Monday, October 5, 2015

Rest In Peace

Sister Annamma Abraham (Pennamma Kochamma)

She was the last of the first band of Sisters to come to Sihora, the heart of India. What trials and tribulations they experienced, these first Sisters, and yet what a sense of Divine Purpose they had. What compassion, what kindness, what love.....as they walked from home to home, village to village helping the villagers understand that they could lead a better life, a more hygienic life and an educated life. They lit the flame of literacy in these villages and through their work and their behavior drew many a soul to Christ.

Sister Annamma was bedridden for three years. I was blessed to have been close to her for three months earlier this year and then again for a short time just last month. Her eyes never lost their sparkle as she lay on her bed looking out at the sky, listening to life going on all around her....very much a part of the life of the Sevika Ashram. The local people who remember her from the days when she used to be actively at work often came to pay their respects to her. The weaving center was her baby and how she brought it up! What dedication to Christ and to His cause....And, how she was loved!

For me, she was the last of the Sisters under whose wings I grew up from babyhood to adulthood.....
Your work on earth is done, Kochamma, but you will always remain with us....always...As you join the other Sisters, your bright stars will always remain in the sky over Sihora...looking down on the people and the land you loved so well.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Ashram Day

As you see, it is prayer and retreat that is at the core of Ashram life and which is what the Ashramites want to share with us.

Seven decades on they are still vibrant and offer a rewarding way of life...


Thursday, September 24, 2015

Badi Apa's home

Sister Lily took me to visit Badi Apa. Nothing had prepared me for the elegance and graciousness of this lady. Her home was utterly charming. She and the Sisters of the Ashram go way, way, way back to the very early days...

She had me utterly enthralled with her stories about the visits of the first sisters, how she taught them how to sew and knit so that they could use these skills in their work with women; their long discourses on village life and the Scriptures; how they dug the well in the center of her courtyard; the rooms where the Sisters tentatively took the first lessons for the local children (the seed of the balwadis was sown here)......

This is Badi Apa's courtyard:


The Heart of India - the absolute center of the country






From the train to Sihora







In and around Pan Umariya
















The Mar Thoma Gram Jyoti School, Pan Umariya

Sister Saramma took me to the school the Ashram runs in Pan Umariya. I was touched by the warm welcome the children gave us, the affection with which they all greeted Sister, and the smiling courtesy with which they talked to us in spite of the most difficult conditions they study and work in.

Here are some pictures:


A view of the School
A classroom




One class is seated on the floor and the babies are closest to the camera

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Going home to Leonard...



                The Cafetaria

           


                             and the grounds

             


The Chapel
The Organ Loft


My home 

Darshini...


                                                                           

                                         The Chapel at Darshini






Sunset on the way from Darshini to Sihora

Graduation ceremony...

for the graduates of the ETERD
Institute.












Making the sacrament wafer...

1. The dough being poured into small cups in a tray

2. The machine with the imprint of the design
3. Guddubhaiya operating this iron where the trays
with the cups are pressed
4. Sister separating the wafers



5. Sister separating the wafers
6. The wafers come out looking like this
                                                  The wafers are then packed in sets of 25