Report of visit 27th to 30th March 2018
By Gill Eastgate and David King
We visited the project at ASK, near Gomia, Jharkand State, India. ASK is 3-4km from the small town of Gomia which is itself in approximately the middle of nowhere- except that it is home to a large population, many of them from various tribal groups and many of them poor even by Indian standards.ASK is run by a group of six Indian Catholic nuns of the Assumpta Society, under the auspices of the society’s centre in Pune. The sisters are Louise Mary (in charge), Priscilla, Stella, Mary, Kathy and Regina. They come from various regions in India including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Orissa and the local area. Some have tribal roots of which they are proud.
ASK runs three main projects:
1. The health centre
This is specifically to support the local treatment of people with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis is endemic in the local area. Its effects are exacerbated by the fact that many people are involved in illegal and unsafe coal mining and also have lung damage from coal dust (if they survive long enough without being killed in the many, many accidents that occur in the mines). HIV/AIDS has been introduced via the large number of men who go to other areas in search of work. HIV/AIDS worsens or causes reactivation of tuberculosis: the HIV/AIDS part of the programme’s work started due to the growing number of tuberculosis patients found to also be HIV positive. Medications for both tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are provided free of charge by the Indian government: ASK’s role is in ensuring that patients receive and continue medication. Tuberculosis medications need to be taken consistently for at least six to twelve months both to ensure effective treatment and to reduce the development of multi drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis which is a growing problem in many areas around the world. HIV/AIDS medications need to be taken for life. The people are poorly educated and have difficulty understanding the need to continue medication. They also need to return to work if they and their families are to eat, and this makes it more difficult to attend the clinic for ongoing treatment. In the case of tuberculosis, ASK receives stocks of medicines for distribution to patients. The sicker patients spend about a month as inpatients in the health centre, then continue their medication as outpatients. Almost all of the patients are severely malnourished: we saw one man who weighed less than 40kg. While in the health centre they are provided with low-cost food supplements including daily milk and a seven grain and lentil mix that provides good complete protein. The sisters are also growing various herbs and plants with high vitamin content to add to the supplements. ASK workers encourage patients to attend regularly, and make regular trips to the villages to follow up non-attenders. The health centre is staffed by sisters Louise Mary and Priscilla who are both trained nurses, another nurse to provide cover and a part-time doctor, Dr Mohammed Abdullah, who advises on the most complex cases. In the case of HIV/AIDS treatment, patients have to travel three to four hours each way to the nearest government clinic every month. This is extremely difficult as the local transport networks are very poor. ASK provides encouragement and limited assistance for patients to travel to access their medications. Until recently the health centre was across the road. It is currently temporarily occupying the multipurpose room next to the sisters’ home while a new centre is being built. The current accommodation is very basic and overcrowded: about sixteen beds are packed into one room which is really not large enough. The new centre has four rooms which will house six people each, a separate smaller room for the sickest patients, and several toilets and bathrooms. There is a covered space outside for visiting relatives to cook and eat. The building is raised up to avoid flooding in the rainy season. The building (which was funded mainly by a Catholic group in Spain about which we do not have any information) is almost finished, but beds, mattresses and other fittings are in the process of being purchased. The sisters want to install fuel-efficient stoves in the cooking area but do not have a local source for these or the expertise to manufacture them. This is a major outstanding need.
2. Non-formal education
This programme, run by sister Kathy with two assistant teachers, involves regular after-school groups at the ASK Centre itself and in a number of villages around the area. The children attend government schools but classes are large, teacher attendance is highly variable and education standards are poor. Some schools are threatened with closure due to lack of teachers. Teaching is in Hindi, which is not the first language of many of the local children who speak tribal dialects. All children are expected to learn English, but most of the teachers (unfortunately including ASK’s assistant teachers) do not speak English so it isn’t really surprising that most children are unable to communicate in English further than ‘my name is… what is your name?’We attended two of the education sessions during our time at ASK. For better or worse, this completely changed the nature of the sessions, which turned into demonstrations of the children’s (considerable) talents for song and dance, and question and answer sessions about Australia! One clearly very bright boy asked question after question. He says he wants to be an engineer and we wish him well. One girl, Radhika, gave us a wonderful interpretation of Bollywood dance learned entirely from television. We found out afterwards that her father is dead, her mother and older sister struggle to feed the family (who were homeless for some time after their house collapsed during a storm) but she still attends school regularly and attends English practice with Sister Kathy to improve her results.
