St. Marie Eugenie believed that education is a powerful tool to transform the society steeped in ir -religiosity and avariciousness. This was clearly stated by Sr. Cristina González (the former Superior General) who believed:
“In our present society, education must be a call for life, a dynamic and energizing step forward, capable of giving birth to and nurturing life and hope, a progression which helps to heal wounds and create spaces for communication, friendship, exchanges where every person, whatever his/her origin, culture, religion would have a place and be happy. May everything in our education contribute to the service of life, to the search for truth, to the creation of a way of thinking and a type of education which is attentive to human and spiritual values” (Education in Assumption P.3)
As the sisters were moving from village to village, they found the risk and adventurous of the girls to reach the school by crossing the flowing streams, climbing the hills and rocks, passing through the thick forest, confronting wild animals like monkeys, wild pigs, elephants, snakes and so on. They are a vulnerable group resulted from their poverty, illiteracy and thus struggling to meet both ends. The sisters felt an urgent need for a boarding to have the transformative education in line with the pedagogy of Assumption education. And when the parents requested for a hostel, the sisters felt very happy because this was the same dream they had: the education of the children, especially the girls. It is in this context, the community decided to look for funds to begin the hostel for the children who hail from interior forest where they lack basic necessities of life. Subsequently, twenty five tribal girls between five to fifteen years were welcomed in this hostel. Thus taking into consideration of the plight of the poor in remote areas in Piriaponch, Jeevan Jyoti Girl’s Hostel came into existence in 2018.
Construction of the hostel building was funded by MANOS UNIDAS a funding agency from Spain. With great joy and gratitude the sister’s acknowledge the financial assistance of MANOS UNIDAS that made their dream come true. The children pay partly, in-kind in the form of rice, pulses, vegetables, firewood etc. and some in cash. But it’s not sufficient for the smooth functioning of the hostel. Consequently the sisters looked for funds for the nutritional food and other educative materials. Thus they take care of the children’s health and hygiene. Addition to that, home remedies and herbal medicines are introduced with its preparation for the use of various illnesses. Ecological concerns are also brought into their notice such as planting and taking care of trees, maintaining flower garden, plastic free campus and so on.
The task of giving individual attention to the weak students and guidance to the problematic cases both in the school as well as in the hostel requires a lot of patience and sacrifices. We live in a situation where education is the privilege of a few; this work took up the challenge and made it possible for the children in Piriaponch to obtain at least basic education.
Parents are extremely happy and grateful and co-operate with the sisters for this noble mission. Since all the children are Catholics, this hostel serves as powerful means of faith and character formation. The community tries to accomplish this mission of forming the young ones, a new generation of ‘Educated and motivated’ tribal children who can be agents of social change. This service is simply rewarded by the changes that are seen in the children and their improved life style.
