Dear Friends...
A few days bk,in the month of Feb,we went for a visit to Pune for a few days and happened to visit a wonderful place on the way...I would like to share my experiences during this trip with all of u...
We went to this place called Vavarath...It is a tiny village in the
middle of (u can almost call) a desert....it is around 55 Kms from
Ahmed Nagar(maharashtra)....the reason for our visit was that one of
my Hubby's Aunt, Sr. Eugene (she's a nun) lives there. She along with
Father Thomas and 3 other sisters run a boarding cum school for the
Adivasi and Village children,the poor and less fortunate....all for
free. It is a MArathi medium school.They have been staying there for
the past 7 yrs and they have transformed that place into a Paradise.
They have absolutely no funds whatsoever to run that place. Each day
there passes by only with the Lords Provision. The vegetables they
have, r provided free of cost, by a very kindhearted grocer from
Ahmednagar every week and that too compeltely for the whole week...(for
example..onions,he provides 10 kg.. a whole sack of it for every week
and so on for other vegetables too) he says eversince he has been
providing them he has been blessed and has recovered a majority of
debts...isn't that wonderful??.....
the 55kms that they travel to get their provisions from town, was only
recently tarred, around 8 months bk, due to a promise made a local
politician, who happend to win the election...we were fortunate to vist
them only coz the roads were tarred by God's Grace...till then it was
tuff to get travel to the village the past 6 yrs or so..the way to
vavrath is alsmost like a desrt with few withering trees,sand and
rocks...in the early hours of morning or towards the evenings we get to
see a few wild animals on the way...deers,porcupines,rabbits,peacocks,pigs
etc....even tigers have been caught from those areas...intitally there were
A few days bk,in the month of Feb,we went for a visit to Pune for a few days and happened to visit a wonderful place on the way...I would like to share my experiences during this trip with all of u...
We went to this place called Vavarath...It is a tiny village in the
middle of (u can almost call) a desert....it is around 55 Kms from
Ahmed Nagar(maharashtra)....the reason for our visit was that one of
my Hubby's Aunt, Sr. Eugene (she's a nun) lives there. She along with
Father Thomas and 3 other sisters run a boarding cum school for the
Adivasi and Village children,the poor and less fortunate....all for
free. It is a MArathi medium school.They have been staying there for
the past 7 yrs and they have transformed that place into a Paradise.
They have absolutely no funds whatsoever to run that place. Each day
there passes by only with the Lords Provision. The vegetables they
have, r provided free of cost, by a very kindhearted grocer from
Ahmednagar every week and that too compeltely for the whole week...(for
example..onions,he provides 10 kg.. a whole sack of it for every week
and so on for other vegetables too) he says eversince he has been
providing them he has been blessed and has recovered a majority of
debts...isn't that wonderful??.....
the 55kms that they travel to get their provisions from town, was only
recently tarred, around 8 months bk, due to a promise made a local
politician, who happend to win the election...we were fortunate to vist
them only coz the roads were tarred by God's Grace...till then it was
tuff to get travel to the village the past 6 yrs or so..the way to
vavrath is alsmost like a desrt with few withering trees,sand and
rocks...in the early hours of morning or towards the evenings we get to
see a few wild animals on the way...deers,porcupines,rabbits,peacocks,pigs
etc....even tigers have been caught from those areas...intitally there were
lot of snakes in the place they were living but by God's grace they r seeing only very
few these past few months.
the climate there r in the extremes ...its either too hot or too
cold...electricity is provided for 12 hrs a day...but then they get
only 6 hrs a day on and off,even the phone connection to that place is
tuff to get....during the days we stayed there, there wasn't
electricity for a whole day(24 hrs)...the sisters there have made a
small farm with lots of hens,ducks swans, pigeons,fish and a few cows,a
dog too.they have a beautiful garden and lots of fruitful trees and
plants, Each child there has a duty...some have to water the plants,some cut
vegetables,some do the cleaning,even help in cooking if they have free
time...even serving breakfast,lunch,snack and dinner r done by them....