3. Women’s empowerment
This is run by sisters Stella and Mary. Regular women’s groups take place in a number of villages. A large part of the work involves microfinance projects. The groups each have some ‘seeding’ money which is lent to each woman in turn to start a small project to generate income. There is also mutual encouragement for the women to become more confident and independent. This is important in a community where many of the men work in other areas for months at a time. Incidental education such as basic literacy, hygiene education and nutrition also occurs in the groups.
We unfortunately didn’t have the opportunity to attend any of the women’s groups because they were on hold due to the ‘mohua’ season. This is a forest tree with flowers that are highly prized for making a slightly alcoholic drink. For about a month in spring the flowers drop to the ground from early in the morning. The women leave home very early and spend most of the day picking up the blossoms which they then take home and dry before selling them in local markets.
Funding for ASK’s projects comes mainly from Spanish supporters of the order. Bodhgaya Development Association last year donated $2,000 which went towards to the building of the new health centre (approximately $170,000). Sourcing funding is an ongoing difficulty. The sisters by their own admission are much more committed to their work in the villages than to marketing and fundraising. There is a large explosives factory nearby (Indian Explosives Limited, a subsidiary company of Australia company Orica). The company makes large profits from the sale of the explosives used for coal mining, the state’s main source of income. The company has recently funded provision of communal water taps for the villages, but so far has provided only tiny sums to ASK for food for local festivals. In any case, the sisters are concerned that funding from this source could compromise their independence. In addition, as a Christian organisation in a Hindu minority country the sisters report that they sometimes feel at risk of harassment from official and other sources, despite being very well accepted and trusted by the local people they serve.
The sisters are delighted to have secured a large amount of funding for their new health centre. However, there is much more that needs to be done. At present space for the other activities is very limited due to the temporary quartering of the patients in the multipurpose room. This will be much better once the tuberculosis patients move into the new health centre.
The sisters’ own home is also problematic. It is simply but tastefully decorated and meticulously kept, and has a calm, welcoming atmosphere. However, it has a number of obvious and serious problems. The roof tiles are made from asbestos, like most of the house tiles in the area. The tiles are old and shedding dust which presents a major health hazard. We were there during the dry season, but the many points of light we could see looking up suggest that leaking roofs are a major issue during the wet season. The sisters have installed a shade cover made of bamboo and plastic tarpaulin for their courtyard after at least one sister was unable to work during the hottest months last year because of heat-related illness. This will have to be taken down during the rainy season, though, because it is not robust enough to cope with the amount of rain that generally falls. The sisters are reluctant to use scarce funding for their own house, but will need to do so if they are to maintain the good health needed for their fairly energetic work schedules.
The sisters have a laptop computer and mobile phone (both donated by Tom Riddle on a previous visit) but electricity and internet connection are both somewhat unreliable. There is no specific space for visitors: sister Priscilla gave up her room for us. Happily each room has two beds but there is not much extra space. The remoteness of the area does limit the number of visitors: Sister Louise and a driver came all the way to Bodhgaya- 4 hours- to pick us up and took us all the way to Ranchi-2+ hours- to put us on a train after our visit. This in itself is a major drain on resources.
Despite all this, we were warmly welcomed, made comfortable and well fed. The sisters were keen to show us their work and included us in every activity while we were there.
Another issue for the continuation of the sisters’ work is that none of them is getting any younger. Less young women are becoming nuns than in previous generations. This is not an immediate issue, but food for thought if long term sustainability of the project is to be considered.
