Babelfish
Translation
Babelfish
Translation
There are 8 communities in North East
India Province. Six house are in the Meghalaya Province, one in Assam and one in the
West Khasi Hills.
NATIONAL AWARD FOR CHILD WELFARE
(Newsarticle)
India has the second largest child population in the world and this segment of the population is our most important human resource. The future of our nation depends upon the kind of opportunities we create and provide to our children. Government of India has initiated several measures for proper development of this important resource.
India has a rich heritage of humanitarianism. Thousands of voluntary organizations and individuals are contributing to the national effort to lay the foundation of a healthier, more prosperous and productive generation of future Indians. In order to further strngthen voluntary action in our country, which is one of the most powerful instruments of social transformation, it is essential to create awareness amongst the millions of people of our villages.
To encourage the voluntary sector, the Government of India, in 1979, started a scheme of giving national awards to deserving institutions and individuals for their outstanding performance in the field of child development and welfare. The scheme was started, with the view to give recognition to such voluntary action. The award carries a cash prize of rupees two lakhs and a citation for each institution and rupees fifty thousands and a citation for each individual.
On 27th of May 1999, this Nationl Award was awarded to St. Mary's Convent - Shillong in North East V. Province - India in recognition of dedicated and commendable services rendered by the Sisters at St. Mary's in the field of education and welfare of orphan children for the past 86 years.
Our heartiest congratulations to our sisters for their committment to voiceless children, which earns for them the National Award for Child Welfare for the year 1998.
 St. John Bosco's Orphanage |
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Report from North East India – Towards an NGO in Shillong, Meghalaya <from Sister Judith Shadap>
Photo – Working with a Self Help Group
For about 8 years Sister Judith has been employed by the
Salesian initiative in Meghalaya, BOSCO REACH-OUT, an NGO (non-government organisation)
with a philosphy of ‘development through empowerment of the people’. Employees
of BOSCO help the poor to organise themselves into Self-Help Groups of 10 people dedicated
to improving the socio-economic conditions of the members. They facilitate the non-formal
education and skills development of the members, mentor the leaders and help to monitor
the evaluation of the group so that in due course, probably after 12 – 15 months,
revolving credit procedures can be set up to empower the members for further development.
This is a very exciting development in social service work in the Church, and it is receiving considerable technical and financial support from the major funding agencies like MISEREOR and Caritas.
Photo
–right : Informal education in gender sensitivity 
Sister Judith is presently setting up our own RNDM Social Service Centre – WISE (Women for Integrated Sustainable Empowerment) – as an NGO in Shillong. She is asking for our prayers for the success of this RNDM initiative.
WISE – [Women for Integrated Sustainable Empowerment]
The
Update Report 2002 from Laitumkrah, near Shillong, India North East <from Sister Judith Shadap>
WISE (Women for
Integrated Sustainable Empowerment) – is an RNDM NGO, established in July 2000 in
Shillong, Meghalaya.
Above: WISE Self-Help group taking a 2-day course
Sister Judith, after five years of
experience with the Salesian Fathers in their Bosco Reach Out NGO, has established a
Social Service Centre that targets destitute women, girl dropouts, domestic workers and
women in crisis. They come to the Centre for vocational training in fast food preparation,
food processing,
Left: Girls from the orphanage training
in handcrafts
basket-making, dry flowers making, tailoring and handcrafts of all sorts. Those who have
completed the training from the Centre are encouraged to make use of the skills they have
acquired and to take up income generating activities such as a small shop, fast food
sales, or livestock projects. They are encouraged to join Self-Help Groups through which
they learn to mobilize their own small savings and have access to micro credit. Once they
are encouraged by and convinced of the advantages of this programme, they themselves
become agents of change in their society and bring in others; so the progress goes on.
To establish an income generating activity, a women needs about 100 – 200 US dollars of capital. They are encouraged to repay that sum by installments within one year, so that it can be available for the next IGA. In general they have been regular in making their repayments, but as the scheme grows so the need for a larger capital fund increases.
Could you make a direct donation to the WISE capital fund?
Or
would you like to sponsor one or more women on whom you can receive personal reports?
Email
Sister Judith : s_shadap@hotmail.com.
The centre has also adopted a
village – Laitryngew – in which their trainers undertake a variety of social
programmes: awareness building, dissemination of information, capacity building,
leadership training, gender sensitivity, health care, legal literacy on women’s
rights etc. The aim is to bring about attitudinal change and sustainable development so
that the people can live with dignity.
Left: Sister Judith and the Social
Welfare Department chairperson listening to the elderly women of Laitryngew.
Below left: A family at home in
Laitryngew; members of a Self-Help Group.
Below right: A Laitryngew Self-Help
Group meeting to study principles of saving.
Report from Tluh, India North East <from Sisters Philomena and Candida>
The youngest mission of our Indian Sisters in the north is at Tluh,
about 150 km from Shillong in the remote east of the Jaintia Hills. The Pnar people of
this region have their own dialect – different from the Khasis. The few Catholics
among the Pnars are very poor but they welcomed the Sisters by setting aside some of their
land for a convent and dispensary. 
The children in the surrounding villages often
have to work for the family living and do not get the chance of schooling after 9 or 10
years of age. To encourage the village parents to let their children go to school a little
longer, the Sisters would like to start – as soon as possible - a small hostel to
welcome them in Tluh. [Photo: Tluh children]
