Welcome Home!

Jaume Sanllorente, our General Director and Founder set on a mission in early 2005 to fight against injustice and Human Rights and soon embraced Mumbai as his home, dedicating his life to the betterment of the people. Therefore, Recently during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he returned to India from Spain, where he got stuck due to the covid-19 flight restrictions, it was a ‘welcome home’ moment for all of us.

Jaume is a leader who walks the talk. His energy and enthusiasm is contagious and just being around him makes one feel elated and motivated. When the pandemic out broke, all panicked and were directionless, however, under an able leadership, we had a clear direction and set objectives, thus, making us feel confident as a team  through this challenging phase.

After initial food distributions and awareness activities, Jaume had to return to Spain to attend to other responsibilities towards his family and our team based out of Spain. However, as soon as the international restrictions were lifted, Jaume flew back to Mumbai, India last week.

On his return, the team greeted him with great enthusiasm showering their love by offering flowers and garlands. He immediately immersed in  project meetings and awareness programs with our team members to stay abreast of the project progress. All the preschool and project areas were decorated with beautiful Rangolis and colors, offering a warm welcome to Jaume. Lots of parents were eager to meet Jaume, however, due to Covid-19 social distancing norms and restrictions they sent their messages through cards and via our team members.

During his first week, Jaume attended preschool meetings to get hear out the teachers experience and challenges offering online education. Later, he met all our project beneficiaries to know their whereabouts and motivated them by appreciating their participation during this difficult period. Our LSE students surprised us by sharing their thoughts with everyone even after so many months of time. Their confidence building never stopped even in the face of difficulties over the last 8 months. Thanks to our LSE and access to education team for offering the necessary guidance and encouragement.

Last but not the least; we were glad that he could grace the inauguration of our recently refurbished and beloved Smiling Bus with his presence, an initiative that offered education on wheels to street children. However, owing to the pandemic the bus had been grounded for over 8 months and hence we had it ensuring more comfort for our team and students. During this pandemic we will use it for awareness activities.

We could say that the pandemic has brought us closer and made us stronger a s a team. We have been lucky to be a part of Mumbai Smiles and to have a leader like Jaume, who has always encouraged us to come up with new ideas and appreciated us for our efforts.

We are thankful for all our donors and well-wishers who have shown great trust in our leader who has initiated a mission for the people, for their rights and without whom, we would not be able to see this Mumbai Smiles family growing every year with better life experiences.