Dhulkot (India), 17/11/2020, Srs. of Dhulkot Community.- We, the sisters from the community of Dhulkot, Province of India are overjoyed to share with you the great gift that we received from God through the intercession of Blessed Marie Poussepin during this year of grace for the 25 years of her Beatification. The Province decided to construct a house for a poor family in Dhulkot, our first mission in North India, to commemorate this year of grace. With immense joy and gratitude, we can tell you now that this house for Mrs. and Mr. Pawan is almost ready.
Our great desire to announce the Good News, to “bring the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His mysteries” among the many who have not even heard of Him, led us in 1986 to Dhulkot, Khandwa diocese, Madyapradesh to collaborate with the mission of the diocese in that remote area. Our sisters who pioneered this mission gave witness to Jesus by their very presence and services of charity in the fields of health care, education and human promotion. The village of Dhulkot was our Sainville where the poor and ignorant depended on the jungle for their livelihood and others on cattle rearing and cultivation. Government had taken little interest to develop this area. There were no facilities for health care, education, transportation etc. Our sisters had to cope with many problems; the worst being lack of water. But they became one with the people, shared their life, listened to their stories, learned their language, walked miles and miles visiting their families, helping them in their struggles and educating them the basic lessons of cleanliness and hygiene.
Dhulkot has now improved a lot with a government High School, Government hospital, proper transportation facilities etc. Our mission also has evolved now: attending to the health care needs of many patients through the dispensary, teaching and administering the diocesan high school, taking care of the hostel for more than 100 school going girls, human promotion through self help groups and other social services, visiting the Catholic families and strengthening them in their faith etc. Though there is lot of progress in Dhulkot and the villages around, there is still much to be done. People do not have proper houses and their living conditions still need to be improved. It is at this juncture that the Province extended help to this family who are helping in our mission in different ways and who had been living in a shattered shed with four of their children.
The construction of the house was begun on June 20, 2020. In order to lessen the expenses, the sisters are monitoring the work, even though there are experienced workers to help to build the house. The contribution of the family members is countable too. They have done a lot of manual work, which has saved some money. We hope to complete the work by November 21st. We are very grateful to Sr. Deepa Moonjely, Provincial Superior and her council and all the sisters of the Province for privileging us with this gift. Pawan and Sevanti have no words to express their gratitude. They say that they have never dreamt of a house like that in their near future.
The construction of this house gave an opportunity for us to experience very closely the struggles and difficulties of the people and be part of it as Marie Poussepin did in her time. May our efforts and prayers to live her charism and make her known pave the path toward her canonization. we earnestly pray for this grace. Once again thank you very much for this wonderful gift which will remain as an ever-living memorial in the village of Dhulkot in the name of Blessed Marie Poussepin.