Strengthening the Bond of Solidarity and Support

Karnataka Province 19-22 February: On his round of visits to the Provinces, Sannybhai arrived at Loyola Mandir on the 19 February morning and visited three Social Centres, accompanied by Fr. Vincent Crasta, the Coordinator of Social Action (CSA), Karnataka Province.

Anekal: Sannybhai received a warm welcome by Fr. Anil D’Mello, the Director of the Social Development Centre, Anekal, situated on the South of Bangalore. He expressed his solidarity and shared words of encouragement and support when Fr. Anil briefed him about the recent attack on the Principal, Fr. Melwin Mendonca, and on the students of St. Joseph’s PU College.

In the afternoon, he visited Mount St. Joseph, Novitiate of Karnataka province, and PRERANA Centre of Ignatian Spirituality. There he met Fr. Lawrence Pinto, a senior Jesuit, who is recovering from blood clot in the brain. Fr. Pinto who inspires all the Jesuit Social Activists by his lifestyle of courage, dedication and determination was glad to meet Sannybhai.

In the evening, he travelled to Pannur Social Development Centre, Raichur.

Raichur: On the 20 February, he visited the Parish Health Centre and the Primary school at Pannur accompanied by Fr. Eric Mathias SJ. He was welcomed and felicitated later in the evening during a formal inaugural function of a new house for the flood affected people in the area.

On the following day morning, he greeted the students at Manvi and paid a visit to Jesuit initiatives at Rajolli village, some 40 kms from Manvi before he left for Bijapur.

Bijapur: He arrived Bijapur around 8.45 pm on February 21 and was welcomed by Fr. Dionysius Vaz, the Director of Bijapur Social Development Centre. On the February 22, he paid a visit to Golgumbaz (Whispering Dome) a historical monument, Loyola Yomiuri School meant exclusively for the children of the Slum dwellers, two slum kindergartens and a tailoring centre. He interacted with women leaders and self-help groups extensively and he learnt about a success story of securing public sanitation facility at Rangin Masjid Slum.

In the first ever Public-Private partnership initiated by the Jesuits in the area of health, Sannybhai met HIV/AIDS infected people at the Loyola Technical School and the Government Hospital. He also met the kids at the School for the dropouts behind Maithri Sadhan, a Jesuit Community Residence.

Expressing his joy of meeting and learning the works of Social Action Commission in Karnataka Province, he encouraged everyone in the team to share their experiences by means of documentation for wider circulation amongst other Jesuit Provinces and Lay collaborators across South Asia.

Vincent Crasta SJ, CSA