blessed
the building at-Kapadvanj on March 24, 1994.
Fr. Michael took
charge of the place along with Fr. Nelson Couto on May 21, that
year. Fr. Michael was in charge and also the parish Priest.
Kapadvanj being one of the most backward talukas as far as education
is concerned, Daon Bosco Society, Kapadvanj began with a hostel in
order to provide some educational facilities to the young
Dt John
Bosco Parish was erected with effect from 21 July 1995 with Fr.
Michael as the first Parish Priest
In 1996, at the recommendation
of the Provincial, Fr. Tony D'Souza, the Catechetical Centre was
shifted here. The English language course for can¬didates who wish
to join was also shifted here from Baroda. Consequently, the house
closed its hostel apostolate.
Later in 2002,the language course
for the spirants was shifted back to Baroda since the extraordinary
visitor felt that Kapadvanj was not the ideal place. During the five
years the vocation centre was here, we had 9 candidates in the first
year, the next year there wer 4. In 1999 there were four, in 2000
nine and in 2001 there were twenty six candidates
The institute
next housed the street boys of Snehalaya from 2002 to 2005. When
Snehalaya got its own premises at Vihwamitri the house was once
again empty and the fathers shifted their attention to the villages
where we began self help groups with the intention of moving into
CBOs and the empowerment of the people
The Catechetical Center
which was started in 1996 at Baroda was shifted to Kapadvanj on a
trial basis for one year but has remained here till the present
date. It was felt that Kapadvanj was not a suitable place to run the
Catechetical centre and an effort was made to look for land for the
centre. The idea seems to have been shelved because of the
difficulty of getting land. With the new modifications to the
building, it will be easier for Amrut Dhara to conduct live in
programmes
In-Charge:
FR. MICHAEL FERNANDES 1994-1996
FR. NELSON COUTO 1996-1998
FR. ALEX FERNANDES 1998-1999
FR. MIRANDA 1999-2001
FR. VINCENT
RASQUINHA 2001-2002
FR. ALEX FERNANDES 2002-2005
FR. GREGORY
D’ALMEIDA 2005-2008
FR. IVAN DESOUZA 2008-2010
The House
of Kapadvanj has been established as an independent house this year
RECTOR FR. IVAN DESOUZA MAY 2010-
Parish Priest:
FR. MICHAEL FERNANDES 1995-1996
FR. NELSON COUTO 1996-1998
FR.
ALEX FERNANDES 1998-1999
FR. JOSEPH MIRANDA 1999-2002
FR.
PRAVIN MACWAN 2002-2003
FR. RANALD LOPEZ 2003-2005
FR. GREGORY
D’ALMEIDA 2005-2008
FR. JOE SOARES 2008-2009
FR. IVAN DE SOUZA
2009-
Present Activities
 At
present, the house has three departments
1. DRISTI
which is engaged in conducting the following activities in 45 of the
neighbouring villages
a. self help groups for women, linking
these groups with the banks, teaching them to maintain records,
taking them on exposure visits
b. helping all the people of the
village to participate in local governance, fight for their rights .
We concentrated on helping them to avail of the NREGA scheme,
encouraging them to participate in the Gram Sabha. Now we
strengthening the Village Education Committee and helping the
committee to function well.
c. we propose to work towards
animation of youth. We are trying to get the drop outs to complete
their schooling. We have recently started an IT course in
collaboration with Bosco Tech India and MORD for youth who are below
the poverty line. Value edu-cation courses are also being held for
youth groups at the centre. For the past two years we have been
conducting outreach programs only because of the constraints of
space
d. With the aspirants we conduct oratories in 5 villages
and target the children
AMRUT DHARA
Amrut
Dhara is an animation centre. At present we conduct out reach
programs at the school, & college levels of Gujarat and also outside
Gujarat as in states of MP, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. Here below
we present a brief description of our activities.
• Programmes
for Principals and Managers on Creativity in Value Oriented
Education
• Programmes for School Teachers to expound the
Educational method of Don Bosco and through this the teachers are
exposed to the idea of enhancing the quality of their presence among
the young. The programme takes on relevance in the context of Human
Child Rights issues of dealing justly and non-abusively with
students.
• Programmes for Youth Animators The emphasis of these
programmes is on cultivating a Youth Spirituality for Life. The
programme highlights the situation of Youth in Indian Society today
with inkling into the global and local socio-economic scenarios. It
discusses Youth Problems and finally suggests a Spirituality of Life
for Youngsters. Another objective of this programme is to draw out a
Plan of Action with suggested activities and objectives to be
achieved through these activities.
• Programmes for Youth on
themes of Leadership, Value Orientation, Personality Development,
Career Guidance, Community Sense, Goal Setting, Peace Education,
Morality, Spirituality, and Peak Performance. The objective of these
youth programmes is to help them understand the concept of
responsible living so that they can face the future with confidence
and courage; to set goals and achieve them. They also aim at helping
the participants to develop their character & skills, to be able to
relate well with others as well as to build up their self confidence
& self-esteem.
• Programmes for School Students These are Value
Orientation programmes for school students. The objective is to help
them understand the concept of responsible living so that they can
face the future with confidence and courage; to set goals and
achieve them. They also aim at helping the participants to develop
their character & skills, to be able to relate well with others as
well as to build up their self confidence & self-esteem.
•
Programmes for Social Development This package consists of
Leadership programmes for village SHGs. The intention is to help the
mahila mandals understand the concept of self help groups, and to
motivate them to begin in earnest.
• Prayer Services are prepared
and sent regularly to all the schools
• Value Education Day -
Gujarati & English
Aspirantate
e. For the past
two years we have been conducting an English course for boys who
want to join religious life. Besides English we talk to them about
religious life, the Salesian Congregation, teach them prayer and
meditation and also conduct personality development sessions. We
cater to an average of 12 boys every year
Background of the Locality in which Don
Bosco Kapadvanj is situated.
Kapadvanj is a taluka place of Kheda District, Gujarat.
Kapadvanj Don Bosco Society is situated almost one and half km away
from the Bus station. It is close to the Railway station. Two sides
of our property is surrounded by saw mills and an open space for the
auction of fire wood. On the northern side there is the Nadiad –
Modasa Railway line and on the western side there is the access
road. There is a thakor hamlet close by. This community migrated
from Banaskantha during the drought of 1956. They left everything
and settled down in Kapadvanj. There are around six hundred
households of these thakors, staying scattered in different parts of
the town of Kapadvanj. There are nearly thirty five houses in our
neighbouring hamlet belonging to the same caste. They have been
staying here for almost fifty years now. They are economically poor.
Their houses are partly concrete and partly adobe. They are daily
wage workers. They work mainly in the neighboring saw mills. As far
as education is concerned, majority of the children are school
dropouts. They too end up as daily labourers. The status of
education among our neighbours is very low. They still hold on to
their age old social customs. They still have contact with the
people of the original place where they came from and visit them.
They maintain marital ties with them.
Contact
Information
Address:
Don Bosco
Society,
Post Box No.
29,
Kapadvanj –
287620,
Gujarat.
Phone:
House:
02691-262501
Amrut Dhara:
02691-262375
Email:
House:
dbkapad@yahoo.co.in
Amrut Dhara:
amrutdharak@yahoo.co.in
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