In summary, our impression is that this is a good and worthwhile project in an area with huge unmet needs. However the project is a little fragile due to:Chronic shortage of fundsAgeing of the nuns and uncertainty of replacement workers when the time comesRisk of anti-Christian sentiment at official level undermining their work.We hope that solutions to these problems can be found: we came away with an overwhelmingly positive regard for the sisters and the work they are doing.
ASK runs three main projects:
1. The health centre
This is specifically to support the local treatment of people with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis is endemic in the local area. Its effects are exacerbated by the fact that many people are involved in illegal and unsafe coal mining and also have lung damage from coal dust (if they survive long enough without being killed in the many, many accidents that occur in the mines). HIV/AIDS has been introduced via the large number of men who go to other areas in search of work. HIV/AIDS worsens or causes reactivation of tuberculosis: the HIV/AIDS part of the programme’s work started due to the growing number of tuberculosis patients found to also be HIV positive. Medications for both tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are provided free of charge by the Indian government: ASK’s role is in ensuring that patients receive and continue medication. Tuberculosis medications need to be taken consistently for at least six to twelve months both to ensure effective treatment and to reduce the development of multi drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis which is a growing problem in many areas around the world. HIV/AIDS medications need to be taken for life. The people are poorly educated and have difficulty understanding the need to continue medication. They also need to return to work if they and their families are to eat, and this makes it more difficult to attend the clinic for ongoing treatment. In the case of tuberculosis, ASK receives stocks of medicines for distribution to patients. The sicker patients spend about a month as inpatients in the health centre, then continue their medication as outpatients. Almost all of the patients are severely malnourished: we saw one man who weighed less than 40kg. While in the health centre they are provided with low-cost food supplements including daily milk and a seven grain and lentil mix that provides good complete protein. The sisters are also growing various herbs and plants with high vitamin content to add to the supplements. ASK workers encourage patients to attend regularly, and make regular trips to the villages to follow up non-attenders. The health centre is staffed by sisters Louise Mary and Priscilla who are both trained nurses, another nurse to provide cover and a part-time doctor, Dr Mohammed Abdullah, who advises on the most complex cases. In the case of HIV/AIDS treatment, patients have to travel three to four hours each way to the nearest government clinic every month. This is extremely difficult as the local transport networks are very poor. ASK provides encouragement and limited assistance for patients to travel to access their medications. Until recently the health centre was across the road. It is currently temporarily occupying the multipurpose room next to the sisters’ home while a new centre is being built. The current accommodation is very basic and overcrowded: about sixteen beds are packed into one room which is really not large enough. The new centre has four rooms which will house six people each, a separate smaller room for the sickest patients, and several toilets and bathrooms. There is a covered space outside for visiting relatives to cook and eat. The building is raised up to avoid flooding in the rainy season. The building (which was funded mainly by a Catholic group in Spain about which we do not have any information) is almost finished, but beds, mattresses and other fittings are in the process of being purchased. The sisters want to install fuel-efficient stoves in the cooking area but do not have a local source for these or the expertise to manufacture them. This is a major outstanding need.
2. Non-formal education
This programme, run by sister Kathy with two assistant teachers, involves regular after-school groups at the ASK Centre itself and in a number of villages around the area. The children attend government schools but classes are large, teacher attendance is highly variable and education standards are poor. Some schools are threatened with closure due to lack of teachers. Teaching is in Hindi, which is not the first language of many of the local children who speak tribal dialects. All children are expected to learn English, but most of the teachers (unfortunately including ASK’s assistant teachers) do not speak English so it isn’t really surprising that most children are unable to communicate in English further than ‘my name is… what is your name?’We attended two of the education sessions during our time at ASK. For better or worse, this completely changed the nature of the sessions, which turned into demonstrations of the children’s (considerable) talents for song and dance, and question and answer sessions about Australia! One clearly very bright boy asked question after question. He says he wants to be an engineer and we wish him well. One girl, Radhika, gave us a wonderful interpretation of Bollywood dance learned entirely from television. We found out afterwards that her father is dead, her mother and older sister struggle to feed the family (who were homeless for some time after their house collapsed during a storm) but she still attends school regularly and attends English practice with Sister Kathy to improve her results.
