HOW YOUR GIFT IS CREATING HOPE

Loving greetings from Sisters Sheela, Bridget and Filomina from Kallanode, India! You were so very generous to offer support for our need for building a new home for us here in this village and so we wanted to say a big thank you to you personally and give you an update on the progress so far.

You heard about the terrible flooding that occurred in this village in 2018 and again in 2019 and how we ministered to those who were so severely affected. Our home was also damaged and out of concern for our safety and structural integrity, we realized that we needed to rebuild. You have helped to make that dream possible. What a great blessing for us! Your generosity enables us to safely remain in the village and continue to provide a compassionate presence and minister with our people.

We started the construction of our new house on Jan. 23, 2020. But unfortunately, we had to stop the construction work on March 25, 2020, due to the lockdown because of COVID-19. So far, we have been able to complete the earth work excavation, R.R.M. foundation, basement filling, and cement brick wall. The lintel work is completed and ready to put the concrete on the first floor. But now it is at a standstill. Since this is a village and we have to get the building materials from other districts, we are not able to get the materials now due to no transportation from one district to another due to the pandemic. In Kerala, we did not have many patients in the beginning but now the number of patients is increasing due to all the people returning from other countries and other states. So, at present, we do not have any idea as to when the inter-district transportation will start and when we will be able to resume the work.

Central and Provincial Leadership were on-site with the local community to place the corner stone for the new home during a blessing ceremony.

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COVID-19 has played real havoc in the state as in all the other states. We had 75 days of strict lockdown and today, June 8, 2020, some relaxation has been announced. In this area, we have so many poor people who are daily wage earners and they could not go out to work for 75 days and their situation is very pathetic. Our government tried to give food supplies to so many of them but how much can they give. Also, so many migrant workers from the northern states were stranded here and in other states and they also suffered so much. We cared for some of them by keeping in touch with them by telephone and giving them care, concern, hope, some consolation, and also provided them with food for a month. Most of them have now gone back to their own native places. People have started to move out from today and almost all the closed places have been opened. Two of us in the house are above age 65 and we are strictly told not to go out except for medical purposes. So, we also have been locked in the house. Since we have a garden and some land around us, we have been busy taking care of the earth and could walk around in the open. We have been grateful for that.

Once again we want to express our deep gratitude to you, dear friend, for your generosity and for giving us the hope of having a safe home to live in. May our loving God bless you, your family, and your friends, with an abundance of love, joy, peace and happiness; bless you spiritually, financially, and also with good health. May God open new doors, new opportunities for you, and guide and protect you in all your endeavors.

We promise our remembrance of you daily in our evening prayers.

With deep gratitude,

Sisters
Sheela Palamoottil
Bridget Kappalumakal
Filomina Bhengra