India: a moped for a religious sister working in the remote jungle villages
Sister Shobka Rani Talari smiles whenever she climbs onto her brand-new moped. She is what they call a „touring sister“, a religious sister who travels into the remote country villages, visiting the people there and helping them. She is not daunted by the poor roads that she often has to take into the jungle as she carries out her work for the mission in Chhaygaon, which is located in the Archdiocese of Guwahati in the impoverished north-eastern part of India.
And her help is urgently needed. For in these villages, many of which lie in the jungle, there is no medical provision, no electric power, and almost no one who can even read and write. There is real poverty, poor hygiene, and there are numerous problems within the families. Many couples marry far too young, and their children are left to their own devices while their parents struggle to scrape a living for themselves. And all too often the crops in their small fields are decimated by elephants or other wild animals.
Sister Shobka takes care of the sick, supports the families and does her best to persuade the parents to send their children to school. She herself runs a small village school for around 100 children. Education, it seems, is the only way to bring about an improvement in the lives of these people.
Sometimes, however, this „touring sister“ also has to push the authorities to take action. For example, in one village that was frequently invaded at night by elephants, she has managed to organise solar powered lighting, and since then the elephants have stayed away. And she has also got the authorities to agree to improve one of the worst roads next year, in 2021. These steps represent major progress in an underdeveloped and largely forgotten region.
Thanks to the support of our generous benefactors, we were able to give her congregation, the Daughters of Divine Providence, the sum of 930 Euros so that they could finally buy her a moped of her own. Needless to say, without some form of transport the work of a „touring sister“ would be well-nigh impossible. Now that she has this moped, Sister Shobka Rani „can double the number of her visits into the villages“, her Superior tells us happily. She writes, „We are extremely grateful for your generous help, and we promise our prayers for you and all your benefactors. Please pray for us also, that we may always continue to proclaim the Kingdom of God with great zeal, both in our words and our deeds.“
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