The river of my life has been meandering down the mountains and valleys of my life for the last eight decades, and is nearly at the mouth of its flow to merge into the ocean of eternity. As I look back at its ebbs and flows, I delight at seeing the lives it has nourished and cherished along its path: birds and animals, plants and trees and flowers and fruits, never to forget the hundreds of human lives it has sustained along its flow. I now go back in contemplation at its source and ebbs and flows, just to reminisce about the graceful life that God has bestowed upon me all these years.

On a fine summer day, exactly on the International Earth Day, in 1938, a small spring surfaced in the family of Mr. Augustykutty (Augustine) and Mrs. Mariakutty (Mary) Manavalan in a small village of Kottamuthy near Kalady in Ernakulam District of God’s own country, yes, Kerala. My mother’s home was in Mulavukadu near Ernakulam. After a few years my family moved to another village, Naduvattam, near Malayattoor, the famous hill where, as legend narrates, St. Thomas the Apostle had preached the Gospel and converted people to Christianity. This hill, even after two millennia, is a well-known pilgrimage centre, especially for the so-called St. Thomas Christians.

Sister Sarita Manavalan

We were a family of ten siblings: seven girls, and three boys, two having died in their infancy. Eight of us grew to our adulthood: Joseph who married Elsy, Mary, who became a religious in the Congregation of Sisters of Mary Immaculate (SMI) and took the name Sister Pieta, Pappachan who married Ammini, and the fourth myself Rita, (I was baptized Bridget but at the time of school admission, my future class teacher who was present, told my father that Bridget was too old fashioned a name for a sweet little girl, and changed my name to Rita), Dr. Kochuthresia who married Thomas, Lillykutty with husband Antony, Rosily with John, and Elsy who married Jacob. Both Lillykutty and Rosily were teachers, and Elsy a lawyer. Joseph, Pappachan, Sister Pieta and Dr. Kochuthresia have gone to their eternal rest.

Sister Sarita Manavalan with her family members

Ours was a devout Catholic family but earlier we could not go for daily Mass as the church in Kottamuthy was three kilometers away. Once during her pregnancy, my mother was walking to the church and had a fall. This incident shocked my father, and he was determined to get a church built in Naduvattam. So, he donated some of our ancestral land to build a church close to our home. Now the present church is only a few minutes’ walk from my home. The first church building was of mud and stone and with mud flooring. We used to have our Sunday catechism classes there. The then parish priest asked us children to collect stones from the nearby villages and hills to make a concrete floor in the church. So, I am proud to claim that I too contributed my mite to build a church near my home. It is a pleasant memory for me to recall that I was the first baby to be baptized in this newly built church. Over the years, much transformation has taken place, and today there stands a magnificent edifice in Naduvattam, a pride for the Manavalan family and the people of Naduvattam.

The nearest primary school was in Kottamuthy, and my parents did not want to send me there when I was very small. So, I was sent to a “Kalari” with a Panikkar as the Guru. This was an early Gurukul system of ancient India (an education system where students lived with or near their guru). I was already seven years old when I was sent to my mother’s home to begin my primary schooling. Mulavukadu, my mother’s hometown near Ernakulam, was a much more developed place than our village Naduvattam. I stayed there for two years. Then I was sent to Kottamuthy for completing my primary school studies till Class V. For the middle school, Classes VI and VII, I was sent to Manjapra, a village closer to Naduvattam. This school was managed by the Congregation of Mount Carmel (CMC) Sisters. For my high school, I was sent to a Nair Service Society (NSS) School in Manickamangalam near Kalady. NSS is a Hindu Charitable Trust. In those days people of different religions lived in harmony, and so there were no feelings of hatred built into us about other religions. I completed Classes VIII, IX, X, and XI from this NSS school.

Sister Sarita Manavalan with her sister, Mary (Sister Pieta)

My sister Mary (Sister Pieta) had already joined religious life by the time I finished my high school. I, too, was keenly interested in becoming a religious, and that too a missionary, but there were serious hurdles that I had to encounter. Having no other older girls in the family, and mother having four younger siblings after me, it was too difficult for her to manage all household tasks and care for the children by herself. So, I stayed home for three years to help my mother. Already in my twenties, my father asked me to get married since he did not want a young girl to stay home as a single woman. Fortunately, my brother, Joseph married Elsy, my first sister-in-law, a woman of love, compassion and commitment. She assured me that she would look after my mother and the rest of my family so that I could pursue my call to be a religious and missionary. To this day, I remain grateful to her for her love and care of us in the Manavalan family.