3. Women’s empowerment
This is run by sisters Stella and Mary. Regular women’s groups take place in a number of villages. A large part of the work involves microfinance projects. The groups each have some ‘seeding’ money which is lent to each woman in turn to start a small project to generate income. There is also mutual encouragement for the women to become more confident and independent. This is important in a community where many of the men work in other areas for months at a time. Incidental education such as basic literacy, hygiene education and nutrition also occurs in the groups.
We unfortunately didn’t have the opportunity to attend any of the women’s groups because they were on hold due to the ‘mohua’ season. This is a forest tree with flowers that are highly prized for making a slightly alcoholic drink. For about a month in spring the flowers drop to the ground from early in the morning. The women leave home very early and spend most of the day picking up the blossoms which they then take home and dry before selling them in local markets.
Funding for ASK’s projects comes mainly from Spanish supporters of the order. Bodhgaya Development Association last year donated $2,000 which went towards to the building of the new health centre (approximately $170,000). Sourcing funding is an ongoing difficulty. The sisters by their own admission are much more committed to their work in the villages than to marketing and fundraising. There is a large explosives factory nearby (Indian Explosives Limited, a subsidiary company of Australia company Orica). The company makes large profits from the sale of the explosives used for coal mining, the state’s main source of income. The company has recently funded provision of communal water taps for the villages, but so far has provided only tiny sums to ASK for food for local festivals. In any case, the sisters are concerned that funding from this source could compromise their independence. In addition, as a Christian organisation in a Hindu minority country the sisters report that they sometimes feel at risk of harassment from official and other sources, despite being very well accepted and trusted by the local people they serve.
The sisters are delighted to have secured a large amount of funding for their new health centre. However, there is much more that needs to be done. At present space for the other activities is very limited due to the temporary quartering of the patients in the multipurpose room. This will be much better once the tuberculosis patients move into the new health centre.
The sisters’ own home is also problematic. It is simply but tastefully decorated and meticulously kept, and has a calm, welcoming atmosphere. However, it has a number of obvious and serious problems. The roof tiles are made from asbestos, like most of the house tiles in the area. The tiles are old and shedding dust which presents a major health hazard. We were there during the dry season, but the many points of light we could see looking up suggest that leaking roofs are a major issue during the wet season. The sisters have installed a shade cover made of bamboo and plastic tarpaulin for their courtyard after at least one sister was unable to work during the hottest months last year because of heat-related illness. This will have to be taken down during the rainy season, though, because it is not robust enough to cope with the amount of rain that generally falls. The sisters are reluctant to use scarce funding for their own house, but will need to do so if they are to maintain the good health needed for their fairly energetic work schedules.
The sisters have a laptop computer and mobile phone (both donated by Tom Riddle on a previous visit) but electricity and internet connection are both somewhat unreliable. There is no specific space for visitors: sister Priscilla gave up her room for us. Happily each room has two beds but there is not much extra space. The remoteness of the area does limit the number of visitors: Sister Louise and a driver came all the way to Bodhgaya- 4 hours- to pick us up and took us all the way to Ranchi-2+ hours- to put us on a train after our visit. This in itself is a major drain on resources.
Despite all this, we were warmly welcomed, made comfortable and well fed. The sisters were keen to show us their work and included us in every activity while we were there.
Another issue for the continuation of the sisters’ work is that none of them is getting any younger. Less young women are becoming nuns than in previous generations. This is not an immediate issue, but food for thought if long term sustainability of the project is to be considered.
In summary, our impression is that this is a good and worthwhile project in an area with huge unmet needs. However the project is a little fragile due to:Chronic shortage of fundsAgeing of the nuns and uncertainty of replacement workers when the time comesRisk of anti-Christian sentiment at official level undermining their work.We hope that solutions to these problems can be found: we came away with an overwhelmingly positive regard for the sisters and the work they are doing.