Redemptorists involved in agricultural and educational projects for tribal development in Maharashtra
Tomorrow is the fifth World Day of the Poor, and the seventh World Day of the Redemptorist Missionary Vocation. The latter are involved in a couple of projects; one to improve ground and water resources management, and the other to educate poor and lower caste children, marginalised by society.
Delhi (AsiaNews) – In India, the Redemptorists are involved in a couple of initiatives in rural Maharashtra, a western and central Indian state.
One is an agricultural development project centred on watersheds and the other seeks to improve child education in tribal communities, inspired by the mission ideal of going to people who are socially and geographically marginal.
Father Ivel Mendanha CSsR, provincial superior of the Redemptorists, spoke to AsiaNews about it, noting that tomorrow, Sunday, will be both the seventh World Day of the Redemptorist Missionary Vocation and the fifth World Day of the Poor.
For the clergyman, the watershed project in the village of Panodi, a rural part of the state, and the child educational programme, are meant to proclaim the Good News in new and varied ways.
The Redemptorists of the Vice Province of Majella serve migrants in Mumbai, neighbouring Vasai as well as Goa, especially tribal communities, trying to offer them opportunities for development and growth.
In Panodi, which belongs to the Diocese of Nashik, their work covers about 10 villages with about 200 Catholic families.
The watershed project is meant to better utilise land and irrigation systems, from the mountains to the valleys, by protecting the ground from erosion and promoting ground water preservation and storage in wells.
This can improve manage water resources at a time when drought and low precipitation re becoming commonplace because of climate change.
For Fr Ivel Mendanha, the project seeks to increase available water resources and reinforce the environment through reforestation.
In so doing, it will also sustain incomes through resource mobilisation and maximisation, reduce seasonal migrations, and ensure a stable social, family and cultural environment, while boosting unity, peace, and harmony.
To this end, about 2,000 trees have been planted in Panodi, another 4,000 in Varwandi, and 1,000 in Jahwar-Mokhada.
For villages such as these, water is crucial, the clergyman explains. The project of rejuvenating arid lands “must be associated with stopping erosion during the rainy season and capturing as much rain water as possible.”
The second initiative concerns the education of children from the poorest and most marginalised castes of society, including tribal people, by offering them dedicated courses and lessons to develop their skills.
This is essential since government schools are unable, or unwilling, to meet the educational needs of such children.
To reach their goal, the Redemptorists will start "daily lessons for children, developing their skills and learning ability” while improving "their personality".
“Learning English and speak it is a joy for tribal children,” Fr Mendanha notes. “This is not about proselytising, but about reaching out to human beings in distress, who live on the margins of the world, abandoned by everyone.”
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