Sisters at Chetna Bharati are in ministry to tribal people in Chatra, Jharkhand, India. They often help oppressed people of the area with their land rights.

Sisters Reshmi, Sushila Marandi and Joel taking a peek at one of the homes of the tribal area in which they minister.

Quite often they see trafficked, abandoned, or lost children. Sometimes they are left upon the doorsteps of the Sister’s residential children’s camp.

This happened recently when a girl, Aasha, at the time thought to be around the age of six or seven-years-old was brought to Chetan Bharati by a villager. They have since discovered that she is actually only four-years-old. She has come to be known by the Sisters as the “care-free child.”

“We discovered that underneath all of the dirt, she is a beautiful girl,” says Joel Urumpil, SCN.

Lost more than 60 km away from her home, she was found frolicking by the side of a small river. Aasha was disstressed and suffering from a broken elbow, when the Sisters attended to her. They found a small rod sticking out from her wound.

Her parents were located. They explained that the girl had fallen from a tree while they had gone for wage labor. She broke her elbow, but the pinning was not successful. Later she wondered off.

Now the Sisters made preparations for medical treatment for Aasha.

Sister Joel Urumpil says, “I was humbled seeing the care she was receiving from the other girls in our camp. Each one was eager to share their clothes, wash and clean Aasha, and play with her.

Now the rod is out of her elbow and she is getting local treatment to straighten her arm. Doctors have prescribed proper medication. Her progress is slow reports Sister Joel, but Sisters continue to help her.

The Chetna Bharati mission faces many day-to-day obstacles, but it is heart-warming moments of mercy like this that makes the Sisters humble to power of of God’s grace and love.

The young girls name has been changed for this story.