Dear Friends,

Christmas is a festival of joy through out the world and for us too there is good reason to rejoice over all the great things that have happened this year. Our work has been going on very well and I am very happy to share with you all the new activities that have been done recently at our centre.

Empowerment of women

Generally, in the slums of Kolkata, women do more than men to earn money and look after their families. The hope of each family in many cases rests completely on the shoulders of a woman. So in many ways, during the past years, I have been trying to help out women to learn some trade or do some business. Today, there are various projects for the welfare and empowerment of women. As we had done last year, also this year we organized sewing classes for women and taught them how to make the different dresses that are usually worn by people in India. A sewing machine is something small for the rich. But for a woman or a girl living in the slums it is a big asset. This year, on July 12^th Sadhana Ghosh who had studied in our school and later became a teacher here got married. She was able to get a good marriage proposal because I had promised her a sewing machine that could do also various types of designs and embroidery. On August 16^th she was one of the 18 women who got a sewing machine each. I also supplied cloth and thread to all the women so that they can earn some money by their work. Now during the festival season in Bengal they keep themselves busy and also earn some money. In future, I would like to organize for our women courses on electrical applications and on the use and maintenance of different domestic appliances.

Hope for the footpath vendors

For sometime, I have been in touch with people who sell different things on the footpath or go from house to house to sell fruits and vegetables. Some of the children who study here help their parents to do business on the footpath and come in the evening to study here. There are more than 300 such hawkers and vendors within a kilometre of our institution. Now I have started supplying simple carts and wheeled cabins and also some money to facilitate their business and I have begun to see some improvement in their living condition. So far I have been able to help eight such families. In this group of vendors I am helping, there is also a young widow who has two children both sponsored by friends abroad. She pulls a small cart full of vegetables daily through the streets and earns some money and looks after her children.

Struggles for survival

We are continuing the work for the street children whose number has increased to 250 already. These are children of families without one parent or another or, are so poor that the parents cannot feed their children and so the children roam about the streets to find work or food. They come on Saturdays to us mainly because they need some food to eat. Some of them have begun to go to school with our help and often come to me for whatever they need.

One morning Pushpa a girl of 13, came with her sick mother Dhira Rauth to my office. When I saw that both were severely undernourished and could hardly stand, I got a glass of milk and bread for them and got one of my teachers to assist the sick woman to attend a hospital and get all the tests done. After all the tests were done, it became clear that Dhira was suffering from tuberculosis. So I began to supply her with the required medicines, tonics and milk powder. Besides this, I also arranged for Dhira some help to buy sufficient food every month to feed the three children and herself. Her husband had abandoned the family 8 years ago and since then she was struggling to look after her family. I have admitted now her three children into our morning school, which is attended by about 20 poor children who are given daily breakfast and bath and often a change of clothes. On September 5^th, Pushpa came to attend the “Teacher’s Day” celebrations and told me, “I am wearing now the new clothes you gave me”. She then thanked me and gave me a flower. That was really a touching gift for me and which I cannot easily forget. Her name, “Pushpa” means “flower” and that means a lot when her life has found new hope.

There are many who are silently grateful because they have reason to smile and live confidently. My experience among the poor in the slums has made me feel that the struggles of the little ones here are truly great and their victories too are by no means insignificant. When I see the great difference in their lives with the little help I give, I remain silent and thoughtful and thank the Lord and my benefactors quietly in prayer and entrust my work into his hands.

Soon our thoughts will draw us close to the quiet scene of the first Christmas night, indeed a story very similar to the thousands that happen in the slums and refugee camps daily around the world. I would like to ask you all to spare a thought for those who are going through such struggles daily. With this thought, I would like to thank all those who are connected with our work for the poor and I would like to wish you all most warmly, a joyful Christmas and a bright New Year!

Sincerely,

Fr. Joseph Aymanathil, s.d.b

(Christmas, 2003).

S.B. A/C. No 3296 Nitika Don Bosco

The Federal Bank, Tangra Branch

Kolkata 700 015