Swiss Jeweler Supports Orphanage in India

 Swiss Jeweler Supports Orphanage in India

By Bruce Shawkey

The founder of Eastern Watch, a leading Watch and Jewelry shop in Bombay, was a Swiss citizen, Mr. Vogel, who died last year after returning to Switzerland. Mr. Vogel, during his lifetime, had taken an interest in the St. Catherine's Home for Children, founded in 1927 by an Englishwoman and now managed by the Daughters of the Cross. As this Home is supported entirely by grants and public donations and as the huts are in urgent need of repair, it is to be hoped that other prominent businessmen dealing in watches and jewelry will follow in Mr. Vogel's footsteps in supporting efficiently this useful institution which is beneficial from both the human and social points of view. 

We take pleasure in reproducing here the report of the Mother Superior in which she exposes the aim and utility of the Institution. The Institution has grown considerably since 1927 and now comprises about 430 babies, children and young girls, all taken in regardless of caste and religion. There are some terrible cases, among which a baby that was found in a dustbin and another that had been blinded. Some of the young girls had already been taught to beg in the streets. In the Institute, the children learn household duties, singing, dancing, gardening and farming. Domestic Science courses are held for the older ones and those who have attended them may go in for the examinations held by the Inspectors of Certified Schools. This enables them to earn their living satisfactorily on leaving the Institute. Classes are also held for about 95 outside children from the neighborhood. All the children join in the work of pin packing and bead threading which is done for various firms and which encourages everyone to be useful.

On leaving the home, those of the girls who do not return to their villages and get married take up employment in nursing, domestic service and in factories. Although the home is supported mainly by outside aid such as the Taj Mahal Hotel Charity Ball, it is worthy of note that 14% of the Institute's income is derived from the work of the children.