Choosing a congregation was a dilemma. I did not want to join the SMI Sisters since my sister was already there, and besides, I did not want to wear a sari as a religious. This was before Vatican II. In my search, I saw two advertisements in a missionary magazine called “Deivavili” (Vocation), one from Sister Lawrencetta Veeneman and the other from a congregation in Kerala itself. I decided to write to both congregations with the intention to join whichever congregation would reply to me first. My luck revealed itself with Sister Lawrencetta’s letter reaching me before anything else. So it was! I would join the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Mokama, Patna Diocese.

I joined as a candidate in the year 1959. We had our candidacy in Nazareth Academy, Gaya, Bihar, with Patricia Mary Kelley as our Mistress. After a year, a group of thirteen of us started our canonical formation, with the first year as postulants in Nazareth Hospital, Mokama, as the convent was built a couple of years later. Only eight of us were chosen to continue as novices, and I chose the name Sarita as a novice. On the 21st of December 1963, we eight made our first vows in the convent chapel. For the first time, a Mother General was present in India for the vows, in the person of Mother Lucille Russell.

Soon after my first vows, Mother Lucille invited me to go to the USA for my college studies. I was a bit hesitant as my other three companions were seniors in the community: Marietta Saldanha, Margaret Rodericks, and Mary Scaria Menonparambil. But Mother Lucille assured me that I would do well through my studies. Her predictions came true as I excelled as a Medical Technologist.

In 1968, I returned to Mokama to be appointed as the Director of the Laboratory at Nazareth Hospital. I didn’t want to do just that job but also empower the youth of the locality to carry on the work after me. So, I trained Mr. George Samuel and Mr. Ramesh and several others as Laboratory Technicians. While working as the Director of the Laboratory, I served as the Assistant Administrator of Nazareth Hospital, too.

In 1977, I became the Administrator of Nazareth Convent, Mokama. One of my contributions there was to set up the “Poustinia”, a place for contemplation of mature, with a pond and a pagoda. This place is still used for picnics and meditations by some Sisters. Long before Laudato Si was ever thought of, I propagated eco-spirituality through my efforts to care for Mother Earth. (I never forget the fact that God sent me to this earth on International Earth Day.) Another effort to improve nature was to develop a farm at Nazareth Convent. I purchased a few cows and other animals so that the campus would resound in moo-moos, may-mays, quack-quacks, cluck-clucks, meau-meaus and other familiar sounds of animals and birds. The natural orchestra was always alive in the campus.

From Mokama, I went for my first “foreign mission” experience in Nepal. I joined the community in Dharan, helping with the School for the Mentally Challenged children. I did some pastoral work too. From Dharan, I moved to Kathmandu where I got involved in various ministries. I got permission to work with the prisoners in Kathmandu. Their condition was pathetic. The culprits and mentally challenged and mentally ill patients were all put together. I used to spend some time every week, trying to give them some dignity as human beings. Another effort was to continue the work with the mentally challenged youth and children. A school had been run by Mr. George and his wife, Mary, for some years. Due to domestic issues, they had to return to Kerala. So, they decided to close the school. But I realized the need to continue the school since the need to take care of the mentally challenged was significant in Nepal. Hence, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth decided to take up this ministry in Kathmandu. We renamed the school as Navjyoti Centre. This centre is functioning well to this day. I was involved in doing some pastoral work, especially with women and families. I managed to establish some good social connections so that we could continue our work in Nepal more effectively.

In 1989, I was elected as the Provincial of Patna Province. During my tenure I realized the need to expand our ministries towards the south and west of India. We already had been working in Vasai, collaborating with the Christian Brothers in St. Augustine’s School, but I felt the need to begin our school. So, in 1992, we started a girls’ school in Vasai since the boys were educated in St. Augustine’s School. That school has now grown into a high school and is co-educational now. Around the same time, I saw the need to move to Tamilnadu from where we had been getting regular vocations. Sister Mary Stella Ambrose was from Tamilnadu. So, we got a piece of land in Trichy District, in the village of Kuttappattu to start a school. That school too has flourished and now is a full-fledged Senior Secondary School.

Initially, we had to go from house to house to hunt for children, but now over 1200 benefit from our school. It gives me great delight to see the growth of these institutions. Another need I felt was to strengthen ourselves financially. So, whenever an opportunity came our way, I bought landed property so that some financial self-sufficiency could be ensured by the SCNs in India. I finished my term as Provincial in 1994. For a year I took a sabbatical, spending some time in Vasai and Rajgir, just helping out and getting myself re-energized.

While I was still the Provincial, Father Robert Athickal, SJ, a young environmentalist, visited our community. A little while before that a youth had been murdered very close to our house in Patna. He was an environmental activist. I narrated the incident to Father Robert. It moved Father Robert Athickal so deeply that he decided to start an eco-spirituality centre to educate young people, especially school and college students. He started a movement called “Tarumitra” (Friends of Trees). He had been working from his Jesuit community in Patna. In 1995, I joined hands with him. With some coercion, I managed to get some land from the Jesuits to develop “Tarumitra” to a much more functional centre. An ashram was built there, so that youth and elderly could visit there and spend some time either in contemplation and getting educated on environmental care and related issues.

