Vacation Bible Joy 2025 at STCJ, Airoli

"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6 Our Sunday School Children love Diwali vacations; not for playing, not for resting but because of the annual Vacation Bible Joy Activity that is conducted every year during Diwali vacations at Church. This year's VBJ was conducted between 20th to 24th October at St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church, Airoli between 3:30pm to 6pm every day and the theme was "Choosing Peace in a troubled world." Since most Sunday School teachers visited the Holy Land, it was time for our parishioners to step in and make sure that VBJ happens smoothly as always & under the guidance of Mr. Ernest Palmeira, we had 3 new teachers for each class - Mrs. Asharani Castelino (Sub Juniors), Mrs. Celine D'souza (Juniors) and Mrs. Sunita Sarote (Seniors). All teachers were assisted by Mrs. Geeta Santiago, Mrs. Jacintha Mendonsa and Mrs. Felcy Tauro, who despite being far away were close to us and connected via phone and were always available for help. With a total of approximately 50 students registering for this year's VBJ, the students were divided into 3 categories as always Sub Juniors (Up to 3rd standard) Juniors (4th and 5th standard) Seniors (6th to 10th standard) Every day kicked off with a fun assembly between 3:30pm to 4pm which had a mix of action songs, stories, games and more. Our youth conducted it with a lot of energy, excitement and enthusiasm & it was passed on to the kids who looked forward to starting their day with the assembly and learnt new action songs, heard more stories from the bible and played new games.

4pm to 6pm was time for the class and with the qualities of Peace, Humility, Love, Forgiveness and Mercy assigned for the 5 days, each day had 2 stories from the Bible which helped the kids understand the meaning of the same and also helped them understand the importance of these values & how they could implement it in their lives whilst helping people around them too. The kids understood these thanks to the efforts of their teachers who gave their 100% and went out of their way to help the kids in every way possible & at any point it did not feel like it was their first time conducting VBJ. There were some fun activities for all kids every single day based on their class, from coloring to word search, from craft to jumbled words, from drawing to crosswords, the activities definitely helped the children remember many key words and lessons from the Bible.

Every teacher was assisted by youth volunteers during class who made sure that everything went smoothly for our teachers and the students. Volunteers like Benita Mendonsa, Karen D'souza, Cassandra Moraes, Richelle Almeida, Aaron Coutinho, Annie Santiago, Sneha Rego made it a point to attend VBJ every day and to help with class, snacks, running around and every help that was needed. We also had some more youth volunteers who came forward to help as and when possible. Thanks to our generous communities, the kids, teachers and volunteers got to taste delicious snacks every single day during the break. These snacks helped them even more to focus more during the last session and made sure that they were at their 100% when it comes to energy, excitement and enthusiasm at all times. Assignments were given to kids every single day in the form of completing their files, working on some art and craft & much more. Kids took it seriously and completed their assignments every single day & were happy to do it without being forced. The last day of the VBJ saw parents being invited for the final session too where the children performed action songs, told them about the things they learnt and we also had a short and sweet felicitation ceremony for the toppers of each class, teachers and volunteers for all their efforts. Parents also saw the assignments, artworks etc made by all kids and were happy to see their kids shine.

Fr. Samuel Ribeiro also spoke about the importance of VBJ whilst thanking the children, parents, teachers and volunteers for making this possible. This VBJ was truly a different experience and we are sure that our children will make this parish and this world a better place by spreading the values of peace, humility, love, forgiveness and mercy. You can watch the VBJ Highlight Short here