Our missionary presence in India begins in 1968, when two Italian Sisters Sr. Lucina Carimali and Sr. Lorenza Bietti with three young Indian sisters formed in Italy, left for India and precisely in the state of Kerala.

Today we are present in 12 different states of India: Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Gujarath, Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Assam, Meghalaya and Jharkand.

In these 50 years of mission in India we can say that the Lord has assisted and protected us. In fact, today we have about 47 communities and over 300 Indian sisters. The sisters are involved in various apostolic activities: the educational activity is the most important which we carry out particularly through schools, but also through tuition centers and other initiatives with special attention to the poorest and the least developed areas. Our formative attention is also given through cutting and tailoring and embroidery schools for girls and young women, self-help groups for women, the establishment of micro-credit and small groups of craftsmanship that allow women to work and receive a small salary.

Karnataka

In the State of Karnataka, precisely in the District of Mysore, a project of promotion and help for the poorest families is carried out. The centers of this project are Periyapatana and Narasipura, where we have two communities. These two villages are little far from the city of Mysore, where another two communities are committed to parish work and education of the young.

The sisters, together with a team of people try to reach 40 villages. Their goals are:

• Identify children who do not attend school.

• Start a school recovery activity with these children to create favorable environment for them to enter the school.

• Carry out a work of sensitization for parents and mutual help especially for women with social and educational problems.

• Identify the presence of children with disabilities and provide an individualized project for each situation

• Schools of work, cutting and tailoring and embroidery for young women starting up in small groups of craftsmanship. Some of these products also arrive in Italy to be sold.

Gujarath

The sisters live in the district of Kutch where they liv among the less previleged of the society by taking

care o the differently abled children, the visually impaired, teaching in the school, taking care of the

children inthe hostel, running the hospital and clinic, conducting awareness programmes and medical camps in various parts of the discrict for the upliftment of the society.

Nakhatrana

In the small town of Nakhatrana there is a community that takes care of both the school and the boarding for children in difficulty, (some are blind, others disabled at motor or mental level). All the young guests are well integrated in the path of our school.

The children are followed daily by two sisters, helped by some other educational figures. After school they usually have other classes to learn Braille and are followed in the performance of the homework and in the study.

Periodically, then the sisters go to the villages to identify the presence of children in difficulty. Normally, each new situation encountered requires a time of dialogue with the family to convince the parents to allow their children to go to school.

Mandvi

In Mandvi lives a community of DPMT that takes care of a large school with integrated system of education where children with disabilities learn with normal children with special training to the former.

The sisters are also engaged in a work of human promotion and literacy in the villages around the town of Mandvi.

In some villages there are government schools but the quality of teaching is not always good and in addition the poverty of families does not facilitate the study and learning of children. So in the afternoons the sisters wait for the children and spend with them their precious time helping them in study and giving tuition.

Andhra Pradesh/Telngana

We have been present in these two states since 1978 with numerous human and social promotion activities

Leprosy prevention work and help to the families of lepers:

Our presence of help and support in the village of Anandanagar began in 1985. The many houses built here are all inhabited by ex-lepers. In addition to the houses for each family, a small school was also built for the children of lepers (first / fourth class) who then continue in our boardings. The project is supported by a parish in Milan.

Navaieevan craft workshop

In this workshop, started in 1996, 35 to 40 people are involved in embroidery and in the preparation of lace: leper women, widows and disabled people. Other women from neighboring villages also are involved in this activity and thus they help their families. Women receive a salary or compensation for the effective work guaranteed by the sale of jobs in Italy.

Navadrusti

In this small hospital, about ten cases of cataracts are treated every day; many of these are poor and do not pay anything at all.

Now the aid comes also from the government and from the generosity of many private individuals in Italy.

Veleru

A Boarding started in 1998 with 100 girls including some orphans, daughters of parents suffering from AIDS or lepers. Now it is the home for 123 girls, including 23 orphans of both parents and other orphans of one parent or of parents who are sick.

Darbhagoodam

Our presence began in 1988 and a boarding was opened in 1991. The boarding hosts 120 girls from first to tenth grade. Among the little girls some come from tribal families, our particular educational effort is to create for them a welcoming climate.

The activities of our sisters in Darbhagoodam in recent years have greatly expanded reaching the neighboring villages. They are very poor villages where many Christian families live, who were baptized, but they did not grow up in the faith because even today they are only reached monthly by the priest for the celebration of the Eucharist.

In these villages a center has been built (a multipurpose room, a service and an office) and an after-school activity has started (from 16.00 to 18.00 approximately) for the poorest village children.

Every after school program foresees the presence of a teacher who daily helps the children. Besides some moments of animation are programmed during religious holidays. The teacher is often a catechist of the parish.