Sister Sarita Manavalan with Provincial Father Robert Athickal, SJ in “Tarumitra”

Our target was mostly school and college students. Our team of staff travelled far and wide to the different corners of India, educating the youth on how to protect and care for the Earth. I myself took the responsibility of developing the newly acquired property, planting hundreds of trees and plants, and even providing sufficient space for cultivating paddy and wheat. After about five years, I moved away from Tarumitra, but the Centre has continued in its efforts to the present.

Collaboration has always been my priority, and wherever possible I had done that, and encouraged our Sisters to join hands with others so that our apostolic efforts would be more efficient and effective. An opportunity came our way when the Medical Mission Sisters (MMS) requested the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth to take over the management and administration of Kurji Holy Family Hospital, Patna. Much research was done about the feasibility of it, and the key agenda at the Province Assembly, 1998, was to take a decision on the issue. After serious discernment, it was decided that the SCNs did not have sufficient personnel nor finance to accept such a huge enterprise. The Assembly was about to close the topic when I was urged from within to propose the idea of equal partnership between the MMS and SCNs, an idea never thought of in the Church in India before or after. My proposal was like a thunderbolt to the Assembly, but the Holy Spirit inspired the delegates to accept the proposal, if the MMS also accepted the new possibility. They too thought it was a worthwhile proposal, and so the efforts started immediately for equal partnership in both management and administration of Kurji Holy Family Hospital. It had its initial teething problems, but after two decades the partnership is bearing fruit mutually both for the MMS and the SCNs, and the hospital is developing at a much faster pace because of it. I am filled with gratitude that God inspired me to propose this new venture.

When the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth ventured into a mission in Botswana, Africa, I was chosen to be one of the pioneers along with Ann Muthukattil, Nalini Mecheriyil, Patricia Huitt and Angela Hicks. We went there in September 2000, at first starting two centres, the first in Jwaneng with Angela Hicks, Nalini and me, and the second in Kanye with Ann Muthukattil and Pat Huitt. Jwaneng is a diamond mining territory, and our hopes were to establish educational, social and pastoral ministries there.

Sisters Nalini Mecheriyil, Angela Hicks, and Sarita Manavalan (three pioneers of the African Mission)

We collaborated with the local government to commence our efforts, but even after three years, our attempts were futile as the Municipality of Jwaneng did not want to hand over that area to any outsiders, other than government agencies. Except for planting a few plants and trees with the seeds I had carried from India, we were not successful to see any other work accomplished. So, we bid goodbye to Jwaneng to join the community in Kanye. I returned to India after that, having set some initiatives in motion.

Back in India, I decided to move to South India where earlier I had taken initiatives in some new ministries. Trichy mission was established during my tenure as Provincial, and so I felt moved to be in a community there. There were two communities in Trichy, the first in Kuttappattu village, and the other in the heart of the city, i.e. Crawford. The first was called Snehalayam with St. Vincent Matriculation School as its most significant ministry. In Crawford, there is a special school for the mentally challenged. I decided to live and work in the Snehalayam community. I was not involved in the school, but provided a presence as a mentor and counselor. Since I did not know Tamil, I could not do much in pastoral ministry, but I used to spend some time with the students and teachers, just being an elder sister and companion to them in times of need. I was satisfied just being present in the community and enjoying the presence of children all around.

In 2013, I came here to Chandapura where I have been living up to the present. My love has always been nature, and so I spend much time watching plants and trees grow and bear flowers and fruit. I contribute to my understanding of care of the earth by spending time with the domestic animals in the house, and attending to the plants and trees on the campus. Since there is a school on the campus, I love to watch the children playing and studying, enjoying their spontaneity and playfulness. The rest of the time is spent in quiet and prayer, and trying to be in touch with the Sisters across the Congregation through letters and social media.

A hobby that I have cherished all along is writing poems, poems of human interest and on nature. In 2019, these poems were put into a collection called “Musings of a Nature Lover” and published by Bangalore Province. It is a sort of catharsis for me as it in a manner summarizes my longings and observations, and I am filled with gratitude to the community for publishing them. As I spend my time in quiet and prayer, I look at the Congregation and desire the young empowered with education and a love for the poor.

Sister Sarita Manavalan

I would like to see the youth, especially girls and women be educated, and empowered and groomed as leaders for the future. Much more attention needs to be paid to the physically and mentally challenged so that they can be brought into the mainstream of life. I am a happy SCN and share my joy with all as I write this story of my life.

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