DON BOSCO MARIA ASHIANA

MARIA ASHIANA DRUG/ALCOHOL RECOVERY HOME. (REGD. TRUST AND SOCIETY)
(Unit of Don Bosco group of Institutions)

Maria Ashiana program was developed under Shelter Don Bosco, Wadala, Mumbai, in 1998, to address the problem of substance/alcohol abuse among street children.

Then situation: In those days there were thousands of young children/youth, roaming around the streets of Mumbai. Most of them engaged themselves in scrap picking, shoe shining, begging, work in wedding contracts, etc. Because of the unprotected and harsh living environments, most of those children/youth would get into drugs/alcohol use. In those days when we brought these youngsters into Shelter Don Bosco, Wadala. Our primary need was to address this problem of addiction but there were hardly any interventions to assist this need.

Thus we took a decision to develop a special program under the direction of Fr. Barnabe D’Souza sdb. As part of Shelter Don Bosco, in the year 1998, we started a project for drugs/alcohol Rehab for Street children, at Lonavla. After a successful pilot project in 2005, the current structure for Maria Ashiana was developed within the Don Bosco Lonavla campus.