letting the animals inside the cage and outside..keeping their
classrooms and premises clean...
the sisters have prayer time and these children love praying and attend
whatever prayers r there(even tho not compulsory)...always sharp to
rise early morning and on time....its amazing to see their discipline
and wholeheartedness in every thing they do..they r always doing some
work or the other but with pleasure too...they have their own free time
too..
the food those kids have is a special kind of dry hard roti which
poeple like us cannot eat...there is local cook who cooks food for them
according to their taste...they eat raw carrots and beetroots...so
mostly for evening snacks they have those fruits sometimes....the
sisters stay in a kitchen cum bedroom cum dining room....in a few
months they will shift to a seperate small building which is under
construction.....the sisters r on the run the whole time....
i knew that Sr. Eugene is old but when we met her face to face, she
looked so yung...even tho she is 68 she looked only 40....i even told
her that...the sisters here have a lot of work...they juggle btwn
cooking, teaching and supervising too.....even tho we took rest with
our kids,it was amazing to see how they all did all their work without
much rest.....Really God's touch is upon those toiling there...
Right now there r around 184 children,out of these
33 girls and 70 boys live in the boarding school there.....they
all have twinkling eyes,eager to learn and are very disciplined
children much to the awe of everyone.....they kept entertaining Leah
and Grace...they were always greeting us with a handshake(Jai Christh)
and were teaching us a few marathi words too....while visiting them
during their meals every child invited us to sit with them to
eat...these children haven't seen much of the outside world and long to
see poeple different from them....last month they got a chance to visit
Bombay by Gods Grace who provided for all their needs...navneet
publications arranged a nice big bus for sightseeing...oriental home
publications poeple arranged their stay and provided each child with a
bed and blanket...so nice isn't it??......
inspite of all their good times, one sad thing about these children is
that their parents get them married of by the age of 10(boys and
girls)...there was one girl who kept crying all the time that she
didn't want to get married....she even told she will sign a statement
which can be given to the police that it is against her wish... the
Sisters or Father Thomas cannot do anything but advise their
parents....they don't encourage parents when it comes to marriage..
there are tutors who stay there with their families....these tutors r
paid too , few of them r dedicated but some of them come to teach in
that village only coz of the money and they do not stay long...Sister
Gloria is the principal of that small school..the uniform those
children wear to school was sponsored by a bike agency..they took their
measurement and got them stitched specially for the kids...the other
sister there is in charge of the medical needs of that village...she
sits in a small clinic...they run a small stationary shop too....we saw
some small local village children come running with 5 RS to the shop to
buy a small packet of parle G biscuit...hehe...its very cute to see
them....
inspite of all the hardships they face, Father Thomas and the Sisters
there r just thankful and grateful to all those who extended their
helping hands and keep telling of all the blessings they have
received...they treated us like king and queens while we stayed there
for 2 days....they made duck(their own duck caught by the boys there)
curry and fish(their own) fry ......it was just wonderful and
touching...they even packed snaks for us for our return..
i can go on bout this place..ther's so much to write about....i think i
haven't organised my writing properly..
if u guys can make it u shud
really visit this place and see for urself...I was soo happy to see
those joyful kids...my kiddos were not well during those
days...G was having fever too....but still they fell in love with
those kids and that place, specially FAther Thomas and all the
sisters...forgot to mention there was a nun and another brother who
were staying there as a part of their service...they get to stay ther
for a year and then leave the place after a wonderful time....
if there's anybody who wants to sponser a kid from this place or wud
like to help them in any way orplanning to visit...do lemme know...i
will give u their complete address and phone number too...
few these past few months.
