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Justin Bieber Makes Time For Mumbai’s Underprivileged Kids Before Concert, But Not Socialites Parties

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 00:25 PST, May 14, 2017

Justin Bieber is a real one.

Just hours before performing for 50,000 fans at his Purpose World Tour concert at the DY Patil stadium in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday night, the superstar took the time to meet underprivileged children in the city.

During his surprise walkabout, Bieber gave away around 100 show tickets to children on a charity-run school bus.

The Hindustan Times reports Bieber’s production team also set up a special lounge at the stadium for the youngsters, which provided food and beverages before the Mumbai show.

Video footage shows the Canadian star giving the kids high fives as they eagerly reached out to shake his hand.

Based on clips below, the children were surprised and thrilled to see Justin hang out with them on the school bus.

The “Sorry” singer played football with some of the kids he met and also went to a Mumbai community center which provides a range of support to children and families who live in the city’s slums.

The school bus, the football game that was played, and the poverty rescue center Bieber visited are run and hosted by the Vision Rescue organization.

According to the organization’s website, it currently operates in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai.

Its aim is to “free children from all forms of poverty and exploitation by engaging and sustaining them in education,” a statement reads.

“Education and nutritional meals are provided five days a week through school buses, which serve as school classrooms and community centers within the slums,” it adds.

Other services include sports programs, vocational training, and medical and dental vans. All of which are used to support the street children, their families, and the wider community.

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Twenty-three million people reportedly reside in Mumbai. Fifty-four percent live in slum communities. They are classed as “untouchables” in India’s caste system. Typical slum dwellings are without sanitation and the poor have limited or no access to education, healthcare, and food.

Vision Rescue reveals around 300,000 children live on Mumbai’s streets. The risks to them include early mortality, exposure to substance abuse, and being trafficked.

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The initiative is one of many outreach programs that Hillsong Church supports and helps raise funds for. Bieber is a longtime member of Hillsong and likely donates money to the church and Vision Rescue.

Fan-filmed pictures and videos that surfaced show the superstar walking around Mumbai’s slums with his friends, Pastor Carl Lentz of the Hillsong Church in New York City and Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. from Miami’s Trinity Church.

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Justin’s charitable giveback efforts are especially focused on the most vulnerable.

The 23-year-old remains a longstanding supporter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and meets children with life-threatening illnesses at nearly every Purpose Tour show.

Bieber has been working with the Foundation since the start of his professional career in 2009 and has met Make-A-Wish kids on all his tours and many sick youngsters off-tour.

The pop superstar also donates $1 from every tour ticket sold to Pencils of Promise (PoP), a non-profit organization which builds schools and provides educational resources for poor children in developing countries.

To date, Bieber has donated over $2 million to PoP from his Purpose World Tour and millions more from his previous tours.

In addition, the singer has donated huge sums of money and time to a variety of charitable causes for years. These include donating over $500,000 at AMfar’s 2014 Cannes ball, the proceeds were used for research into treatments and a cure for AIDS.

The heartthrob has donated money, gifts, food, and performed at U.S. schools with large numbers of poor students. He has also given funds and gifts to food banks in his native Canada.

Back in 2013, Bieber led a fundraiser which generated over $3 million for victims of the Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. More recently, he donated $24,000 to the relief effort in Peru after the country was hit by flooding.

Justin’s meets with Mumbai’s underprivileged children were praised by Shera, the famed bodyguard of Indian film icon Salman Khan, who was assigned as head of security for the Biebs’ during his brief stay in India.

Speaking to leading Indian magazine MenXp, Shera said, “He [Bieber] loves spending time with kids and so that’s what he did.”

“He is a boy, just like every other boy, He wants his personal space. He wants to be left alone. He wants to do his own thing. In short, he just wants to live his life.”

The security chief went on to reveal he drove the singer on a tour of Mumbai one night, during which Biebs apparently shared, “I like traveling like this.”

Shera added, “I took him to see the Gateway of India, we went for a walk, he wanted to stop for a coffee; and I even took him to Shivaji Park where he played some football with the kids.”

In stark contrast, while Justin happily spent time meeting Mumbai’s poor, he did not attend any concert after-parties, one of which was to be hosted by a Bollywood actress.

The singer also did not sightsee in other Indian cities, despite a slew of local media outlets insisting he was “supposed to go to.”

In fact, in the weeks and days before Bieber’s inaugural Mumbai concert, Indian media outlets evidently got carried away amid building excitement. Stories trumpeted the pop prince would appear on Indian television, amid increasing estimates of guards for the Biebs, endless news of welcome gifts, and more. There was even speculation that the singer’s mother would accompany him.

Meanwhile, Arjun Jain, the show promoter and managing director of White Fox India, told media outlets that sightseeing, a Maharaja sit-down dinner, and plans for Indian celebrities to host parties for the pop icon had been arranged.

There was only one problem with all the breathless brouhaha.

None of these plans appear to have been confirmed or run by Bieber himself, or his team. Notably, the singer has been mostly low-key throughout his Purpose Tour and doesn’t even attend awards shows any more.

Predictably, reports that the pop star’s mother, Pattie Mallette, would be joining her son in India were totally false. So, too, were all the claims about Bieber’s alleged “India itinerary.” That observation doesn’t seem to have been considered by some Indian outlets.

It is commendable that Bieber enjoyed the company of the poorest and ignored in Mumbai and didn’t seek out the city’s frivolous socialite scene.

As for the superstar’s “Purpose” concert, reviews were mixed, to say the least. For a balanced report, click through the link below.

[Featured Image by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images]

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