WHO WE ARE

The Wesley English Church Youth League’s humble beginning is lost in the mists of time. At one point of that same time, a lot of youth must have congregated here, as Wesley English Church boasted of a library of over two thousand books. Over the years the activities waxed and waned (as did the books). In the sixties (1960s that is), there was a strong movement, and this smoothly slid into the seventies, where Mr. Devakumar headed the strong youth movement which included such stalwarts as Don Manohar Thomas, Meshach Samson, Jason and Jacob Abraham, Ruth and Esther Abraham, Nirmal, Brenda and Yvonne Pavamani, I P Santiago and Christabel Santiago,Vanaja, Jalaja and Neeraja Devanatham, Edwin Moses,Sudhir, Shantala and Manjula Gurumurthy, Molly, Bhaskar Paul, Jemi David, Usha Panicker and Prem Ebenezer. Mr Sonny Devadason, who used to direct plays, was a great inspiration to the youth who looked up to him for guidance.

The eighties saw the mantle pass on, and for some time,Bhasker Paul headed the youth league. During this time, a lot of plays were enacted with the help of Mr I P Santiago.Of course, being youth, they were rebels at this stage of their lives, and all this was reflected in their plays. They were accused of being communists for their efforts. The times saw the likes of Anand, Prasad and Vijay Karat,Manoj Jacob, Raj and Milton Migael, Prakash Joseph,Sunitha & David Arthur, Rashmi & Ruth Gurumurthy,Shobana Devadason and a few more.

Kenny Elisha took over the youth in 1985 and was around for about three years. He left in 1988 as by then he had a touring job. But by that time, the Youth had its own Bank Account, and Manoj Jacob was the treasurer. A subscription of Rs. 5/- per member (which was a lot at that time)was collected and banked. The Youth met regularly each Saturday. Rev. Franklin Macwana contributed a lot with his able support to keep the youth together. In fact, most of the Youth spent almost all their time in Church, doing this and that. During this time, the YMCA came forward to open a YMCA Youth Center in the Church, and the Youth saw a huge influx of young people during this period of time. They were about 50 strong, and the doors were open to even non – Christians, with the result that at any given time there were quite a few of them around, playing Table Tennis,Volley Ball, Cricket, etc., and taking part in discussions on various religions, impromptu contests in art, creative writing and debating. At one point of time, they even took over the gardening, and planted a number of flowering plants and trees in the Church compound. A number of them still exist today, testimony to their industry.

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