the climate there r in the extremes ...its either too hot or too
cold...electricity is provided for 12 hrs a day...but then they get
only 6 hrs a day on and off,even the phone connection to that place is
tuff to get....during the days we stayed there, there wasn't
electricity for a whole day(24 hrs)...the sisters there have made a
small farm with lots of hens,ducks swans, pigeons,fish and a few cows,a
dog too.they have a beautiful garden and lots of fruitful trees and
plants, Each child there has a duty...some have to water the plants,some cut
vegetables,some do the cleaning,even help in cooking if they have free
time...even serving breakfast,lunch,snack and dinner r done by them....
letting the animals inside the cage and outside..keeping their
classrooms and premises clean...
the sisters have prayer time and these children love praying and attend
whatever prayers r there(even tho not compulsory)...always sharp to
rise early morning and on time....its amazing to see their discipline
and wholeheartedness in every thing they do..they r always doing some
work or the other but with pleasure too...they have their own free time
too..
the food those kids have is a special kind of dry hard roti which
poeple like us cannot eat...there is local cook who cooks food for them
according to their taste...they eat raw carrots and beetroots...so
mostly for evening snacks they have those fruits sometimes....the
sisters stay in a kitchen cum bedroom cum dining room....in a few
months they will shift to a seperate small building which is under
construction.....the sisters r on the run the whole time....
i knew that Sr. Eugene is old but when we met her face to face, she
looked so yung...even tho she is 68 she looked only 40....i even told
her that...the sisters here have a lot of work...they juggle btwn
cooking, teaching and supervising too.....even tho we took rest with
our kids,it was amazing to see how they all did all their work without
much rest.....Really God's touch is upon those toiling there...
Right now there r around 184 children,out of these
33 girls and 70 boys live in the boarding school there.....they
all have twinkling eyes,eager to learn and are very disciplined
children much to the awe of everyone.....they kept entertaining Leah
and Grace...they were always greeting us with a handshake(Jai Christh)
and were teaching us a few marathi words too....while visiting them
during their meals every child invited us to sit with them to
eat...these children haven't seen much of the outside world and long to
see poeple different from them....last month they got a chance to visit
Bombay by Gods Grace who provided for all their needs...navneet
publications arranged a nice big bus for sightseeing...oriental home
publications poeple arranged their stay and provided each child with a
bed and blanket...so nice isn't it??......
inspite of all their good times, one sad thing about these children is
that their parents get them married of by the age of 10(boys and
girls)...there was one girl who kept crying all the time that she
didn't want to get married....she even told she will sign a statement
which can be given to the police that it is against her wish... the
Sisters or Father Thomas cannot do anything but advise their
parents....they don't encourage parents when it comes to marriage..
there are tutors who stay there with their families....these tutors r
paid too , few of them r dedicated but some of them come to teach in
that village only coz of the money and they do not stay long...Sister
Gloria is the principal of that small school..the uniform those
children wear to school was sponsored by a bike agency..they took their
measurement and got them stitched specially for the kids...the other
sister there is in charge of the medical needs of that village...she
sits in a small clinic...they run a small stationary shop too....we saw
some small local village children come running with 5 RS to the shop to
buy a small packet of parle G biscuit...hehe...its very cute to see
them....
inspite of all the hardships they face, Father Thomas and the Sisters
there r just thankful and grateful to all those who extended their
helping hands and keep telling of all the blessings they have
received...they treated us like king and queens while we stayed there
for 2 days....they made duck(their own duck caught by the boys there)
curry and fish(their own) fry ......it was just wonderful and
touching...they even packed snaks for us for our return..
i can go on bout this place..ther's so much to write about....i think i
haven't organised my writing properly..
if u guys can make it u shud
really visit this place and see for urself...I was soo happy to see
those joyful kids...my kiddos were not well during those
days...G was having fever too....but still they fell in love with
those kids and that place, specially FAther Thomas and all the
sisters...forgot to mention there was a nun and another brother who
were staying there as a part of their service...they get to stay ther
for a year and then leave the place after a wonderful time....
if there's anybody who wants to sponser a kid from this place or wud
like to help them in any way orplanning to visit...do lemme know...i
will give u their complete address and phone number too...
