04.13.2020
Sisters of St. Joseph facing the Coronavirus Pandemic: Sandhyavan, Yerla and Ratlam/ India - Sharing 15
We do our BIT as we are HIT
One might find it quite shocking to see our sisters out, when the entire country is on a lock down and asked to stay in!
Well it is a story of a call to do something for the poor, homeless and daily wage workers who are more threatened to stay in than to move out. Since it is not a matter of one but of the entire family that are starving, eating kaanji made from wheat flour. People in the slums of Kalmeshwar have not eaten a complete meal for the last 7 days of the lock down in Maharashtra. The Corona does not seem to threaten them as the sorrow of losing their life with hunger.
Sisters at Sandhyavan and at St. Joseph\´s Hospital, Yerla, Nagpur, reviewed the latest reports of the daily wage workers starving and some out on the pathway, looking for something to ease their hunger and restlessness. This caused us to take the initiative to do something worthwhile for them. So we took up the challenge to cook food and to distribute it among the daily wage workers and the rag pickers, with the permission of the police and those in authority. Keeping in mind the safety measures and the rules of social distancing with the well experience guidance of Sr. Dr. Bindu and Sr. Neelkusum the nurse incharge of the Palliative Care Unit, we embarked onto this noble task to feed the hungry.
“I was hungry and you gave me to eat.” These words of Jesus were ringing in our minds and hearts as we continued serving these loving children and adults of the village.
Sr. Deanne & Sr. Albina
Sandhyavan, Yerla
Lockdown days in Ratlam
Luke: 1:37, “For Nothing Is Impossible With God.”
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we the Sisters at Ratlam Community unanimously decided to do our part in the fight against the epidemic. We started Chain Adoration from 23.03.2020 onwards for Twelve and half hours from 7:00 am to 7:30 pm in our community. We are earnestly pleading for God’s mercy on the whole world. We are doing our little, but using the powerful weapon which is prayer. We are sending the vibration of health and wellbeing to the entire world.
At the same time we use this time to cherish the community bond as we relate more often than before. As a community we worked in the field and were engaged in pulling out the garlic, Cleaning the compound, house etc. which proved to be a very good community exercise. We also took the opportunity to learn Tally, taught by S.Kripa.
We in the community thought and planned together that how could we alleviate the suffering of the poor people so, we decided to provide ration of fifteen days which contained provisions like grains, sugar, rice, wheat flour, soap, tea leaves, biscuits, oil, flat rice and we provided masks to every family to the really deserving 200 families of the daily wagers. We were glad to see the sigh of relief on their faces. Before the distribution Sr. Irene gave awareness on prevention and protection of themselves, family and neighborhood and asked them to adhere to the government rules.
We express our solidarity with the whole world and support through prayer and charity.
Gloria Clarence, Ratlam
